Future BoC Appreciation

crockett · Post by **crockett** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:46 am

I have been thinking, after introducing some younger ones to BoC, about whether or not people of future generations will truly be able to appreciate this music.

I am in my mid-20s, but still grew up around VHS, casettes, and loads of out-dated lo-fi media from the 70s-80s in an underfunded public school system as a young child. Will people who've never had these images and sounds embedded into their memories or, even further, never into their realm of awareness, be taken to the same places that many BoC listeners are? I was amazed to find scores of fan-made videos and art that very accurately captured some of what was happening in my imagination. It was an amazing connection.

I do not object to people enjoying the music without having this same linkage to the past the way many fans today do. I embrace it. However, I wonder whether or not people will be impacted the same way in the future.

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:56 am

I think of their retro educational movie and washed-out looking pictures stuff as merely a secondary aspect of their identity. Their music and its message is embedded within a much more abstract framework and will continue to appeal to people independent of the time they grew up in.

zeoevil · Post by **zeoevil** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:14 am

This is actually a valid observation insomuch as some key songs certainly encourage a certain interpretation that will be lost on some listeners. Songs that contain Sesame Street and Film Board of Canada samples for example. Other songs do not suffer from this unfortunate condition and I think it will be those songs that future generations will most likely find interesting. There are of course a whole third category of songs like 5.9.78 that are just so good that it doesn't matter who you are they will resonate with you.

Distant Nebulus · Post by **Distant Nebulus** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:18 am

I think about this quite often, although its a tough call...I actually started a thread a while back about a similar subject...

http://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

Negamuse · Post by **Negamuse** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:57 pm

It's an interesting thought. I think of a parallel with 8mm film, which has been there as a "look" for directors to pick up and use when they want that feeling of retro warmth, because they grew up with it - the same kind of nostalgia thing. But then flash forward to the present day and it's getting caned to death with Instagram, a poor replication of the visual effect I know, but it's pervasive enough to the point I don't know if someone seeing a picture aged like that would think of a 60's handheld camera first or their latest gimmick app.

It'd be a shame if that happened with BoC because they've always been very strongly about the nostalgia and the very deliberate use of things to invoke that past time for reasons beyond the aesthetic of it. You can already see it in a way with post-BoC bands that tread the same waters.... those that are legit and know where they're coming from do better than those that just pastiche BoC and use them as the primary source rather than the original stuff that inspired BoC, if you see what I mean.

ross adey · Post by **ross adey** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:33 pm

Guido wrote:I think of their retro educational movie and washed-out looking pictures stuff as merely a secondary aspect of their identity. Their music and its message is embedded within a much more abstract framework and will continue to appeal to people independent of the time they grew up in.

i agree.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:09 pm

ross adey wrote:
Guido wrote:I think of their retro educational movie and washed-out looking pictures stuff as merely a secondary aspect of their identity. Their music and its message is embedded within a much more abstract framework and will continue to appeal to people independent of the time they grew up in.
i agree.

i second this.

but in regards to the whole visual part of things: i was born too late to be exposed to the whole 'educational films on scratched 16mm' thing, but i can still identify with it - it's a fairly unique aesthetic which i associate with only a few artists, the main one of course being boards of canada. i don't think that aesthetic will lose its appeal or relevance because it is something very special.

Fireal420 · Post by **Fireal420** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 2:07 am

this is an interesting subject. i believe you are correct in the sense that, future generations may not be able to appreciate the era being referred to in much of the music. but with that said, they will still be able to appreciate the quality of the music itself.

with that said. im sure that future generations will be able to relate with boards of canadas music. mainly because it will be the future generations who finally get to see a new album release, lol