Honestly, Beautifully : honey blade
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2002-07-18 - 3:54 p.m.
Is it just me, or is the music industry doing absolutely nothing for everyone else too?
It's reached a point where the only Western band I can still be bothered with is Bad Religion, and that's because their music has been consistently good from the beginning and they still produce interesting music. It's been a long time since I've gotten really excited over any band or singer, unless they're Japanese. And that's simply because everything sounds the same now.
Chart music - there are only two voices. The female voice and the male voice. All men sing the same way, and all women sing the same way.
Rock and metal - it's been invaded by one obnoxious nu-metal/rap-metal band after another. The little 15-year olds with their Limp Bizkit hoodies and clip-on piercings can whinge about being "different" all they want, but that music scene will never produce anything that sounds discernibly different from anything that has gone before.
Rap - I've never liked this genre anyway but even if I did I'd be rather turned off by the number of rap acts who go for sensationalism above all else. Nelson can justify Eminem as a rhythmic and poetic genius all he wants, but to me he'll always come across as someone who's only happy when he's whinging about something, be it his girlfriend, his mother or the fact that he's famous.
Hint for ya, Marshall: if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But then you'd have to sacrifice all those profits, wouldn't you? Ooh, decisions, decisions.
See, Japanese music produces a variety of sounds. B'z will never sound like hide, Baiser will never sound like Humming Bird, X Japan will never sound like Cherry Filter (OK, Cherry Filter are Korean, but they don't stick to a single, tried-and-tested sound).
The music industry is best compared to a big pot full of stew. The recipe for the stew has been used, unchanged, for as long as anyone can remember, but however bland it tastes, everyone's too scared to add some extra spices or sauce to liven it up a bit in case no-one likes the end result.
But then I suppose the music industry is just that - an industry. It wants to make money, and experimentation isn't that profitable.
Anyway. I'm sure I can't be the only one who feels like this. Stand up and be counted!
That'll do me for now, I think. Writing about my fruitless trip to Hounslow council would not have been nearly as interesting as the above, trust me :)
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