Since there is nothing interesting to blog about this week in the sports world, I'd figure I'd blog about something else: Music.
Now, I'm a product of the 90's. It's 2007, but I have no idea about style or fashion, or even music or anything going on in pop culture. I haven't been to a high school in 10 years, and I've even been out of college for four years now, so I have no idea what the kids are wearing, what's the cool hairstyle, and JUST YESTERDAY, I realized how gross it really is for men to wear short shorts (like my sports idol John Stockton).
I was sitting in the bank drive-thru, and I saw a dude in his late 30's wearing short shorts. Even though he had defined calf muscles and strong quads, I realized that nobody wants to see a man's thighs. So as of right now, I don't own a single pair of shorts anymore.
So, what's going on with music? I have no idea what has happened since 1998 (when I left the country for a two-year mission in Brazil). All I know is that when I graduated high school in 1997, music had just gone through one of the greatest revolutions since the 1960's, when music was cool with Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock.
The 1970's were all about drugs and the only rock worth mentioning was Led Zeppelin. The 1980's were lame as far as rock is concerned. The only thing good to happen in rock was early Metallica (Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, etc.).
So many good things happened after with this explosion. Pearl Jam's Ten was one of the greatest albums ever, PERIOD. Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and the the whole Seattle grunge explosion changed everything. Incredible distortion, non-commercialized, soulful rock was ba-ack.
It's funny 'cause a few years ago, I watched a special on VH1 "grunge" with the whole Nirvana explosion from 1991-1994, and the "pop culture experts" that VH1 gets to comment on these shows acte like they were embarrased for liking grunge... But I respond to them, "What, like it wasn't cool to like rock, but now it's cool to like screamo and N' Sync?" What's your logic for embarrassment?
Anyway, when I left the states in 1998, Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine had just come off ruling the entire Universe, and the short-lived ska craze was dying out.
Jump forward two years, and I step off the plane in 2000, and start watching MTV again, and it's all Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N' Sync, Limp Bizkit, and Blink 182. What the hell just happened?
And from 2000-2007, we have suffered through Creed, Nickelback, Fall Out Turd, Hoobastank, Dashboard Confessional, James Blunt and the list just keeps getting worse and worse.
One simple note, geniuses Kurdt Cobain, James Hetfield, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Lane Staley, Billy Corgan and co. weren't singing about chicks like "artists" did in the 80s and the 00s (2000-2009) we'll call them the Otts... I think people really took for granted the amount of star power that existed in a five year period (1991-96).
My favorite bands have had a few comeback splashes here and there, for example Weezer, Pearl Jam, hybrids AudioSlave and Velvet Revolver, RAGE and Smashing Pumpkins' latest attempts to be important again... Luckily, Green Day's American Idiot was incredible. So good in fact that its radio overplay nearly takes away from the fact that it's one of the few good albums in the last 10 years.
It's crazy because in the last 10 years, I have only liked two NEW bands. One of them is Incubus, but they're dying a slow death which is sad because they had the right formula (good-looking lead singer with shirt off, black guy doing his vinyl record-scratching thing, groovy jams, etc.)
I hear that White Stripes and the Cold War Kids are supposed to save this mess, but I dunno. When Jack White's ill sister cancels an entire tour, it's pretty pathetic. My 4-year old nephew could cover up for her "advanced" drumming skills.
I saw Cold War Kids last night on Jay Leno, and they seemed alright, but a little too faddish and hyped. There was so much going on onstage, I couldn't tell if I was watching some new form of Mighty Mighty Bosstones or the band Arrested Development's extended family perform on stage. They had a dude performing on the "white board," so that takes away from the music just a wee bit.
It's crazy to think that 1991 was 16 years ago....
Anyway, Avenged Sevenfold has some awesome tunes, but they are a little too metal for the radio, so the future of good music lies in the hands on one band. Unfortunately they are from Britland. It's sad to think that all the HUGE, impact bands, which are of course the Beatles and U2 (yes, I know they are from Ireland, but it's pretty much the same place) - and definitely NOT the 80s flops Flock of Seagulls and 90s uber-flop Oasis - have to come from that BBC-luvin' country of Great Britain.
If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, download Starlight, Hysteria, Stockholm Syndrome, Bliss, or the new best Queen impersonation Knights of Cydonia (sorry Mika, you're a poser). Muse has to save the planet from the last ten years of this rock music infestation of poorly produced over-hyped under-talented trash.
If you happen to watch the VMA's the only genre of music this decade with any soul is Rap, stemming from geniuses like Eminem, 50 cent, Kanye, Jay-Z, Timbaland, and J.T.
Rock needs to be saved and needs to be saved NOW. "Help us Muse,
you're are only hope." Let us help you influence a new generation of good music because in a matter of four years, it'll be 2011. Hopefully (crossing my fingers), the good music cycle is set to repeat itself where new Nirvanas, Pearl Jams, and Metallicas are set for a fresh, new rock revolution.Ok, maybe I should stick to sports...
4 comments:
I am in full agreement on almost everything that you said in your rundown of the 00t's. I like yourself was weened on the great music of the early 90's flannel bands. Yet, I wonder what would have happened had Kurdt not committed suicide, and continued with his musical reinvention.... I doubt he would have remained at the top of the charts with every new album. Look at Pearl Jam. My favorite band of all time, but their political issues and ideas and desire to make a statment instead of good music hindered them, and I am the last of my close friends that still buys every album. I think Nirvana would have gone the same way, and faded just like Eddy. Incubus made that transition into wanting to make a statement too soon, and now though I still buy every album, they won't ever repeat such a great album as Morning View. You did forget RHCP. I know they are too addicted to trying to insert the word, "California" into every song, but I still get a nostalgic rush everytime I hear Flea hammer those melodic riffs "ON A BASE".
One good thing has resulted from the lackluster 00t's... I have been able to explore the vast genres of music. Arctic Monkey and The Format being my latest kick. I have also stepped back to the 60's and 70's to become versed on where it all began. Neil Young, Bob Dillan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd to name a few. I also felt inclined to give the european/british bands a chance for awhile, and still actually enjoy Sigu ros, and ColdPlay. But all in all I await the 10's and hopefully by then the music industry hasn't ruined itself.
Meg White is not his sister. It's his ex-wife. Get your facts straight.
Musicians often say they write what they feel, and good writers always write. Maybe it's not that music sucks right now (which it does comparatively to the 90's) but that our decade sucks. Or turn the table, great music came from extream times, like depression. So maybe we just aren't as sad and repressed as we used to be.
ps house rule, I refuse to bleed my ears to Nickelback or Creed. I'm so glad 311 kick Scott Stab's ass!
My favorite bands to surface since the grunge era are Guster and The Shins. They aren't revolutionaries, but I think they have every bit as much talent as the bands that raised us in the early 90's. Granted, they aren't revolutionary, but considering the crap we had to endure from 1995 on, I think they do quite well.
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