Can we all collectively agree that each successive generation isn't getting worse, it's just a result of the previous generation fucking them about? Hippies weren't bad, they just resented the overt conservatism and militarism of their greatest-generation predecessors. Baby boomers weren't amoral, greedy dickheads, they just embraced the speed and glamour afforded to them by an increasingly consumeristic culture that their parents railed against. Gen-X kids weren't heroin addicted slackers, they just resented how their parents worked themselves to death at the expense of their families in their conspicuous consumerism and didn't want anything to do with that. Which brings us to now, Gen-Y.
The Gen-Y crop? Well, children of Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers, somewhat prosperous, bombarded by more images of celebrity than any previous generation... am I the only one not surprised that the resounding image for this generation is pill-popping, self- and sex-obsessed vessels of vapidity? Their parents stressed by issues of politics, money and real-estate yet more liberal than any previous generation, a result of the "keeping up with the Joneses" shallow ambition in the case of Baby Boomers or the heady, "the world is going down the shitter and it's pretty much inevitable" heaviness in the case of Gen-Xers, it's only natural that the next crop would want to distance themselves from their parent's worries and fears.
This generation's zeitgeist will be David Guetta and Jersey Shore, mark my words. It's all about bubblegum, upbeat tunes that you can dance to and being sexy and fun instead of one of those cerebral downers. That's not necessarily the fault of this generation any more than Gen-X was the fault of the guys who grew their hair out and wore flannel, but it is their doing.
My prediction for how iGeneration (this is apparently the next batch... I shudder at whoever names these) will turn out pretty much runs this way; it'll rule like hippies and Gen-X did, but the ethos will be different. Hippies had hedonism, peace and love, hallucinogens and weed, Gen-X had acceptance of all cultures, impotent despondency at the state of the world, heroin and weed... iGen will, in my opinion have an increased resentment to conventional "settle down and buy a house" style goals and the capitalist system in general (yesssssss), a distate for politics and selective ignorance (like not knowing how torrents work and why it's not stealing to pirate an album), support for freedom of information and weed. I also predict said generation will have an almost paradoxical obsession with gadgets, but this'd more likely be due to futurist leanings, rather than consumerist ones. Or I could just be projecting.
For your reading pleasure, here is a couple ideas than never became full-bodies posts.
Fantastic Planet by Failure should have been a huge, huge hit, I don't understand why it wasn't. It's definitely not the first really good, critically acclaimed record to tank in sales and it certainly wasn't the last, but it was released in '96, there were way crappier post-grunge records released around that time that went on to do really well. It sounds as good today as it did then yet it was pretty much in step with where popular music was going at the time, there are at least three songs on the album that are hooky and melodic enough to be hits (Smoking Umbrellas, The Nurse Who Loved Me and Stuck On You are my picks, but Sergeant Politeness, Another Space Song and Dirty Blue Balloons could have done it too) and yet, who's heard of Failure? Pop culture is bullshit.
And while we're on the topic of bullshit pop culture, how fuckin' happy is Chuck Lorre right now? Dude may have set situation comedy back a few millenia with Two and a Half Men (the success of that show is inexplicable... I've watched it and I don't understand the appeal. I get it, it's just Charlie Sheen being Charlie Sheen and hardy-har-har, it's a wise cracking fat kid. Not funny) but Big Bang Theory is the form at its best. And the reason BBT is so good? No, it's not because there's finally a show about nerds, because The IT Crowd beat them to the punch and is, in its own unique way, a very good, geek-oriented show. No, the reason BBT has gained so much momentum since it first began is because it took the time to build characters, not just slap together some stereotypes and call it a day. I won't go into my frothing, pop-culture nerd rant, but it's nice to see them take character archetypes (the fun girl, the straight man, the sex pest, etc.) and give them a bit more depth than just "the wacky neighbour." Every character in BBT has stuff going on outside the main group, they just all happen to be friends. Anyway, looping all the way around to the point, Chuck Lorre dumbed down the collective TV-watching horde with Two and a Half Men, then made something legitimately entertaining in The Big Bang Theory, and is now richer than anyone should be. Good going you cynical yet ultimately talented douche.
