Skip to main content

If this ain't good music, then how do we get out?

Where the heck has good music gone? This conversation topic comes up a lot with me lately, but it's tough because at the same time I'm complaining, I'm still listening to the crap on the radio and singing along with it. I think I've talked about this before on here, but it was more geared towards music today versus 60's music. Now I just want to address music in general.

When I heard Adele "Rolling In The Deep" on the radio, I stopped in my tracks. Boy, does that girl have some pipes on her! Her music has soul, feeling, you can hear that she puts her heart into it. After her song ended, Kesha came on. Why is Kesha popular? Supposedly she broke into a popular artist's house and pursued what she wanted. But what exactly did she want? Three fourths of her singles have been about going to the club, getting trashed, sleeping in cars, and flirting with guys with beards. Catchy? Sure. Good? That is to be determined.

Black Eyed Peas. What's up with them? Their "futuristic" music is the same as everyone elses. More computerized, synchronized and technical than they have been in the past. Let's take a look at some lyrics from Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell?"

-All my life I've been good but now,
I'm thinking 'What the hell'
All I want is to mess around,
and I don't really care about
If you love me, If you hate me,
You can't save me-

Now look at "Savior" by Rise Against

-It kills me not to know this but I've all but just forgotten
What the color of her eyes were and her scars or how she got them
As the telling signs of age rain down, a single tear is dropping
Through the valleys of an aging face that this world has forgotten-

There are actual thoughts and feelings in those words, something people can relate to. People can relate to Avril's I guess, but it's just so juvenile. So why is the rift between great and poorly made music becoming bigger? I think the availability of music has a lot to do with it. Artists feel the need to produce quantity, not quality these days. You hear a song on the radio for the first time, you can go home, download it illegally and put it onto your iPod in the next 5 minutes. You listen to the song, tire of it, onto the next. We are the "now" generation and it's ruining our attention spans.

So next time you're singing along to Chris Brown's post-Rihanna beating, pro-party theme with the extremely creative title "Yeah 3x," just ask yourself, could I have waited 5 more minutes for a better song to be recorded?
The video is bizarre...don't pay attention to that (how can you not?)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Check out Swenlo, Generators of Evil Part I- It's pretty cool

  The creator of Generators of Evil Part 1 , Vadim Sahakian , goes by a few names, including Midav, and his project name, Swenlo. He has been making music and playing classical piano and guitar for over a decade. He wanted to express himself in both simpler and more meaningful ways, though, and that was the start of his electronic music production. Swenlo created his own music label, Spirit Charity, which fosters likeminded artists with the outlet to create freely. This psychedelic album begins with what sounds like it could be a newscast bringing with it a feeling of foreboding while talking about “the beginning,” the backdrop being a bevy of dark, ominous sounds. Then after some talk in an Asian language, at around the two minute mark, there is a slow guitar lead-in to a segment that emulates the muffled, echo-y quality of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”    Continue Reading... And get the free download!

Sweetmeat and the Silverfish

Sweetmeat and the Silverfish Sweetmeat and the Silverfish With a name as intriguing as Sweetmeat and the Silverfish, it might be hard to not see what the band has to offer. Will it be ear candy or somewhat hard to swallow? The first track, “Can’t Start” in fact, does start, and very nicely, indeed. A mix of saxophone, acoustic guitar and keyboards flow into a toe-tapping steady beat. Michael Stefanski, the lead singer, has a voice that sometimes can leave something to be desired. While his voice has a huskiness that fits in well with the rock genre, sometimes it can sound a little strained and not flow particularly well with the music. “Too Much Talk” brings with it a ska feel, especially with the fast piano chords. The whole CD has ska and reggae elements such as accented offbeat’s, bluesy chords, and a few horns thrown in here and there. “Texas” might be the most fun track on the album. The guitar riff and beat in the song is very reggae and has a feel-good style, whereas “G...

Presence Evil Rose

Presence Evil Rose Presence’s seventh album, Evil Rose is anything but humble. Whether it is with good reason is up to you. For me, it wasn’t. Before even listening to the music, read the booklet and find such lyrics as “The hate you’re talkin’ wonder me I’ve never thought this might could be in you the love you’ve talkin’ too my dear is just be blessed with domineering”. Presence is an Italian group, and deserves full credit for attempting to translate their lyrics into meaningful English prose. Singer Sophya Baccini’s voice just has a quavering quality that doesn’t suit my fancy. Read More