Music: The Dying Art

Yes. No Song Lyric title. Odd right?

But very necessary, as I've been pondering this one for a long time.

Anyone who knows me probably learned in the first five minutes (if not, then maybe ten), that I am an absolute music fanatic. I love love love music. It's so horribly cliche, but music is a form of expression. It's a way to convey feelings that can't be spoken.

And it's dying.

As a girl whose first love was rock music, I look at the world of rock music often on the verge of tears. Rock and roll is gone. Supposedly there's Indie and Alternative. But even these forms have declined. Rock as a genre is meeting a sad and sorry end. A CNN article featuring Steve Van Zandt (If you don't know who that is, I'll spare you the googling. He's a famous guitarist most known for being a member of Springsteen's E-street band), discussed this recently. Van Zandt recognizes many contributions to the downfall of rock: lack of originality, the role of techonology of making music easier and the lack of recognition of the history of rock. The fact of the matter is while we try to claim to be "artistic" or going for something new and revolutionary, we still depend on the past to define a sound. Otherwise things all sound the same.

Oh wait. They already do.

On a continued and related note: American Idol.
For the second year in a row, I'm not too happy. People need to realize, idol is about talent. It's about who can sing, who has a stage presence, and who can perform. Not who you think is cute, or down to earth, or who you can related to. It's not who goes to church, who is gay or straight or who you can have a beer with. (Remember, we did that with the present some time ago and look what we ended up with: Bush). It's sad when the most talented people loose out because someone doesn't like "the freak" or "the fag." Yes. Adam is weird. he's out there. He can be over the top at times. But there is no doubt that he is so much more talented than Kris. He has a certain stage presence and he is comfortable performing. I hear people say Adam is over the top and all his stuff sounds the same. I have to say he makes things his own. If all his stuff sounds the same then Kris is a broken record. He's worse. And I prefer over the top than someone who looks uncomfortable on stage. In case anyone hasn't noticed, when he's not behind a guitar or piano, Kris looks scared.

I'm not anti-Kris. I like him. He has a nice voice and he's a good musician. I'm just not fond of his fans. And when it comes down to it, he's not as talented as Adam.

And for my final note:

I hate music snobs. I love music. I consider myself pretty deep into it. But I'm (too much) of a snob about it. Save for my strong dislike of country. But that's just personal bias. But to me, a talented singer doesn't need "deep lyrics" or doesn't have to appear like they're putting a lot of emotion into it. Yes. It's nice to have emotion in a song. It's nice to have meaning and depth. But if a singer isn't contorting his face to convey emotion (but it's still obviously there) I don't mind. I feel some people (especially certain "friends") can be bitchy about this. "It's a stupid shallow song" and they'll come up with something about the artist that "detracts" from it or use the lack of depth to bring it down. Anyone ever heard of "Ars gratis artis?" It might look familiar. It's on the banner around the MGM lion. Art for art's sake. It's a concept that has been followed more progressively, though I think things are slowly reverting back. Origianlly art was frowned upon if it didn't have a moral or lesson. But increasingly, people have defended of the idea of art for the sake of entertainment. Beauty because of beauty. No reason. Just because. A song is catchy. You can like it because it's catchy. It can be dumb and immoral and have no depth, but you can't deny something because of that. It's meant to entertain and that's what it does.

Ars Gratis Artis. One of my favorite quotes, especially as a self-proclaimed artist and lover of the arts.

Save the music. Save the arts.