My Opinion Column About Music

[YorkeDaddy]

Yeah, I'm an Opinion Columnist for my school's newspaper. I wrote my latest column about how horrible the music industry is. I thought you might all have a nice say in what I've put together.

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I am a musician. I write, I play, I perform. And I’m pretty decent at it. Well actually, forget modesty, I am excellent at all of it. I know what I’m doing when it comes to composing and analyzing good music, and let me tell you, the tunes that are blowing out of our speakers on the popular radio stations are not examples of good music.

I mean, seriously, if Hot Chelle Rae tells me one more time that there’s a “party on the roof top, top of the world,” I think I might go insane and hit something or somebody. Not only are those lyrics hideously generic and uninspired, but the music and themes presented in that song are utterly horrific, and I’ll take the far superior song named “Tonight, Tonight” by the sensational Smashing Pumpkins instead.

Now don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that all mainstream music is bad; I’m just saying that 98% of it is. The 2% that doesn’t suck includes Coldplay and…not much else. For instance, let’s take a couple popular rock bands such as OneRepublic or Lifehouse. Believe it or not, almost every one of OneRepublic’s popular songs uses the exact same chord progression. Granted, it’s probably the most tried-and-true and catchy chord progression for pop songs, but the fact still remains that this is just lazy, shameful songwriting, and as a musician I am almost insulted by it. Lifehouse isn’t much better either. “Cause I’m halfway gone, and I’m on my way, and I’m feelin’, feelin’, feelin’ this way”. Yeah. Poetic.

The problem lies in record companies and in today’s youth. It’s a tragically true tale that has been told many times about the good band that gets signed to a huge record label and then must conform to what the label wants, thus destroying any sense of talent and creativity the band had. Have you ever heard a band that sounds significantly different in its later years than it did when it first started out? Well, sometimes it’s because of a band changing its style, but it’s often because that band’s record company made them change or else they would cut that band’s contract. This is why the best bands are either on independent labels or simply produce their own music, such as Radiohead or Modest Mouse. And no, this is not some kind of subjective opinion of mine; it is a fact that Radiohead is the best band of all time.

Now, don’t accuse me of having shallow music taste. I like rap. I like metal. I basically like everything. The difference here is that I only like good rap and good metal. Sorry kids, but Lil’ Wayne is not good rap. Go try some Immortal Technique or Dalek for some good rap, and then go try some Sabbath and Queensryche for good metal. Don’t accuse me of only liking obscure bands either, because I also love me some Beatles and Led Zeppelin, and those are about as non-obscure as you can get.

The point here is basically about conformity. I’m not saying music is bad because it’s mainstream, I’m saying that popular music is bad because it’s poorly written, and that’s because the record companies and today’s youth want it that way. It’s fine if you want to jam out to songs that are about partying every now and then, but maybe you should try listening to music that is written with emotion, grace, and elegance sometime, and not just in the lyrics, but in the music as well. Try something that might actually make you think for once. Try the beautiful simplicity of indie folk like Neutral Milk Hotel or Nick Drake, or the crushing melancholy honesty of indie rock with The Antlers or The Smiths, or even the foreign magnificence of post and math rock (experimentally ambient music that focuses heavily on achieving ambitious crescendos) behemoths like Sigur Ros, God is an Astronaut, or Explosions in the Sky. Believe it or not, music can do more than just entertain; it can even change your life in ways you didn’t think possible. There’s something out there for everyone, and there’s more music out there than any human being could ever hope to scratch the surface of, so do a little exploring and try to find something new and inspiring. It may just change you.

[lucifer_sam]

Wow dude. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that has to be one of the most condescending travesties for a published opinion that I've ever read. Um, you might want to adjust your tone, because as is it's coming off, like, well...

[YorkeDaddy]

That's how my columns always are. For reference, my past columns this year so far have been about preventing childhood obesity and about how disgusting high school relationships are.

[RVCA]

This sounds like very typical elitist ranting.

Sure, some of us love to discover new music. Typically, when someone devotes a lot of time to listening to music, they stray away from the "popular", "top 40" stuff because they find that other music offers a better listening experience.

But MOST PEOPLE don't devote a lot of time to discovering new music and listening to it. These people are "normal". They don't mind listening to the crap you're ranting about because they can't be arsed to find anything better. They will probably always be this way. So belittling them and their listening choices doesn't serve a purpose whatsoever but to reinforce your ego... sorry, but you're not going to suddenly convince, at least not via a short op-ed piece, your readers that they need to stop listening to the radio and start downloading random albums from random music blogs.

I'm a film noob. I probably watch a lot of films that film-elitists (read: those who devote more time to watching and discovering good films) consider rubbish. Whatever, I don't care. I watch rubbish, and that's fine with me. See the parallel?

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Honestly, this is too much opinion on what bands you like, and too little on why. It just reads like a list of "here's what I hate" and "here's what is good".

I DID like the chord progression bit with One Republic. The rest seemed patronizing, and poorly backed up, and I agree with some of your opinion(except that Coldplay is good), just feel you need to reinforce it.

If you write another article. I suggest not focusing on how ****ty the mainstream world is, and how foolish youth is, you should tackle the reasons why. To be frank "kids are just dumb these days" doesn't cut it. In the 1800s the vast majority of American Children were literally illiterate orphans, yet stuff like Berlioz's 'Symphony Fantastique' was being churned out, and got well exposed by mainstream media.

Kids are smarter these days, but perhaps the media is more controlling, or more fearful since they're not aiming at the most highly educated aristocratic elite. Or, perhaps, the reason I think most should be looked into the simplification of music:

presentation.

Compare the opera house of 1700s to the stadium performances of he 60s and 70s to the prerecorded radio track of today. How do people listen it? Where do they listen to it? Why do they listen to it? What distractions have changed?

Really, you'll find the answers there.

[Thom Yorke]

This sounds pretty elitist. That's fine if this was just a commentary on mainstream musical tastes, but if you're trying to "convert" the masses, there are much better ways to go about it.

[RVCA]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

This sounds pretty elitist. That's fine if this was just a commentary on mainstream musical tastes, but if you're trying to "convert" the masses, there are much better ways to go about it.

For a second, I thought you were the OP

[Janszoon]

I'm confused by commentary that rails against mainstream music but then talks about Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Smiths, etc. as if they're somehow not mainstream.

[Electrophonic Tonic]

This will fall on deaf ears. No offense, (meaning this is likely to offend) but this feels like nothing more than written masturbation.

[djchameleon]

Your first paragraph sets a tone for the rest of your article to be ignored. If you wanted to include that rubbish, you could have put it at the end mixed in with your conclusion.

The whole focus of blaming the youth of today doesn't hold water when you go back in time and think of disco and other pop music that has happened throughout the decades.

If you are going to say Coldplay is good mainstream, you might as well have said Nickelback is superb mainstream that belongs in that 2%