Aimless Bile Projection: Musings on Music

I never thought I’d sound like a parent, but what the hell has happened to music these days?

I remember when I first got interested in music on my own, and not just in the awesome offerings found on the Smash Hits ’93 compilation that I was given for my birthday in about year 3.
In retrospect, and in its defence, it was actually a pretty thoughtful gift from my parents, seeing as it was in fact 1993 at the time and they obviously wanted me to stop listening to their Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath vinyls and be interested in my own generation of music (which was a tactic that half-worked. I still love the Mac, and Ozzy is rad!).

I really liked a few songs on that album, particularly Ace of Base’s “All that She Wants”. A fine track from a band that died as a result of their own kitsch around the late ‘90s, as far as anyone cares. At this stage my musical experience was limited to whatever I heard in my parents car on road trips, and if memory serves it was probably a whole heap of Barnsey, Farnsey and assorted other Aussie pop acts of the ‘80s-‘90s (the ‘Bogan’ era, I call it, because of the exponential rise of Pub Rock bands over conventional mainstream pop- thus bringing their pub-roots fan-base with them), which, because of my lack of outside knowledge, were alright by me, and I enjoyed them enough. I do also recall winning an R.E.M. tape at a Blue Light Disco for ‘dancing’ really well (when in fact I was just eating hot chips and wandering around in my own world- I fear it was a pity prize). I loved that R.E.M. tape, because it had “Everybody Hurts” and a few other songs on it, and I really dug the edginess and the slightly optimistic melancholy of the tracks. Not that I would have been able to describe it like that at the time.
So, my musical knowledge and appreciation solely based on a whatever was around, my family moved into the city from the country where we’d been living for 4 years, where you could actually get a radio station at home. I was 11, and I was soon to start my musical education at the hands of my much older and far more alternative cousin who lived in Canberra.
Let me just admit straight out that I didn’t understand a lot of music the first time I heard it, and my cousin had some pretty eclectic tastes, which only compounded the issue. But I came at music without prejudice simply because I didn’t know about ‘genres’ or even what was cool at the time. I was an empty vessel, ready to be pumped full of the hot, juicy goodness of sweet tunes.
Because of my cousin’s taste in music, I got a good education in ‘90s grunge; the old faves like Nirvana, Silverchair, and Alice in Chains; some progressive weirdness from the likes of TOOL and Primus; and even dabbled in the confronting (for an 11 year-old) offerings from Mike Patton and his various zany musical outfits. At the same time I had made friends at school with a Malaysian-Chinese guy who, unsurprisingly, was into Rap. He helped me to understand the merits of early 90’s gangsta rap, and tried to convince me that the death of Tupac Shakur was the greatest loss that music had suffered; in fact, I’m sure we had a raging argument about what was sadder- the death of Kurt Cobain or 2pac, which was resolved after we agreed to listen to one song from each artist and decide for ourselves.
My friend Allen played me 'Dear Mama' which I found actually quite touching, and there was a certain subtle edginess in 2pac’s music that made me realise that you didn’t need crunching guitars to sound angsty. I showed him “Come As You Are”, which I thought at the time was such an inclusive-feeling song and made people like me who found it hard to fit in feel like we didn’t have to care what other people though. Ironically, on retrospection, it seemed Kurt cared a little too much what people thought. I’d also like to point out that I was 10 when he died, and didn’t notice. All the Nirvana I ever heard was post-Kurt.
Anyway, from there we travelled to Snoop Dogg and his entourage, and eventually on to Eminem. I will to this day vouch for Eminem- he might be white trash living off a musical style pioneered by impoverished black artists, but he knows it, and he steps up to the plate and delivers lyrically. So much so that I actually forgive him 8 Mile. Sort of.
Allen had started something then, and I decided to investigate further. It was only when I watched the Family Values Tour video at my mate’s house that I expanded my horizons even further. The inclusion of Ice Cube on that tour was a stroke of genius on the part of Korn, who I knew from their Follow The Leader album already associated with him, though I didn’t understand the link. I followed Ice Cube back through his catalogue all the way to The Predator, and eventually to where he started- Niggaz With Attitude, or N.W.A. I don’t care what anyone says- Ice Cube was the progenitor of true Gangsta Rap. Ice T may have broken out with gangsta-laced hip-hop a little earlier, but Ice Cube’s rhymes were always far superior in my opinion. When he wanted to, he wrote poignant and affecting lyrics and had a knack for a nasty bass line. He did also write about ho’s and smoking huge amounts of weed, but then Nirvana had several songs about incest and implied sexual abuse. It’s a thang I suppose.
His defection from N.W.A. due to being essentially cut out of their profits despite writing most of the lyrics effectively ended the group’s career, but it was only the beginning for Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, easily the two most talented rappers in the group. Ezy-E succumbed to AIDS from his unfortunate drug habits, and MC Ren certainly slipped out of sight; but Ice Cube and Dr. Dre became industry behemoths, and I would argue that they are the last of the great rappers. The new crop, starting with a man named Curtis Jackson, of whom you may have heard, signalled the end of intelligent conversation between me and rap. But I will get to that a bit later.
Around this time I was struggling to find a job- for some reason I was unemployable, even at the local grocery chains. I really tried, but for most of high school I was stuck on a small (but still appreciated) allowance from my folks. With this in mind, I was never in a position to buy CDs at a store, and decided instead to buy them mail order. One company was offering 4 CDs for $20 when you sign up, with no maximum membership time. So I looked at the albums available on the back of the magazine, and chose four that I thought I would like. These turned out to be fateful choices, each for different reasons.
I chose TOOL’s Aenima, mainly because I’d heard snippets at my cousin’s and on the radio late at night and it was mind boggling stuff. The title track alone to me was like absorbing LSD through the ear, a comparison I was not able to make until much, much later.
I also chose Fear Factory’s Demanufacture simply because a band called FEAR FACTORY had to be exciting, or at least entertainingly stupid. This was probably the most challenging album I had at the time, because I had never heard anyone growl in a song the way Burton C. Bell does on that album. For months I never got past the title (and first) track on the album. Since then I have had far more intimate experience and have a deep appreciation for the art of the death metal growl, but at the time I had never heard anything like it. I loved the syncopated guitar and kick drums though, and appreciated the skill involved a lot later when I took up guitar myself.
Another was Rage Against the Machine’s Evil Empire, which introduced me to rap-metal (in its larval state I suppose). It was hard to get into for another reason- it was almost too groovy, and confused my ideas of what was rap and what was metal. I understood better once I had their self-titled album. RATM successfully crossed over the genre divide as only a few acts have ever done. Ice T’s band Bodycount became a source of amusement for both metal acts and rap acts, despite Ice’s good intentions. On a side note, if you’re after a fine compilation representing some of the best rap/rock mixups ever, try to get your hands on the Judgement Night film soundtrack. It will blow your mind.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfTg4Fcza58


