Exiting the Music Cave

Up until two or three years ago I was pretty firmly entrenched in what I'll call a music cave. Or a slump or stagnant pool of tunes, especially compared to my listening habits since joining Last.fm. I spent roughly five years listening to either stuff I already knew or classic stuff but almost nothing new. With a very few exceptions I didn't listen to modern music at all. To be fair, it wasn't totally stagnant. I greatly deepened my love for Pink Floyd. I also became a lifelong Led Zeppelin devotee whereas before I didn't care much for their music at all. I also came to know a lot more about Jimi Hendrix and a slew of others most notably Janis Joplin, The Doors and Bob Marley. There were a few other classic rockers I came to know better but, other than the above, I just listened to classic stuff I already knew.

There were a very few modern artists I came to know during this time as well. There was K's Choice, Mazzy Star, Queens of the Stone Age and Tool. And that's pretty much it. As far as modern music went those four were it. Add it all up and in the space of about five years I deepened my knowledge and love of maybe 20 musical artists or groups. Looking back I realize that's a pretty damned sad fact. I didn't listen to internet radio, I rarely visited YouTube and I never listened to regular radio stations if I could at all help it. Nope, it was just me, my best friend and Mary Jane avoiding reality, avoiding the modern world and it's soundtrack.

It wasn't all bad. It helped me get over a broken heart. But I missed a lot. I have regrets, sure. For the purposes of this journal I'll just say that I missed a lot of great music. Since joining Last.fm last August, and using other services for a while before that, I've been swimming ever deeper into a vast ocean of music. There is more music out there that I could have ever dreamed! Every day I discover more music to love and there is so much that I'm happily overwhelmed by it. I feel like I really am entering a much, much wider musical world than the one I knew before.

This sense of discovery reminds of the time period when I first discovered my deep and abiding love of music. I was about ten years old and my folks got me a stereo for my birthday. It had AM/FM radio, a cassette player and a phonograph. I remember that I used the tape player and the radio from time to time, they didn't go to waste. But I wore out needle after needle playing records. My folks let me listen to their records and I had a ball! That old collection was dominated by tons of Beatles records, LPs and 45s. But there was variety. I remember Jackson Browne, Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper and many, many others. All those old records made me realize that there was more to music that what was on the radio and "that old crap Mom and Dad like". Music could not only move the body, but the mind and soul.

Back then it was a confluence of events and things, just as now, that brought about this overwhelming sense of wonder at the world of music. When I was ten there was puberty and a new stereo and a crate of old records. Now there's no more Mary Jane, no more best friend and a different kind of heart break all bringing me into the positively gigantic world of internet radio. And while I miss certain things, especially the smoke, I'm enjoying this crash course in modern music. I've got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of discoveries to make and I'm looking forward to it.

Rock Gods vs. Rock Geeks

Recently something hit me over the head like a thunderclap even though I should have realized it sooner: There are no rock gods anymore. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great musicians out there making amazing rock music but there doesn't seem to anyone who inspires the way the old rockers did. There's a rock royalty. There are virtuosos, there are innovators and there are swaggering, cocky rockers but there aren't any rock gods these days. At least I haven't seen any that even remotely compare to the rock gods of old.

I know this idea is all wrapped up in the passage of time, trends and the perception of a rockers' public image. I understand that. What I'm referring to when I say "rock gods" is largely a visual thing that has little to do with the music itself. It's more than a tad shallow in that it's about partially appearance, but there's more to it than that. Rock gods have more than just a cocky swagger: they are larger than life. They are outrageously confident, they are brimming with raw sexuality and they have a magnetically appealing presence that is largely absent from the rockers of today. Let me show you what I'm talking about by comparing some images of some of the rock gods of the 60s and 70s with some of the top rockers popular today.

Who is more visually and emotionally appealing?


Led Zeppelin?

Or...


Radiohead?

Who exudes more confidence and power?


The Who?

Or...

Franz Ferdinand?

Who could you not take your eyes off at a live concert?


Jimi Hendrix?

Or...


Matt Bellamy of Muse?

See what I mean?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing the popular rock musicians of today or the music they make. Their music is awesome. I respect all of them and enjoy their music quite frequently (and if you don't believe me just check out my library). But if/when I go to their concerts my eyes won't be glued to them. And perhaps that's the point.

Perhaps so many rockers of today are deliberately dorky, nerdy, etc., for the same reason some in Hollywood intentionally make themselves less attractive: so they will be taken seriously. They don't want to be considered sex symbols or idols to be worshiped. They want their music to be appreciated on its own merits. And I can understand that. I can't relate to it but I can see the reasoning behind it.

After all, who would want to work tirelessly for years, pour their heart and soul into music and finally get lucky enough to get a record deal and have all of their success written off because of their perceived good looks? Not Matt Bellamy, that's for sure.

Hendrix: Gypsys or Other?

I've read, and heard, time and time again over the years how some Jimi Hendrix fans consider Band of Gypsys their least favorite of his albums. And I'm on the complete opposite side of that argument. Personally, Bandy of Gypsys is far and away my favorite of his albums. Is it because of the different lineup he plays with as opposed to those in,say, The Jimi Hendrix Experience? Perhaps, in part. Is it the fact that it's a completely live album? Again, that fact helps to make it a damn fine listen but it's not the real reason. I don't think so. Nope, what I really love most about Gypsys is the fact that it's a genuine rock and roll album. Okay, yeah, you're right. It's got a lot of funk and blues rock in it. But more than that: it doesn't have hardly any of the psychedelic sounds of the Experience albums and - perhaps this makes me a traitor to my fellow wannabe-hippies- but I Iove it all the more for that very reason. It's an album that after only one listen of the first song I said to myself: "They've really got their shit together"...which is something I can't always say about the other albums Hendrix worked on.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love to sit back with a j and get lost in 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be) but there's only so much psychedelica I can enjoy before my head space wants to be filled with some down and dirty rockin' music. I love the fact that Jimi Hendrix was such an innovator. I love that much of what we call modern rock would not be what it is without his monumental input and impact. I think it's awesome that Hendrix was such a learned, genuine, dedicated musician and songwriter that he wrote songs using the formulae of what we call classical orchestral music. I find it fascinating to compare his works with the great compositions of the past. I recognize all of this and completely respect the man for it. But I'm sure I can't be the only person out there whose favorite song on Electric Ladyland is Crosstown Traffic.

And why is that? Because Crosstown Traffic is what could be called a more "traditional" rock song. It's a rock song that works within the parameters of a tried and true rocker: Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar solo, chorus, chorus, jam, jam, jam or similar. Is it old and played out, cliche or passe? It may be now but it certainly wasn't then. Is it limiting? I don't know and I don't really care. I love the experimental stuff, I really do. But I'm a rock n' roll girl at heart and sometimes I get tired of the existential, hallucinatory, mind expanding hippie stuff and I want to rock out! That's why I'll usually take Machine Gun over Merman. And like so many Hendrix fans I can only wonder: as Band of Gypsys is so good and recorded only three months before Jimi Hendrix died, what could he have gone on to do? Like so many of us who would love to enjoy the brilliance and passion of the rockers who died so young, one day I hope to attend The Great Gig in the Sky and find out for myself.