The world is full of retarded things. For some reason, "suck it up" and "toughen up, princess" are valid responses to complaints. Well, no more. Music has gone to hell, people are getting exponentially dumber and we're hurtling towards oblivion. So why not whine about it?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A Magical Little Fable Nobody Cares About.
With the circus sideshow of American politics reaching critical mass, it's very easy to forget that other nations, including the nation we live in, also have politicians. It's also very easy to forget that politicians who are consistently in the public eye are a very unique kind of person; ambitious and driven enough to slog through the dehumanising gauntlet of party politics, savvy enough to secure top spot and yet, somehow... consistently unlikeable. In recent memory, I cannot name a politician who came of as a person I would like. There have been funny ones of all different flavours, and even a couple of effective ones, but none I can honestly say I liked as people.
Ignoring names for a moment, let us reflect on the narrative that has been Australian politics these last two terms. A divisive but ultimately respected and long-serving Liberal Prime Minister is replaced by yet another divisive figure; the intelligent and media-savvy Labor leader who had (and possibly still has) the unfortunate personality quirk of being a stubborn, arrogant, unpleasant, self absorbed and controlling douche. Said Labor leader steered Australia through the GFC, arguably thanks to the economic stability that the Liberal Party gave Australia during its reign. You could argue this specific detail until the words lose all meaning but whether the Labor leader was just a lucky passenger or an economic mastermind is largely irrelevant; Australia handled the GFC better than a lot of other nations while the Labor Party held power. Fact.
Then... well, balls were dropped. The industry bigwigs who pull the strings of the Labor Party (this isn't a conspiracy rant, Labor is largely run by union leaders and lawyers rather than politicians. Kinda cool in theory but fucking awful in practice) were unhappy with how their figurehead leader was acting more like a leader than a figurehead, so even though his mining tax scheme failed (mostly due to the spectacularly poor decision to seek support from the Liberal Party rather than The Greens), the Sword of Damacles inevitably fell, and his simultaneously historic (due to her gender) and disappointing (because of her voice, leadership style and public persona) successor stepped in.
Then, election time, and the Battle of Banality began. Both leaders, the irritating and ineffectual Labor leader and the hauntingly pious, moronic and sexist Liberal leader fought it out via "heartfelt" (read: shallow, pandering and a little bit racist) advertisements, while fringe parties from all ends of the political spectrum received an increased amount of attention due to the largely disaffected masses. Labor won by striking an accord with The Greens and two independent candidates, and what is, on paper at least, the most left-leaning government in Australian history.
The characters, narrative and set pieces are all perfect for some great comedic political storytelling, but whereas the American system almost invites, by virtue of its free and largely unregulated workings, edgy and intelligent insights, the much more fair and reasonable Australian system coats the whole proceeding with an air of beige central-ness. Which is a shame, because hot damn if our politicians don't need the Jon Stewart treatment.
Ignoring names for a moment, let us reflect on the narrative that has been Australian politics these last two terms. A divisive but ultimately respected and long-serving Liberal Prime Minister is replaced by yet another divisive figure; the intelligent and media-savvy Labor leader who had (and possibly still has) the unfortunate personality quirk of being a stubborn, arrogant, unpleasant, self absorbed and controlling douche. Said Labor leader steered Australia through the GFC, arguably thanks to the economic stability that the Liberal Party gave Australia during its reign. You could argue this specific detail until the words lose all meaning but whether the Labor leader was just a lucky passenger or an economic mastermind is largely irrelevant; Australia handled the GFC better than a lot of other nations while the Labor Party held power. Fact.
Then... well, balls were dropped. The industry bigwigs who pull the strings of the Labor Party (this isn't a conspiracy rant, Labor is largely run by union leaders and lawyers rather than politicians. Kinda cool in theory but fucking awful in practice) were unhappy with how their figurehead leader was acting more like a leader than a figurehead, so even though his mining tax scheme failed (mostly due to the spectacularly poor decision to seek support from the Liberal Party rather than The Greens), the Sword of Damacles inevitably fell, and his simultaneously historic (due to her gender) and disappointing (because of her voice, leadership style and public persona) successor stepped in.
