Skipping past Writober and Nanoblomo . . ? Shit, I dunno. I'm as bored as you are.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
It’s a MUSIC DEBATE! (Part One of Infinity)
Let me preface this by saying that I know it’s very difficult to come up with anything original musically in this day and age. And that I’m likely unfairly biased on this subject. Also, I’m not the best spokesman for independent artists (or anything, really). Jesus. Maybe I should’ve prefaced this with “PREFACE:”.
So, we played a show a couple nights ago opening for a major-label post-punk band and their touring sidekicks (indie pop darlings who chose to name themselves using an obscure Cure lyric). To avoid boring you all to death, I’ll leave out some of the details, but let’s summarize by saying that it was an okay show (by both bands) and that I’m a petty bitch. Point is that I, in some reflexive / reactionary / impulsive moment that I can only blame on being married to Michelle, I posted about the show on our band’s MySpace blog. And now everyone (in my own band) is calling me out.
Let’s say that Joy Division is Generation One (although they were clearly influenced by Velvet Underground, who would, in this case, be Generation Zero . . . whatever). All those post-punk bands (most notably Gang of Four) from 1979 to the early 80s are Generation One. In Generation Two, we have our Interpols, Franzs, Maximos, and Killers-es; yeah, Generation Two has been around for years, right? So, NOW a band comes along like they have discovered some nugget of holy Ian Curtis’ fierce mission, seemingly spurred on by bands that they’ve heard doing Joy Division some great injustice, put aside their RAP careers, signed to a major-label, and started pimping their brand of post-punk as the sweet nectar juiced for them straight outta 1980s Manchester.
I read the interview on their bio page, and it just seemed like out-of-left-field jerkdom, prepared to diss all the other retro-revivalists (playing “spot the fakes”) because they were THERE, listening to all those Generation One bands when it was going on (and dating themselves by speaking about it). “Yeah, and there’s a hundred bands doing mediocre period/genre music, but none of it makes me feel like I did when I was a kid [sitting] in my room listening to The Queen is Dead or Purple Rain on the record player. It’s easy to capture the style of the music, but writing songs that speak to people is a very different thing.” I want to know what makes them more special than Interpol. I was there, too, fellas. And you’re no better than any other Generation Two (or Three) band.
The stinging part is that I realize I’m being pointlessly bitter about it. And the cherry on top is that I like a lot of what they do. Sure, it’s uncomplicated post-punk and the vocals have almost no range at all, but I enjoy that kind of music. I just wish they weren’t so fucking up front about how they’re going to find everyone and hose them down with their special blend of emotive (or unemotive) post-punk.
I’d actually thought of starting a debate series where I invite readers to debate me on a variety of topics, wherein I would ultimately end up losing the debate and then post excerpts from the debate here for the enjoyment of others. Bring it! I know some of you have opinions about this subject. (If you don’t have my IM address, and would like to expositionally kick my ass, shoot me an email.)
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