I think music has been going downhill for a long time now, probably since the 80’s when dance music took over. Then again, it could have started in the 70’s with punk where youth just wanted to get up on stage to make a statement. Or, it could have started much earlier. But when it started isn’t really the point. The point is, music has been on a downhill slide for some time now and pop music is without a doubt the worst of the worst.

I believe musicians (and I use that word loosely) now think, “Why waste my time learning how to play an instrument when I don’t need to.” So instead, they go play “Guitar Hero” instead of actually learning how to play guitar…for real.

If any of these “musicians” are being productive, it’s not mastering their craft. It’s mastering the art of marketing music. The bulk of this work is making their MySpace page and getting it all “pimped out” so the band looks cool. The music will work itself out…somehow.

In the past, the only marketing a band could do was handing out a bunch of flyers for their next show. After that, the band had no choice but to go back to their garage and practice their scales. With all this practice, some of these musicians (notice I didn’t put quotes around it this time) actually got good. They became legends amongst their fans for their skill in playing their instrument. How they looked or who they dated was not talked about or cared about. The fans just wanted good music.

But do fans really expect great music from their favorite bands these days? I guess they still do…to some degree. However, I no longer hear anybody talking about how awesome this guitar player is or the amazing things that drummer can do. I don’t hear about the Eddie Van Halens or the Neil Pearts anymore in popular music. Hmm…wonder why?

Are there good bands these days? Sure, they’re out there somewhere. But you have to look for them. You can’t just flip on the radio dial anymore and hear the next great thing. No, those airwaves are saved for the marketing vehicles to reach the pathetic masses of lemmings who will buy whatever goes into their ears, regardless of how pedestrian it really is.

And of course this brings me to the music producers of today. The suits in this industry have set the stage for all art forms to succumb to the mercy of mass marketing a product that can be quickly developed and easily sold. You think these guys care if any of these bands can actually play their instruments? Hell, if the band doesn’t care, then you know they don’t either. They just have their eye on the bottom line. These suits have no interest in finding the next greatest talent if they can’t market that talent.

So now we got music producers only interested in dollar signs, bands who don’t care about originality and are willing pawns for the suits who market them, and the audience who can’t tell good music from bad.

Folks, it’s all downhill from here… Read more »