|
|
The Decade the Music Died
Posted by Stephen Green · 17 February 2004
The last time Don Henley made any sense, I was in junior high. But then there's Henley's op-ed (no joke) in today's Washington Post: Contrary to conventional wisdom, the root problem [with the music industry] is not the artists, the fans or even new Internet technology. The problem is the music industry itself. It's systemic. The industry, which was once composed of hundreds of big and small record labels, is now controlled by just a handful of unregulated, multinational corporations determined to continue their mad rush toward further consolidation and merger. Oops -- did I say Henley was making sense? Got so excited by the first sentence in that graf, that I must've gotten ahead of myself. Henley is right -- to a point. The problem isn't the artists or the internet or the fans. Or even mergers. The problem is records aren't worth buying anymore. When was the last time -- other than Ken Layne & The Corvids -- you willingly plunked down full retail price for a new album by a new artist and enjoyed even a simple majority of the tracks? When was the last time you even sat down and just listened to an entire new album, instead of using it for background music while doing something else? No matter how many good singles a new artist puts out, for me they remain suspect. I've just bought too many records now with two good cuts and a lot of bad filler. The only full CDs I still buy are those by artists I trust -- but the record industry can't go on forever just selling me a new Steely Dan LP every three years. Other than that -- Sinatra is dead, Prince got too much religion lately, and how many more Diana Krall piano ballads do I really need? And they can repackage the same '80s New Wave hits I loved so much only so many times before I just stop buying. Musically, I'm not yet a total old fart -- there are still some damn fine singles out there. But almost no full CDs. And the ones worth buying usually aren't worth buying at the price they want. So what do I do? I buy a lot fewer CDs, I download more stuff I shouldn't. I don't steal because I want to, nor because I think I have some "right" to someone else's intellectual property, nor because I can't afford the product. It's just that the product mostly sucks -- Don Henley included. Comments
There's probably more good music being made than we know and that's the real problem. Radio, by and large, sucks. Its just hard to run accross good new music. When I'm driving anywhere in range of WXRT in Chicago, or (if its still good) KFOG in San Fransisco or a few other smaller ones I know of, I keep a pen and legal pad at the ready so if I hear something good I can write it down. I don't care how good it is I'll never remember by the end of the day. Posted by: Full Auto at February 17, 2004 10:50 AMHere's some CDs that I thoroughly enjoy as much now as when I bought them (and I like darn near all the songs on them): Cowboy Mouth-Are You With Me? Albums that I bought and fully enjoyed with no regrets for having paid full retail: Mark Lanegan's "Methamphetamine Blues" Not that I'm disagreeing with you, precisely. Their really is good music out there, it's just pretty well hidden. The major labels aren't interested in modest hits or smaller bands, they want the next globally huge hit, and art be damned. That isn't to say that the labels are the problem. 13 year old girls with crappy taste in music and lots of discretionary funds are the problem. The labels are just doing their best to make as much of that money as they can. I'm with Full Auto: the problem is that radio simply isn't pointing the way to the good stuff. So, instead, I listen to the advice of friends who know me, watch some of the smaller labels, and have follow music down incestuous paths. I liked Screaming Trees, so I listened to Mark Lanegan's solo stuff. I was curious about the guitar player that I saw with the band at EMP, so I started listening to Queens of the Stone Age. I heard that Lanegan was singing on one of the songs on Topley-Bird's solo album, so I bought that, which brought me to some cool (and some really bad) stuff from Tricky. Posted by: zombyboy at February 17, 2004 11:10 AMI completely cracked up when I read the 'junior high' reference. I was a huge fan of "Building the Perfect Beast" when I was 15 or 16--because when you're that age, you don't appreciate yet just how pretentious Don Henley really is... Posted by: Will Collier at February 17, 2004 11:21 AMWill, did BTPB come out in '82 or '83? If it was '83, then I was in high school. But the Pretention Detector doesn't grow a whole lot between 8th and 9th grades. It might even get worse -- up to about age 30. Posted by: Stephen Green at February 17, 2004 11:26 AMI don't remember exactly, but I do recally playing it in my first car, which would have been 1984-85 (our high school started with 10th grade)... Posted by: Will Collier at February 17, 2004 11:29 AMIt came out in '84. My God, how I hate that album. Posted by: zombyboy at February 17, 2004 11:45 AMI try very hard not to pay full retail for any CD, but two recent releases that get a thumbs up from me are Audioslave and Terence Blanchard's "Bounce". I've not heard the new ones from Norah Jones or Harry Connick, Jr., so I can't give an opinion on those. www.poppat.com Shameless plug for my little brother's start up band, yeah. But they all need to start somewhere. Posted by: mark at February 17, 2004 12:21 PMFor a quick shot of what's wrong with the music industry today, all one needs is a quick listen to the newest Britney Spears "hit". I say "hit" because that's how they announced it when they premiered it on the local radio station: "Here's Britney's newest (s)hit! [Trust us, we know it's a hit before it even sells!]