Which era influenced you most?

[vchizzle]

Pick 2 choices if you wish. Curious to see what music decades were most influential to you as a player.

Many of us gravitate towards a time in our early years of playing or maybe when music most impacted us as individuals. Many times that's when we were younger.

For me, the 90's is it. Lot's of people complain that the 90's "ruined" music and guitar in general. Lessening emphasis on the "guitar hero" and solos. I feel kinda the opposite. I think it put the "song" itself back to the spotlight. I prefer more solo serving the song, than a "hey, look at my awesomeness while the rest of MY band stays and hammers on 1 note". To me the songs felt more "real". Bands wrote on a more personal level again. Coming out of the 80's it was a breath of fresh air. The 80's seemed to get to be all about image in a good chunk of popular music. I feel like guitar tones started getting better, less processed and a little more raw again. I began writing my own music somewhere around 1990. So that, in part, probably shaped me.

I like things from all era's and there's always outliers. I feel like new era's often start out new and cool then get homogenized and boring. I'm turning older and more curmudgeon like, where I find it harder to like new music. I was curious where the members here were at.

 

[toothace]

The 70s and 80s were my formative years...KISS in the late 70s up to the Hair Band era. (Don't tell Eddie Trunk...I'm ok with the "Hair Metal" tag on that era of music) Like Vaughn I like and listen to all genres and all eras of music, but about '79-'88/'89 is what I would call the roots of my musical influence.

 

[bodia]

It was the 70s and 80s for me, as well. Formative years, and all that. Lots of records spinning in my buddies basement, and on my own. All that great hard rock and then the Hair Bands of the 80s, and all of the concerts. Good time to be a kid, at least for music! I suppose you could say that of all eras. There's a consumer there for something. I really got into a lot of the music of the 90s. I couldn't tell you half of the bands today though. Same thing with the early 00's. Today though, I find myself listening to more of the stuff I grew up on. I still download a lot of new music, although it has the tone of the 80s hair and thrash metal. It seems that a lot of what was coming out of Europe in the last couple of decades is very similar to what I loved about the 80s.

 

[vchizzle]

I had an older cousin who got me into music when I was pretty young. That consisted of a heavy dose of 70-80’s stuff. I’d say towards the beginning of my playing days, George Lynch, Zakk(pre biker era) Wylde and Slash with GnR were my roots. Zakk had and aggressive right hand rhythm style that appealed to me. GnR was raw by comparison to much of the rest of the 80’s stuff, so that edginess appealed to my youth, I think.

 

[markd21]

I guess I am 80s by way of the late 70s.....the bands that influenced me and my playing most rose from either the late 70s (NWOBHM) or lived in the late 70s (Skynyrd, Eagles) and carried forth into the 80s. My 80s influences came more from the birth of thrash (Metallica, Anthrax) and Black Metal (Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate). It all led me into a direction that took the sounds of "underground" metal and paired it with the songwriting of the 70s.

I find the bizarre combination to be pretty fun. As a player, it was always about writing good songs (once I got past my \m/ days....). In fact, as the 90s broke and Grunge killed metal, my main song-writing partner and I went all acoustic - so songs and structures became less about "the riff" and more about the "mood" and "vibe". Once we were in a place to skull-crush again, things came out in a very bizarre bastardization of Mercyful Fate meets Poison meets Neil Diamond - totally 90s, lol!!

These days, I am back to doing late 70s-early 80s "Classic Metal" - bluesy, riff oriented, and just heavy enough to make dudes born in the 70s happy, lol.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

It’s the 70’s and 80’s for me too, although the 90’s was when I was in my 20’s and going to clubs, dancing, and seeing shows. 90’s hip hop is where it’s at, and I love some acid jazz and dance music from that era but, the rock stuff generally hasn’t aged as well for me.

The 70’s though... that’s my sh!t. Disco, funk, later Motown-drugged out-California soul, reggae, and punk. Earth Wind and Fire, Barry White, Chic, The Clash, Lee Perry, and of course The Wailers..

The 80’s was where I guess I actually grew up, and the synth pop/new wave, early hip hop, hardcore, radio funk, industrial, and eventually thrash metal made a big impact on me. Sade, Slayer, Bad Brains, Cro-mags, Mary Jane Girls, Raydio... the list goes on.

