the Sad State of Music Today

Maybe it's because I am old (38 is ancient just ask my son he will tell you) and my memory is starting to fail or rock stars just aren't as memorable as they used to be. Back in the day I could tell you the lineup and what instruments people played for just about any hard rock band out at the time whether it was superstar bands like Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison etc etc or lesser known bands like Asphalt Ballet, Shotgun Messiah, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, Babylon A.D. and so on and so forth. I could pretty much give you the band's entire bio back then.

If you asked me to name the members of the big bands today I wouldn't have the foggiest idea. I could tell you one person's name from Nickelback, Chad Kroeger that's it. I can name two members of Hinder, Cody Hanson, that is because I interviewed him for hardrockhideout.com and Austin Winkler simply because I've always wondered if he is related to the Fonz in someway. I can name two people from Buckcherry, Josh Todd and Keith Nelson and that is it, and my band knowledge is pretty much zilch. I could probably tell you some basic shit but not the little nuggets of information like I could in the past. The sad thing is I consider myself a fan of these bands more so towards Hinder and Buckcherry.

Two bands I could name the members of right now are Badmouth and Heaven's Basement because IMO these are the two most kick ass bands out right now. Other than that if my life depended on me naming the members of a popular band today....you might as well just shoot me and get it over with.

I know I may be beating a dead dog here but not only are the bands today not memorable but the music isn't either. I already admitted I listen to it but I am finding that I am spending less and less money on new North American bands and more money on European bands, especially Swedish, and bands from the past that I may have overlooked the first time or didn't actually like then but love now. Maybe I'm crazy but I would rather spend $25.00 or more on a 20 yr old used cut out c.d. than spend $15.00 on a new c.d.

It really explains the sad state of music today when Johnny Crash's "Neighbourhood Threat" sounds better today than 90% of the albums record companies are releasing now or when Gypsy Rose's "Poisoned By Love" means more to me than just about any song that has been released in the last 10 years.

15 albums that changed my life

My fellow blogger and Hard Rock Hideout contributor Christine Sixx recently listed her 15 life changing albums at www.hardrockhideout.com even though I listed my albums it wouldn't let me post the reasons why so I decided to post them here, I think it actually ended up being 18. I would also like to thank Christine for posting her blog because as I was thinking about the albums for this list it brought back a lot of memories and a few laughs. So for better or for worse here they are...

1.       Rhinestone Cowboy – Glen Campbell, Photographs & Memories - Jim Croce, Sugar Sugar: Greatest Hits – the Archies. These 3 albums were my first memories of hearing music and my introduction to music.

2.       Destroyer – Kiss; There is, was, and never will be a greater way to be introduced to hard rock than to hear the opening lines of “Detroit Rock City” and go all the way to the end with “Do You Love Me” as I am hanging out with my older cousin and his friends at my first real party. I was like 8 or 9 at the time. Man what a great babysitter Danny was!!

3.       Double Fantasy – John Lennon;  Not counting the songs sung by Yoko Ono this album is one of the very few I would call perfection. The songs Lennon sung were/are absolutely incredible. It lead me to discover the Beatles this album changed my life in more ways than one and still inspires me every time I hear it.

4.       In Through The Out Door – Led Zeppelin; O.K. I may have been somewhat of a late bloomer as far as music is concerned but when you grow up in rural Arkansas and only have one rock station that you can pick up on only the most perfect conditions doesn’t really help a lot so you make with what you have. The first time I heard this album at my friend’s house I was absolutely floored.

5.       Back In Black – AC/DC; Much like Kiss and Led Zeppelin at the time I had never heard anything like this before, it just floored me the first time I heard it playing.

6.       Beauty & the Beat – the Go-Go’s; One reason and one reason only I was 11 yrs old and I thought Jane Wieldin was the sexiest woman alive.

7.       No Protection – Starship; As sad as it may seem I actually have a good reason for this one being on my list. My girlfriend at the time loved the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and I ended up losing my virginity to the album and that song. Awww memories

8.       Look What The Cat Dragged In – Poison;  Walked into a Camelot Record store heard this playing asked them who it was and bought it right on the spot. I had never seen anything like the band before in my life I didn’t have a clue if they were girls or guys or what but loved the music I heard. My introduction to glam and the Sunset Strip music scene.

9.       Sonic Temple – the Cult; Another example of album perfection everything about this album kicks ass and just oozes coolness

10.   Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell – Social Distortion; As hard rock was getting pushed out the door in the early 90’s Social D was one of the first bands I found that wasn’t from Seattle or wearing flannel that still played balls out rock n’ roll.

11.   Operation Mindcrime – Queensryche; I was already a Queensryche fan when this was released but I had never heard a concept album as great as this one. I still hope someone will come along with the balls to make this into a movie it could be absolutely awesome.

12.   Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses; I do not have enough fingers or toes to count the ways this album changed not only hard rock but music as a whole. Sex, Drugs, Rock N’ Roll, and Rebellion all tied up into one of the greatest albums ever.

13.   A Bit of What You Fancy – the Quireboys – This album made me go back and rediscover the Rolling Stones, the Faces, & old Rod Stewart and actually listen to what they had to say and finally appreciate their music the way it deserves to be appreciated.

14.   No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims – D.A.D.; To this day one of my favorite bands and one of the most underappreciated bands of all time.

15.   Three Dollar Bill Ya’ll – Limp Bizkit; This album and band made me give up MTV forever and because everyone was calling this crap metal it made me ashamed to be a metal head. Because of this album I hated almost any band that was called “Rap Metal” or “Nu Metal”. On the other hand it made me go out and look for new hard rock and metal bands instead of depending on the chain stores to get my music.

