Why did Easy Listening die?

[JSngry]

I mean, yeah, there's a lot of schlock to be had there. But the General Boomer Musical Militant Illiteracy cast its plagueish pall over all of music, meaning that people could no longer listen to the actual music, they could just respond to Pavlovian "feelings" of "me". So. ok, "easy listening" "sounded like" "square" music, when in fact, sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't, but those idiots were completely unequipped intellectually or emotionally to tell the difference.

And has it gotten any better? No.

[Big Beat Steve]

44 minutes ago, JSngry said:

See, Boomer vanity would not allow for this being an actually very good interpretation of the song.

Too bad there never was a "Bert Kaempfert plays the John Coltrane Songbook" LP. I sure would have liked to see your (or, even more so, any Free Jazz collector's) reaction to THAT, then ... 😉

Somehow I feel that a dislike of the above version would not so much be a matter of "Boomer vanity" (seeing how often "Boomers" are used these days as a sweeping put-down, is this the new "Old White men" target? 😁 Used particularly by those who are old enough to belong to exactly that group but desperately go out of their way to distance themselves from that generation ...) but rather because music tastes do differ. And if the style of, say, Percy Faith and the like, is not your cuppa at all and if you are not into an analyzing or music theoreticizing mood then this just isn't for you. And maybe this also is so because there have been oh so many orchestras from the 60s and 70s who have traded their fare of watered-down, inoffensive orchestrated instrumental or vocal choir-laden versions of current pop and rock hits over and over and over to the elder set of record buyers and listeners but in doing so have driven away the younger set who by force were exposed to them at the time as well. And this had happened even earlier on (anyone remember the Modernaires' inept attempts at grabbing a bite of the 50s (semi-)R'n'R market? Not one of the more enlightened moves of Alan Freed - or was it Coral that pushed them down his throat?). Covers like this just were perceived as "not the real thing". Neither would, for example, most German listeners "not that advanced in age" have embraced the James Last Orchestra covers of then-current chart hits. Pretty much regardless of whether the musical craftsmanship was fine after all (because the arrangers and musicans who did this kind of "orchestrated rock for the not so rock-minded" often did have chops). It just was a different playing field that those who preferred the stylistically real thing just did not warm up to. And who is anyone to blame them? After all there was and is only so much time to be able to spend on listening to so much music ...

32 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I would concur with your assessment!  In other words, I tend to go for easy listening that is not necessarily easy listening!

"Advanced Easy Listening"?

Reminds me of a radio program that was aired here on Sunday evenings in the mid-to late 70s called "Schlager für Fortgeschrittene" ("Pop music for advanced people" - Gheorghe should have a word to say about this as IIRC he remembers that program hosted by one Gerhard Bronner too) and had me thoroughly baffled at my teen age as I kept wondering about this music sounding exceedingly odd by "pop" standards and falling straight into any crevices BETWEEN any musical cateogries I had become aware of at this tender age of 15-16: "Is there actually anyone out there who actually buys THIS?" Unfortunately I do not remember the artists usually featured, except the Swingle Singers, and - I think - some more ethereal Bossa Nova vocalists.
Later on most of it of course made much, much more sense to me. But my stylistic core interests still were elsewhere though the scope broadened considerably over time.
 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

24 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Too bad there never was a "Bert Kaempfert plays the John Coltrane Songbook" LP. I sure would have liked to see your (or, even more so, any Free Jazz collector's) reaction to THAT, then ... 😉

 

If Herb Geller was in the band (as he often was in the 70s), I would certainly give it a listen.

28 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

"Advanced Easy Listening"?

There are such things...

 

[HutchFan]

I think demographics -- as @JSngry points out -- has a great deal to do with the demise of Easy Listening as a marketing or radio concept.  The Boomer wave was so large that it swamped other genres.  Anything not "new" (and youth-oriented) was OLD and therefore not valuable.

Jazz was another victim of this giant demographic wave -- from a certain point of view.  (Of course, from another perspective, the destruction was also simultaneously re-vivifying for jazz in that it cleared out some space for new things to happen.)

An embodiment of this perspective: Think of the scene in No Direction Home where Dylan makes fun of the jazz/lounge singer.  (I don't even recall who it was, or exactly what type of music it was.)  From Dylan's point of view, the music was just not contemporary and therefore "inauthentic."   So Dylan ridicules it.

That one scene sums up what seems to me to be a generational attitude -- even if Dylan has since repudiated that particular scene and feels embarrassed by it now.

 

And, of course, this shift to a youth orientation was aided and abetted by marketers who wanted to sell stuff to young people -- because they realized that young people have much more "disposable income" than their parents (generally speaking).

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by HutchFan

[Teasing the Korean]

49 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I mean, yeah, there's a lot of schlock to be had there. But the General Boomer Musical Militant Illiteracy cast its plagueish pall over all of music, meaning that people could no longer listen to the actual music, they could just respond to Pavlovian "feelings" of "me". So. ok, "easy listening" "sounded like" "square" music, when in fact, sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't, but those idiots were completely unequipped intellectually or emotionally to tell the difference.

