GREENMUSE is a regular reader
and fan contributor at antiMUSIC, the views expressed here don't necessarily
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what he has to say!
Previous Musings
.
This Is Going To Make
A Piss Poor Documentary
Ahoy droogs, hope all is well and things
are going your way, unless your way calls for my immanent demise. In that
case I hope things aren't going your way. The recent passing of one of
music's legends Ray Charles, got me thinking of my 11th grade American
History class(it was actually a 9th grade class, but the first go round
I didn't like the teacher I had and failed miserably), now I know what
your thinking, "what the heck does Ray Charles have to do with history
class? ", as this was exactly what I was thinking when we were listening
to the music of this man in the classroom. I don�t remember the name of
the album, but it was the one with Ray singing country tunes. This teacher
was one of the rare breeds who actually taught instead of just getting
the class to parrot back the dates of certain events. He used music as
a way to give people an idea of what was going on in a particular time
in history, an excellent concept in my opinion. We even did a few weeks
lessons on why the Beatles are so important to music. Like I said, this
teacher was a good bloke. Another good lesson was on Marvin Gaye�s "What�s
Going On� album, but enough reminiscing.
All this thinking of that time which is
a lot longer ago than I would like to admit, led to the thought that music
really is the voice of generations in a certain time, and a certain place,
though admittedly a lot, and I do mean a lot of music since rock n roll�s
birth as we know it, is forgettable fluff. If you want proof of this, look
at any list of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, sure you will
see your Elvis Costellos and Stings, but then there are always these 3
or so names that I swear the aged hippies who run that thing make up. I
wouldn�t be surprised if there is some guy locked in a room that makes
up names and they pick the best ones to induct just to make up numbers
(I�d suggest Freddie and the Bean Counters, unless that does happen
to be a real band name) after all, there are only so many bands that are
decent in any stretch of the word out there.
The 50s had rock n roll in its infancy
which seems tame by our standards today, but remember this is the time
when conformity is the order of the day, young people didn�t want to be
the stodgy folks their parents were, no siree, they wanted to Rock Around
the Clock with Bill Haley and his Comets, and perhaps go to a party in
the county jail with Elvis. The 60s had its peace and love movement, though
not all were content with this sort of thing, Alice Cooper for one. The
70s gave birth to heavy metal and punk rock as an answer to the good time
music of disco to give the idea maybe everything wasn�t all right, maybe
some didn�t want to be dancing queens. The 80s gave a return to good time
music in the form of hair metal, the 90s went back to gloom, which brings
us to today, (that short history of music brought to you by the color green,
and the letter a). What is the message music is trying to say today? Are
people today all about the bling bling and girls with ghetto booties? No,
I don�t think this is the case. Or perhaps we are all a bunch of
self loathing losers who can�t get girls so we make up rap metal songs
about this? Again, I don�t think we are, some might be, but I think the
nation as a whole isn�t. Or perhaps this music really is the glimpse into
the mentality of the world we live in today. Perhaps the world really is
full of ultra materialistic butt holes who are quick to cash in any sense
of self for a quick buck, the large crop of reality shows is certainly
proof of this. Though the other day I did see a bright spot in this weary
genre of TV, this was possibly the best thing I�ve seen on TV. . . Ron
Jeremy in the same room as Rick James. Now if that isn�t a recipe for greatness,
I don�t know what is. [written before Rick�s passing � ed]
For the time I think music has stopped
being the commentary of a given time in life. There is some heavy s***
going on and we get Jessica Simpson "singing" about how she never felt
so beautiful with nothing but a t shirt on? In the 80s we even had Phil
Collins critiquing the Reagan administration, Phil frickin Collins! Has
the art of music really devolved to the point where its just pointless
entertainment, even Bono has been pretty quiet about things, and you know
times are bad when that Irish ex mullet is quiet. Maybe I�m just taking
things way too serious, but I don�t want to be sitting with my grandkids
years from now (if we even live long enough to think about a future) and
have to eat my bran flakes while some documentary about the turn of the
21st century is on the TV and I�ll have to face that music failed in my
lifetime. Well that�s all for now, I now must go and chase the leprechauns
off my lawn. Keep looking askew.
Greenmuse loves
to hear from you, post a message below or send him an email at [email protected]
(he does get some rather strange emails from time to time... there was
this one from a 14 punker girl who asked him if he wanted to... and then
Tom Kattfukker asked him to borrow his pussycat...)
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