The ShadowMusic Web Community

Nice to hear Radio 2 have been putting out some nice comments about the Shads.
Most of the week (Sir) Bob Geldof has been tell Jools Holland in a trailer how important they were.
Usually reffering to George Harrison's comment " No Shadows, No Beatles", with "Apron Strings" in the background .
Also the phrase was repeated today by Chris Evans in conversation with Robert Plant.
Perhaps at last they are acknowledging on air how big a part the Shadows were on the music scene.
Interestingly too that this years Brit awards had the lowest ratings ever, and that folk music won some of the awards.
The state of British music today is unclear, I think it needs a new band to dominate, wouldn't it be nice if instrumental music made a big comeback

Kind Regards

Russ

I suspect that many British guitarists who went on to make it big in the 1960s' started off in bands playing Shadows music. They were a huge influence over many novice players including me, (who never made the big time).

Yes, it is great to hear The Shadows being given overdue recognition of their place in musical history. For far too long, it seemed to be rather naff to admit to being a Shadows fan, partly due to their association with a certain singer who will remain nameless and also to The Shadows adopting an all-round family entertainer image when they were still in their early twenties. However quality will always rise to the top, eventually.
I would love to see great instumental music make a genuine comeback to popularity in Britain. Sadly due to the low quality of "Pop" music in this Country, I fear that even if it were to comeback we would not wish to listen to it . Simon Cowell seems to be in control of British popular music and his quality threshold is so low that being musically talented has no bearing on what sells, one instantly forgettable Christmas no 1 and then onto the next new flavour of the Week. I cannot bring mysef to watch "The X factor" or "Britains got talent", but I doubt very much if an instrumental act ever gets a look in, does it.

captainhaddock wrote:I would love to see great instumental music make a genuine comeback to popularity in Britain.

It's not a British only problem, it's the same everywhere...
Nowadays, because of TV preeminence, people look at music, rather than listening to it. The visual part is far more important than the musical part, so all what is needed is attractive looking and well dancing singers.
Unfortunatly, this makes an instrumental music comeback very unlikely...

Didier

I can remember the time late 60s/ early 70s if you was in your teens you had to keep your Shadows LPs hidden and listen to them secretly and just display your Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix etc.
I used to think, 'Doesn't anyone know that these guitarists who play Progressive music (as it was called at the time) a few years before were influenced by The Shadows and wanted to have a red electric guitar and play in a Cliff & Shadows type band?

Does anyone agree with me that in the 60s you heard a record and you knew who it was - all vocalists had different sounds - different styles - Cliff, Elvis, Roy O. Del Shannon, Billy Fury etc etc. To my ears these days they all follow the same style - belt it out, bend and hold notes as long as they can - hence all sound the same!