"There's a war going on these days, good music versus shitty music. Vote for us."
--Maynard Keenan (lead singer for Tool and A Perfect Circle)
THE BATTLEFIELD
Rock and roll is my passion, the art form that most excites and inspires me. It's a revolutionary, relevant medium that's been the soundtrack of the youth of America for generations, and I freaking love it. But I worry about it. A number of poisonous influences have weakened the health of rock and roll these last ten years. So I'd like to discuss some of those influences, to better understand the people and things that are undermining the integrity of contemporary rock and roll.
Well for one, the music industry is stale; that's obvious. You just need to listen to the local rock station for a couple of hours to get an idea of who and what the people with the power are promoting. An emphasis on singles before albums, style before substance, and formula before originality has led to the creation of a new boring class of mainstream rock bands. They live packed together in a dank cave echoing the same sounds back and forth, bathing in a shallow, stagnant pool that's festering with the discarded corpses of a thousand generic one-or two-hit wonders. Their defining features being that they are nearly formless, lacking the shape that comes with originality and experimentation. And unfortunately, without these two intangible qualities a band will never find the aesthetic rivers, the veins of beauty that can make music into art.
But it's not only a stereotypical, slimy industry that is behind the current lack of diversity and creativity in popular rock. Fans are to blame too. Soon after the rock and roll boom that was the Glorious Grunge Age, legions of casual rock fans, blind to the rock recession they were inviting, developed gluttonous appetites for cheeseball rock, rediscovering for the first time since the late eighties the comfort that clone-types seem to find in the lukewarm embrace of mediocre rock. Enter every soulless, worthless rock band we've seen in the last ten years, from Hootie and the Blowfish to Matchbox Twenty to 3 Doors Down. It's like, which came first: the Nickleback or the Nickleback fan? And now, thanks to file sharing, these craprock fans have access to technology that enables them to spread their bland tastes en masse.
The habitual downloading of individual songs off of the Internet has helped to make this army of ignorant fans even more oblivious to the power of an album, the textured ways that songs interact and affect each other. And this Billboard behavior perpetuates that "hit-single" mentality, further damning creative, complex bands whose sounds don't fit into the three-minute versechorus-verse-chorus-bridgeout formula preferred by the Kazaa crew.
Together, an industry that dulls their product to make it edible for mass consumption and the ignorant consumers willing to choke down that generic product have done a lot of damage to rock and roll. They've made it very hard for bands to stay true to an original vision and still have popular success. But they haven't made it impossible. That's what gives me hope. There are still important, creative bands refusing to compromise, experimenting with music and finding success. And I'm excited to tell you about a few of them.
SOLDIERS ON THE FRONT LINES
THE MARS VOLTA
Emerging from the ashes of the defunct Texan band At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta has quickly become a band on the edge of the edge. They're beyond ... a spastic morphing of progressive brain rock with the whipping energy of a punk band. They're the answer to the disease that has plagued punk since its beginnings: fear of change. Decades ago punk became complacent, seemingly content within the limitations of a three-cord guitar sound and a barking vocal delivery. Of any sub-genre in rock and roll, punk has done the least growing and evolving, its supporters preferring instead to embrace a basic formula they could call their own. The Mars Volta ignored that passive history when recording their first album, released last year.
Deloused in the Crematorium is a conceptual album about a childhood friend who grew up to be a suicidal artist and now finds himself fluctuating between the realms of the conscious and unconscious. Yeah, that's right; they released a freaking concept album about a self-induced coma as their rookie album. A bold move for sure, but the music is grounded, easy to love, and lacking any pretensions. And Flea plays some bass on the album, which Rick Rueben produced. Trust me, they're beyond ... surfing the same sonic landscape that was home to greats like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
I got to witness their live act six months ago in Chicago. I can honestly say it's the best live show I've ever seen in terms of the energy, live sound, improv jamming and that thing, the indescribable "it," that electricity that flows between a band and then spills into the audience at really great shows, important shows where you know you're witnessing something brilliant.
