I was in a used record store last week looking at a vintage Rolling Stone Magazine issue from 1985, specifically the last page in the issue, which recounts current chart positions from albums to singles, pop to R&B and so forth.  When I was done, I picked up the current issue of the magazine, and flipped to the same page, and something very disturbing dawned on me: the music business is in a very sad state of affairs in terms of the caliber of new artist that record labels are breaking now a-days.  I know on its face, that is a very generic statement, but consider this:  the current Billboard Top 10 lists the following albums- 1.) Stained- Chapter V, 2.) Various Artists NOW 19, 3.) Faith Hill, Fireflies, 4.) Mariah Carey- The Emancipation of Mimi, 5.) The Black Eyed Peas- Monkey Business, 6.) Young Jeezy- Leg's Get It: Thug Motivation 101; 7.) Coldplay- X&Y, 8.) Gorillaz- Demon Days, 9.) Kelly Clarkson- Breakaway, and 10.) Bow Wow- Wanted (I guess he dropped the Lil.)  Aside from Mariah and Coldplay, there's not much here to crow over�  Twenty years ago, in 1985, Billboard listed a markedly more talented and diversified group of artists, reflecting a much broader swath of musical styles, and a caliber of originality in hit writing that is virtually non-existent in today's pop market in their list of the top 5 selling albums of the year: 1.) Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms, 2.) Phil Collins- No Jacket Required, 3.) Madonna- Like a Virgin, 4.) Bruce Springsteen- Born in the U.S.A., and 5.) Tears for Fears- Songs From the Big Chair.  Rock and pop were much better represented here, in both quality and quantity.  No one would dare compare Madonna and Kelly Clarkson, or Dire Straits and Stained.  Young Jeezy and Lil Bow Wow wouldn't even have been mentioned in the same category as Run D.M.C. or L.L. Cool J.  Even if you're an alternative rock fan, would you EVER have put Stained in the same class as R.E.M. or the Cure?  It was a different time to be sure.  

I know some of you who read this column don't care one way or another for mainstream, commercial music, or will desire to start s*** in the follow-up board by insulting the fact that I like music from the 1980s.  That is your prerogative, but I think if you consider my argument on its merits, you'll have little choice but to agree.  Consider that in 1985, New-Wave and Alternative Rock and Metal had the same shot at the top ten, either on the Album or Singles chart, that R&B and Pop Rock and Dance did.  You can also make as much fun as you want of the FASHION, but that had nothing to do with the caliber of the music being written, released and rotated.  It was a level playing field.  Just today, I read that Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff are already crafting Greatest Hits releases, and neither is over 21, and certainly neither have any hits as memorable as those from the 1980s, which still today get competitive radio play on pop stations.  A Whitney Houston hit from 1985 stands the same chance, if not more, of getting rotated than the latest Hilary Duff or Lindsay Lohan or Mandy Moore hit.  What about Britney Spears?  You're as or more likely to hear Cindi Lauper's �True Colors' or Tae Pau's �Heart N' Soul.'  Consider the imagination that went into writing a song like the Culture Club's �Karma Chameleon' versus �Oops, I Did It Again.'  Marty Casey pulled of a much more original-sounding version of that song on Rock Star INXS this past week, and it was meant partially at least as a joke, but people didn't have a hard time taking it seriously because the original by Britney Spears is so forgettable.  Casey actually made it memorable!  That is sad.  Only hip hop remains in a state of constant innovation and revitalization because its audience will tolerate nothing less.  It is sad then to think that today's modern rock and pop audience would tolerate crap, but they clearly and irrefutably are when bands like Hoobastank are allowed to go multi-platinum.  Labels are at fault for putting money behind this garbage, but fans play an important role in the blame game for buying the record to begin with.

Taking a hard look at the popular rock bands of today, like Stained or Hoobastank, we can only reach one conclusion:  SAD! SAD! SAD!  What a joke.  Do you think in 5 years, ANYBODY will be driving in their car singing along to �The Reason is You.'  Skid Row's �I Remember You' has more resonance, and was a far-better written pop rock ballad.  The fact that 18 year olds are showing up at Motley Crue and Jane's Addiction concerts TODAY shows that they're in search of something OTHER than what's available to them in their own generation of rock.  Steven Van Zandt spoke to this fact in a recent Rolling Stone article, commenting that "there hasn't been development in (rock in)�years.  We got a big, big problem."  A program director for a popular Detroit rock station WRIF, Doug Podell, in the same article, made the comment that "in the fourth quarter, we had absolutely nothing to play on the radio."  The sad truth is that there is nor will there ever be anything classic about most of today's younger rock bands, with the notable exception of bands like Coldplay, and possibly the Killers or the White Stripes.  Relief from this plague has only recently begun to come in the form of �Jacked' radio stations popping up all over the country, which prominently feature 70s, 80s and early 90s artists of all genres, as well as selected popular artists of today.  Dominating radio ratings and popping up all over the country, an article in Rolling Stone described these stations as featuring "a wildly eclectic playlist and replaces DJs on most stations with a recorded voice."  In the same article, it is reported that while most rock and pop radio stations- in this day and age owned and programmed primarily by Clear Channel- play 300 to 400 songs repeatedly, the average JACK station rotates 1,200.  

The main point of these stations is that they are fighting to return variety to radio, and to fill the void that today's generation of popular pop and rock artists seem to be creating with the crap labels are signing.  Would you EVER compare STAIND to Guns N' Roses or Led Zepplin, or even f**king Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins?  Or Soundgarden?  The lack of viable rock in today's market is why the phenomenon of super groups has taken such hold.  Velvet Revolver and Audioslave are a WELCOME relief to the aforementioned ear-torture that we would otherwise be put through.  Hip Hop has its Vanilla Ice(s) and Paul Wall(s), but the crap we're allowing to invade our ear drums and airwaves today in terms of pop and rock acts is going to wipe out altogether what would become the next generation of classic rock.  Its just fact, and inevitable if we don't do something as record buyers to shift the direction rock and pop are heading in�  So please, buy yourself a subscription to XM or Sirius.  Load up your IPOD and bring that to work instead of turning on your local Clear Channel whore station.  Tune into those music channels in the 800s on Direct TV, Dish Network and even your local cable provider.  Listen to CDs!  If you have to listen to the radio, try JACK stations, but do whatever is in your power to send a message.  You can't write your congressmen, but its much like the power of the people to end wars through protest, because make no mistake:  right now we are at war with the corporate scum-f**ks at places like Clear Channel who are shoving Hilary Duff and Hoobastank and Britney Spears down your throats!  You have to push back, or we're all doomed to be sheep!  Rock n' Roll used to be a force of change culturally and socially!  Can you imagine Stained ever writing a counter-culture anthem?  Nirvana did it, and that was only a decade ago� What happened for things to go down in flames so fast?  Did rock's last great generation die with Kurt Cobain?  You can help to bring it back by doing something now to fight the corporate brain-washing that is slowly but surely making real rock- AND POP- extinct!  
 
 

Shameless Plug: Jake's label, Versailles, trying to walk the talk, recently released �Always: A Millennium Tribute to Bon Jovi' and the debut, double-cd from Jasy Andrews, �Little Girl.'  Go out and pick up either, and you'll get a taste of the musical caliber we're missing today in large part!  Visit Versailles Records to learn more.

About the author: Jake Brown is owner/operator of Nashville-based Versailles Records and a biographer who has published several books. Click here to more details.