Why does music suck so bad these days???

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Easy.


Mark Farner Interview

Mark Farner interview he of the legendary, penultimate US rock band;

What has been the most profound change in the music business over the years?

MF: The advent of music videos changed everything, perception-wise anyway. Take the Simon and Garfunkel song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" for example. Long before videos, they did a poll to find out what the song meant to people. They polled 100 different people and got a hundred different interpretations. There wasn’t a video that accompanied that song. It was up to each individual’s imagination, as it was in all early music. Just like when reading a book, the book is always better than the movie. Our imagination is that much better than what we’d see at the movies. That, I think, has been the biggest change in music. It’s highly video influenced now. We’re not using our imagination as much as we once did.

There it is.


And here it is;

YouTube - Grand funk railroad - Footstompin' Music


No stupid freaking video needed. BYOM; Bring your own mind.

[toppick08 (Premo)]

[Toxick]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

Easy.


Mark Farner Interview

Mark Farner interview he of the legendary, penultimate US rock band;




There it is.


And here it is;

YouTube - Grand funk railroad - Footstompin' Music


No stupid freaking video needed. BYOM; Bring your own mind.

I think that consumerism/corporatism has profoundly diminished the quality of music.

The music conglomerates don't give a tiny rat's ass about musical quality, innovation, art, originality and all the things that made music worth a ####.

They care about one thing, and one thing only.


$

Ka-ching!


So, they dig around until they find some forumlaic garbage that appeals to the lowest common denominator of the masses, and they repeatedly spew it out until everyone gets tired of it, or the next forumlaic greasy turd gains appeal, and then they squeeze the blood out of it until it runs dry.

Lather, rinse, repeat, ad infinitum.

There's a few diamonds in the rough out there. But not a lot.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Toxick

I think that consumerism/corporatism has profoundly diminished the quality of music.

The music conglomerates don't give a tiny rat's ass about musical quality, innovation, art, originality and all the things that made music worth a ####.

They care about one thing, and one thing only.

...but that went on then as well as now. That hasn't changed a bit. People turned out all sorts of garbage to fulfill record contracts throughout the history of modern, the 60's on, music. I'm not gonna blame money and commercialism for any of this. Ultimately, it boils down to the artist and what they choose to release.

The thing is that now, with video, there is more to sell than just the music. A visual, especially if it catches on as cool, can carry really poor music. It's like putting ice cream on candy bars is how I think of it or, more accurately, showing video with the ice cream that says "Hey, this ice cream is REALLY good and EVERYONE is eating it!"

The whole point of 100 people being asked what 'Bridge' was about and getting 100 different answers is the key to me. 100 different people 'owned' that song, in their hearts and minds, all to themselves.

At the end of the day, the music HAS to be better, on the whole, if it has to carry itself, by itself.

[bcp (Premo)]

in the 60s, what I consider to be the greatest decade of music, slowly diminishing through the 70s until we got to the garbage stage of the 80s and into current. (for the most part) bands played more than a song, they played a message.
most songs during the period were inspired by the Vietnam War, or the free love movement. or maybe the free love movement was inspired by the music?

Viet Nam ended and there was nothing for the people to rally for or against anymore, the music reflected this in my opinion, the message in the song gave way to just any stupid crap that might rhyme.

then came the video, it no longer was just about the music, it was appearance and stage show quality, this became evident with the loss of ability to play in many of the bands that started popping up during the late 70s.
Excellent runs for the most part were replaced by a simple rift or two, progressive blues chords were replaced with 3 chord tunes. The drums that for the most part were background in the older rock became the main driving force of the song, didn't matter if the chords were good, or if there was power in the runs (musical) as long as a loud hard driving bass drum beat kept the dance floor moving.

I wont even get into the whole rap crap thing since I still cant see it as music.

Why did players like Eric Clapton make it so long and so popular? they stuck to the old blues rules with their music composition, Grand Funk, a Detroit garage band was heavily influenced by the Delta Blues patterns.
Even Blue Oyster Cult ran on the basic blues content making them one of the greatest lessor known cult bands in history.

Play some good hard blues progressions, put in some fast paced driving runs and a lyrical message and you have the makings of a long lasting band.

just my .02

[bcp (Premo)]

Right now Im teaching skillet girl to play guitar.
She is learning a bit of Tab, but mostly I have her reading the music in note form.
She can slam House of the Rising Sun by the Animals now.

She is currently working on an A minor scale running the whole neck of the guitar. Im looking for speed, accuracy and the occasional switch up.
great blues key.

She will be playing next to Carlos in only 20 or 30 years. LOL

[Toxick]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

Ultimately, it boils down to the artist and what they choose to release.

Well, therein lies the problem.

If an artist isn't promoted and hyped, then they get nowhere.

Regardless of talent, artists are chosen by record companies, and I would daresay that by and large, their songs are chosen for them based on projected commercial success, rather than quality, originality, poignency or kick-assery.

And a lot of these artists are chosen cause they look like rock/rap/pop stars, and so more talented (in the traditional sense) artists are left by the wayside because they're fat or ugly or non-conformist or whatever. And they get no promotion, and they die in the water.

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

The thing is that now, with video, there is more to sell than just the music. A visual, especially if it catches on as cool, can carry really poor music.

Video killed the radio star.


I dunno - I honestly don't remember having seen a music video for over 15 years. This is not because I avoid them, but its' because MTV hasn't shown a music video in over 15 years, and I don't actively seek videos.

Nope - I lied.... I think I've stumbled across a video or two on YouTube, but I still don't actively seek them and I couldn't tell you what's in the videos of 99.9999% of songs currently on the charts.

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

The whole point of 100 people being asked what 'Bridge' was about and getting 100 different answers is the key to me. 100 different people 'owned' that song, in their hearts and minds, all to themselves.

And maybe that's just a bad example for me. I want to jam icepicks in my ears when I hear crap like Bridge over troubled waters.

[bcp (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Toxick

And maybe that's just a bad example for me. I want to jam icepicks in my ears when I hear crap like Bridge over troubled waters.

you either loved Simon and Garfunkel, or you hated them.

curious though, how old are you? what era of music did you go through your teens with?

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Toxick

And maybe that's just a bad example for me. I want to jam icepicks in my ears when I hear crap like Bridge over troubled waters.

...is the point! You still own it!

I'd imagine that a video to it could be cooked up to go with it to make you 'see' the song in a whole other light where you might say "Gee, what a great ballad!'

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by bcp

Right now Im teaching skillet girl to play guitar.
She is learning a bit of Tab, but mostly I have her reading the music in note form.
She can slam House of the Rising Sun by the Animals now.

She is currently working on an A minor scale running the whole neck of the guitar. Im looking for speed, accuracy and the occasional switch up.
great blues key.

She will be playing next to Carlos in only 20 or 30 years. LOL

...she already know where he'll be buried?

Hope she's enjoying it. None of our kids play an instrument. Bunch of good singers, but, no musicians.