DREDG
You probably haven't heard of these guys yet. They're struggling to find the popular success that a band of their talent and vision rightfully deserves. And that's one of the reasons I want to talk about them, to hopefully facilitate the word of mouth campaign needed to break a band like this. Because their sound is so large-minded and ambitious that they're bound to either rise above and write a new chapter of rock and roll history or toil and wither in obscurity, denied entrance to their rightful place by corporate institutions that don't consider their music fit for the typical avenues of distribution.
I've coined Dredg's music as "beauty rock" (not to be confused with "pussy rock"). They play these long, expansive instrumental pieces that bleed conceptually from one song into the next, weaving melodic ethereal vocals in and out which add poetic lines of color to an already vibrant sound. It's beautiful music; sweeping movements of energy and momentum give way to pondering whispers give way to screeching, violent harmonies give way to foot-stomping, driving rock and roll. Take your favorite five bands, put them in a blender, set it on "genius," and you get Dredg.
Currently touring in support of their sophomore album, El Cielo, Dredg played a show recently on the side stage at SOMA in San Diego. My friend Matt Price, a lecherous madgenius with a warped sense of karmic retribution and a history of drunken outlaw behavior, agreed to track down the band afterward and ask them a few questions for me. Jumping at the opportunity to help out, Matt claimed it would "make up for that guy I hit with my car last week." He succeeded in cornering Gavin Hayes, lead singer.
MATT: Has Dredg ever had to compromise their creative integrity in order to please your record label?
GAVIN: No, but we've been lucky. We've always done what we want. We haven't had to compromise, even after signing to a label.
MATT: What do you think about music right now, as a whole, its integrity and the opportunities for creative bands like Dredg to succeed?
GAVIN: It's definitely at a low point right now, economically and creatively.
MATT: What are you listening to these days?
GAVIN: Code Seven and Division.
At this point Matt's recorder went on the blink, and thanks to his heroic intake of whiskey that night, he can't recall what else Gavin had to say. Thanks Matt!
TOOL
Framing a shrill metal sound within the matrix of a math rock attack, Tool has carved out a genre of their own and become one of the most important American bands of the last decade. I can't overstate how freaking important these guys are to the health of this sick culture. As role models for struggling artists discouraged by the industry and frustrated with the tough road to recognition, Tool has refused to compromise, refused to change for any element outside the bands collective creativity, refused to commercialize and overexpose themselves to MTV and the mainstream media, and refused to sign contracts that didn't give them complete creative control. They've refused the poison pills over and over again, and yet, through the power of their music, live shows and the underground word, Tool has become a global rock entity, selling millions of albums and reminding scores of disillusioned dreamers that it can still be done right.
Most importantly though, the music is genius, it just is. It's strikingly original and thought provoking, deep, dark and mysterious, overwhelming in its poignant beauty and disturbing in its shadowy discussion of human frailty and weakness. It's complex, mind-blowing music with a heavy, cutting edge.
But beyond even their music, it's the live show that has proven Tool to be an enlightened artistic endeavor like none today. Their use of light and darkness, intensely intricate and darkly mesmerizing synched-up videos, psychedelic visionary art, and progressive onstage experimentation has elevated them into the realm of "true artists." Tool's live show attacks every sense and cell, exposing the guest to the epic culmination of four true artistic geniuses who have worked together over a span of ten years to create something so textured and dimensional that this discussion of mine is immediately moot, a trite experiment to relate and impart a beauty that can only be understood by attending the show, where a communal church-like environment of diverse groups bask in humble awe, appreciating something akin to witnessing the ghosts of Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh levitating above a giant canvas, painting at two million miles per second.
LOCATE AND DESTROY THE ENEMY
I sat down with Chris Yarbrough recently, a friend and fellow rock and roll enthusiast who's also disgusted with the derivative music clogging up the airways. Our goal was to name names. Enjoy:
M: I can't handle the radio anymore! I freaking hate it! It's like every major rock band either sounds like Creed or they sound like that rap-rock trash.
