| 24th December 2006 09:06 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Posted on Sun, Dec. 24, 2006
What's wrong with rock 'n' roll?
WADE TATANGELO
Herald Music Critic
Bradenton Herald
Editor's note: The original version of this essay first appeared under the title "My rock 'n' roll rant" online at In Tune with Wade. Some reader responded to it with praise ("Very well said, my brother") while others did not ("Sorry, I think this is a total crock.") Read the comments and post your own at
http://blogs.bradenton.com.
"T he rock world is in a sad state if Bob Dylan's 'Modern Times' was the No.1 album (of the year)," responded Don to one of my recent blog posts. "This was definitely Dylan's best album in many years but nowhere in the ball park of his 1960s and early '70s albums."
I started to write a pithy response in agreement with Don's comment. It blossomed into a full-blown rant. Wait until your boss takes a long lunch break or you're at home with a glass of wine in hand. Then see if you agree with my theory:
Lack of virtuoso and roots music knowledge among today's young performers.
That is why the rock world is in a "sad state." Kids learn three chords on the expensive guitar mom bought 'em and start a band called something like School Cafeteria Survivors (SCS).
SCS gets all their friends from their giant high school on their MySpace page. These fresh-faced musicians wear tight jeans and eye-liner. They promise promoters they will bring their 200 friends at $10 per to a show and land local gigs.
Then SCS gets invited to play Warped Tour. Next, the band inks a major label deal. The kids are taken into a recording studio where machines make sure the singer is on key and multitrack layering obscures the guitarist's lack of chops. A session drummer is used but the fact is never made public.
National music magazines like Rolling Stone get millions of advertising dollars from the music industry so even the weakest studio efforts usually walk away with a minimum 2½ star, or, more likely, 3-star review.
No one ever tells these teenagers in SCS to go back to their room and practice, practice, practice before taking the stage. Their teenage friends with their tin ears don't realize how cruddy it all sounds. They just want a chorus about not fitting in at school to sing along to while surrounded by 200 - or 2,000 - other misunderstood souls who all happen to dress exactly the same.
Guitar great Johnny Winter told me for a recent Herald profile that he practiced five or six hours a day. The rest of the time he spent listening to old blues records so he could steal/learn their licks. Kids are lazy today and justify their lack of chops by pointing to punk rock losers like Sid Vicious.
Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph, Dan Aeurbach (The Black Keys), Jack White, John Mayer (he's a mean blues/rock guitarist when he so chooses) are the only guitarists I can think of (I'm sure a few young greats slipped my mind) who are under 30 and can really bring it. Oh yeah, and my man Damon Fowler, who lives in Brandon and has opened for folks like Jeff Beck. Check him out at www.damonfowler.com.
We also have an overwhelming shortage of awesome vocalists, ones that can bring raw power and real emotion like Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, Gregg Allman or Bob Seger did in their prime. Why? Kids don't put in the hours to learn how to sing. Allman likes to talk about spending many, many nights in Daytona blues bars learning from men much older than him before he perfected the rasp that makes "Melissa" and other Allman classics so beautiful.
Great rock music is steeped in the blues and the rock 'n' roll invented by Chuck Berry. The linchpin of every great rock band is the pairing of an amazing guitarist and an equally enchanting vocalist, or a combination of both (think Jack White).
First-rate songwriting, which also only comes with countless hours of practice, is the other key ingredient. Jimi Hendrix is Jimi Hendrix because of his mind-blowing guitar chops. But he is also Jimi Hendrix because he could pen and croon a top-shelf ballad like "The Wind Cries Mary."
Do the kids writing woe-is-me junk today even know who T.S. Eliot is? I recall reading that Hendrix got into Eliot while backing Little Richard. Or maybe it was Dylan that Hendrix got into while touring with Richard and that led him to Eliot. Point is, rock musicians in the 1960s soaked up as many influences from the literary world as they did from their musical forefathers.
Bands such as Pearl Jam and The White Stripes appeal to rock fans young and old because they have the key ingredients to greatness. The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and the other giants of the 1960s and 1970s continue to outstrip the majority of today's bands because most teens and twentysomethings are merely trying to live up to the standard set by 1990s-era Green Day records or even worse, blink-182.
The so-called alternative rock of today is serviceable, sometimes even fun, but rarely sticks to the ribs like the blues-based rock created in the 1960s and '70s. That music was made by men and women with bona-fide chops who gobbled up every old record they could get their hands on before creating music of their own. But who wants to devour ancient roots music and spend hours practicing when you can blast bad guys or steal cars on PlayStation?
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| 24th December 2006 10:04 AM |
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| mrhipfl |
great read, thanks. I agree that popular rock bands for the most part are commercialized crap. But, if you look for it, you can find really great new rock n'roll music. |
| 24th December 2006 11:50 AM |
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| Nasty Habits |
The underground is still somewhat alive. I definitely did not love all these releases but they were at least new and certifiably rock and roll:
NOT as good as last year, but not dreadful.
Back to singles, baby!
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| 24th December 2006 12:27 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I think the guy that wrote that makes some valid points. But I think the real problems with today's popular rock scene goes much deeper.
One of the main reasons is that the major label music industry is run by business people...not music people. These honcho types don't know music, nor do they care about music. They care about one thing, and one thing only...the almighty dollar. Hence, we get all these image over substance type shit bands...while really great rock n roll bands, like, say, The Supersuckers, are lost in indie label obscurity.
But what has really been shitty is the decline in music journalism in the US. Rolling Stone and Spin are both almost completely unreadable. They have become nothing more than tools and a mouthpiece for the business types that currently run the music industry. They give glowing reviews to whatever the big labels are trying to push. Example: A 5 Star review for Goddess in the Doorway. Now, even people who LIKE Goddess can plainly see that it is in no way, shape, or form a 5 star masterpiece. Yet a large number of people still count Rolling Stone as the Rock n Roll bible. This is a large part of the reason why the taste for good Rock n Roll music has declined so rapidly. Rolling Stone & Spin are happily brainwashing a large portion of the US music buying public into buying preprogrammed crap.
Can anyone tell the difference between New Found Glory, My Chemical Romance, or Fall Out Boy? It all sounds the same to me...dull. It's easy to understand why people develope such a vivid dislike for this kind of stuff. But I don't really blame the bands. Thay are doing what they are being told to do. They are doing whatever it is that ensures that they stay signed. There is no other choice for them really. If they want to stay "successful" in the eyes of their record company, they will tow the line. If that means doing some things musically that they would rather not do...well, they see that as doing whatever it takes to stay commercially viable. Can you blame them? All they have to do is pose and sound the same as everyone else, and then people throw big bags of money at them. So who are the ones throwing those big bags of money around?
The real problem lies at the record labels. They actually WANT everything to sound the same. It's easier to market and sell that way. If your label has 30 bands, and they all sound the same...you only need to come up with one marketing strategy. If you have 30 artists who all sound different...you have to come up with 30 different strategies...and that's hard. And it's not very cost effective either. Again, it all comes down to the bottom line.
So...it's all doom & gloom right?
No.
Rock n Roll is actually in pretty good shape right now. You just gotta dig a little harder to find it. Rock n Roll went underground. It's back in the dirty, smokey, sweaty, stinky Rock n Roll clubs. It's on the small indie labels. It's out there. It really is. There's tons of good stuff released all the time. Most of it flashes by without much notice. But it's there. You just gotta have the will to grab at it. Sometimes you grab the wrong thing, and you don't care for it. Don't let that discourage you...just trade it in on something else. I'll tell you this...you won't find it at Walmart or Best Buy.
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| 24th December 2006 12:53 PM |
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| Taptrick |
Agree with SS. While what I hear on the radio and see on TV is mostly crap, I am always discovering wonderful music by paying attention to guys like SS and a few others out here say they are listening to.
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| 24th December 2006 01:14 PM |
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| Bruno |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
So...it's all doom & gloom right?
No.
Rock n Roll is actually in pretty good shape right now. You just gotta dig a little harder to find it. Rock n Roll went underground. It's back in the dirty, smokey, sweaty, stinky Rock n Roll clubs. It's on the small indie labels. It's out there. It really is. There's tons of good stuff released all the time. Most of it flashes by without much notice. But it's there. You just gotta have the will to grab at it. Sometimes you grab the wrong thing, and you don't care for it. Don't let that discourage you...just trade it in on something else. I'll tell you this...you won't find it at Walmart or Best Buy.
That final bit is so accurate. That´s one the best things about being a rock n roll fan, real ones, like we are. The feeling of digging the gold among all the trash.
[Edited by Bruno] |
| 24th December 2006 01:37 PM |
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| LastChild |
check out silvertide...theres some great music coming from them. a lot of blues roots in their rock music. they just put a cd out in the summer. good stuff. |
| 24th December 2006 02:23 PM |
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| mrhipfl |
quote:
LastChild wrote:
check out silvertide...theres some great music coming from them. a lot of blues roots in their rock music. they just put a cd out in the summer. good stuff.
they did? I'm pretty sure you are mistaken. "show and tell" came out in 05, and that's their only album. Are you talking about the "lady in the water" soundtrack? |
| 24th December 2006 02:28 PM |
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| gypsy |
It all started with Peter Frampton. |
| 24th December 2006 03:09 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
>It all started with Peter Frampton.<
Damn straight.
It's all his fault.
That's the main reason I'd like to smash his face in.
And let's not forget his part in the unfortunate Sgt Pepper movie...co starring the BeeGees.
That's another good reason to wanna smash his face in.
And let's not forget his popularization if that infernal talkbox pedal.
Dude needs to pay for his trangressions against Rock n Roll. And I'm just the asshole to collect on him.
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| 24th December 2006 03:19 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
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| 24th December 2006 03:21 PM |
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| gypsy |
Peter Frampton v. Don Henley
Who?
Why? |
| 24th December 2006 03:23 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
The best we could hope for outta that matchup would be that they kill each other to death. |
| 24th December 2006 03:27 PM |
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| gypsy |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
The best we could hope for outta that matchup would be that they kill each other to death.
That would be the ideal outcome.
I still love you, by the way. |
| 24th December 2006 03:29 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Backatcha.
Have a safe & happy holiday. I hope all your holiday wishes come true. |
| 27th December 2006 04:51 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
James Blunt Tops 2006's Best Sellers List
Ahead of Madonna and Chili Peppers...
by Chris Taylor on 23/12/2006
gigwise.com
I’m sure we’ll all agree that James Blunt clearly deserved to sell more albums this year in Europe than any other artist.
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Son of God, the news that the extremely talented singer-songwriter’s debut LP ‘Back To Bedlam’ topped the sales charts in 2006 really does restore one’s faith in humanity, doesn’t it?
As if to hammer home the point, Madonna’s ‘Confessions On A Dancefloor’ and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Stadium Arcadium’ made up the top three.
Even better than this though, is the confirmation Katie Melua is the public’s best loved female artist, selling over three million copies of her second album ‘Piece By Piece’.
Anyways, for the record - as no one bothered to ask me thus far - your correspondent’s favourite two albums this year by a country mile, are Akira The Don’s ‘When We Were Young’ and The Television Personalities’ ‘My Dark Places’, both of which mysteriously just missed out on the 2006 top sellers lists.
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| 27th December 2006 05:01 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Worst Christmas Album? Bon Jovi's Debut
wltx.com
(New York) - What's the worst Christmas music ever made? According to Maxim magazine, it's the album on which Jon Bon Jovi made his first recording -- but it's not a Bon Jovi album.
It's "Christmas In The Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album." Maxim says, "If Jon Bon Jovi had any shame, he'd apologize for making his recording debut on 'R2D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas."'
It beats out "The Christmas Shoes" by Newsong. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is third. "Terry Bradshaw Sings Christmas Songs For The Whole Family" is fourth, inching out Rosie O'Donnell's "A Rosie Christmas." "Christmas With Colonel Sanders" is number six, followed by "Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas" and John Denver's "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk On Christmas)."
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| 27th December 2006 05:59 AM |
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| corgi37 |
There is nothing wrong with rock and roll. It's just dead. Get over it. |
| 27th December 2006 09:32 AM |
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| Factory Girl |
quote:
corgi37 wrote:
There is nothing wrong with rock and roll. It's just dead. Get over it.
I don't think death is to blame. Currently, rock is not what mass music consumption is about. That said, there are still really talented rock bands out there.
We talk them up all the time here. Here I go---
Kings of Leon
DBT-personally, I'm lukewarm on them. But folk here really like them.
Babyshambles.
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| 27th December 2006 10:02 AM |
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| GotToRollMe |
As usual, SS hits the nail on the head. All very valid points. Rolling Stone has been unreadable for a couple of decades now, and while Spin started out promising enough, it too has deteriorated into crap. There used to be some great rock rags out there - Creem, Circus, Rock Scene - that also had great writers working for them. Hell, Creem was worth the price just for the reviews alone. Whatever happened to Rick Johnson? He was one funny fucker...Never mind - before I posted this I Googled him - he was found dead in his apartment in April of this year: http://rockcriticsdaily.blogspot.com/2006/04/rick-johnson-rip.html
I always maintain that the rock & roll bar was lowered some time in the late '70s, and it's been getting lower ever since. There are signed acts out there right now whose tapes wouldn't have made it past an intern's desk in the late '70s. A sad state indeed.
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| 27th December 2006 10:30 AM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
>I always maintain that the rock & roll bar was lowered some time in the late '70s, and it's been getting lower ever since.<
I have it pin-pointed to "Frampton Comes Alive". It was all downhill after that.
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| 27th December 2006 10:48 AM |
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| steel driving hammer |
It ain't dead, it's just resting from all those wild and crazy nights... |
| 28th December 2006 02:30 AM |
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| Lord Homosex |
I don't know, crap is/has always been there. That's nothing new; the difference today is the promotioin machine that has become so ever-powerful, immediate and far reaching. The Net, MySpace, MTV, magazines TV etc are everywhere and one is bombarded at all times. And that machine chooses to promote crap. .But the good music, and artists are still there. One just has to dig a little deeper. Flaming Lips, King of Leons, Beck,especially Arcade Fire have tons of integrity and roots to spare. |
| 28th December 2006 03:37 AM |
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| FotiniD |
quote:
Lord Homosex wrote:
I don't know, crap is/has always been there. That's nothing new; ... But the good music, and artists are still there. One just has to dig a little deeper.
I agree with this point. OK, for every thing there's a high point, an acme, and a low point, a decadence. And some mid-points stuck in there  The way I see it, rock 'n' roll has had its "classic" era during the late 50's, 60's and early 70's and this has passed - but that doesn't mean there aren't any good bands or musicians left. It just takes a bigger effort to trace them and they're not what the "mainstream" likes anymore.
I see no problem with that as long as I listen to the music I like. Not the whole world has to agree with that! |
| 28th December 2006 12:00 PM |
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| Saint Sway |
if Sticky Fingers came out now it would sell only about 15K copies
Led Zeppelin wouldnt even get signed
people would only be able find out about The Clash if a friend linked you to their myspace account
thats whats wrong with music now
theres really good shit out there. Its just that none of it stands a fighting chance of ever getting heard by the masses with the way the current labels are run. Because they just dont care about R&R. They just dont see it as a viable commercial property so all the good bands out there right now are being grossly ignored.
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| 28th December 2006 12:26 PM |
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| glencar |
The hip hop has taken over. Rock & roll is no longer a cultural force. The King is dead. |
| 28th December 2006 09:07 PM |
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| MrPleasant |
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
John Denver's "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk On Christmas)."
Oooooooooooh, sounds like a WINNER. LOL
I just read the lyrics and, yes, it is an instant classic: "Just last year when I was only seven/And now I'm almost eight as you can see/You came home at a quarter past eleven/Fell down underneath our Christmas tree."
[Edited by MrPleasant] |
| 28th December 2006 11:05 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
steel driving hammer wrote:
It ain't dead, it's just resting from all those wild and crazy nights...
Amen Baby Steel Magnolia !
BEST STONES YET !!!
BEST WHO YET !!!!
" Stones is Stones .... bigger than all of us Ronnie ! " |
| 28th December 2006 11:19 PM |
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| pdog |
There's nothing wrong with rock and roll, the problem is 99% of the people listen to and buy crap.
I'm 1%... |
| 31st December 2006 01:11 AM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Yeah, we're the 1%ers.
Good name for a band.
We'd never get signed.
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