1. All music (art) is derivitive with the exception of a very few breakaway artist and they are ususally seperated by insanity or genius. Led Zepplin and the Rolling stones just played the black delta blues of Leadbelly and Howlin' Wolf but with amplifier technology not available to the originators. 2.. Recording technology became so common since the late 1950's that virtually all the music created since that time is still readily availble. How hard will it be to bring something truly "new" now that librairy of music if so huge and pervasive? Fear not young ones, you too will soon find yourselves listening to hip-hop oldies stations. .
I think people are correct when they say that modern rock sounds similar as rock from the 1960s and 1970s. However, that's not necessarily because the written aspect of the music is the same, but because the tools are still pretty much the same. Rock music has always been as much about sounds (or in guitar magazine lingo, "tone") as it has about what's been written. Today's rock musicians still tend to use gear that existed in 1959. Sure, some changes have been made that have allowed the amps to get louder and to prevent the guitars from picking up airplane communications, but I really can't think of any modern amps that aren't based on a Fender Bassman, Fender Twin or Vox AC30. And most guitars are either based on a Fender Strat or Gibson Les Paul. So as long as musicians are using the same gear, the end result is that a 21st century garage band like Jet sounds awfully similar to 1960s garage band like Blue Cheer However, I wouldn't consider either band particularly innovative - there were plenty of sloppy garage bands before Blue Cheer who didn't get to record with 100-watt Marshall stacks. Hence, Blue Cheer seems fresh even though they really didn't offer anything new themselves. I agree with Jeff that if you look beyond what's on the radio, you'll find plenty of innovative and enjoyable music. The radio now exists to sell advertising, so they're going to play the music that will keep as many listeners as possible. This means that music that offends the least number of listeners gets play, while music that may have a more polarizing effect is avoided. About 8 years ago, I was listening to jazz on KTSU (90.9) at lunchtime. Normally, they stick to classic jazz ballads during that time, but that day, the DJ decided that his "featured artist at noon" would be Roland Kirk. While I thought the hour of Kirk's music was awesome, the DJ told me (when I called to express my appreciation) that he had gotten nothing but complaints and anger from all the other callers. Now Kirk is considered to be a great jazz artist, but his music is too weird for the average listener. I'm sure rock radio works the same way.
Ok, I just checked out their 'just played' list... The F-ups - "All The Young Dudes" at 11:31:35 AM Bodeans - "Good Things(Live)" at 11:22:34 AM Snow Patrol - "Chocolate" at 11:19:26 AM Eve 6 - "Inside Out" at 11:09:02 AM R.E.M. - "Man On The Moon" at 11:03:54 AM Beck - "E-Pro" at 11:00:25 AM Guster - "Amsterdam" at 10:56:41 AM Butthole Surfers - "Pepper" at 10:52:31 AM Kings of Leon - "The Bucket" at 10:43:24 AM Pixies - "Here Comes Your Man" at 10:39:56 AM That station pwns!
They play "Here Comes Your Man" about 10 times a day. Thanks for all of the interesting comments and some great points. What I'm looking at is that while all music is derived from previous sources it just seems to me that there is less of a desire to do original music and popular demand seems more geared to sounding like what was done before or redoing it. I mean did we really need a remake of "Jesse's Girl"? I don't want to say that popular music is all bad, I like a lot of stuff that's being done now probably because it sounds like stuff that I liked before, just that it doesn't seem unique or original. Other than "Hey Yaa" I'm having a hard time thinking of a hit that really strikes me as something that wouldn't be a hit some other time. It seems like there are times in popular music where people want to break away or challenge what was done before and there are times when people want to refer to things past.
I was thinking the same thing. Last year me and a friend played at open mic for fun and every other performer played some depressing navel gazing song. We kicked it off with a song called 'Nancy Whiskey' followed by 'Tequila'.
I'm not sure I agree on the bad attitude thing. Whenever I hear, "These musicians today..." followed by some wisdom on how much better it was when, it always sounds like an old fogie complaining. The truth is that rock music has ALWAYS had a bad attitude. If it wasn't a kid singing about being in a gang or having sex or doing drugs, it was he/she whining about how tough it was for them or how sad they were when their baby left them. It is the nature of the genre to thrive on chaos, depression and attitude. There's nothing today that is any different from 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago in rock music. It's just done with a slightly different sound and look. But, the attitude is exactly the same.
"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable, or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
Luckily, living in Austin, I get 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin. It's the only fm station I still listen to. Radio Austin
Yeah, sadly the most recent big musical innovation is "sampling," i.e., playing snippets of other people's music and trying to make it your own. Yeah, I'd say there's a lot less originality as of late.
I don't think sampling or remaking need dull originality. If you can find interesting ways to use other music. Think about all of the great arrangments of Jazz and Classical pieces. What I'm thinking about is the tone of popular and alternative music these days which sounds to me like the tone of music done previously.
