WHAT'S THERE TO SAY? WHEN IT'S ALL BEEN SAID BEFORE 

Greetings from the Lab. Last time I checked in, we were talking about Dimebag Darrell. Well, it's been almost a week since that tragic night and we STILL don't have any kind of answers as to the "why" of the equation. Nor will we probably ever know. Which is really quite sad. Anyway, time will tell I suppose. We'll see.

So...wow. It's been a long time since I contributed a proper rant. I dunno...maybe I'm mellowing in my old age. Maybe the Miller High Life and Waylon Jennings have driven me to a kind of "f*** it" state of mind. Who knows. Or maybe, just maybe, I don't have anything else to rant about.

2004 has been a bit of a transitional year for Dr Fever. So much going on and so many changes. Things have been rather hectic here around the Lab. Plus, I really do think i've lost my "fire."

That's the thing about 2004, it seems like the cycle just came back around. The same things that pissed me off 5 years ago cycled back around and got a new face. Bubblegum pop? 5 years ago; Britney Spears. 2004: Ashlee Simpson, et al. Nu-Metal? 5 years ago; Korn and the million or so 7 String Ibanez playing knock offs. 2004? The "underground" made a come up and now we've got bands like friggin ATREYU polluting the malls and airwaves and Headbangers Balls of the country. Hip Hop? Well, mainstream hip hop has pretty much stayed the same except for a new group of the yearly one hit wonders that 
work their way into the system.

See what I mean? Same basic concepts with a totally different face. PACKAGED to look like something fresh and new. Folks, we haven't had something "fresh", "new", "important" or "creative" since about 1992.  Christ? Has it been that long?? Yes. Yes it has. Now, I know that it is debatable that the bands of 12 years ago weren't "fresh" or "new." Well, they were. To the mainstream at least. And they damn sure were "important."

And, that's the thing. 12 years ago when Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains and Soundgarden leapt into our collective conscious it became "important" on so many levels without to much of a push from The Puppet Masters. Now? The teenage masses will swallow whatever The Puppet Masters wish and they will swallow it quickly and without hesitation. Oh, sure, there was a lot of that going on 12 years ago (someone HAD to be buying all those Color Me Badd and Milli Vanilli records) but the truly important bands achieved a fairly good amount of fame (enough to matter anyway) before The Puppet Masters of the time could sink their hands into it.

So, I guess what I'm saying is this; all the great things have been said. All the great rants have been written. And, outside of a handful of bands that are still producing quality music album after album, all the great albums have been written. The 5 year cycle just repeats itself over and over and we're stuck dealing with the fallout.

But, I can say this; at least the Red Sox finally won a World Series. So, hell, I guess ANYTHING is possible for 2005. We'll see.

Until next year....