Then, election time, and the Battle of Banality began. Both leaders, the irritating and ineffectual Labor leader and the hauntingly pious, moronic and sexist Liberal leader fought it out via "heartfelt" (read: shallow, pandering and a little bit racist) advertisements, while fringe parties from all ends of the political spectrum received an increased amount of attention due to the largely disaffected masses. Labor won by striking an accord with The Greens and two independent candidates, and what is, on paper at least, the most left-leaning government in Australian history.
The characters, narrative and set pieces are all perfect for some great comedic political storytelling, but whereas the American system almost invites, by virtue of its free and largely unregulated workings, edgy and intelligent insights, the much more fair and reasonable Australian system coats the whole proceeding with an air of beige central-ness. Which is a shame, because hot damn if our politicians don't need the Jon Stewart treatment.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Please... Drink The Kool Aid.
The collective self-esteem of the unwashed middle class horde must be at an all time low-ebb, because the degree of adulation heaped upon people of marginal talent (and that's me being generous) is, at this point in time, truly unsettling. People cried when The Beatles first landed in America. Now people cry when Kim Kardashian visits Australia. Somewhere along the road, we lost our way.
Is it all that surprising, though? People, young people in particular, have always been given to hero-worship. Musicians, actors and sports stars are placed on pedestals too high for themselves to even live up to because their contributions to their given fields enrich our lives. Fuck, I'm guilty of this too: In my darkest, secret moments, I've been known to consider Thom Yorke as something a little more than just a man (wow, isn't that a shock?) and frankly, you're always going to like people or things that provide you with joy or stimulation. Why wouldn't you? Of course, there's a fundamental separation between the adoration of someone talented and someone who is simply famous (or infamous).
The argument could be raised that people like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton are talented, but their talent doesn't lie in the sports or arts or sciences. You could very easily make the argument that the modern career celebrity is, in fact, a marketing genius. Their product is their image and their job is to get said image everywhere possible, to get people to give a shit about their very existence by virtue of their existence. And judging by the borderline-spastic reception Ms. Kardashian received upon arriving in Australia, it's fair to say; there are a lot of people giving a shit.
It's open season for anyone who desires celebrity enough. The "information superhighway" as Al Gore so clumsily put it is now the Trash Superhighway. A non-stop, unfiltered source of anything you want, and if you want notoriety, it's never been easier. Consider how many leaked sex tapes launched careers in the lucrative market of reality television and indefinable celebrity. Break your name into the cultural consciousness and then ride the wave of people's recognition. Still, it begs the question; these people provide virtually nothing by way of a product, so why the wild adulation?
Consider this; it is harder now than ever before for a young person to achieve home ownership, financial stability and, one could even argue, true emotional maturity. How can we? The cost of real estate is climbing steadily higher and higher, the job market is becoming increasingly cutthroat and some sort of qualification is required to even be considered for any "career" job, so the days of turning 18, getting a job and striking out on your own are dead. The school years are dragged on into this marathon of qualification-acquisition, independence becomes too much of a chore to deal with right now and maturity gets cast aside as youth creeps into the late twenties.
The "career celebrity" is of a similar age to this prisoner of life's financial mire, but their lives couldn't be more different. The celebrity can own their own home, can buy anything they like, can get paid exorbitant sums just to put in face time at a party. The celebrity doesn't have to stack shelves and pull all-nighters, they can saunter through life on the back of simply being themselves, or a camera friendly version anyway. Ever wondered about the duck-face and the make-up obsession that seems to be creeping into the photo albums of young ladies, or the adulation of meatheaded, douchebag behavior demonstrated by young men? Watch Jersey Shore, there's your answer.
This cult-like adoration of those who can be as immature and irresponsible as they feel like for no reason other than their name is recognisable shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing understanding of the challenges of trying to vault the purgatory of the twenties and leap from childhood to true, independent adulthood, but it also doesn't make it any less irritating. We live in a world where Steven Wilson is less well known than Paris Hilton. Think about that.
Is it all that surprising, though? People, young people in particular, have always been given to hero-worship. Musicians, actors and sports stars are placed on pedestals too high for themselves to even live up to because their contributions to their given fields enrich our lives. Fuck, I'm guilty of this too: In my darkest, secret moments, I've been known to consider Thom Yorke as something a little more than just a man (wow, isn't that a shock?) and frankly, you're always going to like people or things that provide you with joy or stimulation. Why wouldn't you? Of course, there's a fundamental separation between the adoration of someone talented and someone who is simply famous (or infamous).
