it's getting better. the musical skill of those involved in that genre has improved tremendously. i saw Jars of Clay open for Sting back in the mid- to late-90's in Austin. the lead guitarist from that group was asked to participate on a compilation CD with other great acoustic guitarists. the quality of the music had to catch up...but music, whether rock or any other style, is about passion. that passion can be anything.
Or even worse, it's about commercializing the supposed antisocial behavior. It's hard to find genuine antisocial behavior.
People are so pathetic. Musicians especially. Next thing you know someone is going to try and ride the coattails of a star athlete by doing a song about him.
which reminds me...everytime my son sees the texans coming on TV now he starts singing the beginning of the Aaron Glenn Song!! "he's tough as a nail...the holy grail..of cornerbacks in the, in the, in the NFL!!" classic!!
You know, it isn't the skill that was the problem though. Some of the finest session musicians on the planet have made boatloads of money playing praise and worship music. In Houston alone, I have plenty of friends that make $100 - $200 per worship service to play even when they aren't members of the church or even Christian. The problem is that the delivery of rock music, at its core, has at least some degree of mischieviousness. That can come in the form of political speech, outright partying, sex, drugs, whatever. But, at the heart of it, there is this edge that drives that artist to perform. Whenever the performance is about something that doesn't have an edge, that doesn't elicit at least a smirk or a giggle if not a full on pout or scream, it sounds rounded off and formulaic. It is the same reason by pop can be so lame - the music isn't all that important to the artist, only the message being sold. If you are a boy band, you're selling sex. If you are a Christian, you are selling God. The fact that the overriding factor for performing and recording is not your musical ability, but your desire to spread that message is what makes it come out sounding lame. There are exceptions, but it almost always involves a band right on the edge of Christianity, not someone preaching directly - Live was a band that started out Christian but moved away from that as they progressed for example. The irony is that the lack of passion and intensity that seems to so often accompany Christian rock music doesn't seem to infect gospel. Maybe it is the cultural difference between what it means to sing in a black church and a white church, but there is a huge difference. It is almost like, at the heart of every Christian artist is a happy hippy singing Kum By Ya and at the heart of every gospel artist is Al Green singing "Let's Stay Together." I actually had a student and friend who was very close with one of the members of Caedmons Call. I got to know him as well and he was/is a great guy. He's also a very talented musician but, Caedmons Call just never seemed like it had any edge at all. There wasn't any drive to be anything but a band that spread the Word of God, which is FINE, but the drive that pushes musicians to write, record and perform is often what gives them their edge and intensity. It doesn't mean bands like Jars of Clay and Caedmons Call aren't skilled or talented, just that they don't really have that edge that spearates great rock music from everything else.
i guess it's all in the ear of the beholder (is that even a phrase?) i'm moved by the music, for obvious reasons. it finds its desired effect with me. i've been critical of the quality of the music for a while..but i think that started to improve in the 90's. but i find jars of clay, for example, writes very beautiful, metaphoric lyrics that freaking nail me upside the head. some very real and dark portrats of ourselves that i have a hard time relating to kum ba yah. i hear ya...i guess i just miss the meaning of rock music then. i'm a fan...but there must be something i'm missing, because frankly i haven't embraced the mischieviousness that you're talking about. but i find the music itself to be powerful, nonetheless.
I think maybe what I'm saying is that rock music at its core is at least a little bit irreverent. So, when you mix in extreme reverence - especially true in Christian music - it just takes the edge off of it. But, to each his own.
Perhaps that 's what Alice was saying too. Politics has certainly influenced music, but usually it's rallying 'against the man' or speaking out against injustice. It's a little more unusual to have them rallying *to support* a candidate. Not sure it's bad. But certainly more unusual than had they rallied 'against the war' or some other polical cause.
Faith +1 is pretty edgy Whenever I see Jesus up on that cross I can't help but think that he looks kind'a hot.. The body of Christ, sleek swimmer's body, all muscled up and toned. The body of Christ, Oh, Lord Almighty, I wish I could call it my own. You're one time, two times, three times my Savior... Yes I may be born again, but I wasn't born again yesterday. I want'a get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus. I want'a feel his salvation all over my face. I need you in my life, Jesus. I can't live without you, Jesus. And I just want to feel you deep inside me, Jesus.
i've been thinking about this...i'm not so sure that's right, though. i can think of tons of rock songs i really enjoy by very secular artists who sing of love, primarily...not in any sort of irreverant way at all. i can think of a slew of dave matthews songs that don't have a bit of irreverance in them..but it doesn't lessen the impact of the music at all, to me anyway...and apparently at least to a few others.
Alice Cooper doesn't like rockers telling the world about their politics. So Alice Cooper combats this by.... ...telling the world about his politics.
Well, first, it doesn't have to be present in every song to make it rock music. Second, Dave has sung plenty of stuff about drugs and sex as well. Crash is a pretty damn sexual song by itself.
Yup, just like Ted Nugent, etc. Conservatives love to b**** about celebrities espousing their political beliefs, yet they're the ones who elect the Schwartzeneggers, Reagans, Bonos, etc. Woohoo, hypocrisy's fun!
Well....it's always different when they're inside your tent pissing out rather than outside pissing in!! The dems have losts of their hypocrisy moments too. Quite a political brew, huh?
Human beings are animals with a big brain. We always are in conflict between the visceral and the intellectual. The visceral urges tend to be the more basic; sex and violence mostly, and tend to gratify the individual. While the intellectual; philosophy and religion etc., strive to overcome these urges for the general well being of society as a whole. Real rock music plays to the visceral; simple emotions and hormones felt by the body without much thought . You move, dance, scream, get horny, get outraged. A song to a rock beat that brings a message of subordinating the baser emotions is cognitively dissonant and therefore inherently unpleasent. I hope that clears the issue up for everybody.
I absolutely agree with this, though I would limit it a bit - it's not just antisocial behavior (which is usually more trouble than it's worth) - it's rebellion as a whole. Rebellion has become commodified. Many products are now marketed based on rebellion - meaning: if you buy this product with [x] qualities, then you are rebelling against all these other products without [x], and therefore you must be the living embodiment of [x]. SUV ads seem particularly fond of this tactic. You're being a rugged individualist when you buy one, because you're not just an accountant in the middle of a metropolis - you could always go out to the mountains and grow a beard and wear flannel, or do donuts in the Grand Canyon, or fill the car with friends and party like it's 1999. The problem is: You really are just an accountant, and what's worse, you're trying to buy an image you can't enact in real life - the image of rebelliousness. As a great old rag used to say: There is no such thing as a rebel consumer. And a lyric from a great band: You are not what you own.
very true. but i'm saying that to write a good rock song, it doesn't have to be about mischieviousness...or embracing counter-culture. it can be about whatever the musician/author is passionate about. i'm not sure we're disagreeing. just trying to make myself clear.
