Rancid Modern Music

I wish I could say that music has just gone stale and bland, but that's not the case because most of the time when something is stale, I still want it bad enough to eat it anyway. So the proper term in this case would be rancid. We live in a day and age where music is less controlled by personality and more controlled by business. It's all about making what will sell. People get paid to find out exactly what will sell in music, and make music based off of the results. It's just the day and age we live in.



Being a mechanical engineering, the best thing I can liken the music problem to is modern day cars. You'd be hard pressed to find a legitimately bad car. They just don't make them anymore. Nearly all modern cars have a standard of luxury previously only seen in Rolls Royce's, and a performance that blows many older cars out of the water (just consider that the highway speed limit used to be 35 MPH). That being said, the cars are just BORING. Case in point, my parents just got themselves a "new" (2007) Lexus, and save for a small lag between the gas pedal and the engine, there is nothing wrong with the car. It's well powered, it's luxurious, and it functions well. And yet, the only thing I find truly amusing about the car is the sound system (story for another day) and the headlights that change their angle while I'm turning. Like many cars of today, it's just plain boring (sorry mom and dad.) There's no personality, style, or quirks. By contrast, my default home vehicle is an '83 Jeep Scrambler. By all means, a TERRIBLE vehicle. There's no AC (I guess I don't really need it), I'd probably be safer driving around in a cardboard box, and it has a tendency to be gutless on hills. With that all said, I LOVE it, and so do others. Why? It has CHARACTER.

Music today has been made to be airtight. Songs are literally engineered to be PERFECT, and to be exactly what a person wants to hear. Although though I strongly dislike Justin Bieber, there's nothing TECHNICALLY wrong with him. From what I've heard, his songs are catchy, and musically correct. But do I like it? NO. One of the bands I've been listening to lately is Death From Above 1979. From a musician's standpoint, they are a nightmare. The singer is often partially off key, the drum fills don't always line up, the tempo waxes and wanes, and being a band with only a bass and drums, it's horribly unbalanced. And yet, I love it. It has CHARACTER. It brings a human element to the table that you just don't get with a lot of modern day pop. It's earnest, honest, and straightforward. It is what it is, and it makes no apologies.

I guess this all ties around to selling out. Modern day pop stars make what will sell, which equates to them making okay music that can be fun in the right scenario. But I guarantee that you'd be hard pressed to find someone that just listens to LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem while they are just lounging around. Music today isn't made to be a centerpiece. It's a background set. Which is why musicians like Lady Gaga have to make up for it by putting on a show (don't take that the wrong way. I KNOW that people can be fantastic musicians and showmen at the same time.)

So all in all, I think that music has become complacent. I do also believe that the music business is cyclical, and has been here before (80's). It seems like the readily available nature of music has led to that cycle speeding up tremendously, and the cycles are almost waxing and waning between decades. But back to the point, modern music is fine. There isn't a whole lot wrong with it. But the fact that there is nothing wrong with it IS the thing that is wrong with it (sorry if that's confusing. Sounded a lot better in my head) So, please, don't listen to lazy music. Listen to something that challenges your perception of music and evokes a certain level of thought . After all, that's what music is for.