Henry's Asylum

It's the Same Old Song

I got tired of listening to my music CDs on the way to and from work, so I decided to give the old FM radio a shot at entertaining me. Also, every now and again, I like check in on what passes for current trends in music. You never know what you’ll come across. Ironically, when I was living in the Seattle area, Grunge music became popular and for some strange reason, I actually liked a lot of it. No such luck this time, though. Seriously, when did folks who listen to “popular” music lose their taste? Can somebody please play an instrument? You can forget originality, too. Evidently, someone figured out that you could just recycle older songs and the chances are that most young people will think it’s a new tune. Never in my life have I heard such shameless rip-offs of other people’s creativity. I could probably spend the whole day hanging out with some kids listening to the radio and go “That’s an old song. So’s that one. Did you know that’s a remake of an old Joni Mitchell tune? No? Well, it is, etc.” It’s pathetic. I remember when bands actually had some classical training and could play well. Remember “Emerson, Lake and Palmer”? How about “Yes” (with Rick Wakeman, not the sorry ass band it became later). Don’t even get me started with folks like Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and The Who. I have never seen a more bland collection of “artists” than the ones that get all the airplay, today. That’s why I tend to stick to Jazz. Unfortunately, the one (sort of) decent Jazz station on the radio was pulled and replaced with a rap format. The weird part about this is that the stations I’m talking about come out of Memphis, TN, of all places. No Jazz in Memphis, folks! (except occasionally on the college station). It’s amazing that the more complex our society becomes, the more they seem to be dumbing down.

posted by hbrennan @ 7:53 PM