The argument could be raised that people like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton are talented, but their talent doesn't lie in the sports or arts or sciences. You could very easily make the argument that the modern career celebrity is, in fact, a marketing genius. Their product is their image and their job is to get said image everywhere possible, to get people to give a shit about their very existence by virtue of their existence. And judging by the borderline-spastic reception Ms. Kardashian received upon arriving in Australia, it's fair to say; there are a lot of people giving a shit.
It's open season for anyone who desires celebrity enough. The "information superhighway" as Al Gore so clumsily put it is now the Trash Superhighway. A non-stop, unfiltered source of anything you want, and if you want notoriety, it's never been easier. Consider how many leaked sex tapes launched careers in the lucrative market of reality television and indefinable celebrity. Break your name into the cultural consciousness and then ride the wave of people's recognition. Still, it begs the question; these people provide virtually nothing by way of a product, so why the wild adulation?
Consider this; it is harder now than ever before for a young person to achieve home ownership, financial stability and, one could even argue, true emotional maturity. How can we? The cost of real estate is climbing steadily higher and higher, the job market is becoming increasingly cutthroat and some sort of qualification is required to even be considered for any "career" job, so the days of turning 18, getting a job and striking out on your own are dead. The school years are dragged on into this marathon of qualification-acquisition, independence becomes too much of a chore to deal with right now and maturity gets cast aside as youth creeps into the late twenties.
The "career celebrity" is of a similar age to this prisoner of life's financial mire, but their lives couldn't be more different. The celebrity can own their own home, can buy anything they like, can get paid exorbitant sums just to put in face time at a party. The celebrity doesn't have to stack shelves and pull all-nighters, they can saunter through life on the back of simply being themselves, or a camera friendly version anyway. Ever wondered about the duck-face and the make-up obsession that seems to be creeping into the photo albums of young ladies, or the adulation of meatheaded, douchebag behavior demonstrated by young men? Watch Jersey Shore, there's your answer.
This cult-like adoration of those who can be as immature and irresponsible as they feel like for no reason other than their name is recognisable shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing understanding of the challenges of trying to vault the purgatory of the twenties and leap from childhood to true, independent adulthood, but it also doesn't make it any less irritating. We live in a world where Steven Wilson is less well known than Paris Hilton. Think about that.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
5 Kinda Weird Albums From The Late 90's That Everyone Should Hear
1) In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. A peculiar piece of lo-fi indie rock, the disparate ingredients of the album seem like a recipe for disaster, or at least obscurity. Singer/writer Jeff Magnum's voice is quite unique, wailing as if he has no idea how to sing, and his songs are deceptively simple, albeit with incredibly obtuse lyrics. Add that the two other main band members are Julian Koster, a multi-insrumentalist whose speciality is the musical saw and Scott Spillane, who did the horn arrangements. Not exactly the three-chord rock or shimmering pop that dominated sales then and does so now. It'd be just another folk-rock curio if it weren't for one simple fact: It's beautiful. Magnum's voice, while useless for basically any other project, is perfect here, and it compliments the overall melodic feeling of the music, with some interesting bluegrass flourishes. The album moves from solo acoustic pieces to fuzzed out garage rock to almost orchestral arrangements with horns, singing saws and pump organs, none of it feeling out of place. One of the most uniquely nineties sounding records out, even though it doesn't really conform to any sound in the nineties. Except maybe the niche Sebadoh were carving, but even then, only just.
2) Fantastic Planet by Failure. They say grunge died in 1994. Shame, then, that the genre's best album was released two years after it died. Ken Andrews' songwriting star had been rising but with this record the band mixed walls of saturated distortion with a sense of texture and melody that had been sadly lacking from the years that dominated alt-rock previously. Like much of the artistic output that was coming out in that decade, it's all angst, alienation and heroin from a lyrical perspective. "Saturday Savior", "Dirty Blue Balloons," "Smoking Umbrellas," "Pillowhead," "Stuck On You"... all amazing songs about being on too much heroin to even stand. It feels very much like a young person's album from the 90's, but don't let the "snapshot of the times" vibe get to you, it's also a very, very good snapshot of a time once gone.
