I no longer listen to those stations. I will think they sound like Hell, and tapes of my father will come shooting out of my mouth. That will make me think that I am an old fuddy-duddy, because that's what I thought he was, back when he said them. What the Hell is this... ka-weema-weh ka-weema-weh, sleeping lions. Whatever happened to music? Feh! |
Rap
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A long time ago, in a place which may have been Ireland (but could just as easily have been Africa or Madagascar) there occurred a very unusual series of events.
Two men - good friends - heard of a great golden statue found standing in a great hole in the Earth, quite close to their village. Now, these were simple people and rumours spread like contagion. Some said it was not a statue, but not a man either. One thing was certain: it never moved. But it was also said that it produced a noise, a sound, or several sounds from time to time. Now and then, people had said, it made all of its noises at the same time. The men made a plan to visit it. They left early one morning.
They progressed slowly.
"Do you feel exhausted as I do?" said the first man.
"I've felt better," said the other "but we must achieve our aim."
After many hours the first man stopped in his tracks, staring into the distance.
"I see it," he said quietly.
"What do you see?"
"A gleaming of beautiful gold, a great haze of light..."
Despite their tiredness, they began to walk faster. But however briskly they walked, the distance between them and what the tales referred to as "the gleaming golden light" remained the same. After a while they stopped. They were very frustrated.
The quieter of the two men said, "We'll never get there." "If we walk back, we will get there," said his friend.
The other surveyed him.
"Why do you think so?"
Without replying the first man rose, turned around and began walking back the way they had come.
To the amazement of the other, after a while the light became visible to him too and as they walked it drew closer. Soon the countryside around them began to look as if there had been a great fire. Blackened trees lay cracked on the ground and the Earth was scorched and barren. They felt uneasy. But they carried on.
Sure enough, they came to a massive charred hole. It was as if a great rock had been hurled from the heavens.
"What a mess," said the first man, "let's go and look."
"You go," said his more cautious companion, "tell me what you see."
His friend crawled to the edge of the great hole. Hanging onto a blasted but well rooted tree, he peered over. In the great pit gouged from the Earth was the tallest figure he had ever seen. It was of a beautiful golden finish, entirely smooth. It was not a statue, but it was not a man. He had never seen anything like it, and he couldn't look away.
"We have come so far," he said to himself. "I hear it has voices to speak of things we cannot speak of." He looked around and there was his friend next to him and he was staring into the crater.
He said "I am told that when a man hears its voice, it stays in their ears, they cannot be rid of it. It has many different voices: some happy but others sad. It roars like a baboon, murmurs like a child, rustles like water in a glass, sings like a lover and laments like a priest."
"I have heard it only says one word," said the other.
His friend looked at him, "I was told it depends on how you listen."
"What can you mean?"
"Imagine a creature with a melody for a voice. You either hear it or you don't."
"I do not understand," said his friend.
"He describes himself but he cannot see it; when he sees it, he cannot describe it. But there is always the sound, he will always make the sound."
They fell quiet. a long time passed. The second man turned to the first man.
"Doesn't look like we're going to hear it, does it?"
"I have heard it."
His friend looked at him sharply. "But there was no sound. None. What are you talking about?"
"Cheer up cloth ears," he said, "it's only a fairytale, innit?"
By William Murray
Living in Nashville, all I can say is -
You've got to be kidding.
While, classic acts like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis existed, it was slim pickings until the Beatles arrived.
Throughout the sixties while there were classic acts like the Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Grateful Dead, The Who, and various Mowtown acts like the Supremes, let's not forget clones like The Monkees, Herman's Hermits, The Turtles, and every other band who wanted a name and sound like the Beatles.
While the 70's had Jimi Hendrix, The Eagles, Black Sabbath, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, KISS, Styx, let's not forget David Cassidy, The Bay City Rollers, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Menudo(yes they started back then).
Into the 80's cool bands like The Police, U2, Aerosmith, and Van Halen popped up, but so did Debbie Gibson, Stacey Q, and Bon Jovi(sorry, jersey).
Into the 90's grunge brought about bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Foo Fighters, but it also gave us New Kids on The Block, Back Street Boys, NSYNC, and Britney clones. My point really is crappy music is nothing new, it just seems like it's bigger now because we do grow older and detach ourselves from new new music(good or bad) all the time.
And why would a 15 year old in 2002 want to listen to music that I listened to 30 years ago in 1972?
As my kids tell me, "Dad, you're so old school..., You need to listen to Lincoln Park."
Whoever they are....
Dancing isn't even that important anymore, just looking good on MTV and making videos. Hip-hop and rap are starting to dominate, something I hate. Anyway, as one of the younger generation, I'm closer to what's popular than most of you guys, and I don't like what I see on the charts. Take a look at the Billboard top ten.
#1 Hot in Herre by Nelly. Lousy hip hop.
#2 Eminem. No need to say anything.
#3 Hero, by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott. Theme song to the Spiderman movie. BTW, loved the movie. The song is pretty good, but not this good.
#4 Complicated by Avril Lavigne. I actually like this one. It's pop, but she and her band actually play their own instruments and she writes her own music.
#5 I need a girl (part 2). A hip hop collaberation.
#6 Oh, boy. Cam'ron featuring Juelz Santana. Rap. On MTV they cut out swearing in the videos. This one has half the words cut out.
#7 The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. Another pop song.
#8 A thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. At least she plays piano and doesn't move from her chair in the video. And she writes her own music, but I find this song boring.
#9 Foolish by Ashanti. This song was #1 for several weeks. Ashanti is an example of how MTV and music video can be more important than vocal range. She has ZERO vocal range, but she had three top ten singles at once, first artist since the BEATLES to do that! I hate to use the two in the same sentance.
#10 I'm gonna be alright by Jennifer Lopez. Typical J Lo.
Anyway, that's the top ten right now and there's one song on there that I really like. I guess I'm not in line with what teenagers are supposed to like. That's okay. I even like the Beatles. But anyway, music videos and MTV are more important in many cases than your vocal, musical, and lyrical talent. If you toss together something about a girl, throw in a lot of swearing and add a hip-hop beat and you'll instantly get MTV airplay and have a top 40 hit. At least Britney Spears hasn't had a hit in a while.
They have been manufacturing plastic rock stars since I was a pup. Frankie Avalon actually sold a bunch of records. So did the Archies. Remember Menudo? Or Milli Vanilli? Plastic, the whole bunch of 'em. The Monkees even made a TV special about how they were "manufactured" in test tubes by record company execs; they thought it was funny. Somehow the world continues to turn. Somehow some halfway-decent bands always manage to coexist with the manufactured product.