Clear View
Last night, I was down in the basement, surrounded by all the vinyl and CDs I've accumulated during my tenure on Earth. Breezing through the rows of my custom-built shelves, I noticed things of great worth and things that are only of worth to me. So let me ask you this (and I want you to shoot this link to all of your buddies because I genuinely want to know how all of you feel about this): Where do you see your music collection in 10 years? Will you be transferring it to yet another hard-drive or will you be wiping that stuff off and running your defrag program as often as you brush your teeth?
I only ask because I'm curious as to how time will play this scene out. What artists will you be able to listen to 10-15 years from now and think, "Damn, I've always been cooler than my parents?" I remember the last week of my indentured servitude at the record chain where Tim Karan used to work. One of the "lifers" there began grilling me as to how many of the "great albums" of the past 20 years I actually owned. His choices were the usual Mongol-eared classic-rock picks. Out of his list, the only two I copped to buying were Aerosmith's Rocks and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon. He then lectured me about my "stupid" record collection (Ramones, Damned, Wire, Clash et al) and walked away. I have to laugh at him now, because I seriously don't understand how the cultural significance of his particular choice in rock gods fits in the world today.
As much as the memory of nu-metal works my nerves, I simply cannot deny the majesty of Deftones or Korn's ability to become a viable force in contemporary metal. My recent hosanna to Nine Inch Nails acknowledged that outfit's continued relevance at a time when most of Alternative Nation's iconic members have chosen to spend their days as little more than lounge acts. So I'm asking everyone who reads this blog (and those who don't) the simple question: Who will continue to make music and who will matriculate? Who will still be valid musically and who will end up handing out shopping carts at Wal-Mart?
These things make me wonder. I remember one band I used to go see with some frequency about 15 years ago. They were a scrappy bunch of guys who played tight melodic blasts of noisy pop. The rhythm section was tight, the singer rarely chumped a note and their onstage banter was hilarious. I used to travel up to two hours to go see 'em, and they always put on a good show. I remember at one gig (at Cedars in Youngstown, Ohio), the bass player ended the set by handing me his bass and walking offstage. I know that the other 100 people in the club that night thought it was awesome, as well. The band had massive hooks, boundless energy and a charm that appealed to both the ladies and ugly beer-drinkin' bastards like myself. Those days came to an end for me, but certainly not for the guys I'm referring to.
Hey, while we're at it, I want to know your personal favorite rock memories of the past, say, seven years. I don't care if it was an awesome light show, some onstage smack-talk or a piece of gear catching fire that was so bad, the band were chased offstage by a tour manager. I want to know what makes these things memorable in your eyes and ears.
Please enjoy this photo, courtesy of Melanie Nissen and my friends at Warner Bros., and invite your friends to comment. Remember, there are no good or bad opinions. It's just that some of them are merely better informed than others.
posted by Jason Pettigrew at
5:08 PM
14 Comments:
I definitly think that ten years from now I will be transering the majority of the music collection that I have now to another hard-drive(with those few exceptions of course). As far as who will still be valid musically that are still making music, I think that bands like Against Me!, Ted Leo & the Phamacists, and probably even Muse will out-survive the rest. And half of the pop-punk bands around today(if not more) will be working at walmart. I think my favorite rock memory, or at least one of them, was when the fat tour came up to Alaska and I finally got to see AM! live.
http://krua.uaa.alaska.edu/photos/fattour_05/againstme/index.htm
in ten years i see some my music collection being transfered to another hard drive while some of it may just be wiped off. i can almost guarantee that in 10 years [or really in 10 months] i won't be listening to cute is what we aim for because you can only listen to a 20-something whine about high school girl drama [as in like he's acting like one and it involves them]
so im not sure if it counts as a rock memory but my favorite rock-like memory of last seven years is probably opening night of summerfest 2007 in milwaukee. it's pretty lame, but whatever. I took my mom to see the violent femmes with a few of my friends. we got there right before they played but still managed to be pretty close. the grounds closed at midnight but they just kept playing until about 1:15 at which point security was just trying to get everyone they could out without beer [because of some stupid state law] which ended up having every trash can overflow with beer cups and bottles
it was pretty awesome because it was their last show in milwaukee because a couple months later they stopped touring because they got into a fight over song rights and blister in the sun getting used in a wendy's commercial.
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb44/mysexytruckerhat/102_0284.jpg
if the band you used to go see is the band pictured, then, well -- tell everyone to go buy 'superstar car wash' and 'hold me up' and blast both at full volume. and then go back and buy the replacements catalog.
i can't see myself listening to most new bands in 10 years. or in five years. heck, 2 years. music feels much more disposable these days, and the lack of staying power of most new bands is discouraging. i second Muse surviving. then again, they also formed in the 1990s; i can't think of many new ('00-formed) bands that will last.
but in ten years i'll probably have too many CDs (still) and too many LPs (still).
daft punk at lollapalooza last year might be the best show i've ever seen.
I think a lot of my favorite acts have staying power. Such as Alkaline Trio and Norma Jean (Anti Mother proves that this band is going places!) But yeah, I agree that most of today's pop-punky / emo bands are here today, gone tomorrow (All Time Low anyone?)
In 10 years I'm sure I will be transfering over at least 95% of my music collection to whatever crazy new computing device has become the norm. I think Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag, Rancid and MxPx will all still be swimming in the musically significant waters of the future.
