I don't
dislike your
typical modern music. It
sounds good, it's
danceable and often
singable; sometimes there's even
talent involved.
But I'm sensing a
shortage of things to
write about. It used to be just
gangsta rap that was almost totally
concerned with
blowing its own horn; I remember listening to a guy or a
group of them going on and on and on and on about how very
wonderful they were. And I used to think it
utterly ridiculous; are these people trying to
take a shortcut to fame and popularity? Is what I'm listening to
actually a
recursive song,
written to be popular, and by being popular, increase it's and the
band's popularity??
Why yes, that's exactly what it was. Unfortunately, my
happy predictions of "People are just going to get
fed up with this; it'll never get farther than these
crappy rap bands" proved to be
dead and depressingly wrong. Now it's
mainstream, not
gangsta, that's taken to writing these
self-glorifying songs. Everywhere from
Kid Rock to the
Bare Naked Ladies, we've "evolved" from
I'm gonna bitch about my life to
I'm the shit. As much as the former was a
little pitiful, especially when
girls did it (because girls whine when they
complain), I'm beginning to
believe that this new evil
sucks even worse.
Here, for the
record, is WHY it bothers me so: It's both
insulting and
detrimental to the
intelligence of its listeners: It's like the
New MTV; the
unspoken assumption is that you're dumb enough to
worship simply because you're
told you should; that you're going to
see the pretty colors and, listing to the left a bit, drool out the
word, "
Cooooolll....". That because Kid Rock, as
nice a guy as I've heard he is,
says he's the
coolest guy around you're just gonna run out and
buy another CD. It's
blatant self-marketing. Masturbatory marketing, if you will. I liked it better when people
decided what they thought was
cool based on what THEY
saw or experienced; not what they were TOLD to think.
So, in
spite of this
node's
enormity, here are some
possibilities, some
other things that perhaps the more
Enlightened bands of the
future can
write about.
- Social
reform (don't even care what)
-
Abolition of
government (that oughtta be
smartass enough for 'em)
-
Life in
space (they'll have the chance...)
- Huge rants against
fatcats--
any fatcat is
fair game in my book
-
Odes to
cool people they know
-
Prayers to any and every
diety (diversity is fun)
And if any of you
E2 residents decide to
start a band, this is a plea, for you. Please don't talk all the time about your
powerpenis, your
fly gear, your
larger-than-life life; if you're
that out of ideas, you can always
call me!