1790s vs. 1890s vs. 1990s vs. 2090s

music hall was going strong then too. Marie Lloyd was around then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Lloyd

Yeah but it's a far cry from the RIAA and Ticketmaster and MTV and stuff. More decentralized, more organic, more diversified.

bwahahaa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79aRKSur8h4

^ Marie Lloyd's famous number

This is pretty interesting stuff:

Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the middle class of Europe and North America increased in both numbers and prosperity. This increase produced a corresponding rise in the domestic importance of the piano, as ever more families became able to afford pianos and piano instruction. The piano also became common in public institutions, such as schools, hotels, and public houses. As elements of the Western middle class lifestyle gradually spread to other nations, the piano became common in these nations as well, for example in Japan.

To understand the rise of the piano among the middle class, it is helpful to remember that before mechanical and electronic reproduction, music was in fact performed on a daily basis by ordinary people. For instance, the working people of every nation generated a body of folk music, which was transmitted orally down through the generations and sung by all. The parents of Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) could not read music, yet Haydn's father (who worked as a wheelwright) taught himself to play the harp, and the Haydn family frequently played and sang together. With rising prosperity, the many families that could now afford pianos and music adapted their home-grown musical abilities to the new instrument, and the piano became a major source of music in the home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_history_of_the_piano

Having a piano/piano lessons was definitely a sign for me that someone was middle class. A few of my friends had exactly that (yes we mocked them).

The other middle class signifier was owning 'a bbc master/micro system' for "educational purposes" .

Dunno if this was just a west of scotland thing or not though

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Want to know who the optimists are that voted for the 2090s