My favorite rock moment of the last seven years...that's a tough one. I would say it is a tie between every Flogging Molly show I've ever had the priveledge to attend and the night I met MxPx at the Rancid show.
a memorable concert/show experience for me this year was the alkaline trio show in orlando, just because, and rancid in ft lauderdale because i got crushed between a bar top and the crowd. i was entirely immobile and my claustrophobia gave me the idea that i was dying. i had to crawl on my hands and knees on top of the entire length of the bar to escape for air. all of this while holding my camera equipment for dear life above my head.
as for bands from 00's/recent history that will make it: although i cant say i own any of their cds, im going with paramore. i think they will have that no doubt kind of staying power. for some reason i cant see haley pushing around carts in the wal-mart parking lot. when youve got young new starlets like demi lovato wanting to be like you...
also: MCR, tegan & sara...i think with bands like all time low (etc) it is too early to tell.
My favorite rock concert moment was last fall when I went to see Mae, with Dear and the Headlights and As Tall As Lions opening. On the way to the venue, it started raining and quickly became a big storm. When we got to the venue, the power was out. Dear and the Headlights came on and proceeded to explain to us that they were using power from their tour bus for the mics, and then lit candles all over the stage. Their entire set was acoustic, with keyboard players and drummers just banging on lighting setup and boxes and whatever they could find. It was amazing to see that they had enough passion for the music to plow on through setbacks. The lights came back on and ATAL and Mae both played awesome sets. I also love that night because it's the night I fell in love with ATAL.
Amazing.
Obviously I can't predict the future and I would like my favorite bands to still be playing. Or are they best left for a certain period of my life and let them move on as I move on with my life. A good thing never lasts forever, which is unfortunate but also inevitable as things change, especially music. In my 21 years and about 10 or so of those years being a music fan; I've seen the rise and fall of certain music trends, with 'Nu-Metal' being one example that springs to mind. You just have to look at what mainstream TV channels and magazines are hyping up or knocking down to see what is 'the in thing'. The question that is has to be answered is will the big "emo/scene" bands still be popular in 10 or even 5 years time? The answer is more or less no. Simply because trends become old and tiresome and bands become unidentifable from the next band and then once the current sound has changed the band trys to change thier sound but often fail. So if your expecting (insert current trendy band) to last forever, your going to be disappointed.
My favorite music memory was the first show that I went to. MxPx was playing with a local band, ECO,nothing short of amazing. That is all it took to get me into music. Thinking about that now, I never would have thought that almost 10 years later MxPx would still be making music.
As for staying power, I sure hope to see Jesse Lacey, Matt Skiba and The Gaslight Anthem making music for some time. But that could be just wishful thinking, I have no idea what might be.
My Chem have the potential to stay, so long as their fans don't get crazy, as do Green Day when they put out a new record (who in the almost 20 years of existence really haven't changed their sound) I think Fall Out Boy are dying, Pete has become too celebrity too not rocker. Against Me!, Gaslight, Hold Steady, and other "folk-punk" type bands have the best ability to stay, because they are doing something different than the mainstream, and their fans buy physical copies of stuff so it will never get lost and forgotten in a harddrive crash.
The "youngest" bands I'd put my money on to stick around are Gym Class if their new record holds up, and UnderOath/Norma Jean for reinventing loud music as we know it. And because good Christian rock will ALWAYS have an audience
Why isn't anyone commenting on the GOO GOO DOLLS? Jason Petti-freakin-grew just admitted to driving HOURS at a time to watching the FUCKING Goo Goo Dolls!!! What's next? A blog about the "just missed it"-ness of Dramarama? Ugh.
John: As Secret Glimpses noted, the Goos used to be a scrappy rock band with more than a passing resemblance to Paul Westerberg & co. Of course, when they started writing songs about what Split Enz might have called "the girl with the ugly name," I was out of there faster than a guy whose blind date ended at the Station the night Great White played. In addition, I'm trying to make some parallels to how culture and personal taste change over the years.
And I'm answering you politely because I have no idea what's (or what was) in YOUR record collection.
While I'm here, I want to thank everybody for sharing yr fave music moments with me. It's really appreciated and I've learned a lot.
As a historian, I'm painfully aware of the folly of trying to predict the future. A short anecdote from my own experience should illustrate this nicely. In the late 90s, when I first started getting into punk and emo and hardcore/metalcore, it was pretty underground. I listened to this kind of music all through high school, but afterwards I went through a phase where I lost interest in music for awhile. Imagine my shock when I got back into music again in 2006, and discovered that emo, punk, and hardcore/metalcore were popular! And even mainstream! My point is that when I was listening to stuff like MxPx and Zao ten years ago, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that that kind of music would ever break into the mainstream. So for me to even attempt to predict what will happen in the next 10 years would just be a waste of time, because I'm sure that whatever I predict will be wrong.
I will say though, that Underoath will still be around, and still be awesome, in ten years.
I agree that MCR and Muse have the potential to stay relevant. Paramore, I think it's a little too early to tell, seeing as they've only released two albums.
I think that there are a lot of albums that will be on my playlist in 10 - 20 years, and yet just as many that will probably be wiped off before the end of '09. I agree that Cute Is What We Aim For and bands of the like will most likely become redundant and only the best of that breed of rockers will last, although it's too early to say who that might be.
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