I can't sleep at all right now. Passion for music and a need to get a good grade on my next English Writing assignment are creating far too many busy thoughts in my head. The essay I'm working on is supposed to be a "collage essay" and we got to pick the topic, so I went with "Is the album a dead art form?" Collage essays are made up of several sections which have a linking theme, but could easily be extracted and make up their own story. Once the sections are woven together, they draw a big picture. It's definitely a challenge to me and, from what I'm reading on our online forums, a challenge to many of my classmates.
Some of the ideas I've fed to my instructor got her seal of approval, but because this form of writing is so new to me, some of them are not. I'm finding it hard to let go of old writing habits, which are based on her requirements for other essays (research essays, comparison essays, etc, etc.) One of her recent responses to my ideas for the essay are causing me to doubt that I'll be able to bring this all together and my gears are cranking as I reformulate my game plan.
This is only part of what's keeping me awake at this ungodly hour. Because my essay revolves around something I feel highly passionate about: music, the ideas behind my thesis are haunting me. Let's zoom out a bit, assuming that yes, the age of the digital single is here and the age of the LP album is in the past (or at least has been put on the back burner and is only enjoyed by a small group of consumers). The bigger picture is that rock is dead. Lenny said it, Morcheeba said it, in a way The Buggles said it too (amongst many many others). SOme of those who recognize that rock has "died" are rockers themselves. I've tried to brush that idea under the rug my whole life because of bands that (to me) keep RAWKIN like Queens of the Stone Age, White Stripes (and for the love of music, Dead Weather), Aerosmith, Heart, Nico Vega...but the idea keeps coming back to me. It's covered in dust from all of the times it's been reswept under that rug, but it's right there...don't look...it's staring at me now.
Ok, so some of you have grabbed your pitchforks and torches and are ready to run me out of town on a rail already because you're thinking exactly what I'd think if I were reading this: 'Rock isn't dead! You just proved it with those bands you listed!' Let's be honest with each other. Maybe we can reach a happy medium that will allow me to get back to sleep after I post this and we can both move on with our lives. Let's say Rock isn't dead. What, then? Rock certainly isn't what it was in the days when bands like Boston, ELO, Heart, Queen, Aerosmith, Dio, Nirvana, Silverchair, or even the previously mentioned White Stripes were at the top of their game. If it didn't die, it's got some awful disease and needs a transfusion of blood. Consumers certainly need to be re-educated on the value of a good Rock out.
There is still some pretty kick ass rock out there, but unfortunately for the musicians who create it, it's not being pushed anymore. It's no longer on MTV or VH1. It's very rarely (if at all) found in the top 40. You've got to dig. The same can be said for all good music. These days, in order to find good, heart wrenching, moving, well written, rock your socks off music, you gotta dig. The right kinds of musicians are ok with that. If they're good enough, they quickly gather an army of loyal fans who will follow them to the ends of the earth (which is a metaphor for that day when your favorite rock band's greatest hits records hits the shelves or the one song that made it onto the radio gets layered into the background of an american truck commercial). Sadly, the common consumer has no interest in digging. We live in a society filled with people trained to expect and demand instant gratification. Good luck getting them to dig at all, let alone buy an entire album on itunes. They're going to buy that one song they heard on that twilight soundtrack and look no further into the artist behind it. Corporations are killing rock and roll. They're killing music in general.
Remember record stores? Out of high school, I worked for a store that sold books, music, movies, and had a cafe. Greatest time of my life, although the pay was shit. Here we are 13 (christ) years later and that store, that had branches all over the country, has gone belly up (it was Borders, if you didn't already know). Tower records? I've seen stickers on albums bought at Tower records in my parents mucis collection, on VHS' I've borrowed from co-workers, and on many an album in my own collection my whole life...GONE. Remember going to the record store with maybe an album or two (or perhaps a few artists) that you wanted to check out? You'd search for them in the bins or perhaps discuss them with one of the clerks and maybe get some guidance towards other similar (or maybe better) albums or artists and make truly eye opening discoveries. There are still record stores and this is still possible, but I'd wager that the percentage of people who'd rather log into amazon and look at what's hot or trending or just using Amazon's recommendation algorythm to find your new music is much greater than those who still yearn for the social experience of spending an hour or two at Dimple or Amoeba records.
Rant over. More on this at another time. Thanks for following along and may you either never lose that passion for music or may you find the inspiration to get into it
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