how do you enjoy it???

                One thing that has been brought to my attention recently is a statement that, in my mind, makes no sense what so ever… “The music doesn’t have to be complicated to sound good…why cant you just enjoy the music the way it is???”

                Okay, topic number one… you will NEVER define music. Period. It just isn’t a thing that can happen. Its like defining what every book in the entire world is about. Yes, there are guidelines, but there comes a point where the end product was formed purely out of the creativity of its creator. So to say “enjoy the music the way it is” makes no sense!!! Music is music; it can be anything.

                Now for topic number two… I’ve been waiting for this to come up, and I guess I finally have to tackle this thing. Music is based off of opinion. There is no way to truly “judge” music. But there is something such a thing as lack of creativity… Let me put it in a different way… To listen to Nickel Back, is the equivalent of staring off into nothing only to realize that you’re doing it…then wondering for the next 5 minutes why you haven’t stopped. There’s no thought process behind it. You just sit there and wait for the song to finally be over!!! The way I enjoy music doesn’t work like that… I enjoy listening to the music and wondering… wondering “how did they do that”, or “what instrument is that”, or “I wonder what these lyrics mean”… okay, I cant resist…

There’s a lady who’s sure

All that glitters is gold

And she’s buying a stairway

To heaven

When she gets there she knows

That the stores are all closed

With a word she can get

What she came for…

TELL ME WHAT THAT MEANS!!! See… that’s what I enjoy about music… not “I LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH, EVERY TIME I DO IT MAKES ME LAUGH!!!”… good job Nickel Back. Most creative lyrics ever!!!

                I don’t enjoy lyrics with no meaning… you can interpret “Stairway to Heaven” so many different ways, and its all of these interpretations that make listening to it enjoyable. It makes you think… unlike bands like Nickel Back, where I can just shut off my brain and still understand every second of the song… every rhythm, every part… its just not fun to listen to…

                That’s my opinion anyways… but I guess every is entitled to their own.   

what is "Good music"

                Okay, so I’ve actually gotten a few comments, which was very surprising, not only on my blog but also face to face. These are going to be very helpful when it comes to carrying this topic. The big one that stood out to me is the request to clarify the terms “good music” and “bad music”, the big question being “What makes it good”. I will say that this is a largely discussed topic that has yet to have a decided outcome. People (like me) argue a lot about the simplicity of the music… but led zeppelin “whole lotta love” is, for the most part, one chord… And this is not the only “good” song that does this. I guess I need to go into a more in depth explanation as to what makes music “good”.

                There are many factors in music that largely affect how the song is interpreted. There are some basic things like tempo, rhythm, etc. that play a big part in how the song is heard. But there are also some more complicated aspects of music that are not necessarily the focus of the song… but it still plays a major role. Things like tone, key changes, time signature changes, etc. largely affect how a song is viewed. So, comparing Nickel back’s (insert song horrible song title here) to Led Zeppelin’s “Whole lotta love”; yes, when it comes to chords Whole lotta Love is easier, but the rhythms are more complicated than straight quarter notes, and the vocals are much more creative both lyrically and rhythmically. “Whole lotta Love” introduces an off instrument known as the “theromine” that really adds a nice effect to the songs sound. Not only is the general sound better when you compare all of these things, but the skill displayed by Jimmy Page during his solo section of the song out-performs any song Nickel Back has ever written… in simple terms; his solo would make Nickel Back cry…A LOT!!!  I hope this cleared things up a little bit for those who were wondering.

Ranting Ranting Ranting

                I really need to get some frustration out because lately I’ve been thinking a lot about people, and the kind of comments I get when we talk about music. When I try to talk to someone about music, one of the biggest peeves out there for me is the following… “It doesn’t have to sound good to be good…” HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL!?!?!?!?!? Please, someone out there enlighten me on this new concept of playing SO BAD….that is GOOD!!! I really want to know, because I will definitely start using that method more often. It just makes no sense. Another good one I hear is “Auto tuning isn’t cheating, its really hard.” NO ITS NOT, AND IT NEVER WILL BE…..EVER!!! I could auto tune my DOG, and make it sound better than a lot of songs out there… seriously. It amazes me how easy it is to impress todays music culture. Here, I can summarize todays music in like two sentences…ready??? A pattern of three chords, played over and over again, behind lyrics that clearly were thought up in under 24 hours… the other sentence??? I whip my hair back and forth, I whip me hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth. WHO EVEN LETS THAT PASS AS A SONG?!?! If that’s a “good song”, and that little 12 year old made money off of it, why am I not a millionaire right now??? Explain it to me, please… So many people spend days, MONTHS, on a song… just to have it listened to by like 50 people. Its so bad its not even funny. I could sit here and just start listing off all the songs that do that pattern I mentioned earlier, and I bet I could get more songs than there are words on this post… I don’t even know anymore… so disappointed right now. Im gonna go listen to some GOOD music… hope you have fun trying out song new groups (hopefully).  

