Posted on 07/13/2002 4:55:42 PM PDT by Wondervixen
Why has music entertainment gone into the sewer the past 25 years and who is to blame?
Nobody seems to be able to tune in to a music program (short of Country Music Television) without seeing what today's young music executives strive to convince us is "popular music entertainment". In the words of ex-ELO Drummer Bev Bevan, these up and coming manufactured superstars are performing "Rubbish". I tend to agree with him and here's why.
Over the course of Rock & Roll history, it became a classic staple that was added to and subtracted from, but rarely deviated from...A lead guitar...A bass...Keyboards...A set of drums. Those who PLAYED them also sang and I don't think I need to tell you that it took considerable practice to do it well. Walking and chewing gum at the same time is the joke. Singing musicians are where the talent is!
Then, along came Michael Jackson. Sure, the Drifters, Spinners, Temptations, and many other Motown legends performed sans instruments and dazzled audiences with some very cool dance moves, but their vocals were the drawing card. The moves were the icing on the cake.
Then, Jackson splits from his family band and goes solo. The vocals were catchy but the dance moves took attention away from the sound. Youths were imitating the Moon Walk and the strutting around Michael would do (even the crotch grabbing). The shame here is that some idiot in the music industry saw this as the wave of the future because from Michael's moves came New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney, Christina, and all the rest of the "Dancing Bears" who dominate music today.
It is no longer imperitave that you have musical talent, just that you're willing to wear the revealing clothes and DANCE, DANCE, DANCE. Voice mixers will straighten out the fact you can't carry a tune in a designer handbag.
Forced to "the reservation" of oldies summer tours are the real talents. Real BANDS like The Eagles, KISS, The Who, Cheap Trick, Doobie Brothers, Electric Light Orchestra, REO Speedwagon, and Styx are all but ignored by contemporary radio and only heard if you're lucky enough to have a good oldies station signal. Kids today have little appreciation for these talented icons of the bygone days of playing your own music. No, they cast their adoration upon the Dancing Bears who likely cannot play a radio.
Like the state of education in this country (ie; the "dumbing down" of our children), we have grown all too accustomed to accepting this laziness in music that now glorifies the least talented while the more talented get paid for hiding in the studio or standing in the dark of the stage providing the Bears the music to dance by.
Shame, shame, shame. At least Nashville and CMT still have it right.
I can't bear it. I've heard all this crap 100,000 times. It's ignored because it's been played to DEATH for 25 years and the old farts still won't croak!
What about Bauhaus, Nitzer Ebb, Pere Ubu, Social Distortion, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Clash, Joy Division, 16 Horsepower, Rev. Horton Heat, The Ramones, The Misfits, Autumn, Siouxie and the Banshees, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure, The Cult, The Cramps, Husker Du...?
Now that's the good stuff you never, ever hear--and will never hear on the radio. Not The Beagles and all that other hackneyed, mullet-headed, geezer-rock crrrrrrap.
I just know I'll be in an old folks' home someday with The Eagles, KISS, The Who, Cheap Trick, Doobie Brothers, Electric Light Orchestra, REO Speedwagon, and Styx on a Muzak station I'll beg for Kevorkian's machine....
I'm not fond of bluegrass myself.
But country music isn't hillbilly.
Shania Twain isn't either. I
think you'd like her.
What about Bauhaus, Nitzer Ebb, Pere Ubu, Social Distortion, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Clash, Joy Division, 16 Horsepower, Rev. Horton Heat, The Ramones, The Misfits, Autumn, Siouxie and the Banshees, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure, The Cult, The Cramps, Husker Du...?
preach it, man.
Should the subject matter of songs be limited only to those things that make us happy and smile and put a spring in our jolly little steps?
The themes of some of our greatest music have been pain, loss, heartbreak and even the murder of loved ones. My generation may have been the first to call these things good.
An idea whether expressed in the written word or in song will influence people for evil or good. Exalting the destruction of love and the unecessesary destruction of life is about as great an evil as one can get. One should not attempt to influence others to do evil. The Bible says we will be judged on every word we say. I believe this.
You win, you da man, and I may try and hire you as my entertainment director if I ever get to NYC!
I'm not fond of bluegrass myself. But country music isn't hillbilly. Shania Twain isn't either. I think you'd like herI like her videos fine with the sound down. >:)
Seriously, I find the women singers less annoying than the men, but twang is twang and if it's country, its pretty much a requirement. I do have one Shania MP3, but its a techno mix.
I also don't like the inverse snobbery that permeates country. Some of it is almost worthy of a Socialist Workers Party polemnic.
-Eric
What about Bauhaus, Nitzer Ebb, Pere Ubu, Social Distortion, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Clash, Joy Division, 16 Horsepower, Rev. Horton Heat, The Ramones, The Misfits, Autumn, Siouxie and the Banshees, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure, The Cult, The Cramps, Husker Du...?True "classic rock", to which can be added the Sex Pistols, early Elvis Costello, early Blondie, D. L. Byron, Rockpile, and a ton others I'm forgetting I'm sure.
Rock and roll lost a lot of steam when the late 80s metal and punk-metal bands were replaced by the "Life Sucks, Let's Pout" sound. I still think that had a lot to do with the liberals in the recording industry being concerned about the GOP's success with younger voters in the 80s.
The thing is, there's still real rock and roll out there and a lot of its selling well. Much of its mixed with rap (Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park) or ska (Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt), so people with fossilized tastes won't like it. There's still some great pop being produced in the UK.
-Eric
Not only that, but so much of it is just insipid. I mean, look at the country top ten right now. #1 is that great Toby Keith song, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue", and that's a good thing. However take a look at #2. It's a song called "The Good Stuff" by Kenny Chesney. It's about a guy who goes to a bar to get a drink, but instead get a glass of milk and a lecture from the bartender. No kidding! This is country? What would Merle or Hank or Waylon have done to that bartender? I envision guns being drawn at the very least. :)
O.K. Look at #3. Brad Paisley? The sappyist, schmaltziest, most insipid "country" singer ever. And the rest of the top ten is just as bad. "I miss my Friend"?!?!??!! Barf Alert! This is not my kind of country music.
I love most of these groups, but my parents thought they were garbage. Of course, my dad was a Presley/Orbison fan and his folks thought they were garbage. Nothing new under the sun ...
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