Am I getting Old or Does Music Really Suck this Bad?
I'm 33...I think. Yeah, that sounds about right. I've been a fan of music since I can remember. Started with lame-ass rap and moved onto rock 'n' roll and heavy metal and eventually I opened my mind enough to realize that there's no shame in liking any kind of music in the spectrum. If it sounds good, listen to it. Damn the haters straight to Hell. As I've grown older and am now married and the father of a five-year-old I've realized just how awful modern music has become. I'm mostly talking about popular music. You know, the shit you hear on the radio, the junk playing in the background of so many television commercials, and namely the god-awful noise I heard on the Dick Clark Waiting for the Ball to Drop Extravaganza Whatsitcalled playing on my TV in the background during my mellow New Year's Eve.
I'm not going to name names, but my wife and I would give each other a look every time some photocopy "artist" lip synced a song. There was a boy band that kept coming back like herpes and it made me itch just listening to their put-on. Made me reminisce of a truly talented group called the Beatles, a group that could possibly be considered the first boy band phenomenon, who consequently became tired of the screaming crowds and the fact that they couldn't hear their instruments and eventually stopped playing live. Early Beatles music is golden, but they didn't stop there. It just got better and better. These modern day synthesized and over produced boy bands play what they're told, wear what they're told, and make me want to jam a screwdriver in my ear. They're not going to get any better. When you suck that bad, you have no chance. Maybe one of the guys'll have a brother who will become a decent movie star.
And then there's the pop "singer"s. Or is it hip hop? I'm not sure. They have a bunch of goons dancing on the stage to draw attention away from the fact that they're quite obviously lip syncing a song that has been done over and over and over again. The beats are all the same, only the lyrics have changed, and in some cases they've only been rearranged. Pathetic, no talent hacks.
Elton John played. They only showed one song, but I think he played more. What a shame. That would have been something worth watching. He actually sings. And there were a few others who actually stretched their vocal chords. I applaud those musicians. To dance around like a marionette and pretend you're singing your wretched song has got to be an act one is subjected to in a specialized ring of Hell even Dante hadn't written about.
How they call it Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve, I cannot understand.
It really doesn't matter though. My son likes to listen to a lot of music that I feel is complete garbage, but I don't give him a hard time. He's five. I don't even remember liking music at that age. Besides, when I was young I listened to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, LL Cool J and Digital Underground. I can't account for dumbed down tastes. Been there, done that. I just hope my boy begins to understand what good music is, and if, to him, good music is the tripe that is popular when he's a teenager ('cause you know it's going to be far worse than what's out there now), well, I'll do my best not to complain. But I know I will. And I know I will instill in him all of the music that I have been listening to for the past twenty years, and maybe he will be able to appreciate that there used to be good music...once upon a time ago.
Keep on rockin' in the greed world!
Elvis has left the building.
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