The weird thing is, music kinda stopped evolving in the 2000’s. Instead everything became an homage to a previous era, with perhaps grime/dubstep being the only exception. I feel like it’s the same way with fashion... nothings really “new” anymore, we just repeat the past and mash and mix sh!t together.

 

[Eichaan]

70's and 80's for me. So many varieties of music that employed guitar in so many different ways. Plus the heyday of albums and record label promotion.

 

[vchizzle]

It’s the 70’s and 80’s for me too, although the 90’s was when I was in my 20’s and going to clubs, dancing, and seeing shows. 90’s hip hop is where it’s at, and I love some acid jazz and dance music from that era but, the rock stuff generally hasn’t aged as well for me.

The 70’s though... that’s my sh!t. Disco, funk, later Motown-drugged out-California soul, reggae, and punk. Earth Wind and Fire, Barry White, Chic, The Clash, Lee Perry, and of course The Wailers..

The 80’s was where I guess I actually grew up, and the synth pop/new wave, early hip hop, hardcore, radio funk, industrial, and eventually thrash metal made a big impact on me. Sade, Slayer, Bad Brains, Cro-mags, Mary Jane Girls, Raydio... the list goes on.

The weird thing is, music kinda stopped evolving in the 2000’s. Instead everything became an homage to a previous era, with perhaps grime/dubstep being the only exception. I feel like it’s the same way with fashion... nothings really “new” anymore, we just repeat the past and mash and mix sh!t together.

That’s a great point that music has stopped evolving. Maybe it’s partly responsible for some of my boredom.

 

[alantig]

70s and 80s, with a bit of 60s. The Johnny Cash albums of that 1968-70 era, like "At Folsom Prison" and "At San Quentin" were what kicked me into playing guitar. Big top 40 fan at that age, as would be expected. That pushed me towards album territory with artists like Olivia Newton-John, Elton John, and Abba, amongst others. Then my guitar teacher gave me my first taste of Frank Zappa, although that bug wouldn't actually bite for about another five years. Kiss really shot me off in another direction, and it was a whole new world from there - hard rock, metal, new wave. I wasn't as full hardcore disco as Sergio, but I didn't hate it, either. Once the Zappa bug bit, that opened up yet another world of stuff.

 

[alantig]

That’s a great point that music has stopped evolving. Maybe it’s partly responsible for some of my boredom.

I think it's less that music has stopped evolving and more that what gets played has stopped evolving. Radio playlists are so much narrower now than they used to be. There's a lot of stuff available on the Internet, but there's no one filtering it, so you end going Andy Dufresne - you have to wade through a lot of crap to find what you really want.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I was an impressionable 11 year old living in the other side of the world in Africa in 1980 when my college-aged cousin from the U.S. came to visit. He gave me a cassette with Bob Marley on one side and Jimi Hendrix on the other. Thus started my musical journey. I can't say a specific "era in time" influenced me, but rather rather, two musicians (who I still greatly admire today) set me off in two completely different directions. It was reggae through my early teens (and beyond) and then VH's 1984 and Metallica's Ride the Lightning got me into guitar. So, I guess I'd have to say the 1980's.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I wasn't as full hardcore disco as Sergio

I was like, 4 or 5 years old when disco was happening, so aside from being surrounded by it on tv and movies and the radio, it wasn’t like I was living the life, if you know what I mean.

I got way into it later in life, cause like Vaughn, I got bored. Bored with punk, hardcore, metal... anything that “rocked” became trite to me. I had played too much of it, listened to too much, and definitely recorded too many bands like that.

I was in a band, we were signed, touring, and playing with a bunch of my childhood hero’s, and I f@cking hated the music, and moreover at that time, I loathed the guitar.

Disco was just the complete opposite of all that, and it eventually turned me back on to guitar.

 

[Alan Manning]

If I had to pick a defining 10 yr period ( and I'm going out on a limb here ) I would argue 65 to 75.This side of the pond anyway. There has and always will be good and bad absolutely subjective. The 60s were very powerful. Rocknroll, Mowtown, Folky/ Jazz. end of the 60s into 70s gave us the Rock / Heavy Rock/ Prog Rock/ Funk and Punk. Still Jazz.
The 80s were a play on the 70s IMO but that's a good thing we need those bands to carry the Rock torch.
They'll always be good and bad. The last 10 yrs has seen a good revival in Rock.
Now you can give me a Bollocking. Ready Steady LMAO Go.!!!
Lets not forget Blues/R&b.