I'd be remiss to point out that the other 16 tracks on the album could all be Ken Andrews vomiting and making racial slurs and the album would still be a classic because of "The Nurse Who Loved Me," the song that should have been everywhere, been at least as popular and big-selling as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and catapulted Failure into fame and fortune. It didn't, but it is a completely mind-blowing track, growing from a touching, quiet intro into an explosive middle section. A Perfect Circle covered it nicely (and more popularly) but Failure own that song.
3) California by Mr. Bungle. These guys are a divisive bunch, either being the most crazy-imaginative group of funk-prog-avant-metal-fusion guys ever OR being artless, noise-peddling dickheads. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but their final album in 1999 was about as artful, cohesive and, well, song-oriented they got before disbanding. I won't list the genres it touches on, mostly because it's all of them, but the funk, metal and experimental influences are probably the loudest. Songs like "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare," "None Of Them Knew They Were Robots" and "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy" (all real titles of songs on the album) enter into the six minute range and take detours into places that no rock band has ever really gone. Screw it, listen to this and tell me if it's like anything you've ever heard.
(Sorry for the live versions, record companies are dicks.)
4) Around the Fur by Deftones. Metal is terminally uncool and I understand it's somewhat divisive... it carries with it a stigma similar to country music. "Oh, I'll listen to anything, except..." That sentence is only ever concluded with the words "what's on the radio," "country" or "anything heavy." As is no secret here, I'm a metalhead, but I'm also a music fan. I can't listen to anything that's just heavy for the sake of heavy, but it's like a love of chillis; once you develop a taste for it, it's hard to have anything without at least a touch of it. All that said, let's get a few things clear about Around the Fur.
Yes, it's meant to be played loud. Yes it features heavily distorted guitar and minor key tonalities and yes, it's a (gasp!) metal album. It's also nuanced, layered and affecting. I suppose the main thing that seperates Deftones from the dastardly nu-metal mire that infected heavy music in the late nineties in their focus on haunting melodies, or should I say lead vocalist Chino Moreno's focus on haunting melodies. He has no problem whispering, crooning, screaming or, and this is the real shocker, singing over the elegantly constructed waves of powerchords and bizarre, homemade samples the band excels at. Metal with a difference.
5) OK Computer by Radiohead. I know they're the most popular band in the world now, this album changed alt-rock forever, Beatles of our generation blah blah blah BUT! When's the last time you actually sat down and listened to this record? I mean actually, properly listened. Even for its time, this record is so out of step with what was going on around it. Downbeat even by nineties standards, with lusher production and arrangements that Dark Side of the Moon and two ready-made super singles in "Karma Police" and "No Surprises." There's nothing I can say about this record that hasn't been said, listen to it.
2) Fantastic Planet by Failure. They say grunge died in 1994. Shame, then, that the genre's best album was released two years after it died. Ken Andrews' songwriting star had been rising but with this record the band mixed walls of saturated distortion with a sense of texture and melody that had been sadly lacking from the years that dominated alt-rock previously. Like much of the artistic output that was coming out in that decade, it's all angst, alienation and heroin from a lyrical perspective. "Saturday Savior", "Dirty Blue Balloons," "Smoking Umbrellas," "Pillowhead," "Stuck On You"... all amazing songs about being on too much heroin to even stand. It feels very much like a young person's album from the 90's, but don't let the "snapshot of the times" vibe get to you, it's also a very, very good snapshot of a time once gone.
I'd be remiss to point out that the other 16 tracks on the album could all be Ken Andrews vomiting and making racial slurs and the album would still be a classic because of "The Nurse Who Loved Me," the song that should have been everywhere, been at least as popular and big-selling as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and catapulted Failure into fame and fortune. It didn't, but it is a completely mind-blowing track, growing from a touching, quiet intro into an explosive middle section. A Perfect Circle covered it nicely (and more popularly) but Failure own that song.
