mr.barlow wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:50 am
guttertrash wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:09 pm
Poison is a well-written song compared to the majority of songs from that era, but even it is still lacking in musical integrity to me. I’d love to never have to hear it or the rest of the Trash again. Always bathroom break time when that comes around.
Interesting how people like to make all these over generalizations about generations liking or not liking eras. I’m not saying my comment sums up what people like either, but as a 37 year old and a bar manager who has seen a lot of different crowds come and go, the majority of people who play Alice Cooper on the jukebox generally play School’s Out, 18, No More Mr. Nice Guy. There are very few people younger than me that I have talked to about music that mention liking Motley Crue or Guns N’ Roses much less Ratt, Poison, Cinderella, or 80s or current Alice Cooper. Most rock fans I come across are into 70s music like The Stones, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin or bands that have that stripped down vibe like The Black Crowes, Tom Petty, Greta Van Fleet, Jack White (ugh).
I have not heard Poison played one time at the bar in over a decade. I wear Alice shirts at work often, and the majority of people who mention that song when I have conversations are between my age and 50. The casual younger person tends to know and like at least one of the three older songs that I mentioned. Poison is seen as coming from an era that is passé. The polished, overproduced music of the 80s became a dinosaur when the Seattle scene hit with it’s more back to basics approach, and it is seen across much of the world of music outside of the small percentage of corporate rock bands still in existence that the majority of bands and what many people are listening too have a more stripped down approach that hearkens back to the 60s and 70s which in turn creates more appeal of the earlier Alice catalog.
Again, not saying this is an end all, be all comment, but the overgeneralization of what people in their 20s and 30s likes is inaccurate. I’m sure there are many who do like that era, but it does not fit and pretty much ignores what has happened in the world of rock music and culture since 1991 which makes up a much larger population than just the realm of corporate rock which has become a minor blip on the radar at this point.
Great post. It made me think of my best friend's 22 year old nephew. I talk to him about music when he around and he loves Pink Floyd, Led Zep and other classic bands.
When it comes to Alice he loves the original band...and has almost no liking of anything after 1974.
The "kids" his age mock the hair metal bands and people who listen to them. They call them "Wingers". The funny thing is the kid wasn't even alive when hair metal was popular.
That's the kind of reputation it had earned. Kind of how my generation mocked disco.
Suppose I was generalising (but certainly not overgeneralising) but nothing wrong with that as, as we all know, the general trend just now is away from rock in all its genres and generally speaking Classic Rock is not something the kids seek out as they have their own areas of musical interest.
I'm a fan since '72 and Killer, Schools Out and BDB are my three favourite albums with School's Out my favourite track as quite simply it changed my life. I love Poison as a song and because it absolutely put Alice back on the career rails and recharged the fan base. I love Bed of Nails as a song as well. There is a simplicity and an edge to it that just gets me.
Music has always been about generations and eras, I'd defy anyone to prove otherwise. That said there are always people who aren't part of the general trend but that's the minority. If it wasn't Classic Rock wouldn't be losing its audience year on year. Each generation has its own likes and as time moves on tastes change, fact.
I'd love to say that School's Out Eighteen or My Stars are more recognised by the younger music fans I meet but can't because over the last few years I have seldom come across anyone under 30 who is not a rock (any genre) fan and doesn't mention Poison as the only Alice song they know, if they know any. Usually because their dad was a rock fan in the 80's rather than the 70's.
Yes the Hair Metal years, probably more pop metal here in UK, were classic for two reasons:
1. It was a commercial peak of a couple of years where bands like Bon Jovi, Europe, Kiss, Alice, Guns and Roses and to a lesser extent Poison etc were everywhere. It brought a whole new audience into rock and I'm sure a lot of them broadened out into other genres.
2. It was the second major wave of glam in rock.
Of course it's a blip in the history of rock but so is Death Metal, Industrial Metal etc. Doesn't stop hem having a place in history and having their fans, no matter how others try and position their own preferences.
What people mock is pretty irrelevant to me. The mods mocked the rockers, the disco kids mocked rock, then rock mocked disco, punk mocked everybody and some of today's dance folk mock all forms of classic rock because it's their grandfathers music and has no relevance to them.
If you were a hair metal fan in your youth it will mean a lot to you and no amount of "my favourite music is better than yours" will change that. I'm fairly sure that without these folk the number of members on this site would be a lot smaller and the average a lot higher.