Anything Goes?

As many an old timer goes - “this modern music these days is just noise”. Of course, not all of us lived in that wonderful era of music we call the 20s - 50s, a time of Cole Porter, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin, Muddy Waters and many more amazing musicians. Most of us who read this would have grown up in the Nineties, a decade ravaged by bad Euro-pop and Geri Halliwell wearing the Union Flag. But the nineties are also known for Radiohead. Blur and thus Damon Albarn, the resurgence of British icons such as Paul Weller and Morrissey oh and Oasis, for those imaginative souls out there…

But the ‘Noughties’ as those with no brain call this era is a time where literally, anything goes. Good song writers who once knew better lines now only four letter words when writing songs. Music has become an industry of faux advertisement and cross platform promotion for media. The most obvious example - Justin Bieber, is a young pop icon who probably does not write his own material, sing using his own voice or play any instrument. But no one takes him seriously as an artist. As a product, he sells like wildfire. His record label know this and he has hit the target market massively and there are many more of this gone and buried and even more to come. But this decade has spawned some utter genius. Bands such as Mastodon, an American progressive metal group continue to prove that uniqueness and talent are very much alive - their album Crack The Skye is a musical masterpiece. It also saw the resurgence of folk in the brilliant band Mumford & Sons, the Britpop scene coming back (did it even die?) with Kasabian, Muse and the utterly unique and unquestionably awesome Gorrilaz.

The music industry may be a corporate machine akin to a man pushing people through a sausage machine and feeding it into the minds of more meat filled talent less souls, but a lot of the bands around are utterly genius. All one needs to do is look beyond the mainstream charts.
Looking at a song on you tube?
Go click that random band on the related videos and listen. If you don’t like it, click again. You might find something you’ll enjoy. And they might turn out to be your next favourite band. Music is not about the same old band over and over again, it is about experimentation. Stick with the old yet learn from the new.