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Music is dead.

Beershaun

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I pretty much agree with dkinric's summary (except that "music I like" didn't inspire me to post, I must prefer a challenge) which means we are basically done. We haven't done much (so-called) world music infused rap (or rap-infused worldbeat) so I'd better throw these in before the thread (as opposed to the music) dies:


There's a horse (not dead) in this one:


Apparently MIA got into music while making a doco on Elastica, which makes something like this obligatory:


Always good to see some naked flesh.

But PJ? Yes I'll agree with the OP there—absolutely non-fungible—her music was always man-sized (and my absolute favourite video from her):

MIA is fantastic, Made me think of Santigold.

 

Blaspheme

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Never heard of that, is it any good, the description sounds awful.
Haha I wouldn't start there. Try the album KiCk i and see if it does anything for you. I love it—including collabs with Björk, Shygirl, ROSALÍA and SOPHIE who I also enjoy individually—but the sound is angular. Imagine Autechre teamed up with ANHONI maybe. Riquiquí is one track, so if 100 systematic variations on that strike you as meditative gold, go there later—bit like a lying on a bed of nails—so, pretty awesome if you go in for that sort of thing. Most don't.
 
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Brianc

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This is an interesting point I’ve been thinking about as to why Nirvana is mentioned as an all time great band. I was in college when Teen Spirit broke, and it truly was a watershed moment. Not because they were the greatest band ever, but because their breakthrough to the mainstream changed the course of music. You have to understand where we were at the time. FM Radio and MTV defined what was popular, and at the time it was mostly hair bands and groups like Milli Vanilli, C and C Music Factory, etc. The rock genre was dying. Sure, being in a college town gave me some exposure to modern progressive, but it was dwarfed by other popular music.

The sudden and enormous success of Nirvana changed all of that. It opened up the door to the Seattle scene, so Peal Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains etc. were all exploding. All of a sudden rock was popular again. Real rock music was now on MTV and FM along with Janet Jackson type dance music. Remember this was well before you could stream anything you wanted. You either listened to the radio/MTV or bought a CD ($16 in 90's dollars). So, moving those popular needles was huge in affecting what you could listen to.

Rockers rejoiced! The loud distorted guitar was back! It was a great time for new rock music styles. So, next time you kids (hey! Get off my lawn!) roll your eyes at another Nirvana mention with their screechy dead singer and limited catalog, realize they are (unintentionally) a big reason why we have the music we do today.

How is this relevant? Although I think there is great new music being made out there, it is unlikely to have the same cultural impact that Nirvana or The Beatles or Hendrix had. Because they did something that is much more difficult to do today - change the course of popular rock music. I think this has much more bearing on people’s deference to their old favorites than the music itself. It’s tied to a moment, a part of our cultural history.
Good points. And I think you're right. It's hard to imagine a rock band having that kind of impact again. The market is too splintered.
 

Freeway

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What a beautiful clip!

I thought the video was meaningful on many levels to this thread and certainly to me personally.
My vinyl days. Working in a record store. The resurrection of vinyl today.
I remember about midnight, circa late 60s, in only my jockey shorts bouncing around with headphones on, the curly cord stretched to the limit, blue and red lights flashing while playing air guitar using a rifle in my bedroom. I see the door open slowly, my father peeking in. He says nothing. The door closes.
I still spontaneously get a few licks in. At any hour, everyday, everywhere, anywhere. I don't care what you tell me I'll make my music anyhow.
 
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thefsb

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I think Mdou Moctar's new album is great. It rocks. It's not dead.

Regarding the rock music purported to have died, Thomas Frank said it best back in 1993...

The gushing of official voices like Time make necessary a clarification that would ordinarily go without saying: among the indie-rock circles which they mimic and from which they pretend to draw their credibility, bands like Pearl Jam are universally recognized to suck. Almost without exception, the groups and music that are celebrated as “alternative” are watery, derivative, and strictly second-rate; so uniformly bad, in fact, that one begins to believe that stupid shallowness is a precondition of their marketability. Most of them, like Pearl Jam, play pre-digested and predictable versions of formulaic heavy guitar rock, complete with moronic solos and hoarse masculine pourings. There is certainly nothing even remotely “alternative” about this sound, since music like this has long been the favorite of teenage boys everywhere; it’s just the usual synthetic product, repackaged in a wardrobe of brand new imagery made up of thousands of fawning articles and videos depicting them as “rebels” this or “twenty-something” that. A band called the Stone Temple Pilots, who grace the cover of other national magazines, have distinguished themselves as the movement’s bargain boys, offering renditions of all the various “alternative” poses currently fashionable: all in one package the consumer gets sullen angst, sexual menace, and angry pseudo-protest with imitation punk thrown in for no extra charge.​
 

Soniclife

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I think Mdou Moctar's new album is great. It rocks. It's not dead.

Regarding the rock music purported to have died, Thomas Frank said it best back in 1993...

