Through A Squinted Eye

As The Rolling Stones seem to be mythical immortal rock stars that will never cease touring I ponder about the bands of today, which in many cases are carry-overs of yesterday. Perhaps from the spiraling times of the late ’60’s and early 70’s it is assumed that bands just do not last long.  Furthermore the curse of Age 27 seems to insist that the lime light has deadly life-cycle.  Despite another rash of this phenomenon in the early 90’s, the staying power of rock bands is spanning into new decades and markets.

The longevity of rock bands is becoming a great tool in the expansive sea of marketing.  Imagine when the only way to hear new music would have been by live shows or the radio.  Now, who really listens to the radio much when you have an MP3 Player, Satellite Radio, the nearly outdated CD player, your phone, the internet, and who wants to spend money and gas to go see a band you have not heard.  Are we going to watch videos on MTV, no because they would have to play them.

Familiarity seems to be one of the biggest selling points.  In many cases I am alright with the new releases of a great band, and then I think of other bands that just will not go away.  Pearl Jam, Tool, and the Foo Fighters are unbelievable geniuses in music that constantly create something fresh and appealing.  The Foo Fighters are still claiming awards left and right.  Yet, there are bands such as Staind, Incubus (that one hurts to admit), and Kid Rock that have released whiny formulaic dribble. When is too much smacking you in the face with a calloused hand of reality. 

Listen to the radio folks. A majority of what is played on the Rock Stations that claim to play the newest Artists are bands that have been on the radio for more than 10 years.  Do I want to see some of these bands disappear? No. However, it is creating a stale environment for Rock as a whole.  The carry-over bands of yesterday, regardless of their current brilliance or stagnancy need to step aside and allow a vein to brew.  It is time for something to push through without the crutch of a proven past and let it stand or fall.

First and foremost, I am in biased in my perception of quality music and unfortunately contradict myself constantly on what constitutes a valuable work of music.  It can be said I am just one more idiot to ramble about the lack of (insert nostalgic topic here) in the world today. Perhaps the fact that I am nearly ten years past my teen years ergo outside of the target audience should be considered.  And yet who cares, let’s evaluate.

Initially the concept of quality music is vague, but it is something that I contend should have intrinsic values of intuitive, evoking, and substantial lyrics and sound.  Lyrical value is and always should be a touchy subject because it should inject some reaction that is undeniably memorable.  Now this can be achieved not merely by its content but also with linguistic style.  For example The Who’s My Generation or The Knack’s My Sharona had everyone stuttering along with them and at an obvious key point.  Yet this can get very gimmicky quick. One also has to look at innovation from the music.  I realize an astounding number of songs fall within four chords, yet somehow Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Aerosmith’s Dream On are far from the same song musically. There is a culmination of tone, notes, tempo, time signature, and recording process that embody the delicate fabrication of quality music.  When you listen to an album and all the music has the same sonic value as if the engineer did not touch a thing in the mixing from the first to the last song, and the band has changed maybe a couple of effects the world has been cheapened again. (Though my wife will roll her eyes by this mention) When The Beatles ceased their live shows and began to focus on the recording of their work, music changed forever.  They attacked every facet of the art-form and gave the word the understanding of yet another factor in music aside from the lyrical and music value. However, I ramble on the factors of quality music.  What has really brought frustration is a trend in a portion of today’s music that reflects and era of the pointless and excess.

The state of Rock music has regressed to the dilapidated form of hair bands from the 80’s.  Did we not learn from the explosion of grunge.  Now I am not proclaiming Kurt Cobain as God here, nor am I stating that Grunge was the only “real” rock form that has graced our ears. The mad-rush of grunge was truly a result to a worn out theme and sound that the ’80’s perpetuated. Now the substance of the current “hits” that Rock has produced strikes a biting pain into my temple.  The ’80’s rock saturated the genre with reckless sexual exploits, inebriation, and drugs.  Please do not think I am above all of this, but there is a point of ridiculousness that takes over to where there is nothing artistically in the lyrics.  I must also hope that the songs of today, such as Saving Abel’s “Addicted,” Theory of a Deadman’s “Bad Girlfriend,” or Buckcherry’s “Too Drunk” (which all seem to be the same song) will fade from the spectrum of memorable hits in the future.  I see nothing original here. I know one can make the argument that from the spawning of grunge a movement of retro ’70’s spurred with the Gin Blossoms, Blind Melon, or even White Stripes. Yet the themes of these bands were not drowned solely in that of the 70’s.  In fact Blind Melon instituted many dark commentaries with ironic happy melodic overtones or the Gin Blossoms (not what I would truly identify as quality) sounded like a sappy lovesick boy all of the time. The White Stripes are purely artistic and yet borrow from the sound sonically and stylistically.

In all the concern with this trend is not so much that music is borrowing from a music generation that was inherently defunct, but rather that there is no art, no value, no teeth.  It merely seems like a mass produced advertisement that will be plastered on television. Then I think “Head On, apply directly to forehead. Head On, apply directly to forehead. Head On, apply directly to forehead.” You can say it three times, but that does not mean it is true, as you can play it three times and cannot make it good.