Jenny said when she was just five years old
There was nothin’ happenin’ at all
Every time she puts on a radio
There was nothin’ goin’ down at all, Not at all…
That’s exactly how I felt this morning and that’s pretty much how I’ve been feeling for the last year or so. It’s not that I’m not digging what’s happening now it’s just that everyone is doing the same thing. But…
Then one fine mornin’ she puts on a New York station
You know, she don’t believe what she heard at all
She started shakin’ to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock ‘n’ roll…
Thankfully music has a rich history so whenever the present gets too saturated you can always seek the past to get the feeling of new. Regardless of the oxymoron it certainly holds true for music right now.
I’ve recently reignited my passion for modern art and in seeing how unique everyone at the top of the art world is I can’t help but to crave the same from music. For example, a Murakami superflat piece is nothing like a distorted Cubism painting by George Condo. Damien Hirst putting a tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a vitrine and KAWS placing a huge Companion in front of The Standard couldn’t be further from each other. Yet all of these arouse our intellect in unique ways. There’s a lot to it but at a subconscious level we’re connecting with these artist because we sense the care, thought and effort put into these creations. That’s the unspoken, organic human element that can’t be faked. If all these guys did the same thing, regardless of how well they did it, they would all be disposable. But they’re not and that’s why they have value, that’s why Murakami sells a jack-off sculpture for 15 million dollars.
That’s not the case with music. We’re getting a lot of great things but because non of it is really unique it just goes in one ear and out the other. You’ve pretty much heard it already from a hundred other bands so it leaves you with nothing to examine. If you study the history of any art form you’ll find patterns and right now history is just repeating itself. It won’t last forever and good things are happening and greater things will start to happen with music. In the meantime though, here’s some good old Rock & Roll to hold you over from one of my favorite bands of all time, enjoy.
Despite all the amputations you know you could just go out
And dance to the rock ‘n’ roll station…”