Intermission

Yes I know it has been a while since I posted something new. But believe me I am nowhere near finished with my rantings and ravings about music and life in general so stay tuned I will have something up soon I promise. Until then please visit my fellow ranter Christine Sixx at http://hellonhighheels.blogspot.com/ when she wrote her newest blog it absolutely hit the nail on the head about the music scene today.

But if reading is not your forte I have posted the Youtube link for the first official video from one of my favorite new bands known as Badmouth. I have talked to bassist Chris LeMon on several occasions and the dude absolutely rocks, first class all the way and I am glad to call him a friend. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSNrZcj0Zq4

Blame It On Danny

Luckily for me Alaska is a big state or else I would already have a lynch mob breaking down my doors for this post. Why do you ask? Well because today I am going to talk about possible reasons why I dislike Rush and Pink Floyd so much. 

There could be any number of reasons I dislike these particular two bands so much, maybe it was because I was bludgeoned to death by their music from the only rock station in my area, Magic 105, when I growing up. But this very same station also bludgeoned me with Led Zepplin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Kiss and I think these are 3 of the greatest bands ever so that theory is out the window. 

Could the blame be laid at the feet of my cousin, Danny, because he introduced me to Kiss instead of Floyd or Rush at an young and impressionable age? Now this theory has some possibilities because God knows once I was introduced to Kiss everything else went out the window. I lived, ate, breathed, slept Kiss from the first time I heard the opening lines of "Detroit Rock City" until their infamous unmasking on MTV. Yes, very possible we will leave this option open.

Maybe it is my own fault because I am a teen of the 80's who fully embraced the excess of the time and the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll lifestyle. Honestly can anyone tell me that songs like "Tom Sawyer" or "Learning To Fly" made you want to grab a six pack, crank the stereo up, and make out with a hot girl in the backseat? But on the other hand "Looks That Kill", "Girls Got Rhythm", & "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" made me want to do those things and more.

It could be that I am just to simple to understand the surreal lyrics and intricate music from these two bands. I admit that songs like "Shook Me All Night Long" and "She Wants Money" don't really require an English major to tell me what the songs were about. Whereas I have no freaking clue what Geddy Lee is singing about in "Distant Early Warning". But then again it has always been my understanding that rock n' roll was about having a good time, rebellion and escaping the trials and tribulations of life. If I wanted to think and ponder I probably would have paid more attention in school than I did instead of thinking about getting a six pack and the new cute freshman after school.

Maybe it could be something as simple as their music has never moved me in ways like Skynyrd, Kiss, Motley Crue, or any number of other bands have. Now don't get me wrong both bands are extremely accomplished musicians and I wish I had a quarter of their talent. If I did maybe I would be a well known musician today.

We may never know the exact reason why I do not like Rush or Pink Floyd, which is probably better for me because if a lynch mob does ever come for me I will have plenty of excuses to go through before they try to string me up and burn my house down.

Of course, we could just always blame Danny, he will never know anyways.

Warner Idiots

Universal Music is going to make tens if not hundreds of millions  of dollars from Youtube this year. So here is a question for you...how stupid can Warner Brothers really be? Because they can't come to an agreement with Youtube about royalities they force Youtube to remove all music and videos off the website of WB artists.  What they can't be happy with the millions they are already making off youtube? With all the music industry bitching and whining about how the business is going down the drain due to this and that you would think they would be happy with whatever money they could make. 

But no these greedy money hungry asses aren't. Youtube is probably the biggest promotion tool record companies have going for them these days. Not only for new acts but catalog acts as well, since MTV doesn't play actual videos anymore and VH1, MTV2 and Fuse are all following right behind them playing less and less videos. I remember back in the day when bands would spend thousands of dollars on videos and MTV wouldn't even play them and if they did the bands didn't make any money off videos getting played.

I really wish someone would slap all of record company presidents upside their fatheads until they could finally see the light because if anyone is pushing customers out the door and on to other ways of getting music it is the record companies themselves with their medival ways of doing business. Yes the internet is kicking their ass because they still haven't learned to embrace the internet for what it is and take advantage of it and it is going to keep doing the same thing until they get their collective heads out of their asses, stop bitching and whining and fix the problems they helped make with outrageous c.d. prices, shutting down internet radio stations, and everything else they have done. They bitch and moan and moan and bitch but they are the morons that keep shooting themselves in the ass, simply by not doing the right thing for their customers.

Unfortunately record companies have made a lot of money off me because no matter what I am going to support the bands that I like. But you can bet your ass that once bands figure out how to sell their music without the record companies being involved I am going to be the first in line. Because there is no business I want to see fail more than record companies, once they are out of the picture then real musicians will finally get the respect they deserve for the music they create instead of the crap we are force fed from people who wouldn't know a real musician if they walked up and kicked them in the balls.

First Post

Ok here I go...my first post and to be honest I have no idea what this blog is going to be about. At first I thought it would be about strictly music and how the music industry sucks and it still might be. But despite what my lovely wife may think there is more to my life than music so from time to time I may spead my wings to bitch about other things going on in the world. I think everyone can agree that there is plenty in the world to bitch about. 

So I guess I should explain the rules here first and foremost whether you agree or disagree with me please feel free to leave a comment. I'm a big guy I can handle everyone's opinions I will either agree with your point of view or tell you to go screw yourself that simple. Secondly I am writing my opinion so very rarely will I use facts, statistics, he said/she said, this and that or whatever. Just to let whoever may read this know I am a retired sailor and I cuss A LOT even when typing so if that bothers you this may not be the blog for you, other than that Have fun.