Have a listen to one of my favorite Kinks songs while the rest is rolling around your brain. This video drags things back to a writing theme because face it, aren't we all tired of waiting for something at some point? Tired of waiting for your muse to come back, tired of waiting to hear about your submission, tired of waiting for the guy working at the coffee shop who asks you everyone morning , 'what you'll have?'
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Leaving on a Jet Plane
The collective horde are off to the husband's homeland for a couple of weeks. So, in the meantime I'll leave you with a topic to discuss while I'm gone. The degeneration of originality in mainstream music of the last fifteen years can be blamed on what exactly? Consider the British invasion of the 60s, the soul and glam/rock explosion of the 70s, THE BIG 80s (that's for you, Marilyn teehee) , the grunge domination of the 90's to the current American Idol/Eurovision-based machinery in your answers.
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4 comments:
Hee, hee!! Love ya, Pamala :). What a great question... I wish I had some smart and pithy answer, but I couldn't come close to that. I wonder at how much of the problem comes from company consolidation within the music industry, much like that in the publishing world--fewer small labels with the financial strength to hold their own with the big guys? A lot of the envelope pushers in music and literature started there and then, when they proved successful, got wider distribution through a larger company. If there are fewer small labels/publishers out there and, thus, fewer people with acquisition power willing to take risks, then only the authors or musicians whose work fits within a prescribed range will get signed...
Anyway, hope you have a marvelous trip! Looking forward to hearing about it :).
You make an interesting and valid point, Marilyn. The proliferation of big Sony/EMI type companies while the A&R records fall by the wayside, surely plays a role in allowing the artists to nurture their talent or be sucked into a big, slick machine.
Thanks for commenting. See you when I get back. *hugs*
I am into what my daughter calls "mom-rock"- *smiles* - what can I say I like a certain tone of voice that you find in Matchbox 20,Daughtry, Nickleback... So, I have no answers to your wonderful question. Mostly I wanted to pop in and say- have a fun, safe and happy trip!!
It is, to some extent, cyclical. Though the deck is stacked against originality. The wide-open 60's morphed into 70's stadium rock (gag). The Punk and post-punk bands of the late 70's / early 80's restored some originality to the mainstream. But then along came the King of Pop in the Mid-late 80's. Back to one-size-fits-all. Nirvana spearheaded some change in the early 90's and modern/alternative radio stations actually began appearing (yes, I know XRT is older than that, but for those of us in the boonies....). Then Pearl Jam lost its case vs. TicketMaster, Cobain ended it, the stations went corporate and, poof, it was gone again. The death of Napster a few years back has allowed the music industry some breathing room. Still, the information age will eventually spell their end unless they experience a paradigm shift (thank you, Dr. Bryant :>). I try to keep an open mind to new music and pay virtually no attention to what is popular. Time travel romances? Have you read Jack Finney's "Time and Again"?
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