Finally, I got Live’s Secret Samadhi, which due to its subtle and not-so-subtle psycho sexual lyrics really eased me into just how music could be used as a tool to shock as well as entertain, something that attracted me to Marilyn Manson in my later years of high school. I actually had a friends copy of Antichrist Superstar confiscated by my Dad who though I was worshipping Satan (a misconception I would otherwise have nurtured- except that I wanted my CD back), and got it back when I reminded him that it was his Black Sabbath vinyls I had listened to when I was younger. Touché!!
Skip ahead to the late 00’s, and I had well and truly cemented myself in good stead with all types of music- anything with an edge to it that I could appreciate on some level, I liked. I played guitar in both a Nu-Metal band and a Progressive Black Metal band, and I thought that there was nothing I couldn’t listen to and enjoy on some level. From Johnny Cash to Cannibal Corpse, from the Deftones to Air, from Fleetwood Mac to Wolves in the Throne Room [hyperlink em], I liked everything that made me feel something. But then I noticed that everything I was listening to was old- it was good, but it was a snapshot of my past, or of a memory in some way. What was happening to music around me was bad… it was wrong and seemed about as genuine as a smile painted on a bomb.
This is the question- have I just gotten old, or is music really just terrible these days? Have I stopped adapting to music like I’ve stopped growing?
When I switch the radio to Triple J all I hear is rubbish: watered-down brit pop, angsty lesbian indie, crass ‘Ostrayan’ hip-hop and bloody, bloody Jack Johnson knock-offs! Triple J, you used to be cool! What happened? In the late ‘80s, Triple J (or Double J, as it was then) actually played N.W.A’s Fuck Tha Police on repeat for 24 hours as a protest to the FBI trying to ban the song in the US as some sort of indirect treason! Doing that now would be unthinkable- even for a non-profit station. But it’s not only the (ex) alternative station that has changed. The line-ups of the Big Day Out festivals have, on the most part, weeded out all the controversial or just plain interesting artists that we in Oz barely ever see and have replaced them with the safe options that will bring vapid teeny-bopping girls and pre-metro-males into the D-barrier. NIRVANA actually came out on one of the earliest ones- now what do we get? Sure Rage Against the Machine came a few years ago, but that was after breaking up and re-forming and unfortunately that didn’t entirely make up for the utterly crap line-ups that have happened before and since.