3) California by Mr. Bungle. These guys are a divisive bunch, either being the most crazy-imaginative group of funk-prog-avant-metal-fusion guys ever OR being artless, noise-peddling dickheads. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but their final album in 1999 was about as artful, cohesive and, well, song-oriented they got before disbanding. I won't list the genres it touches on, mostly because it's all of them, but the funk, metal and experimental influences are probably the loudest. Songs like "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare," "None Of Them Knew They Were Robots" and "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy" (all real titles of songs on the album) enter into the six minute range and take detours into places that no rock band has ever really gone. Screw it, listen to this and tell me if it's like anything you've ever heard.
(Sorry for the live versions, record companies are dicks.)
4) Around the Fur by Deftones. Metal is terminally uncool and I understand it's somewhat divisive... it carries with it a stigma similar to country music. "Oh, I'll listen to anything, except..." That sentence is only ever concluded with the words "what's on the radio," "country" or "anything heavy." As is no secret here, I'm a metalhead, but I'm also a music fan. I can't listen to anything that's just heavy for the sake of heavy, but it's like a love of chillis; once you develop a taste for it, it's hard to have anything without at least a touch of it. All that said, let's get a few things clear about Around the Fur.
Yes, it's meant to be played loud. Yes it features heavily distorted guitar and minor key tonalities and yes, it's a (gasp!) metal album. It's also nuanced, layered and affecting. I suppose the main thing that seperates Deftones from the dastardly nu-metal mire that infected heavy music in the late nineties in their focus on haunting melodies, or should I say lead vocalist Chino Moreno's focus on haunting melodies. He has no problem whispering, crooning, screaming or, and this is the real shocker, singing over the elegantly constructed waves of powerchords and bizarre, homemade samples the band excels at. Metal with a difference.
5) OK Computer by Radiohead. I know they're the most popular band in the world now, this album changed alt-rock forever, Beatles of our generation blah blah blah BUT! When's the last time you actually sat down and listened to this record? I mean actually, properly listened. Even for its time, this record is so out of step with what was going on around it. Downbeat even by nineties standards, with lusher production and arrangements that Dark Side of the Moon and two ready-made super singles in "Karma Police" and "No Surprises." There's nothing I can say about this record that hasn't been said, listen to it.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Why The Next Decade Or So Of Music Will Be Great.
I don't mean great in the sense that it'll be universally adored and usher in new-found prosperity to musicians, however. Quite the opposite, musicians will be doing it tough and crap will sell more than quality until its dying breath. No, I mean the next decade or so of music will be artistically great. The kind that makes no money.
This is a big call and is somewhat counter-intuitive. As any pretentious music fan will tell you, serious, imaginative music has been somewhat lacking lately. Yes, the internet and the relative smallness of the world these days has made it possible for there to be a much wider variety of music available to even the most casual listener, and yes, there is a lot of good music out out there if you know where to look and listen but let's be fair, when's the last time you saw one of them on a magazine cover? When's the last time you saw a completely new movement sprout from a relatively small number of underground bands?
Yeah, I know it sounds like I've got my nineties hard-on in full force again, but these things don't follow decades. I mean, consider the nineties. Grunge may be considered the nineties soundtrack but Kurt Cobain died in 1994, at least a year after grunge had run its course. I'm not being facetious there, think about it. Core, Dirt, In Utero and Siamese Dream are four of the most completely different records released within the space of 2 years, yet all are considered "grunge" despite none of them really reflecting the sludgy, punky roots of the genre. The remaining 5 years of the nineties spawned brit-pop, trip-hop, nascent electronica and the good kind of alternative metal. The nineties weren't unified by one sound as they were unified by one theme: challenging, discontented music that was, informed or not, overtly against the materialism and shallowness of the generation previous.
What does that have to do with the music of the next decade? Well, if you haven't guessed it by now, there's something wrong with you. Decade dominated by vapid, image-driven pop-stars and a large but mostly sporadic and underground alternative scene, while greedy older money-pushers drive the world into economic uncertainty? Man, that sounds really, really familiar, doesn't it? Almost sounds like something we're going through RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW. The timing may be off, but this all goes in cycles. Children reject their parent's lessons and adopt a philosophy almost diametrically opposed to it. And it just so happens that this generation is about as vapid and shallow as it gets.
Yeah, tenuous I know, but seriously, society follows this pattern pretty much since the dawn of recorded music. The time scale may be contracting, but as information gets more readily available, these phases will get shorter and shorter. Stay tuned.
