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Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 7 October 2012 CE
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machineryelf
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Edited Oct 08, 2012, 19:51
Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 7 October 2012 CE
Oct 08, 2012, 19:40
IanB wrote:
machineryelf wrote:
Given the choice between Muse and some of the godawful Sabbath clones and mockpysch that passes for serious music in some parts I'll take Muse everytime


I watched the Muse set at the Paralympic send-off mainly because I wanted to see/hear the Paralympic orchestra in action. The mix didn't really favour them after the intro to their section and it was hard to hear what was orchestra what was band and what was loops /samples. Anyway, I was impressed by their stadium craft but the songs didn't really stick overnight. "Later" was better and
I might try an album just to see if it resonates but I think the getting-excited-by-a-new-rock-band ship has probably sailed for me.

What's missing for me is that none of this stuff (from the mighty stadium fillers to the smallest out on the farest margins) has a compelling reason to exist other than as personal expression and maybe on some kind of sub-cult level. Every band out there could stop playing shows tomorrow and the world could very easily sail on unchanged and unbothered. There are exceptions of course but over the last few years it just seems like live rock n roll is another undifferentiated branch of the entertainment industry where people go to a gig to be seen to be going to a gig and to be able to social network their presence at that gig. Don't see too many audiences really connecting with what is happening on stage or vice versa. Maybe it was always thus and it is just an age thing. Records still crank my handle from time to time.

BTW the mockpsych / retro clone stuff doesn't really work for me either though all the moreso since having a go at making music in that vein.



There are a lot of bands out there who just bang out the hits, there are unfortunately a lot of audiences who just want that, last time I saw Motorhead the crowd was dead until the encores, a vast majority were there to see Ace of Spades and tick the I saw Motorhead before I died box.At a recent Springsteen gig which was absolutely fantastic and everything stadium rock should be about I heard a large group of folk bemoaning the fact that he only played Dancing In The Dark and none of the hits, so they paid £70+ to see someone who their musical knowledge appeared to be of an album released over 25 years ago. Iron Maiden enthused me enough to get a big chunk of their back catalogue [admittedly I think the 18 cds cost me about £23 so no big deal] but I was struck at how much that show resembled Les Mis far as much as any rock show I've seen, I think the very size and production values have taken a big chunk of the r n r out of live performance, people expect a show, they want the hits and a night out and to deliver it has to be planned and presented to the n'th degree.
Rock n roll hasn't been dangerous [was it ever] since Nirvana made the alt mainstream and when you can get your Burzum t-shirt in topman you know the rebellion has to found somewhere else
You live in London, where audiences are [or were] generally more blase than elsewhere, go see Saxon in Whitehaven, it will restore your faith in the ability of rock n roll to gather the scum together to celebrate the joys of dionysian excess to a level that would make any sane mortal run for the hills [which is probably a bad idea as that is where most of the audience have justed arrived from, the hills indeed do have eyes], it would seem your going to the wrong gigs in the wrong place ;-)
I'm pretty sure that getting not excited but surprised by a new rock band has passed by most people here, we probably have heard it all before, saying that I've purchased CDs this year that will be in my list of things to save in a fire, 50 Words For Snow being an obvious choice for me of recent records that will stand the test of time against anything that has come before or is likely to come

edit having just read an e-mail from HMV the reason people don't care about music is because the majority of what their selling is shite, Ellie Goulding or Spector, I'm at a loss as to which I'd like less to be trapped in a room with, come back Tullulah Gosh, nearly all is forgiven.
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Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 7 October 2012 CE (IanB)
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