Is "Music" dying

[Guest EricMM]

When me and my friend were having a discussion about good musicians a while ago, we started naming names. Jimi Hendrix, Page, etc. We moved on the great bands and we thought Led Zepplin the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Doors were pretty special. Then I asked, whos the newest best guitar god, whats the best band. He said the guy from metallica, during early metallica. I said why not oh someone newer?

 

He said that because of how commericial ALL music has become today, noone has the opportunity or the motivation to become the next guitar god. When every band just needs a decent guitar player to get mixed around and perform well, we will just never get true skill like Led Zepplin. At least thats what he said.

 

Any thoughts? I brought it up because I was sad that I was not alive during any great musical epiphanies during rock n roll like Led Zepplins albums, the white album, etc. All we have is Nevermind, and that's just not the same.

[Guest red_file]

I think you question probably should've been "is rock music dying?" and, according to the other thread on that topic, I'd have to say that rock music is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

 

On the other hand, music in general is alive and well. Folk had something of a resurgence in the mid-90s; rap appears to be mutating nicely into a wierd hybrid; electronica keeps grooving to its own thing; and at the indy level there are all kinds of strange things going on. Often it seems that when people decry the horrible state of music (or t.v. or movies or literature) they're only looking at what is the most mainstream.

 

With few exceptions, the masses have never really taken to things that were groundbreaking or especially interesting. When Hendrix finally became popular there were very few people that packed his audiences who wanted to hear him experimenting on stage; most just wanted to listen to his hits. We like to think that Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin were extremely popular, but their successes were dwarfed by the insanity that was disco at the time.

 

Music mutates; if it isn't chaning then it swiftly loses its purpose (e.g. the Hair bands of the 80s). Rock music might very well have given its last gasp. That doesn't necessarily mean though that there are not other types of music currently being made that arn't just as interesting.

 

But. I can certainly see where someone who really likes rock music could look at the world of music today and say, "What the fuck happen?"

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Not at all.

 

There's lots of crappy music out there, but there's still TONS of amazing music out on the market, some mainstream, some not.

[Guest Insanityman]

I think it's more of when we think of what's popular and mainstream right now. There's a lot (and I mean a lot) of music that shouldn't have even been made, but they's also a good load of great stuff out there no matter where your taste lies. So is it dying? No. If you gave a quick overview to popular music right now... it doesn't look too good.

[Guest M Nyland]

Rock music isn't dead as much as it has evolved so much that older fans of the genre have gotten lost looking for what sounds like the things they used to hear.

 

Music has become so commercially biased that the "marks" of the music business sit and listen to what Carson Daly or MTV tells them to listen to and will never hear of bands that are truly revolutionary. They will hear the same sounds piped through 50 different bands and they will buy them all because they are "cool".

 

My musical collection is quite large, and while I have lots of mainstream stuff...I always have a special place in my heart for the underground.

 

"...nobody listens to techno..." - Eminem

 

Bullshit I don't....and I have your album too, buddy...

 

and people wonder why I hate fucking rap music. And don't get crazy on me because I own the album and hate rap. I hate the genre of rap, but I can stomach some things...and it's just a burned CD anyway.

 

I love the punk, ska, new wave stuff that just passes by the mainstream and settles down gently in a "this could be cool maybe i will buy it" section....and not the "BUY NOW!" section.

 

Fuck Commercialism....

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

 Then I asked, whos the newest best guitar god, whats the best band.  He said the guy from metallica, during early metallica.  I said why not oh someone newer?

It's obvious somebody is missing out on progressive/melodic metal or Megadeth for that matter. Whether you prefer Megadeth to Metallica is a matter of opinion. But there is no denying that Megadeth has the better gutiar work. Plus there is plenty more great gutiar players out there.

 

Check out:

 

Dream Theater

Steve Vai

In Flames

Children of Bodom

Opeth

Arch Enemy

Botch( more hardcore than metal, but some of the best and most innovative gutiar work out there)

[Guest godthedog]

When me and my friend were having a discussion about good musicians a while ago, we started naming names. Jimi Hendrix, Page, etc. We moved on the great bands and we thought Led Zepplin the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Doors were pretty special. Then I asked, whos the newest best guitar god, whats the best band. He said the guy from metallica, during early metallica. I said why not oh someone newer?

 

He said that because of how commericial ALL music has become today, noone has the opportunity or the motivation to become the next guitar god. When every band just needs a decent guitar player to get mixed around and perform well, we will just never get true skill like Led Zepplin. At least thats what he said.

 

Any thoughts? I brought it up because I was sad that I was not alive during any great musical epiphanies during rock n roll like Led Zepplins albums, the white album, etc. All we have is Nevermind, and that's just not the same.

why exactly does rock need a new guitar god in order to go forward? rock music is about youthful energy, screaming your guts out, expressing yourself & having fun. most rock music is based around the guitar, but it's certainly not the be-all, end-all instrument of the genre. in the beginning, the piano was used just as much as the guitar. big, ballsy riffs and mind-blowing solos can certainly help make great rock music, but it isn't essential. just look at the velvet underground: probably the most bad ass group ever, & they sounded like a garage band.

