I have been playing this CD by John Scofield a lot lately. The ace guitarist and fellow band-members punch out a glorious series of songs written by the late, very great Ray Charles. It pretty much blows much of what I think is the dull contemporary fare into the dust. I can also strongly recommend these fellows as well.
Music. It is such a personal thing that judging music invites deserved smackdowns. In my subjective view, though, I do think that a lot of the current pop music scene is well, dull as proverbial ditchwater. It does not exactly get the foot tapping, the heart racing, or the head spinning. I cannot imagine trying to seduce some lovely to the latest dirge by Coldplay (can you?). Some of the acts seem so lifeless. Brendan O’Neill, in this week’s Spectator, takes vicious aim at the whole group of bands, in particular Coldplay, for the heinous crime of not just being bland, but also being cringeing, embarrassing Blairites at the same time. (More stupidly, O’Neill attacks such groups for being middle class, as if that should matter a jot).
Poor Chris Martin. I almost felt sorry for him after reading the Speccy. Well, almost. I am sure the fair Gwyneth offers considerable consolations, along with that surging bank balance.
Check out this hilarious fellow, Mitch Benn, for some side-splitting parodies of everyone from Eminem to Coldplay.
Great post!
This period of music reminds me of the dark days of the early 1980s, just before The Smiths & New Order started a revolution in the UK – well, in the case of the former, a unique combination of traditional guitar based music with Morrissey’s personality.
When you look at the current lot, it’s difficult to get excited about any one band. I was captivated by the Smiths and thought that Guns n Roses first album was amazing. Loved Radiohead, too until they all became junkies. But when Coldplay is served up as the best we have and their album described as the greatest ever, you know you have to worry.
Coldplay – they have some great songs and are really good live. However Chris Martin is a real turn off : loaded, over-confident and sooo predictable with his dumb, kneejerk anti-Yank, anti-capitalism pap. His band is popular in more than 30 countries – hoe did that happen, mate? Ah yes…EMI have an enormous distribution network. Oh well, slag em off anyway.
Until there is a revival of indendent record companies like Rough Trade was, it’s difficult to see true talent coming through.
Thanks for Mitch Benn! I loved that vid. I’ve stoppe listening to pop music. I wait till the wife sifts through them and hit me with the few goodies.
one that I as an aging tough guy love is “ As Good As I Once Was” from Toby Keith’s
Honkytonk University
And yet think of what it could be.
I recently heard “Higher Ground” and “I wish” by Stevie Wonder for the first time in years.
I have no idea what the man’s politics are and who gives a shit when he once was capable of creating music that could dig itself into your bloodstream.
Yeah but the current no.1 by the Sugababes (“Push the Button”) is a great pop song. Don’t care what you all say!
Complaining about modern pop is like complaining about the retarded guy in the helmet screaming about his weiner in the back of the bus. Modern pop is, by and large, the same crap that’s been peddled for 50 years to clueless teens and preteens who lack any sort of good taste. The faces and the technology changes but it’s always the same music and lyrics. Of course these so called artists are the only ones to make it big because they’re being sold to the lowest common denominator, kids aged 12-19 (or whatever demographics the record companies use). After that is when kids grow up and realize everything they listened to was mostly garbage and their tastes evolve. But of course tastes evolve differently so no single musician or group of musicians can monopolize that market demographic. Who’s gonna pump millions and millions of dollars into a band like Mike Keneally and Beer For Dolphins when their appeal is limited? Now if Keneally walked out on stage wearing a giant rubber vagina costume and talked about banging hot slutty chicks all the time the kids would love him but the music would suffer if all his time was concentrated on his image.
I just say to hell with pop. If, on occasion, a good band makes it big that’s great. I think maybe once a year a band comes along that deserves all the praise it gets. But mostly I ignore the goings on of the pop music world and stick to the underground.
Now here’s some albums ya’ll should check out.
Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins – Dancing. This guy was the last touring guitarist for Frank Zappa. I downloaded mostof this album (when I did such things) back when and it’s really good. It does mix some pop very creatively. The computer I had those tracks on died a long time ago so I’ve mostly forgotten the specifics of the songs except for the fact that they bowled me over.
Opeth – Ghost Reveries. Progressive death metal band, if that actually means anything to you. My album of the year. Death metal means fast music with a vocalist who sounds like he’s throwing up. It’s progressive in the sense that there is a great deal of technicality in the musicianship while this guy actually sings beautifully 80% of the time. A great sense of urgency in the fast songs mixed within a gothic atmosphere. Hope you don’t mind 13 minute songs though.
The Mars Volta. If you don’t know these guys I pity you. Comatorium, their first album, is the best one. If you like really f’ed up drumming this is for you. They’re also from Texas, which is a major plus in my book.
Rush. Canada’s chief export behind maple syrup. I mean what’s not to love? Seeing as how this is a libertarian blog I can almost safely assume everyone here owns at least one copy of 2112 or Moving Pictures.
