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Re: Santana no longer influential?!?! HORSE CHIPS!!!!!!



I dunno Kim--I'm just back from a bar where a bunch of kids in the early
twenties were digging the shit out of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Steve Miller
covers, singing along with every word in an un-ironic manner.  Classic Rock
is amazingly popular among Da Kidz in Seattle.  When I first moved here a
couple of years ago I was, amazed to hear the teenager behind the counter 
at
the bagel shop get all excited and start singing along with some 70's-era
Clapton.  Which isn't to say that newer stuff isn't popular here, but there
isn't a reflexive rejection of the music of their parents.  And I've seen
plenty of young guitarists who take inspiration from the
Santana/Clapton/Allman/Vaughn school of playing.

That said, I still don't think Santana really sells guitars.  Everyone who
cares about the "Carlos" tone knows that he uses Santana model PRS's, which
cost two fortunes, and I can't say I've every seen someone other than 
Carlos
use one on stage, or even in a magazine.  Those are dentist guitars. The
pornographic shots of curly maple tops is the bread-and-butter of the PRS
advertising thrust.  Plus, they are really good guitars.

TH

> 
> Nobody new is being inspired to go become a
> musician by that stuff. In fact, I'm only a few years older than you, 
>and I
> don't remember anybody being interested in that stuff in the 80's or 90's
> either. It was more like Run DMC vs Metallica vs Depeche Mode in my 80's
> world.
> 
> If we are interested in how looping can grow beyond a weird little niche,
> it has to become a part of popular music culture today. Not fossilized
> artifacts from 20 or 30 years ago. That means there must be good music 
>that
> a lot of people like listening to in the present, and which happens to be
> based on looping. Good, popular music will inspire people. Bad or strange
> music will not.