Lament for Rock and Roll
I just read an article about Little Steven and his speech about the state of the music business "No one's buying records? It's because they suck!" and I have to agree.
It seems as though no bands today have the passion or the grit to learn to play covers or do even decent records. It was pointed out that music is considered a "throwaway" commodity nowadays and it's tremendously sad. The internet has cheapened the music in a huge way.
It was also pointed out in that article that in the old days, in order to be even halfway decent as a performer/band you had to WORK at it, you had to put your time in, hammer it out in a garage or in dingy clubs in Hamburg. What do we have today?
Nintendo generation clowns who think they're cool when they strap on a guitar and play some shitty shit they "felt" in their soul?
The Muse of what? X-Box? PS3?
The greatest example I can think of how bands should approach being "cutting edge" or "on the vanguard" is the White Stripes.
Here is a band that have raw, unvarnished passion and are not afraid to get right to it. They jam like two people on a great mission, man. Just about everything they've done has impressed me in some way. They know music history, they know why they're making the music, they PRACTICE (you can tell that from miles offshore) and they know how to deliver the goods live, which is where you really separate the men from the boys.
Henry Rollins said it: if you can't do it without a backing tape, if you can't get up there and deliver something juicy and rockin' without all kinds of technical gadgets or wizardry then you suck.
Plain and simple. You suck donkey cock if you're a "singer" and you need to lip synch. You suck HUGE on that one. I have no time for phony garbage "artists" like that. Come back to the arena when you're voice is ready to be delivered into a microphone, which will blend with sounds coming from instruments, played by musicians. It adds greatly to the idea of being taken seriously.
I could go on for pages and pages here but I'm sure you get my drift. Just think about how the Byrds or the Zombies are so real and awesome compared to Miley Cyrus...
"Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd
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