Every time I hear "Penny Lane" lately,

[lysander]

I'm struck by how fucking hard that song swings. What happened to swing in rock?

[chumford]

I think so few bands even "play" together now-a-days, much less figure out how to swing together.

[Scodiddly]

"Modern rock" has sort of spit the blues and soul back out. Very stiff music, rhythmically.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

My band works very hard at swinging but it took quite a while to find a drummer that could do it.

[sad iron]

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Or at least some. Maybe that's why I don't listen to much that was recorded in the past decade.

[Dakota]

I'm struck by how fucking hard that song swings. What happened to swing in rock?

Grid editing.

[suppositron]

I'm struck by how fucking hard that song swings. What happened to swing in rock?

Grid editing.

That and click tracks probably.

[joninc]

I'm struck by how fucking hard that song swings. What happened to swing in rock?

Grid editing.

+10

modern recordings are so STIFF

[Young Winston]

I'm struck by how fucking hard that song swings. What happened to swing in rock?

Grid editing.

That and click tracks probably.

Of course. Whatever you do, don't blame the musicians.

[alex matson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACRIrMcjBXY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04hcZwqYVpI

[sad iron]

I've been thinking about this more throughout the day (instead of thinking about other stuff) and a lot of it has to do with the players, specifically the rhythm section. A lot of people give Ringo flack for not being a great rock drummer, and I think that has to do in part with how well he played FOR the songs and not OVER the songs. He and Paul are very musical in their approaches to the rhythm parts and that has a lot to do with the songs' swing.

And yeah, I think you could blame the musicians a little, but when you learned to play in the computer age with that kind of technology at your disposal, why wouldn't you use it? Yes, the net result is poorer skills, but it's a chicken and the egg question: Did grid locked tempo and playing to clicks hinder musicians' development or were they solutions to a problem?

I personally never track my band to a click. I do track other bands to a click.

And Alex, without context, I have no idea why you posted those two videos. Throw us a bone.

[ubertar]

Makes me think of Zep's "What Is and What Should Never Be" too. Not only for the swing, but for something else today's rock lacks too: dynamics.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

A lot of people give Ringo flack for not being a great rock drummer, and I think that has to do in part with how well he played FOR the songs and not OVER the songs.

A lot of people also have no idea what their talking about.
If you ever get a chance to hear the Beatles demo with Pete Best on drums you realize how good Ringo is in that band (I think it's I Want To Hold You Hand but I could be wrong). You can be a good band with a bad singer or guitar player but if your drummer sucks your band will suck.

[alex matson]

Oh. Well, they're both examples of more modern tunes that swing in the Penny Lane style, as opposed to, say, Glenn Miller. I remember showing the guitarist in a band I was in the guitar part from Baby Britain, referencing it to 'It's Getting Better' and the band having a similar discussion to the one here. I always thought it was interesting that, without the backing instruments, one might think of 'Psycho Killer' or something equally...non-swingy.

[cgarges]

And yeah, I think you could blame the musicians a little, but when you learned to play in the computer age with that kind of technology at your disposal, why wouldn't you use it? Yes, the net result is poorer skills, but it's a chicken and the egg question: Did grid locked tempo and playing to clicks hinder musicians' development or were they solutions to a problem?

A click track has zero to do with how a track feels if the musicians are competent. Plenty of the Beatles recordings were done to metronomes and there are literally thousands of great-feeling tracks cut to click tracks. For that matter, there are at least hundreds of grreat-feeling tracks that use drum machines for the groove.

If you can't make music feel good with a quarter-note pulse helping ensure a consistent tempo, it's your fault, not the click track's.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC