Back in the day, music made you want to live. Take Black Sabbath in 1970 (40 effin’ years ago). Just watch them play. Nobody is this intense anymore :
Now what do we have to covet? Music that does the opposite; make you want to slit your own wrists:
Where have we gone wrong? I’m not one who only listens to rock (as a matter of fact, I’ve been on a classical kick lately), but just look at the sheer energy of a young Ozzy Osbourne in Paris. They sat down and wrote this themselves. Nobody has the balls to write like this anymore! No company wants to pay or promote people who write like this anymore! Nobody wants to buy good music anymore!
This is where you say “Touché, Andrew”, and I say “I know…and I’m just as guilty”. Guys, let’s make an effort to buy music that deserves the money, ok?
On a tangent, Bill Hicks said it best:
See I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do, and if you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor: go home tonight and take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your cds and burn ‘em. ’cause you know the musicians who made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years…. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin’ high on drugs.
Andrew, the answer is stop listening to shit. There was shit in the 1970s too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FDrp8htebY
Posted by Gaëtan Landry on December 2nd, 2009.
well comparing a central song of the height of the viet nam war protest movement to a teeny song isnt exactly comparing oranges from 1970 to oranges from today at all.
also, it is fact that that war killed 3 million vietnamese, 2 million laotians and saw the first widespread filming, documenting and exposing of countless war crimes by american forces, overt and covert. the enormous impact of this war on our western societies was made possible by new technology. clearly, the passion and emotion faded in general as many people became accustomed to such disturbing footage. we have grown up with this shit, and passively accept the horros that drove our parents onto the barricades. the internet is slowly improving social feedback functions: leaks, polls, spreading of ideas, twittering of protest demo infos to coordinate better, etc. however, it does not appear to be leading to any kind of dramatic social upheaval like the sudden, unprecedented footage of viet nam did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdyNezsy6gk
i particularly want to emphasize “fortunate son”, “break on through to the other side” and “white rabbit”.
the bush administration’s fairy tale (WMDs everywhere!) wars have provoked a few isolated songs of emotion, but as you say, it doesnt quite compare. the societal impact is less intense, and much more resigned this time. of course, the blatant mass murder in the name of money and influence is this time reduced by an order of magnitude compared to vietnam. we are no longer napalming entire villages. instead we are now just bombing entire houses full of families while they eat dinner. one order of magnitude.
one could argue that intellectual property rights are to a significant degree to blame for the stifling of profound passion by a flood of superficial semanceless syntax. since production of music is so difficult and dogmatically capitalist today (consider the successful artists recording without a fancy studio and investors, it IS getting harder to be successful that way), the kind of music that tops the charts and gains widespread following is naturally only recorded and promoted according to how much money they will bring in. think stiglitz. think incentives. this is simply because theres significant incentive (money) to produce artificial constructs that are mathematically DESIGNED to prey on basic emotional responses of the human nervous system. the vast majority of successful music today is neither the expression of genuine emotion nor of societal semance. it is only in denying others the ability to reproduce and spread this expensive to produce artificial music for free that it gets its business model in the first place. wester musicians where successful before intellectual property rights muzzled them, and they still are in other parts of the world without these restrictions. imagine if people had an incentive to spend their money on things that left a deep impression on them, instead of having to pay for the highly artificial pop du jour. btw, tomorrow i am patenting gravity. you better stop using it. and all other ideas too. i own them now.
it is important to point out that we in the western world still have the right to make free music. it is only when rich people want to artificially alter the semantic marketplace tha our society is, that intellectual property rights are even used. without intellectual property rights, people would imo have different incentives to make music, and different incentives to pay for it as well. artists would be making music because they actually like doing it, not because they want money. memaningful music would make a huge comeback. music would once again fullfill its former, natural role as a form of genuine expression and most importantly, resume its role as a catalyst for social change.
btw, it is well documented that the soviet union held regular meetings with its warsaw pact allies on musik. i did a project in it as far back as grade 7. the soviet union went as far as to censor all aspects of art, through its complete control of all media. they had the influence and manipulaiton of society by music down to a science. we have of course nothing close to that, but i would not be surprised if there are a few groups groups of rich people in america applying some of those mathematical principles when chosing which artists to “invest” in in order to further their private agendas. what a perversion of the word invest, eh?
i hope i have encouraged more people to consider the long term effects of intellectual property rights on our society.
——————————————
nice quote with the drugs, btw.
Posted by central_european on December 2nd, 2009.
I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree on the state of music with you, my friend!
I agree that popular music sucks. Almost anything that plays on the radio, I won’t like. Not because of the fact that’s on the radio, but because I don’t like the styles of music currently popular.
However, I don’t think there’s no more good music, but you might have to dig a little. I concentrate mostly on independent Canadian music, so most of my examples can be taken in there.
With the rise of piracy in the industry, it pushes people to try to distribute widely their music themselves, and try to get more people going to there gigs. Some of these bands often give the best shows you’ll see. A perfect example of this is a little known band from Sherbrooke, Misteur Valaire, who has awesome music and their shows are batshit crazy.
If you want to download the free web album, you can check out this site :
http://www.misteurvalaire.ca
So before you lose hope in today’s music, search a bit! You might find gems!
Posted by J-D on December 2nd, 2009.