The Gen-Xers, though, got the last laugh - leaving the overpriced Beatles and Led Zeppelin albums in the bins, and bringing home the 50-cent easy listening albums!

[Rabshakeh]

15 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

An embodiment of this perspective: Think of the scene in No Direction Home where Dylan makes fun of the jazz/lounge singer.  (I don't even recall who it was, or exactly what type of music it was.)  From Dylan's point of view, the music was just not contemporary and therefore "inauthentic."   So Dylan ridicules it.

That one scene sums up what seems to me to be generational attitude

Plus, in films, those sequences in Jail House Rock and Blackboard Jungle. 

Fossilised music for teachers and grown ups.

[HutchFan]

1 minute ago, Rabshakeh said:

Plus, in films, those sequences in Jail House Rock and Blackboard Jungle. 

Fossilised music for teachers and grown ups.

Yep.  Same thing.

Speaking of movies, that industry has gone through a similar sort of transformation from (mostly) making movies for adults to (mostly) making movies for kids & teens.  Another case of shifting demographics and focusing on chasing younger people's disposable income.

 

[Rabshakeh]

What was the singer? I'm struggling to find it.

[HutchFan]

17 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

What was the singer? I'm struggling to find it.

In No Direction Home?  A lounge-y sort of singer. That's my recollection.

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by HutchFan

[65Jaypee]

On 12/27/2022 at 11:17 AM, Rabshakeh said:

I'd be interested in people's views as to why easy listening as a concept seems to have gone away in the 1980s (barring the 1990s 'revival').

50s - 70s there seems to have been a wide appetite for the stuff. I don't just mean the specific genre Easy Listening ( @Teasing the Korean will no doubt have views) but anything that sounds sophisticated, but sits in the background, whether Henry Mancini, George Shearing, bossa, Yma Sumac, Herb Alpert, whatever Gary McFarland's thing was, Muzak, Beatles with Strings, down on their luck cool jazz guys in the late 60s, Singers Unlimited or whatever. 

Some of this stuff is really great and a lot isn't, but aside from that, you'd think that the concept of Easy Listening would be as permanent as Pop.

The question is spurred by a Christmas period spent listening to either George Shearing or dreary Spotify playlists of music that is clearly made in studios, so-called "audio wallpaper", which is arguably a revival of the old Easy Listening concept.

I think that one reason for the near disappearance of this genre is the changing status of classical music in general. For the generations born before WW2, classical music represented the absolute pinnacle of music, even for those who didn't like it that much. Easy listening with its "sophisticated" arrangements and full orchestras was a way of making oneself believe that one was listening to classical music, without actually listening to it. To have what you like about classical music (the melodies, the rich sounds) without what you don't like (the tension, the conflicts, the dissonances). A way to look sophisticated without suffering!

I worked in a record store in my native Québec City in the 80's and I remember older customers asking me for "semi-classical" music. Since I was the "classical & jazz guy", they were sent to me and I must admit that I had no idea what they were talking about. One day they explained it to me. I find the term "semi-classical" very telling: not "really" classical but "orchestral".

With the post-war generation no longer so interested in classical music, these orchestras (Percy Faith, Jackie Gleason, Lex Baxter, James Last, et al.) lost their raison d'être since their "sophistication" no longer appealed to them. 

My two cents...

 

[Rabshakeh]

That's a great post. Semi-classical.

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, 65Jaypee said:

I think that one reason for the near disappearance of this genre is the changing status of classical music in general. For the generations born before WW2, classical music represented the absolute pinnacle of music, even for those who didn't like it that much. Easy listening with its "sophisticated" arrangements and full orchestras was a way of making oneself believe that one was listening to classical music, without actually listening to it. To have what you like about classical music (the melodies, the rich sounds) without what you don't like (the tension, the conflicts, the dissonances). A way to look sophisticated without suffering!

I worked in a record store in my native Québec City in the 80's and I remember older customers asking me for "semi-classical" music. Since I was the "classical & jazz guy", they were sent to me and I must admit that I had no idea what they were talking about. One day they explained it to me. I find the term "semi-classical" very telling: not "really" classical but "orchestral".

With the post-war generation no longer so interested in classical music, these orchestras (Percy Faith, Jackie Gleason, Lex Baxter, James Last, et al.) lost their raison d'être since their "sophistication" no longer appealed to them. 

My two cents...

Welcome ....

[mjazzg]

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

That's a great post. Semi-classical.

And for today I give you Einaudi, Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds and some of the Erased Tapes stable, among others.

Semi-classical or sophisticated not-classical depending what you want from it and from where you approach it. All 'easy' to listen to

[Rabshakeh]

38 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

And for today I give you Einaudi, Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds and some of the Erased Tapes stable, among others.

Semi-classical or sophisticated not-classical depending what you want from it and from where you approach it. All 'easy' to listen to

Strangely highly regarded though. Scandinavian sophistication.