." What a horrid, terrible song, woops, "hit". QED Although, I would add, the best argument for Music Televions is...Britney's newest VDO! Yowza. Some good Tivo moments in there. Anyway, I third the notion that there is some great music out there - a lot of it - but it is harder to find with the major labels cramming junk down the airwaves. Radio stations literally can not play what is good - everything is dictated. Donnie Simpson recently lamented, upon playing one song for the millionth time, "Geez, how long are we going to have to listen to this song?". QED 2. Damien Posted by: Damien at February 17, 2004 12:35 PMStephen -- Have you tried Rhapsody? $9.95/month to listen all you want and $.80/download. Between Rhapsody and Sirius, I told my husband I don't think I'll be buying CDs regularly in the future -- except Dwight Yoakam. Re Don Henley, I would figure "Everything Is Different Now" would have spoken to you, Stephen, given that its release coincided with you're deciding to settle down with Melissa. I love the chord resolution at the end of that song. Posted by: denise at February 17, 2004 12:54 PMThe problem with the music industry is that they're not interested in music anymore. They want to be kings of all media and the arbiters of popular culture by turning every artist into Madonna and Elvis. Take someone with a pretty face, wrap a snake around them and drown them out with backup singers, studio mixing, and electronic distortion, and viola, Britney. But the CD isn't enough. We need the videos, the movies, the halftime shows, the tabloid antics and talk shows to keep their product fresh and generate multiple revenue streams. Music? That's a side show. Nothing good on the radio? Of course not, we need to hear the "hits" 5 times an hour to keep them fresh. You're not finding good music in the music industry anymore because it's now the pop culture industry. It will just take a little time for the confused comsumer to take their dollars to the internet or stores that carry the music they want to hear. Posted by: Mike M at February 17, 2004 01:33 PMSpeaking of Steely Dan, Stephen, does "Everything Must Go" get better the more you listen to it? I purchased it a couple of weeks ago, and didn't quite know what to think, except that it really isn't very good. I would like to think that we can continue to trust Fagan and Becker, but I am not too sure that their well has not run dry, and saying that makes me sad. Posted by: bennett at February 17, 2004 01:56 PMBennett, I thought the same thing about Two Against Nature. Something about the rhythms made it a difficult album to get into. But, man, did I ever get into it. By the time EMG came out, I'd been listening to those odd TvN beats, so I knew what to expect -- and loved it from the get-go. Posted by: Stephen Green at February 17, 2004 02:04 PMWell, I can say that it hurt my feelings a little to not enjoy EMG. I have all Steely albums, including Fagan's two solo offerings, just so you know my creds as a fan. And my hopes were high. After the first listen, though, I think the title might actually have some symbolic signifigance, like, this is the "going out of business sale", and their done. I think the songs sound that way too. It definately has the same feel as TvN, but is nowhere near as creative. I certainly hope they aren't, because like you said, there is not a whole lot of quality new music out there, or its hard to find and not worth risking $18 a pop. And it will be (or already is) a sad day when Fagan and Becker hang it up. Man, I'm starting to feel old and I'm only 30. Posted by: bennett at February 17, 2004 02:30 PMI have to also agree with the notion that the problem isn't a lack of good music, but rather lack of exposure for good music - lack of variety on the radio and on music TV. Here are some more great records from the past year or so: Well, I have exceedingly odd music tastes. Recent CDs that I've paid full price for & enjoyed would be: "Free Brains & Dead Bodies" by the Consortium Of Genius (AKA the COG! BOW 2 THE COG!) Gwen Knighton's "Box of Fairies" and Three Weird Sisters' "Rite The First Time" "To Touch The Stars" put out by Pormetheus Music. I haven't actually played this one much, since when you buy it online, they e-mail you a URL where you can copy .mp3s of the songs to your machine. Posted by: Cybrludite at February 17, 2004 06:19 PMI gave up on most of the rockers some years back while on the road. The best album I've played recently has been the soundtrack from the computer game Neverwinter Nights special edition. I'm a fan of some movie soundtracks, and the LOTR trilogy was excellent. Fellowship was outstanding, and the other two only suffer by comparison to the first. Stephen, here's two that you may enjoy... Black 47's New York Town (released last week) I just bought two CD's by Iced Earth yesterday that I like very much, but much like you, I only buy artists that I trust. Posted by: Jim S at February 18, 2004 01:35 PM |
MDS - Give Until It Hurts Terror War Scorecard Watching America 50 Things American Cancer Ablation Center Buy VodkaPundit Stuff
"The James Bond of the Blogosphere."
Ann Althouse
Across the Atlantic
American Realpolitik
Albion's Seedlings
Justene Adamec
The Argument Clinic
Todd A
Moe Freedman
Allah Is In the House
Body in Mind
Ben Domenech
Duck Season
Banana Counting Monkey
Ted Barlow
Eric Alterman
American Times
|
     |
