60s Hoosierbeat

11 Comments

Comment by Kurt/Yukki on July 1, 2008 at 3:22pm

Thanks for the help. I'm a fount, but lo-tech. People should really dig the shit out of that site, though. It's really great and the guy that runs it seems a Real Good One. I don't know where he finds all that stuff, but it's awesome. It's also great that the people that were in the bands stumble on the site and post stories.
Far out, man.

Comment by mike whybark on July 1, 2008 at 3:36pm

Someday, in the distant future, there will be a way of bringing obscure music and musicians together via televisor screens and wireless communication apparatuses, I predict.

Comment by Kurt/Yukki on July 1, 2008 at 3:54pm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xes0F36eTJA
Har!

Comment by mike whybark on July 1, 2008 at 4:07pm

Hey! That guy stole my act!

Comment by Evan Finch on July 1, 2008 at 5:20pm

That site is great! I had no idea it existed.

Comment by Marvin P. Goldstein on July 3, 2008 at 7:45pm

awesome blog! we need to get this guy on here!

Comment by mike whybark on July 3, 2008 at 8:56pm

that's a great suggestion, Marvin. He's in touch with Jason 'Indiana 45s' Yoder, so he might well be interested in swinging by and helping us backfill between 1945 and 1974ish.

Those of you following the Ben Ishmael and pop theory threads might remember that I have a pet thesis about themes in Hoosier pop, that a lot of time there's a sense of fatality in music produced by people from Indiana.

In looking over the guy's site, I noticed at least two songs about the inevitability and fucked-up-ed-ness, specifically about the draft ("Necessary Evil" was the side that I recall with clarity, so I'm feeling borne out, if disappointed that I didn't come across a lost Roky-Erickson-ish savant.

Comment by Kurt/Yukki on July 4, 2008 at 12:47pm

I don't believe that Indiana has any more of a sense of fatality than any place else, necessarily. I think that that sense of fatality is an essential and prevalent element in a lot of creative endeavors and, particularly, in Rock music. Especially the type of Rock music we listen to most. There's always been a element of jubilation, but rock & roll is also born of frustration and boredom. It's kind of hard to ascribe certain characteristics with geographical location, because, besides being reduced to generalities, the surface may be deceptive and, once you examine things more closely, the thesis may not bear out. I think of the Beatles coming from depressing Liverpool, and their music seeming to be so bright and cheerful, (as an example), but they also wrote some melancholy stuff. And wouldn't a reaction to a dismal environment be a great place to use music as an escape.

On the other hand, Indiana is a fucking bummer. I'm glad I left. I did feel stifled there.
(No offense to all of you still living there, naturally).

Comment by mike whybark on July 4, 2008 at 3:05pm

I understand your perspective, Kurt, without necessarily agreeing that it's a mistake to see the themes as regional. Here's where some of that exploration was taking place recently, although much of the discussion there was focused on the role of memory and the past in setting tone or content rather than looking specifically at fatalism, which I think I used as a term in this thread first.

I do agree that great music can be created by people in dismal circumstances, and that there does seem to be some sort of relationship between personal alienation and personal investment in music either as a creator or consumer - but I'm sure not gonna argue that is necessary. Happy people are just as capable of making great music as sad ones, right?

Comment by Kurt/Yukki on July 7, 2008 at 5:01pm

Well, when I say necessary, I mean it in the context of being a part of the "human condition". Just as I don't subscribe to a lot of generalities (except for when I do...As in contradictions, you see...) I also don't subscribe to a lot of absolutes. No one is a "happy person", really. Happiness, as sadness, or anger, are things that are fleeting. I know there are some happier or angrier people out there (or nicer, or more depressed, etc.) but I think we all share all of those emotions, to a greater, or lesser, degree. I don't know...This is where I start to hate typing, because something we could have a conversation about, that would flow freely, becomes pretentious sounding and self conscious and contrite...
I do agree with some geographical generalities, but find them to be, probably, more of a surface thing, that may not hold up to deeper scrutiny. I also don't necessarily agree with anything I say.
It's hard when you don't believe in anything...

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