This is a big call and is somewhat counter-intuitive. As any pretentious music fan will tell you, serious, imaginative music has been somewhat lacking lately. Yes, the internet and the relative smallness of the world these days has made it possible for there to be a much wider variety of music available to even the most casual listener, and yes, there is a lot of good music out out there if you know where to look and listen but let's be fair, when's the last time you saw one of them on a magazine cover? When's the last time you saw a completely new movement sprout from a relatively small number of underground bands?
Yeah, I know it sounds like I've got my nineties hard-on in full force again, but these things don't follow decades. I mean, consider the nineties. Grunge may be considered the nineties soundtrack but Kurt Cobain died in 1994, at least a year after grunge had run its course. I'm not being facetious there, think about it. Core, Dirt, In Utero and Siamese Dream are four of the most completely different records released within the space of 2 years, yet all are considered "grunge" despite none of them really reflecting the sludgy, punky roots of the genre. The remaining 5 years of the nineties spawned brit-pop, trip-hop, nascent electronica and the good kind of alternative metal. The nineties weren't unified by one sound as they were unified by one theme: challenging, discontented music that was, informed or not, overtly against the materialism and shallowness of the generation previous.
What does that have to do with the music of the next decade? Well, if you haven't guessed it by now, there's something wrong with you. Decade dominated by vapid, image-driven pop-stars and a large but mostly sporadic and underground alternative scene, while greedy older money-pushers drive the world into economic uncertainty? Man, that sounds really, really familiar, doesn't it? Almost sounds like something we're going through RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW. The timing may be off, but this all goes in cycles. Children reject their parent's lessons and adopt a philosophy almost diametrically opposed to it. And it just so happens that this generation is about as vapid and shallow as it gets.
Yeah, tenuous I know, but seriously, society follows this pattern pretty much since the dawn of recorded music. The time scale may be contracting, but as information gets more readily available, these phases will get shorter and shorter. Stay tuned.
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Years Dreams.
Whelp, a new year is upon us. Well done, welcome to the future. Should be a good year too, I'm looking forward to a few things:
1) US Presidential Elections. Politics gets a reputation for being stuffy and boring, but as the US tumbles towards economic oblivion, basically every politician has gone their own special flavour of mental. Between the sexual harassment revelations, the homophobic sentiments, the complete misunderstanding of economics and John Huntsman's little candidate that couldn't, the Republican party are a cavalcade of laughs from start to finish. Throw in Barack's floundering popularity and his weird attempts to get the red states on side and you enter the realms of full blown political surrealism. Jokes aside, if the wrong dude (yes dude, Bachmann won't get in) wins the top spot, we could see some pretty messed up shit happening in the states and globally, but frankly it's all far too funny for me to be legitimately worried.
2) The End Of The World. Just kidding, the world isn't ending, but honestly, I can't wait for the mythical date to come. My prediction? No-one will learn anything from this, cranks will continue to be cranks and believe any stupid shit they like and I'll remain as, if not more, smugly superior than I am already.
3) The collapse of the music industry. Now, this is a big call, but the timing and spirit of the times seems perfect for this to happen. My prediction is that a number of bands, following in the lead of the Djent movement but from lots of different types of music, electronic, folk, rock, pop... basically any subgroup of "popular" you can imagine, will begin to self-produce and distribute their music and merchandise via the tubes, sidestepping the industry bigwigs. Technology and online self promotion, coupled with real world touring and merch sales will prove more lucrative than traditional methods of distribution and more bands will follow their leads until the "industry" as it exists now will collapse. This will be a slow process that will require a fair bit of sacrifice and self belief from some dedicated bands or individuals, but it's definitely within reach, now more than ever.
4) The Avengers movie. I haven't seen Edward Norton's Hulk, but I've heard good things about it. Add in the excellent Iron Man movies, the silly but still fun Thor and the surprisingly brilliant Captain America and the ingredients seem good enough individually. Cap' in particular was more than just a superhero movie but a legitimately well written and made piece of cinema, with Chris Evans' performance worth note. It would have been easy to make Cap' a dislikeably preachy Lawful-Good type, but between the writing and Evans' performance, he is instead made into a principled and complex character who, having seen and experienced the disgusting and cowardly actions of those with strength or power abusing those without, internalises those lessons and tries to make the world a better place when he is gifted with his abilities. Granted, the action scenes are gonna rule, but what I'm really looking forward to is the character interaction, particularly between Tony Stark and Thor and/or Steve Rogers.
