Random Ramblings

[csberry]

* Woof! Whatever energy gains may have been made by my clothes dryer work was easily trumped by the energy used to heat the house during the cold/snow snap of last month.

* Are boys supposed to watch Seven of Nine and not masturbate?

* Got a trial subscription to emusic. 100 free downloads over a month. I've downloaded some Minus 8, TV on the Radio, Bloc Party, and Chris Kowanko already. I think I have 30 downloads left. Hmmmm...what next?

* After seeing the Korn/Amy Lee unplugged video for "Freak on a Leash," I have now lost all pretension of there being a difference between Korn, et al and the hair metal scene of the late 80's. Really, what difference is there between:



Evanescence and 80's Heart?



Now, what will be the next movement to render current alt rock obsolete? The "The" garage bands (The Hives, The Strokes) of a few years ago didn't do the trick, so what will?

Comments

[csberry.livejournal.com]

One discussion I had my senior year in high school (90-91) with an acquaintance and a teacher will always stick with me. We were discussing music and my acquaintance was arguing that nothing is original anymore. This lead to what "original" actually means. He was a skater punk with the record collection consisting of the appropriate bands (DRI, Decedents, Suicidal Tendencies). He admitted that the music he enjoyed was basically created years and years beforehand and the "more original" bands he liked were those fusing different sounds.

IMO, it is a combination of musical fusion and cultural attitude that are essential for a shift like happened in the late 60's (hippie movement + rock experimentation with drugs/psychedelia), mid-70's with punk (backlash to arena rock pretensions + 50's nostalgia), and early 90's (backlash to pretty-boy metal + lyrics with meaning/angst).

What none of us saw in 1990 was the mainstream embrace of the decade-old indie sound. Faith No More had broken through with "Epic," Jane's Addiction slid into MTV rotation with the novel "Been Caught Stealing," and Alice in Chains were just different enough from the rest of the metal sound with their "Man in a Box;" but the upcoming wave was merely speculative.

But there was foreshadowing with these other shifts in popular music...
before there was "punk," the MC5 and The Stooges molded the attitude...
before there was "alternative," hardcore, Husker Du, and the Pixies maintained the punk attitude but infused brains and musical experimentation...

Maybe the addition of rap to metal for NuMetal wasn't a big enough leap to warrant its own pop culture milestone on the level with the others, but I've felt that the next wave of music will be an interesting amalgamation of music style that already exist. My big question is: What genre will combine with popular culture for the next generational shift?

One thing I will say...I will gladly bet against techno of any variety being in this mix. Americans still love guitars and our rebellious youth have yet to embrace guys behind keyboards as sexy. Those folks I know that like electronic music have pretty much accepted that the UK and Europe will dominate that arena.