Check it:

Big Day Out 1997 Line Up


Toured nationally NZ/Aust except where indicated
INTERNATIONAL ACTS:
SOUNDGARDEN
THE OFFSPRING
THE PRODIGY
FEAR FACTORY
SUPERGRASS
SHONEN KNIFE
LEMONHEADS (Auck)
PATTI SMITH (G.C., Syd, Melb)
JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION (Melb, Syd)
ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (Syd, Adel)
APHEX TWIN (Melb, Syd)
AUSTRALIAN/NZ BANDS (two or more shows):
YOU AM I
POWDERFINGER
BEASTS OF BOURBON
TIDDAS
DAVE GRANEY & THE CORAL SNAKES
BOO BOO MACE & NUTCASE
SUPERJESUS (Aust. only)
SNOUT (Aust. only)
THE CLOUDS (G.C., Syd, Perth)
INSURGE (G.C., Melb, Syd)
SCREAMFEEDER (G.C., Syd)
EVEN (G.C., Melb, Adel)
DROP CITY (G.C., Syd, Adel)
SEVERED HEADS (G.C., Syd)
DLT (G.C., Melb, Syd, Adel)
OMC (Aust. only)
FSOM (G.C., Melb, Syd)
BEXTA (G.C., Syd, Adel, Perth)
POCKET (G.C., Adel, Perth)
FRENZAL RHOMB (Melb, Syd, Adel, Perth)
THE FAUVES (Melb, Syd)
THE MAVIS'S (Melb, Adel)


Justin Bieber. Justin F%*(%*G Bieber. I’m sorry Usher, but you have bought yourself a soul-less boy robot, who, unlike Astro Boy, does not have sweet lasers or a nuclear engine or the ability of flight, but instead his weapons are a simpering eunuch voice and the lyrical prowess of a Hallmark card.

I saw someone comment on TV the other week that simply singing “Baby, baby, baby” 20 times in a chorus to a girl will not stop her from breaking up with you, will probably get you chucked away for harassment, and the perpetration of which a brick to the face is the only appropriate punishment. And they way that the female teen population reacted to this ‘tard was infuriating. I got in trouble from my girlfriend for calling him an “insipid little ****” while sitting on the couch when I saw him the day the tween riot broke out over him in Sydney. Was that harsh? Probably, I mean, he wouldn’t be popular without fans, and perhaps I was just voicing my disappointment that so much energy and excitement went in to something/someone that is essentially devoid of anything interesting, or even good.
And voice modulation! Jesus, give it a rest, everybody! I blame Cher, who used it first in “Do You Believe in Life After Love” or whatever it was called- it was terrible. Then Madonna, followed by Akon, and now pretty much everyone with serious studio backing is either made to or chooses to use voice modulation as a gimmick, and not just as an aid (which is still despicable), even Miley Cyrus. It’s boring, and lame.
Hey people, how about you actually get some skills or give up? Chris Cornell mimicked the sound on Cochese with Audioslave, but he didn’t need voice modulation, he can actually SING. Huh.
Kristoffer Rygg from the bands Ulver, Arcturus and Head Control System rivals Mike Patton in terms of melodic singing ability, yet also did three black metal albums with Ulver before they turned to lounge-core; actually becoming one of the foremost proponents of the black metal scream. He and Mikael Akerfelt from Opeth have vocal skills that have actually astounded vocal experts who claim that reaching both melodic and growl ranges should be impossible, or at least render them literally speechless after a few minutes- yet Opeth have been known to play 2.5-hour gigs! I dare you to tell me that there is anyone else out there that can do that from today’s new artists. Even Whitney Houston couldn’t keep up to her old standard and made a fool of herself when she performed here.


Maybe I’m just losing touch and there is genuine merit to this music. But I like pop music, mostly. I even dig a few of Britney’s nuggets, and have been known to download a Veronicas song or two. However, the majority of new releases today I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. I like music with an edge you can hold onto; something on which to grip so that the song takes you somewhere. I find that music today just has you whistling a pointless tune, or you get utterly senseless lyrics stuck in your head: “Oh, oh oooo mamaaaa, Ga ga oo la laaaa” Etc. Maybe artists these days do have something to say, but they just aren’t saying it. But maybe this generation has finally succumbed to the bland ignorance of world issues, or honest emotions for that matter, that is typical of the iGeneration? I know that’s a broad generalisation, but with a public obsessed with talent shows that have might showcase skill but also have about as much heart as a 20-year-old corpse, and with mass-production costs and the iTunes Store dictating what is worth selling, maybe music just isn’t as important to people these days. Maybe we as a civilisation have been flooded with so much information that music is now just background noise, and not a campfire by which to crowd around and better see each other’s faces in the night?


As I write this I’m listening to Green Day’s ‘21st Century Breakdown’ on the radio, and I sincerely hope that they comprehend that they are part of that breakdown. Sure, they might still have the right intentions, but humorous jibes at an establishment so preoccupied is mostly wasted. The bleak angst of Dookie has fled for a radio-friendly pop-rock sound that disguises…. Nothing whatsoever?


That, essentially, is what I think has happened to music today. Occasionally something will surprise me, but people en-masse have fallen in love with the relatively vanilla music that is around today. No-one flocks to a venue to get lost in a transcendent experience (without chemical assistance anyway); live venues are dying and people have given up being challenged by music, are no longer ready to feel like they should be doing something more than telling their crush:


“Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby… Baby, baby, baby, baby…”


Peace OUT!