Take Another Shot
I do realize that writing about music, rock and roll in particular, can be a very touchy subject. Everyone has an opinion and everyone believes their opinion is the only correct one. Sounds a little like discussing politics, but I digress.
While I share my opinion freely here, I do welcome other opinions because that, to me, is the best way to open my eyes to something I might not have heard otherwise. It’s why I still listen to Deep Tracks on Sirius XM. They occasionally will play something I have never heard or completely forgotten about and that discovery ( or rediscovery) is worth the 179 dollars a year I pay Sirius.
For example, I used to love Mott The Hoople. I got the joke and also got that they were very talented songwriters and musicians and created a niche just for themselves. However, I heard a song, “Your Own Backyard”. that I had never had heard before and I loved it. Still one of my top tracks on all of my playlists. Without listening and discovering, I would have probably missed such a great exploration of recovery. That’s partially the reason I write this Substack, to learn. To hear other voices and to think about others opinions. Be they political, social or musical, I like to learn what others think.
I also like to stir it up a little and my eclectic taste in music does just that. Since the pandemic has started I have been listening more and more to music from previous decades and I have even tried to listen to some of the music that is being distributed currently and I am still f the opinion that we may have reached a desert as far as interesting music is concerned. While the current crop of artists (can’t in good conscious call them musicians) may have some talent and the production quality of a lot is very good, it says little. Being able to understand and attach yourself to the story an artist is trying to tell is essential and I just find that to be impossible. It has nothing to do with me being of a different generation or being white. It has to do with the lyrics being unintelligible and beats and rhythms coming out of nowhere. Incomprehensible to put it bluntly.
I will give you a perfect example and this is something I have said before. If you listen to any number of Marvin Gaye songs from his classic album, “Whats Going On”, you know what he is talking about. You can empathize with him and his characters. You feel his pain. Because Marvin Gaye was a singer and he knew his power was in his words and those words needed to be delivered so people could understand.
I know I am being harsh on the music of today and I am sure there is a lot of joy in dancing to Steve Aoki or David Guetta all night so I do get that as part of the landscape of today. I just think that there are too many artists saying too little and producing music that will barely last till the next decade.
To pound home my point, this is the 50th anniversary of Led Zepellin IV, The Who’s Who’s Next, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Yes’s Fragile, Carol King’s Tapestry and the aforementioned Marvin Gaye’s Whats Going On.
Name something in the last ten years that will have the staying power of any of those albums.