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I concur with some of you.
I grew up in the 80's and 90's , but I listen to a broad spectrum from 1958 to 1 song from 2008. But my sweet spot is the 80's. Classical , movie soundtracks , disco , old school rap and R/B as opposed to this R&BS they play on the radio. Not many out there who value things....all wish to emulate. Living in N. Carolina , all they play on the radio is auditory refuse. Every song they play has someone yelling HAY or some indiscernable drivel. I'm at the point where I've disconnected the antenna in my car and listen solely to my discs. That's probably why I carry 1-2 passengers a year. Not many wish to travel with me , which is fine. I have an aversion to xenophobia anyway...LOL!!
Living in N. Carolina , all they play on the radio is auditory refuse. Every song they play has someone yelling HAY or some indiscernable drivel.
heh
One of my favorite current bands, the Avett Brothers, are from N. Carolina.
They are actually fairly articulate guys, but you probably won't hear them on the radio. And they do sing about "their stupid emotions and crap."
This thread has got to be about the 7th or 8th one about our terrible state of today's music, and the second one in a month.
But I do agree that this generation of musicians seem on the softer side.
I like the angsty indie stuff but could never live on it alone. I would not last long in the skinny jeans hipster coffeehouse.
Where's the Clash when you need them?
I like all sorts of music, from classical to manouche to The Roots.
I make a point of *not* reading the self-congratulatory, disdainful musings of Pitchfork Review.
I think some listeners (and definitely some critics) have this attitude that if the music is accessible and/or melodic and has simple lyrics, it is dumbed down, or if it is a raging thunderstorm of raw immediacy, it is not for grown-ups.
I disagree.
Beethoven could be angry, but he was articulate.
I like angry young musicians if they at least half-way sound as if they know what they are talking about.
Green Day comes to mind. Poke fun if you want but I like Billie Joe.
Jack White, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
I like some of Rage Against the Machine and Rammstein.
I dunno, my generation is getting quite old now, and of its musicians, only a few seem to still have that urge to raise their fists, let alone swagger.
But then, I *don't* hope I die before I get old.
Edited to add: Anyone listen to the Black Lips?
Last edited by BlueWillowPlate; 10-23-2009 at 08:50 AM..
Reason: add a band
heh
One of my favorite current bands, the Avett Brothers, are from N. Carolina.
They are actually fairly articulate guys, but you probably won't hear them on the radio. And they do sing about "their stupid emotions and crap."
This thread has got to be about the 7th or 8th one about our terrible state of today's music, and the second one in a month.
But I do agree that this generation of musicians seem on the softer side.
I like the angsty indie stuff but could never live on it alone. I would not last long in the skinny jeans hipster coffeehouse.
Where's the Clash when you need them?
I like all sorts of music, from classical to manouche to The Roots.
I make a point of *not* reading the self-congratulatory, disdainful musings of Pitchfork Review.
I think some listeners (and definitely some critics) have this attitude that if the music is accessible and/or melodic and has simple lyrics, it is dumbed down, or if it is a raging thunderstorm of raw immediacy, it is not for grown-ups.
I disagree.
Beethoven could be angry, but he was articulate.
I like angry young musicians if they at least half-way sound as if they know what they are talking about.
Green Day comes to mind. Poke fun if you want but I like Billie Joe.
Jack White, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
I like some of Rage Against the Machine and Rammstein.
I dunno, my generation is getting quite old now, and of its musicians, only a few seem to still have that urge to raise their fists, let alone swagger.
But then, I *don't* hope I die before I get old.
Edited to add: Anyone listen to the Black Lips?
You hit the nail on the head with that one. There are a lot of songs/ musican groups that have the potential to be good... but they're just whiny and boring. We have this kid that lives next door, late teen who me and the boyfriend refer to as 'Guitar Hero'. He plays his electric guitar (with amp up to 11, of course) until midnight every night and he just plays the same 4 or 5 chords and WHINES. Literally, like a sad nasaly puppy.
We just moved in 7 months ago so I don't yet feel comfortable going over there and handing him a pair of headphones (they plug into amps now, who knew?!). I'd call the cops, but his dad is an officer so that won't do any good.
You hit the nail on the head with that one. There are a lot of songs/ musican groups that have the potential to be good... but they're just whiny and boring. We have this kid that lives next door, late teen who me and the boyfriend refer to as 'Guitar Hero'. He plays his electric guitar (with amp up to 11, of course) until midnight every night and he just plays the same 4 or 5 chords and WHINES. Literally, like a sad nasaly puppy.
We just moved in 7 months ago so I don't yet feel comfortable going over there and handing him a pair of headphones (they plug into amps now, who knew?!). I'd call the cops, but his dad is an officer so that won't do any good.
Me and a few of my friends have taken to dong bluegrass covers of 'popular' songs.
Your bluegrass tribute is incredible! Love Enter Sandman.
I thought I would never want to hear Stairway again, but you breathe new life into it.
I would offer the headphones.
Maybe the kid could even learn something from you guys.
Stranger things have happened.
I don't know how old you are, but it occurs to me that developing some sort of musical relationship with that kid might be mutually beneficial.
Maybe it's becuase "Changing the System" has to be the most played out theme in arts in the last 50 years. There's nothing I loathe more than some rich azz kid talking about "The Struggle" (ex: RATM). Like they'd know.
Music, like all arts, can really only be viewed trough the prism of time. Almost every artistic movement had it's detractors upon inception. The real question is will my Grandchildren or even Great-Great Grandchildren remember anything my generation produced (I'm 22, just so ya know). Me thinks not much, but again, maybe they will becuase everything after will be that much worse. So who knows.....
Your bluegrass tribute is incredible! Love Enter Sandman.
