I had an interesting conversation the other day with my pals Jay and Jared. We were at The Press Room, a longtime music scene staple in the NH Seacoast area. On this 
particular evening a trio was playing old blues, jazz and assorted other upbeat songs from years gone by. I asked if they knew the song “Compared To What?” which is an anti-Vietnam War tune made famous by Les McCann and Eddie Harris and recently covered by John Legend’s new album featuring The Roots.
Unfortunately not everyone in the band knew the song, but the bassist strummed a few chords from it and they appreciated the request.
Jay, Jared and I began discussing the current state of music and what was inspiring today’s musicians. Jay, a musician himself, said something to the effect of, “Music is being made for the sake of making music, for entertainment.”
I have to agree with that. I thought about the music that I listen to now and much of it finds very little root in anything tangible. Not that it has to, but it seems that art typically stands for something and yet a lot of today’s music stands for nothing outside of artist’s personal issues (see Eminem’s uninspired self-loathing diatribes), partying and money.
Take one of the biggest songs in the past 18 months – Kings of Leon’s Sex On Fire. It is exactly as advertised by the title; it is a song about sex. Not that we don’t need or want songs about sex and the beat and music are great, but the guy is just going on and on about hot sex. It just seems that perhaps there are more pressing matters taking place in the world.
I’m not quite sure how to describe my feelings here. I have felt, for quite some time, that popular music is lacking something. Maybe it isn’t standing for something because not everything has to stand for something, but the soul and passion of music seems to be missing. Maybe that is because it is now all about the sound of the music and the sounds and types of music that are “popular” are changing so rapidly that coming out with the newest sound is more important than the actual content and subject matter.
While I’m at it here, maybe this conversation over the lack of soul and passion in current music is representative of a larger conversation about our generation? I’m not even sure what generation I am to be honest – there is nothing substantial that really defines what me and my fellow late 20th Century born compatriots stand for. It seems that there is an overabundance of individuals that just don’t know what they want to do. And even the people that are doing something aren’t convinced that it is what they want to or should be doing.
We were all told as children that we could, “Do whatever we wanted” with our lives, that anything is possible. But the excruciating reality is that truth has long since become a falsity. In the post-World War II era when our parents grew up, many things were possible. The country was expanding, invigorated by a resounding victory of war on a grand scale. The nuclear bomb had been invented, we were on our way to the moon, civil rights activists were on the march – everyone believed they could do whatever they wanted and found other people that wanted to manifest and do great things alongside them.
But now, the idea is a paper-thin glossy coating on what really lies in front of us. The world is reeling from financial recession. The United States for the first time is not the leading global superpower and shows very few signs of being able to bounce back. The mentality may still exist, but the means may not be there. Worse, the motivation is lacking. The soul and passion may be lacking in music because they are lacking in daily life. We are pacified and placated by technological devices, television shows, the lives of celebrities and material wants and desires.
Creating just to create and living just to live are not enough right now. What will it take to shake America from its malignant lack of motivation and empower everyone to stand for something?
I’m worried that if you’re not standing, you’re sitting and if you’re sitting you could be sleeping and if we’re all asleep who’s going to wake us up?
-The Wanderboy
Lest we forget, and I know they are getting a bit dated, American Idiot, by Greenday; Check It Out, by The Beastie Boys; Living With War, by Neil Young. Could it be that musicians are more typically liberal and therefore they tend to write songs about the conservatives, so we get more with a republican in the white house?
I agree. That is in fact the one album I mentioned in our conversation that I believe people will point to 10, 20, 30 years from now and say, “This album defines the times.” Too bad there is only one.