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Thursday, 25 April 2013

The Way it Was Then vs The Way it is Today

All my life I've been a keen lover of music, mostly of rock music but my likes also includes a wide variety of across the board type genres.  I do have my personal favorite bands, musicians and best artists of all time and am as happy to listen to 40 year old music as I am of the more modern day era compilations.  This evening it suddenly dawned upon me that my music likes and dislikes have something in common with motor racing which is another favorite of mine.  I know you may think I've gone totally bonkers but hear me out.

You see the type of racing that I enjoy and in fact actively participate in is known as historic racing or classic car racing which was done before January 1977.  This format or category of motorsport is governed by a set of rules which specifically stipulates that the parts used on the car e.g. engine, gearbox, cylinder head, bodywork etc. must all be from within the period which occurred before 1977.  We're talking here of some 36 years and more ago I may just remind you.  Of course, as time moved on so parts for those 36 year and older cars became obsolete or in the least scarce and as such, allowances had to be made to accommodate those older cars.  In reality, then these cars are not 100% accurate as they were in the day simply due to the unavailability of such original parts.  While most racing cars in this category around the country still largely conform to the original manufacturers parts such as engine type, gearbox, cylinder head, bodywork etc.compromises were permitted and afforded so that by and large it still resembles the way it was raced many moons ago and affords that such wonderful cars can still be seen today on a track near you.

Now the more purist type would argue flat that this is not how it was done back then and takes away from how it was raced nearly 40 years ago and that every effort should be made to race it like it was in the period.  A lot easier said than done and as such it often leads to much heated debate at times when one tries to explain that manufacturers simply no longer make these parts and are as such not freely available any longer.

So what has this all got to do with my opening statement regarding my music preferences?  Well, quite a lot in fact.  You see way back in 1962 a British band called The Rolling Stones was formed and became famous with band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.  They were a huge hit in 1960's and early 70's with famous songs such as Honky Tonk Women, Time is on my side, Under my Thumb, Brown Sugar etc. to name but only a few.  They toured the continents and became one of the greatest British bands to ever tour the world.  Which made me sit down and think a bit.  Here they are below playing another famous hit of theirs which was released on 13 May 1966 called Paint it Black;



You see more than 45 years ago, they used pretty basic type musical equipment with not many frills and stage lighting effects, backdrops and such like yet they churned out hit after hit, album after album and became music sensations.  Many, myself included still have some of their original material of the 60's and 70's on vinyl.  As we grew older such was eventually transferred onto more modern media such as cassette and still much later onto compact-disc and even DVD.  Whatever format their music is contained on, it remains as ever popular and brings back such wonderful memories of more than 40 years ago.  I also observed their playing style, musical equipment and individual stage personalities as they performed some 40 years back, their clothing fashions and stage movements.  I then compared them performing in modern day on 25th November 2012 at the O2 arena as seen here below performing the exact same hit, Paint it Black;



So the question I pose is this:  The Rolling Stones were formed back in 1962 and are still performing live concerts around the world to this very day and have just completed their 50th Anniversary Tour and are still playing in front of thousands upon thousands of fans worldwide.  What I immediately observed is that they don't make use of the semi-acoustic electric guitars, valve VOX amplifiers, cabled microphones and guitar cables.  Everything today is cordless microphones, cordless guitars, modern transistorized amplifiers, stage props etc.  Does that now make them no longer the Rolling Stones as we once knew them back in the 60's simply because although they are still playing the same songs they played all those years ago, such is now performed by using more modern equipment?

For sure these guys have all aged, are using more modern type musical equipment than what they played with nearly 50 years ago but all their music is still instantly recognizable, it's still a big hit with many folk of that era and is still enjoyed by millions around the world not giving a shit about equipment not being exactly the same as when they originally played it back then.  It's time that classic/historic motor racing wakes up to the same fact, that time doesn't stand still and that it actually waits for nobody including the so-called purist.  So to all those still believing you can't get no 'Satisfaction' wakey wakey, life's too short, enjoy it while you can, after all, you are running Out of Time    So please Get off my Cloud  and let this be 'The Last Time'