Classic masterpieces, was the public aware?

A big part of what goes into a "classic" would have to be a large group of people all saying that a certain album is fantastic and so a constant rotation, must listen.

I was one of those music fans from the sixties and seventies that bought the albums you refer to when they were new releases. 

Stool Man wrote: Does any band in the 2010s think about their music being heard in the 2050s? In the 1970s, longevity meant the Rock 'n' Roll revival.  The music of 40 years earlier was mostly forgotten - Louis Armstrong was that guy who sang "What A Wonderful World" in 1967, rather than that guy whose trumpet was heard throughout every decade since the 1920s. I don't think anyone thought forty years ahead when they were promoting their latest album.

There must be lots of albums which at the time were highly regarded and which have since been mostly forgotten (obviously no examples come to mind, but look at the weekly album chart listings from the 1970s and see how many are by bands that you've never heard of)
Selling lots of copies on release is no guarantee of longevity or lasting fame.

I have to admit that when I first visited the PA I was surprised to see Gabriel era Genesis albums so highly regarded, from my recollections of the first half of the 70s I don't think anyone in my social circle regarded them as classic albums in the same way as ELP (everything up to Brain Salad Surgery), Floyd (studio albums up to Wish You Were Here) and Yes (everything from Fragile up to Relayer). Genesis's stage act with Gabriel's costumes was probably more well-known than any of their albums at the time. I suspect that their current high-regard is retrospective, being a direct result of the later successes of post-Gabriel Genesis and the man himself. No one at the time would have thought of Selling England By The Pound as a future classic, compared to say Dark Side of The Moon. While Dark Side's initial (and continued) success perhaps took the average Prog fan by surprise at the time, its status as a classic album was realised quite early on. However, all four of these bands were probably more renowned for their stage shows more than their studio albums at the time, and, it has to be said, the popularity of Yessongs owed a lot to posters of the album cover being a hit with students to adorn the walls their drab Hall of Residence lodgings. Any classic status of many of those bands' albums was pretty much assured by the lavish and spectacular tours that promoted them.

Edited by Dean - February 04 2015 at 05:29

Dean wrote: I have to admit that when I first visited the PA I was surprised to see Gabriel era Genesis albums so highly regarded, from my recollections of the first half of the 70s I don't think anyone in my social circle regarded them as classic albums in the same way as ELP (everything up to Brain Salad Surgery), Floyd (studio albums up to Wish You Were Here) and Yes (everything from Fragile up to Relayer). Genesis's stage act with Gabriel's costumes was probably more well-known than any of their albums at the time. I suspect that their current high-regard is retrospective, being a direct result of the later successes of post-Gabriel Genesis and the man himself. No one at the time would have thought of Selling England By The Pound as a future classic, compared to say Dark Side of The Moon.

chopper wrote: Dean wrote: I have to admit that when I first visited the PA I was surprised to see Gabriel era Genesis albums so highly regarded, from my recollections of the first half of the 70s I don't think anyone in my social circle regarded them as classic albums in the same way as ELP (everything up to Brain Salad Surgery), Floyd (studio albums up to Wish You Were Here) and Yes (everything from Fragile up to Relayer). Genesis's stage act with Gabriel's costumes was probably more well-known than any of their albums at the time. I suspect that their current high-regard is retrospective, being a direct result of the later successes of post-Gabriel Genesis and the man himself. No one at the time would have thought of Selling England By The Pound as a future classic, compared to say Dark Side of The Moon.  I'm going to disagree with you there Dean. There was a "prog" circle at my school in the early/mid 70s and Genesis were amongst the biggies with Yes and ELP. Pink Floyd not so much but DSOTM was already a classic by then. Supper's Ready was already a classic (people were already shouting "a flower!" when I saw them in '76) and TLLDOB was well on it's way.

SteveG wrote: I think the word masterpiece is an overused in recent times. How about "five star rating'" instead?   Oh, that's overused too?  Oh well, never mind then.

Dean wrote: chopper wrote: Dean wrote: I have to admit that when I first visited the PA I was surprised to see Gabriel era Genesis albums so highly regarded, from my recollections of the first half of the 70s I don't think anyone in my social circle regarded them as classic albums in the same way as ELP (everything up to Brain Salad Surgery), Floyd (studio albums up to Wish You Were Here) and Yes (everything from Fragile up to Relayer). Genesis's stage act with Gabriel's costumes was probably more well-known than any of their albums at the time. I suspect that their current high-regard is retrospective, being a direct result of the later successes of post-Gabriel Genesis and the man himself. No one at the time would have thought of Selling England By The Pound as a future classic, compared to say Dark Side of The Moon.  I'm going to disagree with you there Dean. There was a "prog" circle at my school in the early/mid 70s and Genesis were amongst the biggies with Yes and ELP. Pink Floyd not so much but DSOTM was already a classic by then. Supper's Ready was already a classic (people were already shouting "a flower!" when I saw them in '76) and TLLDOB was well on it's way.  Easily explained by our age difference.

We seem to hash this subject endlessly - "Was this music popular back in the day?"