Tag Archives: music

Wednesday Afternoon Ramblings

I’ve been thinking a lot about the song “Live and Let Die” lately.  Until just recently, I’m not sure I really understood it.  Sure, on an abstract level it made sense, but now, I get it.  This is the point I’ve reached in my life:

“When you were young
And your heart was an open book
You used to say
Live and let live.

You know you did
You know you did
You know you did

But if this ever changing world
In which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die

What does it matter to ya
When you’ve gotta job to do
You’ve got to do it well
You gotta give the other fella hell

You used to say
Live and let live

You know you did
You know you did
You know you did

But if this ever changing world
In which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die”

That’s how I feel about our country and this insane, Bizarro World direction we’re heading.  I really can’t say it much better than that.

Monday Morning Ramblings

First, congratulations to the Green Bay Packers.  They simply beat us and deserve to be champs.  It was a good game, and we had our chances to win it but just didn’t make the necessary plays.  Losing sucks, and I’m not going to pretend like it doesn’t sting, but life goes on.  I’m just as big of a Steelers fan today as I was yesterday.  We’ll be back in the big game soon, and we will bring home number seven.

That’s enough about the game.  What I really want to write about today is that god-awful excuse for a halftime show.  Five Finger Freddy, or whatever the hell his name is, said that the Black Eyed Peas were going to take it to the next level.  Well, if that’s the best you got, you are a terrible excuse for an entertainer.  That show was pathetic.  Sure, there were lots of flashing lights and cool effects, but the “music” was beyond lame.  I would’ve rather watched Milli Vanilli lip-sync their way through twenty minutes of their crap than watch those four no-talent jerk-offs stand around like statues and mumble their songs out of tune, out of tempo, and out of harmony.

That show confirmed so much of what I believe about what hippity-hoppity has done to the music industry.  I prefer my music sung by people who understand harmonics and key changes and well, singing.  Hippity-hoppity has become a terrible parody of itself, much like Air Supply and Journey were a terrible parody of real rock.  Real musicians hold up live, regardless of the venue.  That steaming pile of horse dung that Sam I Am, or whatever the hell his name is, and the others left in the middle of Cowboys Stadium shows just how thin and weak the music industry has become.  Real musicians, who can play real instruments and create beautiful songs, can’t break into the industry, while talentless hacks get to play the Super Bowl.  I mean, they were so bad they made Slash, one of the greatest guitar legends of all-time, sound lifeless and bland.

Part of me looks at the music industry as a perfect metaphor for where we are as a nation.  Sixty years ago, our nation created some of the most powerful and amazing music in the world, and that music inspired the world to follow it.  Musicians like Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Elvis Presley had real talent and honed skill.  At that same time, our nation was revolutionizing technology and industry and leading the world into the future.  Today, our country produces mediocre garbage that couldn’t inspire a pig to root in crap.  Our masses still lap it up, however, because we’ve become so accustomed to mediocrity that most of us can’t appreciate real music and real talent.  At the same time, we have lost our innovative edge and have fallen hopelessly far behind in education.  We stand around bragging about how great we are, while the rest of world blazes by us.

Please, America, please, wake up and realize that when you settle for mediocre crap, you become mediocre crap.

Saturday Evening Ramblings

I’ve been thinking about our culture and some of the obstacles we face for the future, and one thing that strikes me is our rabid need for the next big thing.  It permeates every facet of every part of our society.  Movie studios are striving for the next Star Wars.  The music industry is still trying to replicate the successes of  Elvis and The Beatles.  Video games are always about the next hot game.  Sports are always over-hyping young athletes well before they’ve earned the accolades and then lambasting them when they don’t live up to expectations.  When the focus is always on the next thing and then the next and then the next, what becomes lost is the past and the lessons it can teach.  Obviously the purpose of this is to sell things–tickets, products, magazines, advertising, but am I alone in feeling like this system is simply unsustainable?

Hollywood has been bankrupt of ideas for years and is left recycling scripts and franchises.  The music industry sucks and has for quite a while.  Mainstream music is more about style and image than music.  Video games haven’t hit the wall yet, but give it time.  Both MLB and the NBA have been in decline for a couple of decades because the leagues focus more on their major markets than on overall competition.  And there is a serious disconnect between the upcoming generation and anything related to the past.  My nieces had no idea who Willie Nelson is, and one of them likes country music.  My girlfriend’s son had never heard of Ronnie Lott, yet he aspires to play defensive back.  I could cite many more examples of this disconnect, but you get the point.

I’m not saying we should live in the past solely.  That would be just as foolish and would resemble the Classic Rock stations that have been playing the same fifty songs for thirty years.  What I do believe is that if we as a nation are ever to get back to anything resembling quality, we need to stop seeking the next big thing and find some balance between attachment to the past and movement to the future.  We achieve this by celebrating the greatness that has come before as much as we hype the new.  Whatever we do, we have to find a way to connect this generation to reality more so than they are now.  Otherwise, we aren’t going to have a culture to worry about.

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