In the '60s and '70s, there was the rock music of the '60s and '70s. And then there was the '80s in which the '60s weren't quite retro (and who cared about retro when you had legwarmers and Nintendo) and the music acts of the '70s were still sort of around anyway. The '90s seemed to pass over the '70s because, I can only assume, that their popular rock music was still reasonably great (Seattle grunge). That brings us to the 2000s, which brought on what I call a '60s/'70s rock revival in teenagers as an alternative to hip-hop, which was taking its place in popular music. Being a teenager in the 2000s, who could be more of a reliable source on this subject than myself?
Interest was revitalized in many older artists and acts. Such groups (just to name a few) revisited by youth included The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Cream. My Grade 12 English teacher was glad to see that she could use Bob Dylan in her poetry unit and finally not seem lame to her students. Long hair and rock tees came back in, everyone wanted to be in a garage band and play a guitar. Influence of this movement can even be heard in some bands of the 2000s era.
I'm going to single out the Australian '70s rock n' roll throwback group Wolfmother (debut album released in 2005), who were cooler than cool to the children of the rock revolution. They sound pretty retro. Mike Patton once asked and interviewer, after hearing Wolfmother playing in the background, "are you hearing this [expletive removed]? What YEAR is this". That was actually a defamatory comment in context, but still. They have a song titled Joker & the Thief: a clear reference to All Along the Watchtower. Their lyrics are comparably mystical and all that jazz.
Wolfmother was in their early twenties when they were formed, and I believe they were aspiring to be Zeppelinesque. So I thought: "wouldn't it be funny if there were a group of twenty-somethings writing throwback music that was influenced by Jimmy Buffett, who also made a name for himself in the '70s"?
This is a young person's conundrum, but Jimmy Buffett, like Neil Young, is someone I can't even IMAGINE under the age of, like, 50. This may be because they've been that age my entire life, but also because both of their lyrics seem to be written and sung from the perspective of a wise (let's throw quotation marks on that for Buffett), experienced man. I don't know where I'm-a-gonna go when the Volcano blow, but really who cares? That's life, ain't it? As long as I don't get radiation poisoning or arrested for possession or landlocked. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at, let's go get a burger and a beer.
Imagine a trio of kids, barely out of high school or Berkeley or whatever, earnestly singing "The Great Filling Station Holdup". There are plenty of songs on the radio about drinking right now, but there aren't nearly enough of them about doing it out of a coconut shell. How about instead of Travis McCoy "want[ing] to be a billionaire, so frickin' bad", he just wishes he had a Pencil Thin Moustache? Less Sexy Bitches, more sunny beaches. You get my drift (draught).
Let's make it happen, talented musicians!
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