Starting over musically

Okay, so following my last post, I wanna talk about some good bands that people really should know about. I always suggest all these bands, and for some reason very few people have heard of them, or listen to them. These bands are mainly rock so if you’re looking for some alternative, or new, rap, country, pop, etc… these probably aren’t for you.

Led Zeppelin

Guns and roses

Jethro Tull

The Bends

Radio Head

Muse

Rise Against

Jack Johnson

After the Fall

Family Force Five

Switch foot

Halestorm

Black Keys

Cake

Neutral Milk Hotel

White Stripes

Survivor

All of these artists are very good, in their own way. Granted you might have heard of some of these groups (props if you’ve heard of them all), but I bet there is at least one group you can look up. These are just off the top of my head so there ARE more out there, I just haven’t named them. If people actually want me to, I can though.

                The reason why I support listening to these groups as opposed to groups such as Nickel Back is not because they are necessarily BETTER…. But they are!!! No, its actually the message that the group itself projects to its listeners. Here is an example…

Nickel Back = drinking, drugs, and parties (for the majority of their songs)

Rise against = standing up for what you as a person believe in, regardless of what other people say or do

Which one do you think is a more positive message??? When you listen to both groups you’ll realize that you aren’t losing much by listening to rise against instead of Nickel Back, in fact, rise against is far more creative with the actually music aspect of their work. Intros, main lines, (MUSIC TERM ALERT) dynamics… rise against does much more with these things than Nickel Back. Granted they definitely aren’t anything like Led Zeppelin, but they’re a little bit more creative.

                If you wanna see some major contrast, take a chance and see if you like it, go ahead and look up some groups like Led Zeppelin, Jack Johnson, Radio Head, The bends, White stripes, etc. If you’re into rock, and want to see just how diverse the genre is, these groups are a good place to start. Led Zeppelin is especially different than the modern bands of today. See what it was like back in the 70’s… I think you’ll be surprised at what you find. A good place to start would be songs like “Whole lotta love”, “Black dog”, etc., songs that would be familiar to you (hopefully). If you like what you hear, keep going and look at some of the songs that you’ve never even heard of.

                If you get nothing out of these posts, at least understand that there is more to music than what you already know about…trust me. Don’t be afraid to stray away from that band that you’ve listened to for the past two years. I think you’ll find something that you like way better. There’s a lot of stuff out there… start listening.

Nickel Back is good???

Ok, so recently I've been hearing something that is just really bugging me... For some reason people like Nickel Back!?! My only question is why...WHY!?!?!?!? They are probably one of the least creative bands I've ever heard. All of their songs are nothing but power chords and a poorly written solo that, for the majority of it, just follows the melody of the song that they've been "singing" for the past 3 minutes. If you want to actually call it singing that is. Sounds like he's really gotta go to the bathroom if you ask me... The majority of their songs are about the worst of the worst. Things that people should never go out and actually do. For example: partying, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex (with multiple people), etc. I'm not saying that all of their songs are like that.... they might have two songs that don't portray a horrible message...MAYBE. But what really gets to me is not the fact that people like Nickel Back... what gets to me is the fact that their is so many other great artists out there that go unrecognized because of the artists like Nickel Back. Anyone ever hear of Jack Johnson, White Stripes, Black Keys, Cake??? Honestly... if I meet one more person who hasnt heard of Led Zeppelin, I'm gonna flip out. Some people wonder why a lot of kids these days dont have the best moral standards. They blame it on a lot of different things... but the music industry, I feel, is largely overlooked when it comes to the amount of influence it has on people. Its not just Nickel Bck, in fact a lot of bands out there dont always have the best messages in their songs... Im just using Nickel Back as an example. For people who actually like Nickel Back, Im sorry... But you need to get some music education or something. You need a lesson on what real music is, not fake "go through the motions" music that is so often over rated when it comes to how GOOD it actually is... I could teach a 4 year old how to play a Nickel Back song. Thats not GOOD music... It just isnt. Feel free to argue with me if you want to, but I promise this... I will NEVER admit that Nickel Back is good, or will ever be good, as long as they play what they're playing. Maybe you'll get some song suggestions too! But for now who ever is reading this, close this window and look up a band called "RadioHead" (good music).