by Randy B
“[S]eek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Matthew 7:7
A few years ago, I had become all but convinced that nobody was making any new music worth listening to anymore. I still had my old favorite bands and albums that I played religiously, many dating from college and even high school, so it was not as if I was no longer into music. It also was not as though I hadn’t been looking for new stuff. I would tune into my favorite radio stations, check out people’s lists of year-end favorites, dig around iTunes for new stuff and read the occasional music blog or magazine. All to no avail. Rather, it just seemed as though the entire music industry had simply lost its groove.
At the same time, it also seemed that most people didn’t have that sense at all. Perhaps I just missed it, but I don’t recall reading or hearing much if anything about the sudden dearth of anything new worth listening to. Instead, I got the sense the people were generally digging the new bands and the new songs from old bands, at least within the genres of music they followed.
Things started to change one night as I was desperately flipping through channels trying to stay awake on a late drive home from work when I just happened to come across a crazy (so my kids tell me) song on the local college radio station. I went home and looked up the band and then listened to them for weeks nonstop. A few months later, a friend happened to post a link on Facebook to another band I hadn’t heard of before. It was like manna from heaven. With a little time on Google, those initial leads led me to all kinds of great stuff.
Funny thing is, most of these bands and their best songs had been around for years. I had just missed them. Rather than the entire music industry losing its groove, I had been in a rut. I am still not entirely sure how I got there, or how to go about getting out of it when it happens again, or even that I’m not heading right back to where I started. But the next time I get so delusional as to think that the creative energy of the human race is tapped out or headed entirely in the wrong direction, whether it’s music or anything else, here’s hoping I’ll think twice and look a little harder.
Randy, but you’re not going to tell us what the song was???
I originally put in links to all the songs I was referring to, but then took them out because you’d all think I was crazy. Different music works for different people obviously, but my preferences generally seem incompatible with the taste’s of most. But just for you, that first song I heard was Black Mission Goggles by Man Man. You can see a live version here — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j2H7wsHt9E (couldn’t find a album version, which is tighter, cleaner, and not quite so, uh, insane). It’s like pirate music on acid. Love it.
One more just for kicks. Here’s my latest find from a few days ago, Weatherman by Dead Sara — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLGoeYOZ0Qs
I love this Randy. It seems like a simple observation, but it is really huge to realize that the stories we’ve been telling ourselves — no one is making good music anymore, I’m like this, she’s like this, this is how the world works — are just stories and usually only reflect a small part of our reality. There is so much to gain in reframing our narratives, telling ourselves new stories or really listening to the stories of others.
So true. The thing is it’s a whole lot easier to see beyond our own stories when they aren’t working so well anymore. How to do that when they actually seem to be working? I’m not sure.
Much of this has to do with how truly creative music is distributed. In the past, this was through mainstream, centralized outlets like radio and even MTV. However, over time these outlets have become dominated by calculated, shallow and predictable music. This type of music is less risky financially. There are a handful of radio stations across the country that play the creative, innovative stuff. WFMU, KMTN among others. In a recent conversation on one of these stations, one of my favorite bands, Yogoman Burning Band, made the observation that, with their Mac laptop they had better recording technology than the Beatles. They also argued that there is more great music being produced today than at any point in history, but, ironically, the difficulty is getting the music noticed.
As to the deeper point here, sometimes the way we have found our way in the past no longer works. There is great music today, but you won’t find it listening to mainstream radio stations. A change in how the good stuff is found has occurred.
Nice post Randy.
“As to the deeper point here, sometimes the way we have found our way in the past no longer works.”
Precisely right. I love the old parable about the man who’s on a long journey and won’t make it over the sea without his boat, but then won’t be able to climb the mountain once he gets to the other side unless he leaves the boat behind.
I completely agree about the great music being made today. Googling Yogoman Burning Band now.