Where Is The Next Big Thing?

There are a lot of interesting versions of songs out there. One of the current internet faves is a band from Finland doing a country version of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". Obviously, no one remembers Hayseed Dixie. Don't worry, this will disappear as quickly as it got here.

There are tribute acts galore. Hell, I have friends in a Deadbolt tribute band! They're really good at it too.

But...

You know what I'd like to hear? SOMETHING NEW THAT DOESN'T SUCK AND ISN'T A REHASH OF EVERYTHING ELSE!

I don't get it. There seem to be more bands than ever...and not a one of them sounds original. Hell, they don't even try to sound original. There are more genres and sub-genres than ever before...a sound tailored to almost any taste. And they're all pretty fucking boring.

Sure sure sure...blame it on the record companies. Easy target. Just remember, they're only selling what someone else is creating. Sure, they're scum...but they can only do so much.

I honestly can't remember the last big thing. What? Grunge? That was mostly just punk, 15 years after it started. Swing? Another rehash. Rap? Hip hop? Pop? Country? Lady Gaga? That Minaj thing? Again, nothing NEW. As not only a musician but a music fan, it makes me want to scream! No wonder all anyone listens to is old stuff. The new stuff sucks. So, maybe it's better to copy something old and good than try to create something new that will fall on deaf ears.

OK, you could ask me why I'm not writing the next big thing. Maybe I have been...but I've been doing it so long that I'm well-past any point of relevance. I write all sorts of stuff. People like it...but it ain't "hit" material. I'm kinda glad about that. Hits are whatever the lowest common denominator will find popular. Luckily, I haven't sunk that low. Yet.

But really, where is the new music? Where are the pissed off teens, flipping the bird to the world and making their own sound? Where are the idealistic college students trying to change the world? They're around...copping everyone else's sounds and hoping to make it onto American Idol or whatever hunk of shit TV show or web site they think will make them famous.

I used to be able to hit the low end of the radio dial and find something new and interesting. Nope. Not any more. Just more bands rehashing the same sounds, and honestly, if I hear one more whiny white girl singing about anything, I just may go berzerk. Lately, I've been hearing classic rock from the college and indie stations. Sweet Jesus wept...

Maybe music has lost it's cultural value to western society. No one cares. It's like an overload. There's so much out there that no one can find it. It's easier to listen to what you're told to listen to. The corporations still own the airwaves, and it's cheaper for them to keep on churning out crap than invest in something new and unproven.

I've been turning more and more to non-western sounds...just because I need to hear something fresh, at least to me. Music is about sound. Have we run out of ideas for sounds? Have we all become so jaded that we can no longer enjoy anything new? Have I just become too old to get it? I don't think so. While nothing thrills me like the sound of a loud guitar, I can get into all sorts of sounds. I like to hear things that I'm unfamiliar with. Maybe I'm an odd man out in that regard.

Maybe the creation of all of the separate musical genres has finally killed music. People will ask, "Well, what does it sound like?"...expecting an answer that they can relate to. Personally, I'd like to hear someone say "It sounds like nothing you've ever heard before!" Now THAT would intrigue me!

Years ago, I met Sam Phillips. He gave the world rock and roll. He took the initial chances. He recorded the blues guys, R&B guys, country singers, black musicians and white musicians. He was a business man. He would record anything, any time, anywhere. All you had to do was pay him. When he heard something that he knew, deep down inside, that other people would want to hear, he made the deals to record and release that sound. Sam and I were talking once, and I was trying to use the appropriate generic terms; rock & roll, rockabilly, blues, country, pop, etc... Sam put it in a way that only he could. In that deep Alabama drawl of his, he sounded almost pissed off at my ignorance and told me, "It's all rock and rollllll, maaaan!" I understood him completely. If it rocks, it moves you. It gets inside of you. It takes you over. I haven't heard anything new like that in a long, long, long time.

Maybe it's over. I hope not. I hope someone out there proves me wrong.