I was watching a documentary the other night about the making of the album "The Doors", and it really made me think about the landscape of music today. Here was a band, The Doors, who had been huge on the LA club scene, and when they released their debut album in 1967 it made such an impact on people and on pop culture. Here was a band that recorded an album through practically all live takes and over a week's time. This is an album that to this day remains relevant and fresh. What the Doors did was take their live energy, charisma and musical talent and bring it across at a time where nothing quite like it was being heard over the radio. This was at a time when the hippy culture was in full force, and it brought an alternative to the "peace and love" vibe that was so popular. But as dark as the lyrics could be and as wild as Jim Morrison's behavior was, the music stood on it's own and still does to this day. Unfortunately it is hard to find this kind of earth-changing, emotion-stirring music anymore. Sure, artists have come up along the way that have revolutionized music and a few that have forever left their print on the music industry, but I can't help but feel that the surprises and moments of awe are due to be few and far between anymore.
The problem with music today is that there are so many genres, so many record companies and so many different outlets. Sure, this is a great thing as far as everyone can find something they like and it is so easy to get new music, but at the same time the industry seems so diluted. There is so much to be heard, so many genres and sub-genres that some really amazing bands could take years to be discovered by the mainstream, if at all. Don't get me wrong, I think having so many choices is a great thing, but to find that "diamond in the rough" is almost never heard of today. Artists are hyped so much before they come out that there is nowhere to go but down at times. Sure, history is full of One-Hit Wonders, but in these days of iTunes and Napster and file sharing people can just purchase the one song and not have to deal with the rest of the tracks on the album. Problem is sometimes those deep tracks are the real musical gems. To go back to The Doors, the last track was a song called "the End", a nearly 12 minute track that was perhaps their most eclectic piece ever, and it was noticed and heralded even though it was never released as a single. Now if that album was released today very few people would even hear that song, and that is the shame of the music scene today.
I think back over my limited time on earth and certain musicians come to mind that shook the industry and really made people re-think music. Elvis brought together rock & roll and blues, the Beatles made simple music with smart lyrics that appealed to the masses. The Doors and Led Zeppelin brought raw music and deep lyrics to a time when simple, happy music was dominant. The Clash and Sex Pistols popularized punk music, which was a welcomed adversary to the Disco scene that had become so big and void of emotion and feeling. Metallica emerged in the 80's as a thrash metal band that got next to no airplay on the radio, yet their amazing sound and energy-filled concerts rose them to mythical status by the end of the decade driven by mostly word of mouth. And in the 90's Nirvana came out with a simple, dark sound that no one had quite heard before and again changed the way people looked at and thought of music. The thing these artists all have in common is not only was their music new and fresh, but it became part of the fabric of it's time and caught on with the popular culture. Since Nirvana, who has had this type of impact? Sure, there are a lot of musicians and groups that are making great music, a lot of which I really enjoy. But there isn't that iconic person or band, no one who has changed how we look at music or has had mass appeal across social and racial lines.
Other categories of music have had the same thing happen over time. Rap had Grand Master Flash, Run DMC, and the Beastie Boys who all brought this new musical style to the mainstream in their own unique way. Country had Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Reeba and Garth Brooks, all of which brought their music to the attention of those who ordinarily weren't following country music. And Michael Jackson and Madonna both became pop music icons in the 80's, each with their unique musical style. But since then there have been plenty of talented artists, but none who has stood out as being an icon of American music.
So the question is, will we ever see that iconic artist arrive that blows us all away and gives us something that once we hear it we wonder how we ever lived without it, or have all the good ideas been discovered? As a lover of music, there are a lot of people who move me today. The problem I see is that the music industry is trying too hard to find "the next big one" that it's hard for a musician to break naturally, unexpectedly as The Doors did in the late 60's. The music today, most notably pop music, seems so forced and overproduced. There are many bands that are forced into the mainstream so fast that after one album they flicker away. There are others who spend much time as relative unknowns before finally hitting mainstream success, such as Kings of Leon, who after 4 albums and nearly 10 years have become one of the more unique groups in a while. And then you have a band like Pearl Jam, who broke out in the mid 90's and continue to make music, but in time have faded from the mainstream because they did not agree with the standard practices of the music industry, mainly concert ticket and album prices.
The cynic in me says music has become too specialized and too diluted with talent to ever give us that new iconic figure or group, yet the music lover in me hopes that I am wrong. Music is what lives in me, it is what gets my blood flowing. I see music as the timeline of my life, and I feel that music also marks the timeline of the world's life also. It can speak for a generation, and can heal a generation. So even if that new musical icon doesn't come along in my lifetime, I will enjoy all that is our there to listen to, and I will continue to be inspired...
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