 

it's the FEELING that's important in music. the instruments are just one of the tools at the musician's disposal to convey that feeling.

 

that said, the feeling i generally get from most rock bands now is boredom. it's not the lack of guitar that's making music so boring, it's the lack of new ideas & talent.

[Guest M Nyland]

Yngwie Malmsteen?

Joe Satriani?

Eric Johnson?

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

why exactly does rock need a new guitar god in order to go forward? rock music is about youthful energy, screaming your guts out, expressing yourself & having fun. most rock music is based around the guitar, but it's certainly not the be-all, end-all instrument of the genre. in the beginning, the piano was used just as much as the guitar. big, ballsy riffs and mind-blowing solos can certainly help make great rock music, but it isn't essential. just look at the velvet underground: probably the most bad ass group ever, & they sounded like a garage band.

 

it's the FEELING that's important in music. the instruments are just one of the tools at the musician's disposal to convey that feeling.

 

that said, the feeling i generally get from most rock bands now is boredom. it's not the lack of guitar that's making music so boring, it's the lack of new ideas & talent.

100% agreed. I don't get the obsession with Guitar Gods.

[Guest redbaron51]

Yngwie Malmsteen?

Joe Satriani?

Eric Johnson?

Yngwie is a good shredder but that's it. He lacks creativity and rips off Bach and Mozart a lot, and calls it original.

 

Satriani is a great guitarist, but lies behind Vai in creativity, and his last album kinda sucked.

 

Eric Johnson, other than Cliffs of Dover which that is a tremendous kick ass song, i never heard any of his stuff.

 

And the whole Metallica and Megadeth, I think Metallica, let alone James is better at rythem than Dave, but Megadeth blows Metallica away with their solo's, and twin leads.

[Guest swan]

Music is alive and well, just depends where you are looking for it. If MTV, local radio, and the new releases at Wal-Mart is where you go for music I’d think it was dead too.

 

In my opinion if you are looking for a guitar “god” in bands like Slipknot, POD, Korn, Nickelback, Creed, or any of that other faceless top 40 rock/nu-metal crap you just aren’t going to find it. Expand your senses to the rock and metal underground and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I come across bands and musicians all the time that I can’t believe there CD’s aren’t in the top 100 or faces plastered on any music or guitar magazine.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

Yngwie Malmsteen?

he should be on Wheel of Fortune for his first name...

"Can I buy a vowel?"

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

I like the way the Bay State Thrash scene is going...Shadows Fall, Beyond The Embrace, and Triton are some excellent bands whose members can do more than just play fast and do an occasional shred solo. These are bands that take more of a melodic look at metal music, combine it with elements of classical (I can hear classical elements in Shadows Fall, believe it or not), and create an all-out sonic attack on the senses. Oh yeah, they kick major ass too...

 

Ah, Arch Enemy's guitar work...I had a musical orgasm the first time I heard "Pilgrim," especially the chorus (which is the easiest part of the song, but, in my view, the best).

[Guest Brian]

The underground scene is definately the way to go.

 

Right now, music is in a dying state. As much as we like to talke about the small guys, the people on the national scene are what make up the larger essentials of the music genres. I haven't listened to anything new since grunge came out; the last real movement of music as a whole happening right in my own backyard. But music has drifted into this state right now where rap has mainly become to commercial (with maybe the excpetion of Eminem who really doesn't approach me as thought provoking or inspiring), rock has become to bland, and techno is the only thing creeping out of the gates but isn't really that strong to begin with.

 

I've said it in the past, years ago in great term papers, that music needed some sort of tragedy to get people who write for people about people. so far, they had one good re-make and lately, Springsteen. The garage band movement which seems to be making a second surge would do well, but chances are that it's already been soured to the hardcore because of how Green Day went. If anything, the thing that looks good to me is John Mayer, who reminds of Melloncamp for some reason, and hope he blossoms where JCM failed and becomes a presence in the way that Bob Dylan was so that the next generation of stars can come up. If he's writing his own music which it seems he is from everything I've read, he really wrotes on the relatable level and could become a real lyricist if he's given room to talk and knows what he's saying.

 

Music's been full of underground movements, some coming into fruition and others not, some more, some less. Rap needs to be phased out for the most part, at least for the time being until they can reclaim their voice. That's a definate. Rock needs the new movement to purge in. Personally, I think there's really a voice that needs to go in and start talking up about Bush now that bi-partisanship is alive again.

[Guest Brian]

Also, for those who talked about Hendrix, I had a co-worker who has possibly everything he's ever done and went to his dad's funeral and was blown away by the two selections, both of which he and Randy Hansen had never heard before despite both have done covering and played with his bandmates.

[Guest thefrenchargel]

I wish music would hurry up and die in general. I'd rather mercy kill it and have the albums I like, rather than watch a bunch of no-talent hacks limp around masquerading as "musicians." as a general rule of thumb, if it's on Tv or on the Radio, it isn't worth listening to.