Stark is an arrogant, largely self serving jackass whose vast intelligence lets him back up his huge ego. Indeed, when you think about it, after escaping from capture (this is the film Stark, by the way), there was no reason for him to make a new Iron Man suit. He just did it to prove he could and to lord it over anyone that couldn't. Steve Rogers is a humble, selfless hero who dislikes bullies and thugs, although lamentably his intelligence is that of an average guy from the 50's. As such, it makes sense for the Stark character to poke and prod Rogers, just to be a dick. Will make for excellent viewing. The similarly meatheaded Thor will probably receive the same treatment. Can't wait.
Other than those, standard dreams and hopes: lose some weight, have fun, maybe meet a pleasant lady, who knows. I'm still not a hopeless drug addict yet, so it's looking good.
1) US Presidential Elections. Politics gets a reputation for being stuffy and boring, but as the US tumbles towards economic oblivion, basically every politician has gone their own special flavour of mental. Between the sexual harassment revelations, the homophobic sentiments, the complete misunderstanding of economics and John Huntsman's little candidate that couldn't, the Republican party are a cavalcade of laughs from start to finish. Throw in Barack's floundering popularity and his weird attempts to get the red states on side and you enter the realms of full blown political surrealism. Jokes aside, if the wrong dude (yes dude, Bachmann won't get in) wins the top spot, we could see some pretty messed up shit happening in the states and globally, but frankly it's all far too funny for me to be legitimately worried.
2) The End Of The World. Just kidding, the world isn't ending, but honestly, I can't wait for the mythical date to come. My prediction? No-one will learn anything from this, cranks will continue to be cranks and believe any stupid shit they like and I'll remain as, if not more, smugly superior than I am already.
3) The collapse of the music industry. Now, this is a big call, but the timing and spirit of the times seems perfect for this to happen. My prediction is that a number of bands, following in the lead of the Djent movement but from lots of different types of music, electronic, folk, rock, pop... basically any subgroup of "popular" you can imagine, will begin to self-produce and distribute their music and merchandise via the tubes, sidestepping the industry bigwigs. Technology and online self promotion, coupled with real world touring and merch sales will prove more lucrative than traditional methods of distribution and more bands will follow their leads until the "industry" as it exists now will collapse. This will be a slow process that will require a fair bit of sacrifice and self belief from some dedicated bands or individuals, but it's definitely within reach, now more than ever.
4) The Avengers movie. I haven't seen Edward Norton's Hulk, but I've heard good things about it. Add in the excellent Iron Man movies, the silly but still fun Thor and the surprisingly brilliant Captain America and the ingredients seem good enough individually. Cap' in particular was more than just a superhero movie but a legitimately well written and made piece of cinema, with Chris Evans' performance worth note. It would have been easy to make Cap' a dislikeably preachy Lawful-Good type, but between the writing and Evans' performance, he is instead made into a principled and complex character who, having seen and experienced the disgusting and cowardly actions of those with strength or power abusing those without, internalises those lessons and tries to make the world a better place when he is gifted with his abilities. Granted, the action scenes are gonna rule, but what I'm really looking forward to is the character interaction, particularly between Tony Stark and Thor and/or Steve Rogers.
Stark is an arrogant, largely self serving jackass whose vast intelligence lets him back up his huge ego. Indeed, when you think about it, after escaping from capture (this is the film Stark, by the way), there was no reason for him to make a new Iron Man suit. He just did it to prove he could and to lord it over anyone that couldn't. Steve Rogers is a humble, selfless hero who dislikes bullies and thugs, although lamentably his intelligence is that of an average guy from the 50's. As such, it makes sense for the Stark character to poke and prod Rogers, just to be a dick. Will make for excellent viewing. The similarly meatheaded Thor will probably receive the same treatment. Can't wait.
Other than those, standard dreams and hopes: lose some weight, have fun, maybe meet a pleasant lady, who knows. I'm still not a hopeless drug addict yet, so it's looking good.
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