C: Rock and roll hip-hop mutants make me sick. And I blame Generation Hip-Hop (motto: "Extreme") for these crap bands. It's like they've combined the cheesy, stale bravado of rap with the leather-pants wearing, meathead warbling of rock. They've taken the worst elements of each sound and made a monster of it. Limp Biscuit sucks, Kid Rock sucks, Linkin Park sucks, all that jazz sucks.
And Creed ... could there be a less important band? They're just a bland, degenerate knockoff of Pearl Jam's early sound. Their lead singer, Scott Stapp, needs to die. His fake voice and messiah complex and his cheesy frat boy following make me vomit blood!
I know. What's sad is the trend that followed: a bunch of whiny, suicidal lead singers with no range crying about life instead of singing about it. And they all have such pitiful band names like Stained or Broken or Worthless or Unloved. These guys are 30 years old and still struggling with trite teenage angst that they're still incapable of capturing.
Well, at least we have pop-punk like Blink 41 and Sum 182 to give us nothing original, ever. Damn, punk as a whole is just sad. Grow you bastards, do something new. It's like the whole genre is only one song, and it sounds like a freaking nursery rhyme. Put down the hair gel and do-it-yourself tattoo kit and learn another song ... or at least another chord.
I think with the punk kids it's more about the culture. That one sound is their pledge or something. `I pledge to love boring music because it separates me from people I don't like for reasons I don't know.' Wasn't it Nietzsche that said, `Punk is dead?'
They're like the Goths in that way, always trying to differentiate themselves by alienating everyone. Then come the cries about being outcasts. Maybe if you didn't make yourself look like a freaking Nazi and whine continuously about the broken state of your soul, then maybe you'd reach some level of relevancy. As for now, it's Halloween dress-up time...
Let's go have a drink.
Word.
DRAWING A LINE OF DEFENSE
So what can we do? Are we who care about music, who care about fostering and cultivating originality, destined to be pushed further and further away from the mainstream? Yes, I think so. The days of the big bands being the best bands are gone, never to return, and it's tougher for important bands to reach the audiences who would appreciate them. So we fans of music and we musicians need to take special care to ensure that we're not becoming lazy in our listening habits and not forsaking creativity for appeal in our music.
Music fans: Where you get your information is most important. Stay away from corporate rock radio, MTV and other tentacles of the industry that have a vested interest in promoting certain bands. I learn about all my favorite bands from friends. So spread the word and continue to encourage dialogue about music and bands and all things creative. The mainstream scene will always be suspect, but don't get discouraged. Build a network of individuals with similar tastes and keep each other informed. I'll take a moment here to do just that. Here are some more bands that I love: Nada Surf--beautiful poetic life-and-love rock; A Perfect Circle--a dark and brooding melodic force (APC just announced their West Coast tour dates; they're coming to Boise's Bank of America Center on April 5 with none other than The Mars Volta); Pearl Jam--forget the stigma that surrounds them and check out their last few albums; The Verve--hazy, dazy heroin rock that set the stage for Radiohead; Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise; Blind Melon; Mad Season; The Pixies; Meshuggah...
In addition, there's a relevant discussion to be had here about where you buy your music. I think there's something unsettling about music mega-stores. Be it the uniformed kids with the fade haircuts wearing the yellow polo shirts tucked into khaki cargos, the John Mayer playing on the store stereo, the prison-guard-like security fronting the mechanized sliding doors ... mega-stores just seem too sterile. I like the little, always hip, independent record shops. Boise has a cool one, The Record Exchange. A couple of days ago I talked to Tim Johnstone, one of the RX's main men. As a parallel to my main idea, I wanted to know how they were able to compete and survive with the corporate mega-stores.
Musicians: Take risks. Experiment. Be wary of formula and other musicians concerned with becoming rock stars. Play in a number of bands. Don't be scared to get progressive with your music; I think that's the key to unlocking the few doors still shut after 40-plus years of rock and roll. And try to help shape the landscape of your local music scene. How? That's up to you and specific to your local scene. But find yourself a battle soon. Locate the enemies of rock and declare war.
Article copyright Bar Bar Inc.
Illustration (A man playing a guitar)
