Re: Is it just me... or did old people have the WORST taste in music?

Maybe only those who still actively seek vinyl records will understand... but I’m not kidding. Old people had freaking terrible taste in music.

I typically look for records in used record stores... that’s it. But yesterday I was driving down a street and there was an estate sale. I had time to kill, I went in (though it felt creepy and I felt like a f&@king vulture). There were some records. The same kind of crap you find at EVERY old persons house: “Teddy smith plays organ favorites”, “Dixieland favorites by the joeblow orchestra”, “root beer rag and other favorite polkas by the polkaneers”, etc etc

What the hell? My grandparents bought this crap too. You see it all across America. Go into any Salvation Army and look at the records. Piles and piles of true no-name soul-less garbage.

If you are 80 now, you were born in 1940. You would’ve seen 50s and 60s rock albums. But I swear no one bought them. Just this kind of crap. Not even an edgy country album. Just this blanded-out junk.

Do you think people then were afraid to buy albums by black people? Why wouldn’t they have some John Coltrane or muddy waters? Never!!!

Don’t try to tell me ‘well, the psychopath collectors get there early and take the good stuff’. While they were living, I know my grandparents and older aunts and uncles had this same crap. Nothing even slightly interesting.
Even my parents chose ‘the new Christy minstrels’ over Dylan. Why?!?

(...give me a minute to gather myself....)

I am leaving future vinyl shoppers a jaw-dropping collection! Why couldn’t these damn old people?!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:06PM by That One Guy.

Earlier this year, a retired couple gave me about 140 albums that they had culled from their collection, on the grounds that they had duplicates. All manner of genres and selections, from Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Beach Boys to easy listening like Mantovani and Ferrante & Teicher, to all-around pop singers like Tony Bennett, to movie soundtracks from the '50s through the '70s. Some cool stuff in there, such as Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood, a couple of Johnny Rivers albums, my beloved Ventures, and so on. Some dross in the crates that alluded to very white taste, such as Pat Boone ... but overall, it was a pretty exciting treasure trove to sift through.

And when I was done sifting, all but 15 of those albums went straight to the dumpster. I couldn't believe that people who loved music enough to amass such a big record collection, regardless of genre or taste, took such horrible care of their records. The condition of the vinyl was downright shocking to look at, and unendurable on my turntable.

Like our esteemed Bip, my missus and I will leave behind an astounding record collection. I'm not sure anyone in my own family will want it, but I can certainly think of some friends who will beg and clamor for an opportunity to go through it. (I know that several of my oldest friends in Colorado would willingly drive halfway across the country for the opportunity to haul it away, lock, stock and plastic sleeve protectors.) By the time what's left gets to any estate sale, or yard sale, or anything of the sort, it will be a small lot of leftovers, I'm certain.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:07PM by That One Guy.

True, true...not only does one never see too many Beatles albums, despite their being one of the biggest selling artists ever, one rarely sees any Elvis either, and he sold even more. Bajillion-selling hippie rock (Led Zep, Pink Floyd, etc), Motown/soul, '60s rock: all sold huge amounts of units, but they're rare as hen's teeth out there. You'd think Led Zep 4 or "Back in Black" would be as common as the Firestone xmas albums or Barbra. I think we see the stuff that settles to the bottom. But, to your point, what we know think of as classic blues and jazz just wasn't mainstream music at the time. It got little radio play in those days before the popularity of college/public radio.

I remember the agony of my grandfather's Drivetime Variety cassette. My parents had slightly better stuff (West Side Story OST, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton etc) but they did knock back the opportunity to go see The Beatles at the Sydney Stadium in 1964.