I still think you guys just aren't listening to enough music. If you can't find good music out there, you are either: a. Not trying hard enough. b. Just not that big of a music fan. As for sampling, that WAS an innovation. Artists have borrowed and/or stolen chord progressions and lyrical ideas from other artists for decades. Sampling is no different. And anyone who thinks it isn't difficult hasn't sat down at a computer and spent hundreds of hours trying to fit samples, beats and structures together. It is MUCH easier to have three or four musicians sit down and play than it is to go over that tedious stuff.
Jeff; Its not a question of good or bad its a question of original. As I said I like a lot of current music and think its as good in terms of quality and technical capability as popular music as ever been. Following onto the Progrock debate I can't stand a lot of the bands mentioned and find a lot of that stuff over tedious and melodramatic but I do think its original and in that time there was a greater interest in originality in popular music.
But, where have you been looking for music? If all you are doing is flipping on the radio, you are going to be disappointed. You have to go LOOK for good music. Try indie band sites. Try independent internet radio. Try satellite radio. Try music websites and even big download places like iTunes. There is good music to be heard and original music to be heard if you are willing to take the time and look for it.
I think the difference is not so much a lack of originality in today's music as it is that, at different times in our "music culture," if you will, we have seen sea-changes in music. There have been times when, suddenly (it seems), we are confronted with a whole new sound, from which other forms of that "sound" branch off. (like progressive rock, etc.) The roots may go far back, but there is an almost earthshaking explosion of this new sound, driven with a flood of originality. That's what happened, in my opinion, in the '60's. It may happen again. It may be happening now, but I just don't see it. I'm glad that I was there in the middle of it as it happened, although I wish I were a couple of decades younger as well. Jeff, you have a good point about some of us not listening to enough music... current music. I freely admit, after our kids were born, that I got seriously detoured from my previous lifestyle. It's a sad, but common occurrence, and a price I've paid for the joy of having children. Maybe I could have done things differently. I know some people who weren't as derailed as we were. It's probably because we waited so long to have them. Living in a city away from most of our friends and family didn't help. That doesn't take away what I experienced in the '60's and early '70's, however. I remember the first time I saw Hendrix. I was with a girl and a couple of friends, and the chick and I moved down to the middle, about the 8th row. (this was at the Coliseum, when they used folding chairs. It was easy if you knew what you were doing) What the guy did, without all the electronic wizardry that developed later, was just impossible. You stood there (who could sit down??) completely blown away, knowing you were in the presence of genius, baffled by what he was doing, and then just lost in the music. His hands were huge. I saw him every time he was in Houston and never understood how he did what he did. He's an example of the point I'm trying to make, but just one of a host of musicians that were going nuts making original music. (and I'm sure butchering my attempt... )
Hip-hop & rap are really the types of "new" music that are catching these days. Sadly, neither of those genres are really doing anything new. I agree 100% that today's music is not as original as the music of decades ago. Guys like George Harrison were touring the planet for new ideas. Now guys are sampling a snipet of someone else's track and doing something different on top of it in search of something new? (Of course, I gotta say that tongue-in-cheek, 'cause we just sent off a couple of tunes off our album - minus the vocals - so some hip-hop guy out in LA can sample it and have his lady sing on top of it.) Maybe that's why most of my CD collection dates 1977 and before. Maybe that's why I haven't listened to anything other than KPFT and AM radio in the past 3 or 4 years.
Have you guys tried yahoo launchcast? Its great if you sit by your computer for long periods of time. Basically, you can customize your own station and select for the bands and songs that you like. The program then automatically plays songs by those artists as well as from similar bands so you can discover some new artists in the genres you like. I made my station selecting mostly new wave/britpop bands like Depeche Mode, Smiths, the Sundays, The The, etc, which resulted in launchcast introducing me to a lot of good bands that I didn't know about or wasn't too familiar with like the Church, Cocteau Twins, and Gorillaz. Also, you can select against bands/songs that you don't like. You can also make different moods for your station so you can make it only plays the rap songs you like, and another mood for only the rock songs, or combinations of whatever, etc.
Just a hunch, but limiting yourself to one station might be the reason you aren't hearing a lot of good new music. Finding good music is work. If you want to find it, you can, but you have to work for it. I understand that a lot of people don't want to and that's fine. But, blanketing the music industry with "there isn't any good or original music anymore" is simply not true. You may not LIKE what is coming out now or you may not have done enough digging to find out what is out, but that doesn't have anything to do with what is or isn't available.
Jeff; I understand that there's a lot of people doing very original work out there and I just gotta look hard enough. I'm talking about popular music which is why I was talking about radio. In an age where mainstream radio stations call themselves alternative I would expect more originality in the music I was hearing. As for Toast and Deckard saying music decades ago I don't think popular music is as original as it was even in the 90's. While Grunge came from the Who and Neil Young it seems like there was a lot of bands getting airplay doing stuff that I couldn't imagine having a following in previous days. Look at the stuff Beck, Moby and others were doing along with acid jazz. A lot of the stuff that passes for alternative these days sounds like U2 circa 1989.