[mjazzg]

12 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

Strangely highly regarded though. Scandinavian sophistication.

Chilled in more than one way? 

I saw Arnalds live, very good for about 15 minutes and then realised it was all the same. I was feeling very sophisticated...

[unitstructures]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:12 AM, Niko said:

I thought that new Pharoah Sanders Floating Points album had a 1950s sophisticated easy listening vibe to it, partly.

Yeah I thought so too. Only listened to that one once. That album is sort of Pharoah's "Desmond Blue."

[Rabshakeh]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Clayderman

Crazy to see how many units this guy shifted. I have never even heard of him. At least Mr. G and Ms. Dionne have left a mark. Monsieur Pages has left not a ripple.

 

On 1/9/2023 at 3:46 PM, unitstructures said:

Yeah I thought so too. Only listened to that one once. That album is sort of Pharoah's "Desmond Blue."

I hadn't seen this great comment until now.

[Dave Garrett]

On 2/17/2023 at 1:37 PM, Rabshakeh said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Clayderman

Crazy to see how many units this guy shifted. I have never even heard of him. At least Mr. G and Ms. Dionne have left a mark. Monsieur Pages has left not a ripple.

Ads for various collections of his music used to be near-ubiquitous on the UHF TV channels in my neck of the woods. Same for Slim Whitman. I can't say I knew anyone who actually owned any of his music, but I think most people certainly had at least a vague awareness of him, thanks to those ads.  

[JSngry]

As they did Zamfir and Boxcar Willie. 

[Jon King]

One person's junk is another's treasure....vis a vis Easy Listening

All music is not musical to me.  Certainly, not beyond my picky affection for acoustic drumming.  Anything that does not swing, rock, roll, waltz,    shimmy or make me want to dance otherwise, can be tedious and outright distracting.  Most people seem to like dancing, as do I.  I once walked out of a famous country and western singer's performance, when I overdosed on repetitive rhythm guitar licks played with no regard for soloing even in a shit-kicking, heartland affirming concert facility where I once had marveled at one of Louis Armstrong's bands, the MJQ,  Ella Fitzgerald, David Clayton Thomas and others.  I enjoyed the music, and was turned off by the garage band C&W sound attack. 

Easy listening for the most part has never moved me dance - just to hang up, leave the elevator, or find another chain store with better demographics.

Give real drums a chance, electric drum machines are like that endless 2-chord "soloing" in that guitar player's trick bag.

Lacking.

[Rabshakeh]

I wonder how much of my life has been soundtracked by this man's music without me ever knowing it or bothering to enquire.

It is perfectly pleasant piano music with a nice soft touch that adds up to nothing much but is certainly not unpleasant. Have I heard it a thousand times in restaurants and supermarkets without noticing it? 

[Teasing the Korean]

Why should orchestras be limited to playing western classical music?  Why is the notion of orchestras playing pop music offensive to some people?  I find pop music played by guitars and drums infinitely more boring than pop music played by an orchestra. 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Rabshakeh]

1 minute ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Why should orchestras be limited to playing western classical music?  Whey is the notion of orchestras playing pop music offensive to some people?  I find pop music played by guitars and drums infinitely more boring than pop music played by an orchestra. 

It's all in the execution though.

Orchestra playing pop music, for the 50s and 60s, tends to mean that you are the hands of a producer trying to cash in on youth trends by watering them down for an older market that wants the pop without the excitement. So orchestral pop treatments rarely bode well.

But there's nothing fixed about that.

[Teasing the Korean]

4 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

It's all in the execution though.

Orchestra playing pop music, for the 50s and 60s, tends to mean that you are the hands of a producer trying to cash in on youth trends by watering them down for an older market that wants the pop without the excitement. So orchestral pop treatments rarely bode well.

But there's nothing fixed about that.

There's nothing fixed about that because pop music existed before rock - Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, etc. - and the results lie in the quality of the material and the arranging.  Not all orchestral pop music can be described as "watered down."

[Rabshakeh]

7 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

There's nothing fixed about that because pop music existed before rock - Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, etc. - and the results lie in the quality of the material and the arranging.  Not all orchestral pop music can be described as "watered down."

Agreed.

But it's pretty hard to think of a non-vocal orchestrated version of, say, the Beatles, that isn't substantially worse than the Beatles.

I am really not opposed to the orchestration of pop music at all, but in the commercial context of American popular music circa 1968, orchestration is typically a portent of doom.

Plenty of people dislike the concept of orchestration for the pre-rock era too. Sweet dance bands, Jackie Gleason, etc. etc.

But it seems to me that stuff was often fine, and that the orchestrations and arrangements were as apt to increase the quality of the material as otherwise.

I think that disappears once popular music hits the rock/soul/funk era. Orchestration tends to remove the perceived spontenaity and energy that is what makes those genres work, so you'd have to be very careful or inspired to make orchestrated pop come off as something other than watered down in those contexts.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Rabshakeh