Why has there never been an alternative to Art?

[Ciardelo]

You might be right on that...the Beatles were clean cut to start...the Stones were the uppity bad boys...

Yeah, then came along the maharishi . What was that song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" all about?

[Dick Grinder]

Yeah, then came along the maharishi . What was that song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" all about?

I've long thought 'I am the Walrus' is the most drug-inspired song ever recorded.

[chefist]

Yeah, then came along the maharishi . What was that song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" all about?

I'm a Moody Blues fan...the Beatles "altered states" albums seemed invented and sterile...their interpretation of what they thought people being stoned wanted to hear...

[trostol]

https://youtu.be/aDSepEeMgPg

[trostol]

also these guys


https://youtu.be/OV5_LQArLa0

[Meister_000]

At the risk of Ciardelo calling me old again, the original competitor to the Beatles was the Dave Clark Five.

Beach Boys ?

[trostol]

Beach Boys ?

very different sound then Beatles/DCT and others

[Meister_000]

very different sound then Beatles/DCT and others

Most bands had unique sounds in those days, Brits or Americans. The question was biggest early competitor. I don't know who that was for sure, or by what yardstick we're measuring, but The Beach Boys have to be amoung the top 2 or 3 vieing for that distinction. No?

[insert]  Ultimately, they had NO comparison or true competition as far as I 'm concerned, but if I/we are to play this game, then  . . .

[Robert]

That's like asking why has there never been an alternative to the Beatles.  In every generation there is someone who is so innovative and/or talented, the individual's name becomes almost synonymous with their occupation.  This is especially true for those who grow up with that individual, as many of us have with Art.  To us, people like this are the standard by which others are gauged.

The Beatles are a good example, because even at the time, I said, what's so great about this group?  90% of what they did was pedestrian.  They seemed like loads of other musicians to me.

What the Beatles were was technically superior to most, having gotten in a lot of practice so they could play just about anything well.  That led to their being given enough att'n that they got a little creative, and then it snowballed.  But their product was still 90% pedestrian.  There were probably many other groups at the time who, given the opp'ty & encouragement, would've been just as creative.  It's just that their competition was mostly garage bands who weren't as serious, so that became the standard of comparison.  In fact there were probably some garage bands that on a good day gave a performance better than the Beatles on a bad day.  Once they got big, the Beatles could afford to blow off dates so if they were a bit off they could avoid even having a bad day.

Who's going to get on TV, cut lots of records, get into big arenas?  Because the supply of people willing to do so so far outstrips the demand, someone who's just a smidgen better than all the others is going to get att'n far out of proportion to how much better that one is.  Mass media & big venues distort the scaling.  If the maximum audience a band could have was 100 people, people would've been only slightly more interested in booking the Beatles than in booking, or hearing, any of 20 other bands.

This is true of football (snipped from the previous post) too.  If there were no TV & no big stadiums, there'd be hundreds of professional teams.  A few teams & players would be acknowledged as better than the others, but not so much better as to get the disproportionate att'n the NFL does today.

Contrast those situations with that of restaurants.  People can eat only so much, and they do so on a regular basis, and they can cook only so much except by mass prod'n.  No matter how much better one chef or staff might be, they'll get acknowledgement but won't be such a center of att'n as they would be if restaurant food were variably consumable & producible in the same way as entertainment.  Nobody would ask why there was no decent alternative to whatever restaurant.

[analog kid]

Why has there never been an acceptable alternative for..
Coffee?  Beer?
Stevie Wonder?
Chocolate chip cookies?
Mozart?  Beethoven?

Because when you define the very genre, you're irreplaceable.
I don't want to listen to some dipshit talking about paranormal shit,
I want to listen to my friend Art talk to crazy people.  It's not about the paranormal.
It's about Art Bell being a riveting radio host, entertainer, and interviewer.

Absolutely, well said.

[Theodora]

Why has there never been an acceptable alternative for..
Coffee?  Beer?
Stevie Wonder?
Chocolate chip cookies?
Mozart?  Beethoven?

Because when you define the very genre, you're irreplaceable.
I don't want to listen to some dipshit talking about paranormal shit,
I want to listen to my friend Art talk to crazy people.  It's not about the paranormal.
It's about Art Bell being a riveting radio host, entertainer, and interviewer.

Really well said. He is himself an individual, and that is what we liked. Its a unique contribution and a familiar voice and personality-who kept us intrigued and hopeful over many years and strange departures. Art has become a myth now. It wears thin when crap happens again and again. Placing a newbie in his spot without the personality and experience will not replace Art. There should be a contest for other up-in coming hopefuls because things as they are,  are not flying, at least for me.

[3OctaveFart]

I don't think listening to the lunatic fringe is as entertaining as it was in 1991, living in an angry and crazee world and being reminded of that practically around the clock.

I mean, who needs a skillful interview of Evelyn "The Witch" Paglini when you can just go online and study her in her natural habitat.

[Robert]

I don't think listening to the lunatic fringe is as entertaining as it was in 1991, living in an angry and crazee world and being reminded of that practically around the clock.

How much of it is that effect, vs. the effect of your being 24 yrs. older & with that much more experience?  This is a serious question when people try to pick apart secular (i.e. time) trends in opinion & behavior: How much of it is age, & how much of it is cohort?  If you were now the person you were in 1991, maybe you'd find listening to interviews of the fringe (as opposed to other ways of finding out about them, if you were even interested) to be just as entertaining now as then; or maybe not.  But you can't tell because you can't have that perspective.

[VtaGeezer]

Because the "paranormal/UFO" shtick has been beaten to death.  It was offbeat and fun in the  90s.  But it became like reading the same paper every morning. "Oh boy, another "disclosure is coming" show!!". 

[csummers]

Most bands had unique sounds in those days, Brits or Americans. The question was biggest early competitor. I don't know who that was for sure, or by what yardstick we're measuring, but The Beach Boys have to be amoung the top 2 or 3 vieing for that distinction. No?

[insert]  Ultimately, they had NO comparison or true competition as far as I 'm concerned, but if I/we are to play this game, then  . . .

you got it. Brian wilson was always trying to out do lennon/mcartney as americas answer to the beatles and the beach boys were seen as their competitor. The albums even competed and wilson got into the more psychedilic sounds at the same time. It was a a full on battle of the bands.

[The Snorchlax]

John B Wells but then he was promptly nuked off the airwaves and forced to internet

[Corona Kitty]

John b wells

[Meister_000]

you got it. Brian wilson was always trying to out do lennon/mcartney as americas answer to the beatles and the beach boys were seen as their competitor. The albums even competed and wilson got into the more psychedilic sounds at the same time. It was a a full on battle of the bands.

Thank you for 2nd-ing Sir!

[Uncle Duke]

Beach Boys ?

Motown was a bigger competitor to the Brit Invasion sound in the US than the surfing/hot rod music of bands like Beach Boys.  Go back and look at the top forty charts of the early/mid 60s, I'm confident there were more Motown hits in that period than surf music.

[grizpsych]

It's a niche market.

[The Kraken]

I've long thought 'I am the Walrus' is the most drug-inspired song ever recorded.

Actually John Lennon said he wrote that song because he hated how everyone was trying to analyze his music so he decided to write a song that made no sense and watch everyone try to figure out what it meant.