The fact that I've spent all night tonight pouring over antique vinyls from way-back-when like Madman Across the Water and Verities & Balderdash, sitting still in shock and awe of how much the music world has changed in general is in a way one of the saddest things I've ever heard, but I still like to think that it's remarkable cool, because most 15 year olds could not tell you who released either of those records, let alone other records in my collection like Tommy, Ram, and One-Trick Pony (which is a Paul Simon record that was written for the movie.) God forbid kids my age learned some culture through the new age music. Culture like Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
I wouldn't say that the thought of that is necessarily surprising, but it is depressing, especially when you look at the top ten artists on iTunes right now include Rise Against, Metallica, and T.I, but at the same time, do I want kids that find those bands talented listening to my chill and laid back contemporary music? (Yeah, I threw a curveball at you.) I don't want every kid my age even knowing, let alone listening to people like the Smiths or even the Black Keys (even though that's pushing the laid back part of my music taste.)
So, I guess the overall view of this "editorial" is that I don't frankly care any more what the skater punk genre considers "punk" anymore, and what the "rock" genre (which has turned into guys in tight pants and makeup) considers rock n' roll. Neither of the people in those genres have the first idea what punk or real rock n' roll is. Because when you reach that level of music, you start to depreciate the actual meaning of the music, and the music itself turns into background noise.
I hate to say it, but John Lennon summed it up the best in an interview in 1968. He says, "In the old days I used to think songwriting was this and I love you and you love me, and my writing was something else. I just realized through Dylan and then other people that it is the same, and that's what I didn't realize being so naive. That you don't write pop songs, and then you do that, and then you do that. That everything you do is the same thing. So do it the same way." Does that not sum of the basis of all lyrical music? Are we all not doomed to die in a painful avalanche of pop music? Pretty deep from a guy who called himself the Walrus.
I guess the basis of the real thought behind Lennon in that quote would have to be that rock music in general has alway had that repetitive poppy vibe, and that vide will never end. Pop music and rock music will always go hand-in-hand...and that's a sad truth to have to come to terms with. So, in close. Kids. Be diverse. Buy a Randy Newman record, and fall asleep, and wake up when emo dies...no pun intended. So goodnight. Good day. Good riddance. Let's go Rays.
Top Five Modern Records
1. Sky Blue Sky-Wilco
2. Attack & Release-the Black Keys
3. Surprise-Paul Simon
4. Psychocandy-The Jesus and Mary Chain
5. Goo-Sonic Youth