Dream Theater. It’s hard to recommend a specific album. Awake, Scene From A Memory and Six Degrees are my favorites. These guys are progressive metal in its most excessive sense. They do very long, very technical songs. Drummer Mike Portnoy could be Vishnu at times. To be sure the chief criticism leveled against these guys is that they’re often accused of musical masturbation. I’ll say, it’s downright orgasmic!
Give those bands a try, you’ll thank me for it.
Actually people have been saying that a few hundred years now. In the mid to late 18th Century many composers would supplement their income by writing short quintets (Boccherini, for example, wrote an enormous number of these) which were regarded in much the same way as we regard many of the songs of the Top 40 now. Of course those quintets had to be written, as opposed the banal rubbish these days cooked by a 14 year old on his bedroom laptop which then makes him a “DJ producer”.
Robert, thanks a lot for suggesting some tunes. I’ll have a listen to some of them.
Rgds
Robert: Opeth is a “death metal” band?!? Besides the vocals, they have little, if anything, to do with Death Metal. Immolation, Obituary, Atheist, The Chasm, Desmember, that’s Death Metal for you!
err…i’m talking about death metal in a libertarian blog. *queue Twilight Zone theme song*
PS: That doesn’t mean i don’t like Opeth. They’re one of my favorite bands actually, and i highly recommend them 😉
What I’ve been listening to lately:
Illinoise, by Sufjan Stevens. Emotionally intimate and richly orchestrated folk music. Without question one of the most talented songwriters around right now, if you don’t mind the occaisional preciousness or sillyness.
Takk…, by Sigur Rós. This Icelandic band regularly gives me the closest thing I have to a religious experience. Some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring music you’re likely to hear these days. Really must be experienced to be understood. (You can download some of their stuff here.)
Broken Social Scene, by Broken Social Scene. I hate it when bands do self-titled albums, but I’ll excuse this one on the grounds that it rocks. Sunny, upbeat pop music in the best possible sense of those words.
The Spectator article was nonsense. “Serious” pop artists have supported the Left since time began. This reflects both youthful naivety and and the uncoolness of proclaiming your rightwing credentials.
In fact, i suspect we will look back on this period as a Golden Age for pop – Radiohead, Coldplay, Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Keane, Razorlite, Franz Ferdinand etc etc.
pommygranate, I think if you carefully read O’Neill’s article, it is pretty clear that his problem with the bands is not that they are leftwing (O’Neill, like other Spiked writers, is a sort of fallen Marxist) but that they embody a sort of Blairist, dull earnestness.
The list of groups you mention are unlikely to regarded as a Golden Age for anything, mate!
Johnathan
Yes, they certainly are of uniformly dull and ill-informed opinions but hasn’t this always been the case? The Speccie’s real gripe is that their views are pro-Blair not pro-Tory.
Re Spiked – i only found the site recently. It seems to contain some well written articles. Are they really mainly ex-Marxists? Either the Left’s moved or i’ve moved..
Pommy, I hardly imagine that O’Neill, a man of the left, is upset that these bands are not pro-Tory!!! It is the blandness of the music and the associated personnel that he dislikes. That is the point.
Mitch’s new album is out and rather good. He told me, while in the studio in his guise as guitarist for Growing Old Disgracefully, that this is his darkest album yet. He is especially pleased with the song about Live 8.
The new Opeth is pretty damn impressive. Their PR claims they are death prog…whatever that means. I think Opeth is considered DM is because of their subject matter rather than the way it sounds.
For those of you who are a bit softer at heart…the new Journey is the best thing they have done in rather a long time. Far better than the last album they did with Steve Perry.
NB: madne0, Dodgeblogium, another libertarian blog, talks about death metal occasionally. It certainly more fun that chatting about the latest idiocy from Chris Martin or Thom Yorke!
In fact, i suspect we will look back on this period as a Golden Age for pop – Radiohead, Coldplay, Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Keane, Razorlite, Franz Ferdinand etc etc.
Not bloody like. One of the biggest problems with most of those bands is that they all sound alike. There is very little originality from any of that lot. The pop-rock scene these days is the dullest it has been in years. Even the Brit-pop age produced decent music like Supergrass and Pulp.
Granted the party is over as one band is now very hard to tell from the next, but it has been fun while it lasted. History will definitely look kindly on the last 2-3 years.
Now for something new.
PG no they wont…the last few years of British pop history have been an afront to all that is clever and good about this great land. It is the amalgam of bland lyrics and less than erudite music which has bored an entire nation into believing what Blair is doing is right & true. It is a load of bollocks like the current Labour govt. Have you ever read any Coldplay lyrics?
Andrew – ive always believed that if you want lyrics, read poetry. Pop music is just that, music. One of the best bands of the last 20 years, The Smiths, wrote utter drivel, but the music was great.
Ah yes but lyrics are not necessarily poetry. Some tell stories, make snide remarks et al. Lyrics should be an integral part of any song. If you don’t read or listen to lyrics you are only appreciating half the song.
I agree the Smiths wrote utter drivel lyrics…course the music was pretty much that too. Never quite got why people liked listening to Morrissey whinge. BTW Mitch Benn has a song about Smiths fans too :p