Merry Melodies

A few years ago I became very disillusioned with music and the types of albums that were being offered. It seemed to me that all the artists at the time were bad commercial pop or bad commercial rap creations. I felt that there was no new music that I could get into and even my old favorites were producing albums that were awful attempts at breaking into bad pop or bad rap. I would say this period lasted from 1998 until 2004. While I acknowledge that there were groups and individuals that were very talented and created great albums during that time most notably, in my estimation:, Lauryn Hill- Miseducation of Lauren Hill, Dido-No Angel, Black Star-Black Star, Mos Def- Black on Both Sides, Outcast- Aquemini, Roots-Things fall apart, Moby-Play, Fiona Apple- When the Pawn…, Portishead- Portishead, D’Angelo- Voodoo, Radiohead-, kid-A-Amnesiac, u2- All that you can’t leave behind, Gorillaz- Gorillaz, Alicia Keyes- Songs in A minor, Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Is this it- The strokes, Norah Jones- Come away with me, Evanesence- Fallen and a scant few others, overall music sucked. There are obviously some very prominent names missing from the list that were very popular during those six years, and remain popular today. I am aware of who I left off that list and do so purposefully. They were either part of the destruction of good music or unremarkable musicians from album to album in my opinion. An argument can be made to save some of them from scorn but I probably couldn’t be convinced easily. I chose 1998 even though I would say that the problem with music had started a few years before then but it became most pronounced for me during those years. The offerings became much thinner and there were fewer and fewer albums that I was excited about buying or listening to more than once. I worked at a major music retail chain (the one that became FYE) from 1993 until 1998 and then again from 1999 until 2001 so it wasn’t because I did not have access or I was not informed about what was going on. It just seemed that the music well had dried up. Those years were dominated by boy bands (N’sync, Back street boys, Hansen, Etc.) and Pop princesses (Brittney, Cristina, Mandy Moore etc.) as well as the adult contemporary bands that were so horribly bland (Matchbox twenty, Third eye blind, Sugar ray etc.) During these years I retreated to the asylum of the music of my youth. I indulged in great 80’s and early 90’s rock bands and Hip Hop groups that felt like comfort foods next to the acrid or bland dishes of the day. There was so much during those years growing up, dozens of interesting groups every year doing fun music while pushing it in new directions and paying homage to great sounds from the past. Hip Hop was buzzing with experimentation and alive with style; New Wave and Alternative took punk and post punk into so many directions that you could find undiscovered musical ground everywhere. During those bad music in the late nineties and early millennium years I scoured used record and CD stores for stuff that I didn’t get the first time around, or I used my discount and almost my full paycheck to beef up my back catalog. I discovered or rediscovered a lot of really powerful and honest music. I found what it was that I really enjoyed about the music of my childhood the emotion and sincerity and the fun. I had thought at that point that I had become one of those old people that would never get past liking the bands they heard in high school. Then offhandedly around 2004 I started noticing that every now and then a new group would catch my attention and make me feel good in a way that I had not felt in a while. It would be a song on the radio or at a party or a group that someone would tell me about and I would download and listen to incessantly. It seemed that the frequency of such occurrences was increasing and it seemed to snowball as one group would lead to the discovery of another. There have been so many interesting albums and groups coming out since then. Although Pop and Rap have continued down their path to destruction unabated spurred by the ridiculousness of American Idol and Tween marketing, perhaps as a reaction to the insipidness of the top selling albums there were artists that returned to a simpler more pared back sound or earlier sources of inspiration . There have been a lot of punk inspired or post-punk or just straight up garage bands that are really infectious- The Killers, The Bravery, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Vines, Franz Ferdinand, The Kaiser Chiefs, the Cinematics and Red Romance and lots more. In addition to rock bands musicians have emerged to shake things up in other categories - Amy Winehouse, Frou Frou, Jem, Postal Service, Lily Allen, Gym Class Heroes, Plastic Little, Regina Spektor, Josh Stone, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Feist, Frost, GoldFrapp, Muse, Pink Martini, KT Tunstall, Amy Lavere, Gnarls Barkley, The Shins and so many others that I am practically falling in love with an artist every other day. And it’s not just the newbies that are finding their muse. I am really getting into the new Bjork album in a way that I haven’t since Selma Songs. Morrissey continues to make good music- I keep hoping that The Smiths will take cues from The Police and get back together, but for now I am happy that Morrissey keeps his voice in top form. Delores O’Riordan, lead singer of the Cranberries has a great album out. Thom Yorke’s album is edgy and hypnotic in the best way and Tracey Thorne of Everything But The Girl has a fantastic album that just came out. So all in all it’s a good time to be a music fan.