 

[vchizzle]

I think it's less that music has stopped evolving and more that what gets played has stopped evolving. Radio playlists are so much narrower now than they used to be. There's a lot of stuff available on the Internet, but there's no one filtering it, so you end going Andy Dufresne - you have to wade through a lot of crap to find what you really want.

Maybe. I don’t really listen to radio though. I do search out for bands of interest. Maybe I don’t spend enough time anymore. I have lost a bit of patience. I’m also pickier and find more things that I dislike these days.

 

[veinbuster]

I really have no idea. 60s was the first music I listened to and there are plenty of songs I still like. I probably listened more in the 70s and 80s. By the 90s there was too much branching for me to keep up with so I missed whole genres and mostly followed what was labelled alternative. After that I stopped trying to keep up and just settled in playing mostly things I liked from prior decades - at least style wise, even if some songs were new.

 

[Wakester]

My biggest influences are 70's and 80's Progressive Rock, with some additions up through the years from heavier Rock and Metal. Tremonti with Creed, Scott Stapp without Creed, Contemporary Cristian Rock is a large part of my current listening interest, and I see a good deal of similarity between some of my favorite CCRock and 80's Rock. Very young I listened to a lot of John Denver, so that influenced my love of acoustic guitar and finger picking. I listened to a lot of different things, but these are my primary influences.

 

[Herr Squid]

I got me a 7-10 split between the 80s and mid 2000s. Not coincidentally that was when I was in weekend warrior bands. My first go was Pink Floyd, a little Zeppelin, some Rush, and Metallica mostly. I guess there was a little Soundgarden too, plus whatever hair/pop metal songs I learned for the bands. The second set incorporated a bunch of Porcupine Tree and Opeth, a little STP and more Rush.

 

[flux]

Despite once being the typical 80s rocker with obligatory prog/thrash/metal/glam obsessions... I had to click on 60s & 70s. That's simply the foundation for everything I love most, musically.

If all my stuff were on fire, even all the 80s metal I cherish would get torched before I'd sacrifice any classic rock, Motown or wall of sound stuff.

80s & 90s may have brought the shred, but 60s & 70s defined the grooves, in my opinion.

 

[RaySachs]

I was only 10 years old as the 1970s began, but I was already into the Stones, the Beatles, Jimi, Cream, Dylan, Creedence, and CSNY. Not to mention Three Dog Night and Iron Butterfly and Gary Pucket and garbage like that. I went to about a million shows between 1975 (when I started to drive) and the mid-80s (when I started a family and career). And I did the vast majority of my guitar playing from about 1978-87 (my oldest was born at the end of ‘87) and the guitars were mostly decoration from then until about a year ago. And YET, that golden era from about ‘68 -‘72 or thereabouts is still the stuff that all of my favorite music and my playing is based around. My best live music experiences were all around ‘77 - ‘81 (first saw the Dead, the Stones, Springsteen, Petty, Neil Young, etc then) and chronologically that should have been my era, but the music that’s still closest to my bones had happened by the time the Stones finished Exile, Clapton did Layla, Santana had made his first 2-3 albums, Hendrix and Duane had died, the Band and The Who put out their classic albums, the Dead had their best period (which I’d extend into ‘74), the Beatles broke up, etc.

At this point in my life I’d have to say the 50’s and early ‘60s is my favorite stuff because I’m more into the classic older blues and the golden era of Coltrane and Miles and a lot of other jazz. But that late ‘60s, early ‘70s stuff is really what shaped me, the music that made me love music, and when my life flashes before my eyes in my last moments, that stuff will be the soundtrack...

-Ray

 

[drdoom8793]

It's really hard to pick just two. 50's is pretty much the only decade that hasn't heavily influenced my playing. I grew up in the 90s and 2000s so that obviously influenced me, but I spent a lot of my youth going after the typical 80's metal bands, especially Metallica and Megadeth. Nowadays, I find myself gravitating towards 60's and 70's rock. It's just so rich and raw and I can't get enough.