Recently, I got embroiled in a discussion regarding whether musicians today could ever live up to past masters. Naturally, any discussion of this nature will end up with the usual suspects being banded around, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, BB King… I may be a while.
This got me thinking…
Will it ever be possible to live up to the standards which have been set?
Talk to an aging rocker and they will always harp on about how you don’t get the rawness with today’s digitally influenced artists. If that’s the case, is that the musicians fault? Record companies demand to see a hefty return from their investments. Is this causing musicians to succumb to the fear of losing contracts thus forcing them to resort to digital tweaking in the same way an athlete resorts to steroids.
Its been 40 years since a “ground breaking”, “legendary”, “iconic” or what I like to call “bloody good” album was released. Of course, I am talking about Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. BBC2 (Or was it 1) aired a programme which took today’s leading bands and artists and put them in a studio with the same producer and hardware which was used to record the album. This was to try and recapture the vibe of days gone, inevitably it ended up being a “can today’s artists cut it” experiment. It was clear that some found it more difficult than others. Especially the Kaiser Chiefs. I lost count on the number of takes they took to only get within a long haul flight’s distance of how it originally sounded. Surprisingly, Bryan Adams pretty much nailed it first time. I still haven’t forgiven him for fooling me into thinking “I do it for you” was a good track and worth learning the guitar to. Cannot believe that I managed that without mentioning the Beatles.. oh…
Can today’s musicians be as ground breaking?
Jimi Hendrix was regarded as ahead of his time. So was Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. When was the last time you said the same about any of today’s musicians? It seems now that a successful musician is one who can play to the same level of past masters. Very few seem to be breaking new ground, or if they are, then the music companies aren’t doing much to promote them. Today’s music seems to be old classic sounds regurgitated and “fusion” music which is taking regurgitated music and mish-mashing to create something new.
Is it possible to say if a piece of music is ground breaking?
Music has always been a personal thing, If I played a 300BPM techno track to my dad he would probably consider it new, therefore ground breaking? What is ground breaking music? Is it when a new sound is taken up by the masses? If so, who are these “masses”. Teens? toddlers? 20 something’s? Oldies? When does a large group become a mass? This, as far as I can see, only leads to one conclusion, we, the listening public don’t decide what’s ground breaking. The ones who decide are the ones with the money to tell the ones who tell us what to listen to, i.e. the record companies telling the media. With the music media being such a competitive environment, every one of them is constantly on the look out to be the first to have mentioned a musicians name before they have even released a single to create a perception of being on the pulse of contemporary music. Hearing a musicians name places it in our sub-conscious ready for being called upon when the first single is released. So familiarity is set so we are no longer put off or afraid to give them a listen. This compounded with incessant “Amazing” and “Greats” seals the commercial deal and behold, the next Rick Waller is born. We all know this happens, yet we are helpless to do anything about it. Probably because we have far more important events in our lives to give it a seconds thought. Facilitated with the ease of online purchasing of tracks and albums thanks to Itunes and with charts now taking into account downloads means our snap decision to purchase a track by an artist we heard of a while ago whose single is being played and clearly liked by the DJ along with external sub-conscious peer pressure from magazines and television means the record company has just become a pound richer.
Where do I get my music from?
I have a library of music that I listen to on loop. Whilst writing this, I am foot tapping to the Black Crowes best of album. The last new band I thought were the mutts nuts were Buckcherry. Yet, they sound like a newer Aerosmith or Guns ‘n’ Roses band. So nothing new, just a touch different. A popular source of new music has been the Last.FM radio player. I choose to listen to rock, and if you can put up with someone having classed John Denver as rock there are many bands that I had not heard of whose CD’s I subsequently purchased.
Where does music go from here?
Thanks to t’internet, you no longer need that record contract to gain recognition. Myspace and Youtube are part of any bands weaponry for world domination. (I am now listening to Crowded House! I don’t care what you all say, I like ‘em!) Even established musicians have Myspace pages. Justin Hawkins (ex Darkness) releases tracks through his page. (What has happened to Justin?!?! Discussion for another day). Once popularity reaches a certain level, record companies take notice, the cash register goes kerching and before you know it they have been signed and become part of the music machine.
I don’t normally bang on about music I am into. Generally, I find most music like drinking a warm, flat fizzy drink. One album I definitely recommend everyone should give a listen, is the new Editors album.
Update - Who remembers Hear’N'Aid? Many years ago, at the time of Live Aid, the hair rock fraternity got together to work on and release a rock charity record. The worlds leading bands of the time got together to release 
There, I said it.![[UPDATED] At last , something nice to say about NTL (Virgin Media)](/images/commented_bullet.png)
