OH, Snap! Coachella gets a bit of a slapdwn from someone who was THERE! (The 60's!) Donald Fagen

[A HERETIC I AM]

Donald Fagen, of Steely Dan fame, agreed to write a diary of his experience playing at the Coachella Music Festival which wound up last weekend, apparently. His last installment appears in Rolling Stone online, excerpted below. He wasn't too impressed with the other acts! But I think, as a LONG time fan of his work, that what he and Walter Becker have put together over the years, and most likely sampled some of at the festival, went RIGHT over the heads of that crowd, save a few of the older folks.

Bolding, Smileys and underlining below are mine.

Like the previous Friday, most of the music I heard was in the c. 1965 Dylanesque mode, minus genius ( ) or anything like that. I've been hearing this stuff for more than a half-century and it's getting pretty dreary. Jeez, that's how I started out, more or less. I'm sure some of these guys don't even know they're doing early Bob. ( ) At least hip-hop, which is tough for me to listen to, has got a few genuine eccentrics with street energy and something to say. But wouldn't it be great to hear something as lively as, like, George Clinton, or Ian Dury and the Blockheads' There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards?

Maybe something awesome will turn up. Or not. As the Empire declines, so does culture, literacy, and almost everything else. ( ) Ironically, high technology, once thought to be the savior of civilization, has become our Alaric the First, our barbarian invasion. Increasingly, it looks like life in the future will be nasty, brutish and long.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/steely-dan-donald-fagen-coachella-tour-diary-part-six-20150420

[JI7]

1. these days Coachella seems to be more about fashion

And what celebs are wearing. And people who just want to be part of the crowd.

[Initech]

11. I'm a music fan and I live in California and I avoid Coachella for that reason.

If I pay money to go to a concert, I want to see the bands. I don't want to see fashion, or douchebags, or people who want to take selfies with celebrities. If I go see a band in concert, I want to see the concert.

[gratuitous]

2. Did he tell them to get off the lawn, too?

I'm of Fagen's age myself, and I'll admit to very little familiarity with popular music since (let's say) Peter Gabriel's "So" album. But every generation gets its own music and expression. It's not meant for me or Fagen or anyone but the folks participating in it. Neither Fagen nor I have to like it, and his grousing makes me feel even older and more out of touch than I am. With all respect, Donald, put a sock in it. Put your greatest hits album on the turntable (or the CD in the player), crack open a cold one, and let's groove on "My Old School" or "Hey Nineteen" and let the young uns have their turn.

[Jesus Malverde]

9. Thank you....nt

[former9thward]

12. Right, let's get rid of any music criticism.

Garbage in, garbage out.

[reddread]

3. guess he lived long enough to suffer the consequences

I like Steely Dan. I dont care for "Do it again" and whatever other violently oppressive rightist allegories they have set to music.
Someday I will master and steal the Mu chord simply because nothing of that sort belongs to anyone, and its all been done before.
technology and music and art is such an interesting subject to me.
I dont think Fagen has any real authority to glean from.
Picking on the crap that masquerades as music or art in the 21st century is not a big trick.
Arrogant success stories with high regard are still mostly just that.
Dumb kids are dumb kids.
Fagen just wishes, deep inside, that he was Bob Dylan and all those kids were following his lead, instead.

[sufrommich]

5. How in the world did you get "violently oppressive rightist allegory"

out of Do It Again?

[reddread]

7. do you have a better description of the death penalty?

particularly in the circumstance of a war criminal occupied country like the US?

[Enrique]

4. are new acts really doing early Bob Dylan?

that's a plus, imho. Also a surprise.

[sufrommich]

6. He meant they're Dylanesque sounding

without the weight of good lyrics.

[Beaverhausen]

8. A friend of mine who went said there were virtually no guitar solos or keyboards at Coachella

When asked what was there, he said songs and rhythm.

and I'm sure plenty of E. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Scootaloo]

10. Old Man Gripes About Kids Today And Their Music

A magazine that believes music halted with the debut of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" carries the story. Around the nation, other old people breathe a sigh of relief that finally someone shares their distaste for "bunka-dunka-dunka jungle music" and pines for the lyrical melodies of baaaaWWWWBBB DyllUUUUnnnnyuhn! Much waxing poetic commences, and the gathered crowd concludes that The Munkees would have never sold out like modern musicians.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

15. Ouch! nt

[DonCoquixote]

13. hey fagen

remember when people hated your music because it was not Bob Dylan? Hell, even Bob Dylan does nto try to sound like Bob Dylan, but then again, he knows that a lot of his fans wish he died in the 60's, so they can say, with full authority "I know if Bobby had lived, he would have NEVER picked up those ugly electric guitars those damned kids play!

[greendog]

14. Steely Dan : Sophomoric Jazz / Pop and a front man with negative stage presence.

It's interesting that they mentioned "c. 1965 Dylan". Dylan's music evolved. He reinvented himself many times. Same for Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Paul Simon, and Leonard Cohen.

Steely Dan kept the same formula for all their records. Their live show consists of two boring old farts and a bunch of top dollar studio guys playing the same tired shit the same way night after night.

Kind of like Jazz (with the Jazz removed ).

Maybe Coachella sucked this year, I don't know. If it did Steely Dan was at the right festival.