Mainstream music

[norsteen]

What's up everybody? My name is Frankie. I've been playing guitar for abour 9 years, i've seen a few trends come and go, like grunge and all that stuff. It seems like a lot of "entertainers" are really incorperating a lot of new technologies in their music. Do you think that Rock n Roll will ever be as popular as what it use to be. I find that a lot of people are more interested in hearing what a machine can do instead of what actual people can do. Another thing i don't understand is why all these "House" DJ's and hip hop DJ's are looked at like gods. I mean, how hard can it be to turn a couple of buttons, how much talent do you have to have to get a machine to do all the work. I mean, most of these guys don't even have any clue on how to write a song, yet their making millions of dollars to stand up and get high. It just pisses me off to think about it, especially when i hear some if my friends saying that they would like to be a DJ. Sorry about that, just venting a little bit, I would really like to known what everyone thinks, later!

[Edited by norsteen on 01-20-2001 at 04:40 PM]

[James]

Norsteen my friend, I think you're going to fit in just fine at this forum. I couldn't agree with you more. We've had many discussions on this topic. I suggest you take a look at the thread "Is Rock And Roll Dead?".

[trendkillah]

Hail norsteen!!!

[Raskolnikov]

I have to agree with most of your points, but then again, I have to disagree on a few. For one thing, I've tried playing turn tables, and it's $&%*^# HARD. lets see you put down a needle down on a specific part of a record 100% of the time. Or mix two records together in front of a few thousand people (in perfect time with eachother). The fact is some DJs spend hours praticing, finding new sounds and textures and mixing two records together to create new vibes. We all need to accept that new instruments will be invented or created, and that music is going to change to incorporate these new sounds. Then again, their's alot of people just kinda riding the trend, but time will weed them out just like in any genre of music. As for the machine point, well guitar is a machine too.
However we do find people today taking a 30 year old peice of music, copying the sheet music into a MIDI application, deciding what synth sounds they like to hear, then adding a tired 4/4 techno beat with a few tired samples. Or how about a band playing actual instruments who just takes a couple of parts from a few say, an Alice in Chains songs and call it "Voodoo." Maybe it's a band with one guitarist who lays down 6 guitar tracks in the studio, isn't this all just as bad? Possibly worse?
I think the inherant problem we have to deal with is this is art, and nobody can really referee art. But we all feel just as bad when we spend years rehearsing, invest thousands into promotion, equipment, and recording, and then only 30 people show up at the gig. It's called paying our dues, and those of us who can stick it out, attract a crowd, and one day make it to the big time can atleast have the satisfaction of saying, "hey, I did my thing and it payed off."

[jake sommers]

yep it is hard, my brother is a dj, and djing isn't just puttin' a needle down and just letting it play, there are different techniques,styles, and tricks and what not and i got the utmost respect for him and what he does. It ain't a skill you just walk into like a department store, it takes practice, just like a guitar.

[Joseph]

With the scene of rock music today, alot of musicians have developed the attitude that it doesnt take that much to be a success, (as long as they keep in touch with the latest fascinations of the current generation.) Its just really gotten to the point where alot of musicians have really forgotten whats most important when recording music where money is secondary to creativity. I guess alot of recording artists arent thinking about a long term carreer, they just feel the need to stick around long enough to make a fortune and have their piece of the rock and roll pie. (The main thing they lack is integrity, and it all goes down hill from there.)

Not to say that all musicians have developed this train of thoughts, (but I must say its much easier to differentiate rockstars from Musicians thes days, but still as to whether or not rock music will ever become as popular as it used to be, (it all depends on how much of an attraction they are), and then again will rock music ever become respectable as respectable as it used to be, (if so it will take alot of work.) I appreciate the work of those who feel the need to constantly push the envelope to get their messages across, but now it seems like most of the record companies only have faith oin their own vision instead of the freedom of the artists. If musicians were given more freedom to go with their person visions, (to take more chances instead of following the safe road and the expectations that have been set before them), well then the scene of mainstream rock would be much more interesting. Where music would be based on talent instead of how they are presented to the public...


-Joseph, :)

[Raskolnikov]

Defineatly, love for the music HAS to be number one. But a few things have happened which allowed the current state to evolve. For one thing you no longer have to be a good musician to be a top selling act- to a certain extent this is good- no one can call Kurt Cobain a great musician, but their's no doubt he was a very original song writer. Or Bob Dylan for that matter. But for christ's sakes I heard somebody singing crappy rap over the top of the music and horn line to "Mr Bigstuff" the other day talking about the 70's. Now that's just cheap, blatant plagurism.
No matter what genre their' people who're in it for the wrong resons, and if they can sound good on tape it's all the record companies need.
I don't think being a good performer's enough, to make it in this business their should be creativity involved, however in this society, creativity isn't neccessary. So what can we do other play the music we love and know deep down inside that we're doing the right thing?

[PonyOne]

At the place I work at, they play a lot of old tunes from the 60's and 70's, and I'm shockad and apalled at how often I hear a song I vaguely recognize for a few moments... then realize that it's because the song is currently in the top ten, ridone by some pop or rap star. When I heard Madonna's rendition of American Pie, I wanted to cry. When I heard Marky Mark's half-assed Walk on the Wild Side, I wanted to cry. Then I heard that s!ut Britney's redo of Satisfaction by the Stones and got pissed! HOW CAN THESE RETARDS TAKE SOME OF THE MOST INTELLIGENT AND INFLUENTIAL SONGS EVER AND BUTCHER THEM THAT BADLY???

Well, I got a couple of Korg Electribes (models S and R) and have been playing around with them. It's awesome. I still prefer my guitar, but they can be very excellent tools for making rock (for one, I don't have a drummer, and have dealt with about thirty stuck up posers with a set of Tamas and am not in a hurry to do it again). Using electronics or turntables or whatever else that is NOT stringed or percussion-based is not necessarily bad. I'd rather listen to Prodigy, Money Mark or Moby than Blink 182, Rage or NOFX (eeech) any day.

I don't like it when people sample other people's stuff, which is why I don't do it. If I want a wierd effect, I go into Sound Edit and make the sound up from scratch, doing the pitch, tone, everything down to its inaudible structures (sometimes it takes four hours to do one sound), but it's a labor of love). I won't go and buy those damn sample CD's or chips. I'll plug my guitar in and feed it directly through the Electribe to the amp and use it as a "pedal," so now I have distortion, amp effects, etc, all in one $400 little box that I can interface with my Mac to produce music. And I had to make all those damn effects from the ground up. I think that there is nothing wrong with using electronica in conjunction with rock, which was originally a fusion of jazz and the blues. If rock has died, then so be it, if punk has died, so be it, if whatever it is I'm doing has died in however many years so be it. I'll still be doing it probably, just like how so many of you will be playing classic-style rock forever.

People who buy something like the Electribe (a sampler, beatbox, looper, keyboard and mixer combined) and only stick to the pre-programmed beats and tunes are just like someone who takes a riff from someone else's song, puts some different lyrics over it and says it's theirs. But someone who spends twelve or more hours a day in front of a computer screen or in front of an electronic music unit, banging out their own sounds, tunes and beats is just like someone who learns to play guitar and writes their own music and lyrics straight from scratch. There's nothing wrong with it. It can be done well or poorly in both situations; there are people who use bottom-of-the-line turntables and ten-year old Roland beat boxes to make beautiful, innovative music, and there are people who use awesome guitars and amps to make crap.