The gushing of official voices like Time make necessary a clarification that would ordinarily go without saying: among the indie-rock circles which they mimic and from which they pretend to draw their credibility, bands like Pearl Jam are universally recognized to suck. Almost without exception, the groups and music that are celebrated as “alternative” are watery, derivative, and strictly second-rate; so uniformly bad, in fact, that one begins to believe that stupid shallowness is a precondition of their marketability. Most of them, like Pearl Jam, play pre-digested and predictable versions of formulaic heavy guitar rock, complete with moronic solos and hoarse masculine pourings. There is certainly nothing even remotely “alternative” about this sound, since music like this has long been the favorite of teenage boys everywhere; it’s just the usual synthetic product, repackaged in a wardrobe of brand new imagery made up of thousands of fawning articles and videos depicting them as “rebels” this or “twenty-something” that. A band called the Stone Temple Pilots, who grace the cover of other national magazines, have distinguished themselves as the movement’s bargain boys, offering renditions of all the various “alternative” poses currently fashionable: all in one package the consumer gets sullen angst, sexual menace, and angry pseudo-protest with imitation punk thrown in for no extra charge.​
That PJ always bored me to death, tried to read the full article but (and this is very common in rock journalism) he was rather too fond of his own voice, and I got bored, streaming has saved us from windbags dancing about architecture.
 

thefsb

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That PJ always bored me to death, tried to read the full article but (and this is very common in rock journalism) he was rather too fond of his own voice, and I got bored, streaming has saved us from windbags dancing about architecture.
Really? Thomas Frank is one of my favorite writers. And if you think that's too long, try The Conquest of Cool! His shorter pieces have been published by The Grauniad in recent years. But I'm most fond of his work in The Baffler in the 90s, which, along with Zippy The Pinhead, helped me through the culture shock of coming to America.

He's also a very entertaining speaker and interviewee. Lots of stuff on youtube. He was on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago and gave that reactionary blowhard a good go.
 

Soniclife

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Really? Thomas Frank is one of my favorite writers. And if you think that's too long, try The Conquest of Cool! His shorter pieces have been published by The Grauniad in recent years. But I'm most fond of his work in The Baffler in the 90s, which, along with Zippy The Pinhead, helped me through the culture shock of coming to America.

He's also a very entertaining speaker and interviewee. Lots of stuff on youtube. He was on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago and gave that reactionary blowhard a good go.
Yes really. He wasn't saying much I disagreed with, mainly things I've thought myself, but it felt like being caught at a party, and given a lecture by the person everyone else had carefully avoided.
 

thefsb

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I think Frank was much influenced by Mencken. For example, when commenting on a recent inauguration speech he quoted Menken's review of Harding's:

Setting aside a college professor or two and half a dozen dipsomaniacal newspaper reporters, he takes the first place in my Valhalla of literati. That is to say, he writes the worst English I have even encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm (I was about to write abscess!) of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.​

The style isn't everyone's cup of decaf but I enjoy it.

Yes really. He wasn't saying much I disagreed with, mainly things I've thought myself, but it felt like being caught at a party, and given a lecture by the person everyone else had carefully avoided.

Your own critical style is relatively succinct but also has that humorously caustic thing going on.
 

krabapple

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Really? Thomas Frank is one of my favorite writers. And if you think that's too long, try The Conquest of Cool! His shorter pieces have been published by The Grauniad in recent years. But I'm most fond of his work in The Baffler in the 90s, which, along with Zippy The Pinhead, helped me through the culture shock of coming to America.

He's also a very entertaining speaker and interviewee. Lots of stuff on youtube. He was on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago and gave that reactionary blowhard a good go.


If it's the same Thomas Frank, he's far more famous for works of sociopolitical history and analysis like What's the Matter With Kansas? and Listen, Liberal
 

Koeitje

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Seriously, I agree. Even my two teen boys can't be bothered with current music which is made for their generation. They reckon it's garbage. Miserable girl and guitar, pathetic waif-life 'singers' recording in basements and more autotune than you can possibly imagine.

But, like I said, we are getting older and although we like to think we are open to 'new' music, most of it just doesn't resonate much with us perhaps. Like some of the music Amir posts in his lists of tracks he uses would make me run out of the room. Don't know if he genuinely likes it, or just wants to appear cool with the kids. ;)

A bit like a grandpa at a nightclub. That's how I feel with pretty much everything I hear on the radio.
There's your problem, you listen to the radio. There is so much beyond that.
 

mononoaware

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you listen to the radio.

Hey. . .
I can experience nostalgia and still listen to this Avril Lavigne song if I want to. . .

 

thefsb

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If it's the same Thomas Frank, he's far more famous for works of sociopolitical history and analysis like What's the Matter With Kansas? and Listen, Liberal
Yes, same writer. In the early 90s he was much involved with The Baffler (it changed a lot since then) but there's a great collection of material from that period collected in a book called Commofidy Your Dissent. The essay "Alternative to What?" I quoted above is in there followed by the famous essay by Steve Albini called "The Problem with Music" (apt for this thread!). He used to be a college radio DJ playing, iiuc, indi punk.
 
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DVDdoug

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I can relate... I'm old too! :D

I stopped listening to Top 40 and watching The Grammys years ago. IMO - Some of the best music (but not the best recordings) are from the early 60s, which is slightly before my time. My musical interests are much broader than when I was younger but most new music just doesn't do anything for me emotionally.

Most "new music" I buy is from "old bands"... I bought he new AC/DC album last year (the CD and the MP3 download from Amazon... yes, I still buy music). Thankfully it sounds exactly like the old AC/DC stuff! :D :D When I sort by release date, a lot of my "newer" music is concert DVDs from bands like the Rolling Stones where they're playing their good-old songs. But, I don't buy a lot of music anymore because I already own most of the music I want to own

Speaking of older recordings... A few years ago I saw a Beatles tribute band. I really enjoyed the show and I was thinking, I'll bet The Beatles never sounded this good live.

...The title "Music is dead" reminds me of Rock Is Dead by The Who. A GREAT rock song!!!
 
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