I thought I would never want to hear Stairway again, but you breathe new life into it.
I would offer the headphones.
Maybe the kid could even learn something from you guys.
Stranger things have happened.
I don't know how old you are, but it occurs to me that developing some sort of musical relationship with that kid might be mutually beneficial.
That wasn't me playing It's a band called Iron Horse, me and my friends are just huskers and won't be recording anything anytime soon. When you try to push demos and attract crowds it kind of ruins the fun, but that's one of the bands who is doing interesting things with music.
I've thought about going over and asking if he wants a few lessons... maybe in a few months when we're more settled.
Well, I'm a youngish (20 something) musician, and I think it's unfair to say that all modern music is a bunch of whiny crap (though some of it certainly is). A lot of it has to do with fallout from the artistic revival that was brought on by the alternative rock movement of the 90's. Rock and roll in the 80's and early 90's was pretty terrible, in my opinion. Hair/glam metal traded in the artistic qualities of the 70's hard rock acts for an image that was, at best, cheap and gimmicky. It was excess for the sake of excess, kind of like where rap is right now. Bands became so obsessed with the rock and roll culture that they ended up destroying it (or at best, forcing it underground). This, combined with big music labels selling corporate rock and roll in neat little carefully wrapped packages of rebellion, created an artistic vacuum in the popular music scene, which ultimately led to a musical revolution that was the alternative rock movement.
Some of it still rocked, and some of it still does, but the spectrum also shifted to incorporate quieter, more introspective musicians who didn't really care about being rock and roll, they just wanted to be artists. Once again, however, the culture has become so obsessed with being artistic that they're destroying the genre. Emo is to alternative rock what hair metal was to classic rock. Emo bands are so concerned with people thinking that they're artistic that they've lost all perspective on what it is to be artistic. They're forcing it, so to speak. And of course, people buy in to it, so who can blame them? It's the same types of kids that bought in to hair metal in the 80's. They don't care if their idols are truly artistic or not, they don't care if they're rockstars, they just want to be cool. The labels still make their millions, and the world keeps turning. This too will lead to a backlash of some kind or another, and it may already be here in the form of modern country music. The song, "She's Country" by Jason Aldean, is an example of how the country labels are trying to draw in the rock and roll crowd.
In a lot of ways country music, often derided by rock and rollers, is the new rebellion. Country was uncool for so long that people are listening because it's cool to be different. It's just not rock and roll to be rock and roll anymore.
Edit: To reinforce my point, on the first page of comments on the Youtube video, xXghettocoreXx said, "im not a huge fan of country music. but i love this song. and im soo in love with rich redmond the drummer. should i be switching to country music now???" The country labels are absolutely putting on a clinic on how to be successful in the entertainment business (let's not forget Taylor Swift, either).
However, you can't really say what rock and roll is. You can only really define it by what it's not. You can't try to be rock and roll. It doesn't work that way. Really, I don't think anybody knows what it is. Well, maybe Keith Moon did, but it was a dangerous secret, and in ended up killing him. Likewise, you can't really say what art is. You can't try to be artistic. It doesn't work that way either. Maybe Kurt Cobain knew what it was to be artistic, but it too was a dangerous secret, and like Moon before him, he took it to his grave.
All that being said, my favorite band is The Who, and my music catalog is almost entirely composed of artists two to three times my own age, so I actually agree with the premise that rock and roll is lost on the modern music scene. Anyways, it's Saturday Night, so I'm off to play a gig.
What happens as a result of this? The radio stations play the candy-coated crap because they see the high sales and the fans(mostly teenagers and/or females) will CALL the radio station and request "Party in the U.S.A." to be played. Remember top 40 means top 40 singles SOLD in the nation.
It is true that people call radio stations to request songs (a totally futile exercise, by the way). However, radio isn't driven by fan requests and hasn't since at least the late 70's due to call out research becoming the holy grail of chicken dung program directors and corporate types.
So as the years passed, radio has become a dispenser of sonic Gerber baby food and rock and roll cud (I.e., Classic Rock), that process accelerated by the consolidation in the industry where musically ignorant billionaire philistines who only see music as a commodity by which to garner as many advertising dollars as possible. Commercial slots increased and playlists became constricted to the point that anyone who isn't a masochist just has to check out and go to internet radio or resort to Bit Torrent or Kazaa to listen to a wider swath of new or even neglected music.
Indeed, music fans who still listen to terrestrial radio are like battered wives who won't leave the offending husband. They are so used to that callous behavior that it just becomes part of the everyday routine even though the protestations the abuser makes about still loving his victim are just bunk.
Everyone on city data who lives in Southern California could ring up KLOS (an L.A. radio station) and demand that they play the title track from X' "Los Angeles" album and they would just tell you to shove off.
How do I know that? Here is a paraphrased exchange I heard one afternoon in the mid-1990's while listening to that station (I also know the dj involved a little bit personally, btw):
Caller: Hello?
DJ: Who's This?
Caller: It's Josh from Granada Hills.
DJ: Hi Josh. What can I do for you today?
Caller: I want to hear the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen"
DJ: Oh come on, Josh, you know we can't do that.
Caller: Why not?
DJ: It's not part of the format.
Caller: Why?
DJ: Josh, don't be difficult. Anything else you want to hear?
Caller: No. *click*
Yes folks, terrestrial radio hung up on you three decades ago. So why don't you hang up on it?
I stopped listening to the radio about 5 years ago. I have a slight idea of what the OP is talking about and it appears I'm not missing anything...
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. So who knows.....
It's a band called Iron Horse, me and my friends are just huskers and won't be recording anything anytime soon. When you try to push demos and attract crowds it kind of ruins the fun, but that's one of the bands who is doing interesting things with music.
