Posted on 03/16/2006 1:42:40 AM PST by nickcarraway
Someone even points out that "She Wants Revenge" is "a loving parody to this groups favorite bands while growing up, while also updating their sound with a bit of an "Interpol-esque" sound. ... It's still good listening, just remember, they're kind of just joking around."
All the more interesting.
70's-era Brecker Brothers is pretty good too
I called it like this; MTV made it more important to be a model than a musician. That and MIDI is what killed rock-n-roll.
They've been kidnapped and replaced by Tammy Wynett, Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline.
Interesting you bring up Franz Ferdinand. I really like the riff to that song Take Me Out (or whatever their popular song is), so I downloaded the song. They don't knock me out the way, say, SWR does. They're good in parts, an inspired riff here or there, but overall, they're fall a little short.
SWR is a gem, though.
Modern country isn't country at all, it's recycled soft core southern rock.Lynard Skynard was more country than any of the "new country" I've heard.Where's the new Tammy Waynet?Merl Haggard?,..snif..PPatsy Kline?
Their descendants are in Alt-country/Americana (which is rarely heard on the major C&W stations)
"You know, when I saw the title of this posting, I first thought, "what happened at the R&R HoF?" I have to admit, I haven't heard anything about it. It makes me realize just how out of step I am with popular music today."
"I also thought about the music DVDs I recently bought... There are 2 King Crimson DVDs, both of which are from the mid to late 80s. Rush's R30, their 30th anniversary tour. And Yes' 35th anniversary tour. High on the list is the Cream reunion concert. It seems that I haven't heard any R&R that I really loved for 20 plus years, certainly not the bands."
Great bands, Mark! Thank God for "Deep Tracks" on XM Radio.. I hadn't heard GOOD R&R on any radio stations since WNEW in the 70's!
Too bad he can't sing for a damn.
Have you ever noticed the biggest stars of the current MTV holocaust all look the same? Jessica Simpson, Ricki Martin, Brittany Spears, Ashton Kutcher? They all have the same face; The wide set brown eyes, the same facial structure. Do you know why? Because MTV created a standard afew years ago to what they consider the "perfect face" for teens and the music industry/entertainment industry bought into that.
A friend of mine who works in the industry told me about this, I also have met execs in my cab who have confirmed this...This is how low they go now when deciding on who to sign or promote. They don`t give a damn on talent or anything else, it is all about image and meeting their criteria.
These are the types of music executives being produced by our colleges today. Absolute souless freaks with absolutely no ballz. They are so afraid of being fired, they actually follow this nonsense about "facial standards". Music has absolutely taken a back seat. Like I tell all my musician friends all the time; The market is absolutely wide wide open. Write good songs and sell them over the internet, you will make an absolute fortune. I wish to hell I knew how to make music because the public out there is absolutely starving for good stuff. Rock and roll or good music is not dead, it is simply hidden, it is not promoted.
Make sure you check 'em out at SXSW... I caught 2 shows in 2 nights, both NYC and Boston. GOOD STUFF.
Popular rock music is decidely modernist in outlook. Rock has always represented the leading edge. What has died isn't so much rock, but the artistic content of popular music. (Yes, modernism can be artistic.)
Art-rock bands such as Pink Floyd, and classical-borrowing disco led to an end-of-history point by the late 1970s, epitomized, respectively, by "The Wall," and "A Fifth of Beethoven." What followed was a few oscillations back and forth bewteen supercharged post-modern movements (punk, hair metal, and grunge), new-progressivism (New Wave), deconstructionalism (Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega) and some measure of artistic recombinations of these various responses (such as Angry Young Women of the 1990s who merged all three of these musical movements).
Modernism and post-modernism in music were both fueled by technological advancements. (Post-modernism would've been very boring if it hadn't incorporated modernism into itself... and that's a critique of post-modernism in general.) Absent further developments, which seem highly unlikely, any real growth will be musicological. And those advances are resistant to the sudden developments needed to fuel popular music.
So what's next? Partly, Neo-classicalism and market fragmentation, the discovery of what was excellent absent modernism. Given the lack of enculturation in the general public, it is, ironically, the Disco and New Wave movements which have initially benefited from neo-classicalism. The record industry is panicking that people are so far content to recycle 70s and 80s music.
But the bigger trend (as demonstrated from the mediocrity of the retro music which is popular) is simply that popular music is simply degrading into folk music, albeit with a modern sound that will grate on those who like Folk Music (tm).
OK, so I don't sound pretensious, here are some quick definitions:
MODERNISM: The belief that something is better just because it is new, or that newness has "changed all the rules." Examples: cultural liberalism, the dot-com bubble.
POST-MODERNISM: A reaction against modernism which rejects the "newer-is-better" conceit of modernism, but which sustains modernism's rejection of the inherent beauty of what is traditional or classical. Examples: punk rock, yuppie decor, minimalism.
NEO-CLASSICALISM: An integration of the best of modern and post-modern developments with elements which have achieved "canonic" status. Sort of a realization that "some of this modernist stuff really is pretty neat, but it doesn't mean we have to destroy all that came before it." Examples: Southern gothic, "Principles of Economics". The use of this term musically is somewhat of a stretch, since "classic" is often used to describe Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, as well as Beethoven and Mozart.
CANONIC: Considered basic or foundational to an understanding of a given discipline. Examples: The Canonical List of Blonde Jokes, The biblican canon of scripture, the American Film Institute.
CLASSICALISM: A movement towards the most excellent and refined expressions throughout history; not to be confused with CLASSICISM, which is a system of aesthetics based on a return to Latin and Greek culture (such as Renaissance art). Again, the use in music is a little stretched, since classical music refers to music which is actually very modern (Beethoven was a contempory of Emporer Napoleon III; he hardly used techniques known to ancient Greeks and Romans. Hence, whereas some forms of art or philosophy merge classicism and classicalism, they are very seperate in the realm of music.)
CLASSIC: Originally meaning that having to do with Ancient civilizations, such as Roman, Latin, Hebrew and Persian, in music this merely means that which is excellent and not contemporary.
Oh my. We built this city on dinner rolls.
I gave up on Rock N Roll in 1989. The blues and nothing but the blues!
Which is what that Blues Traveler video from a few years back was all about.
John Popper sure met the MTV standard, even after the weight loss, huh? lol
Mark
Then don't watch him.
Well the MTV (Empty-V) standard only pertains to the teeny boppers, the ones who are targeted to young teen girls. Is that Blues Traveler video the video where they play hidden and this guy other than John Popper flaps around? Yeah, I think that was them making fun of that idiot Adam Duritz of the Counting crows and Empty-V.
Eveybudy nos real cuntry fokes caint spell
I have none except posibly the fact that he does get some interesting guests. I think its pretty funny that we can't stand him but can recite all of his catch phrases verbatim.
Video at this link: http://www.myspace.com/familyforce5
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