Does Good Music Stand A Chance?

"Listen Honey!" The Reflex" by Duran Duran! Their Playing Our Song!"

I suppose every generation looks at the younger generation and says, "Ahh, kids today.....they don't know what good music sounds like. They listen to crap! In my day, we listened and danced to that wonderful old-timey singing group called Duran Duran...Now, THAT's music!" Well, now that I'm middle-aged, I guess I'm no different in wondering what these young good for nothing whipper-snappers are listening to. I've said before that much of today's music sounds, to my ears, like a bunch of people shouting over a car alarm. And I realize that's unfair and there is a lot of good music out there. But I think oftentimes these days, you have to really seek out good music. Good music might not find you on it's own. I think that's because the split between MUSIC and COMMERCIAL MUSIC has really widened. There has always been the commercial element in American Music. But now, because of the breakdown of the conventional model of "release an album and people pay money to buy it at the old-timey record store", the remaining Record Companies(do we even call them that anymore) are hyper-concerned with sales. Unfortunately, the focus is lopsided towards LOOKS, SEX APPEAL, IMAGE, SCANDAL, and SHOCK VALUE. And then market it towards children, who easily succumb to peer pressure and don't want to be out of the loop.

Don't get me wrong; many artists in previous generations were good looking and had a certain image working for them. But they could, when all was said and done, really PLAY or SING! Now, that aspect of being in "music" seems like an afterthought:

I love Katy Perry. I heard that she also is a singer.......

Listen, we got this hot young talent, she's beautiful, she's got tattoos, she can dance, she can do naked backflips- we want to send her out on a world concert tour!

Uhh, what does her music sound like?Can she SING?

Listen, Music, SHMUSIC! We'll worry about that later. We have AUTOTUNE! Singers today don't actually sing! Why would they? We have the technology! You don't use a typewriter anymore?What, Mr. types on his Ipad? Whadya worried about, with the music and the singing?




Some of you might remember the "controversy" of Esperanza Spalding receiving the Best New Artist Grammy last year, beating out that handsome young Canadian Justin Bieber. Many Bieber fans were outraged, and thought that Spalding should "Go Die In A Hole...", amongst other choice insults. The issue the Bieber fans seemed to have with Spalding was that she didn't sell as many CDs, therefore, she must not be as good! It's amazing how the people have been brainwashed into believing the hype: Sales equals Good, No Sales Equals Bad. I wonder how many of the Bieber fans actually went and listened to any Esperanza Spaldling. I wonder if any of them said, "Well, she is a really good singer, plays upright bass, writes her own music, and seems to be poised for a career beyond Bieber, who, once he hits puberty, people will get tired of, and he'll have to move back to Canada..."

Enjoy your hair while you can, Bieber, cause in 20 years you got NOTHING!

Now, I would never tell Bieber to go die in a hole. After all, he's Canadian, and whenever he's at death's door, his hospital stay is totally covered by the Canadian single payer system. But, if he were to win any more awards, I take serious issue, thanks to a band called Dirty Loops. This trio from Sweden has become an internet sensation with their cover of Justin Bieber's "Baby". I'm hooked on this performance! There's a lot of slick re-harmonization, gospel chops drumming, advanced funky bass playing, and phenomenal singing by Jonah (can't seem to find his last name...). If you haven't heard it, I guarantee you'll be walking around you house singing a falsetto "Baby, Baby, Baby..." (Everytime my son hears me do that, he goes, "David, David, David"! Ha Ha!)

What's not to like about that! But I think what's funny is that I really didn't know the original Bieber song; that's because I'm 42 years old and have very little time to listen to Bowl Cut Headed Freaks from Canada. However, I decided to check out the original and see where Dirty Loops got their "inspiration":

OK, so the guitarist can't tune his guitar, and Bieber can't sing in tune, but other than that, it's CLEARLY AWESOME. At least, judging by the screaming teenagers, it must be awesome, right? What am I missing?

I'm being sarcastic, of course. The song sucks, the performance sucks, the music sucks. The singer from Dirty Loops could out sing Bieber with one vocal chord tied behind his back!

If Bieber has any Grammies, or even any money, he should just send it all to Dirty Loops. Come on, Bieber, do the right thing. I won't say go die in a hole, but maybe you should go sit in a hole and think about making some better music....