Ooh La La

A recent Guardian article discussed the decline of Indie or guitar driven rock.  Yes, rock and guitar based music has been in a sales and artistic decline for quite a while, but I wonder if our notions regarding the state of new music is based on flawed assumptions and the usual suspects for assigning the blame?

Yes, the record companies have done a poor job of artist development, but they have always had a hit or miss track record of doing this.  Several weeks back I posted excerpts from a 1964 interview with Nat "King" Cole where he blasted the industry for it's failure to develop and nurture talent.  1964 was, of course, year zero of the British Invasion and the beginning of a long prosperous stretch for the labels.  The record companies shoulder some of the blame, but not all of the blame as so many would love to assign.

In an era of file sharing and pop culture obsession with music downloads we should probably consider the effect of sensory overload that many young and aspiring artists may be experiencing.  When every song by every artist is readily available, on demand, and accessible from any location in the world, coming to grips with so many musical ideas is almost impossible to fathom.

How can a young artist immerse themselves in a select handful of influences and genuinely study, absorb and understand concepts when thousands of ideas bombard them daily in the stream of popular culture, mass marketing, and the constant pounding of peer pressure?  Quantity is never a replacement for quality.  An overview is never as wise as in-depth study; specialization is a necessity for young artists.  Experimentation and expansion is something to be addressed once semi-established.  You cannot push new boundaries if the basic skills are not resting on strong foundations.

Something has gone wrong on a basic level.  Chemistry and charisma is missing.  You don't have to be the second coming of Bob Dylan, you don't need to be a better guitarist than Jeff Beck, and you don't need to shock the senses just to slash your name into the collective psyche.  The batteries of popular music today seem to be losing their charge, if they aren't outright dead.  

I referenced The Faces in the title of this post.  They weren't the greatest band in the world, they weren't the most challenging either.  What The Faces brought was the energy of a loose band, obviously enjoying the sermon they were preaching to the congregation.  They were the feel of a warm and boozy Saturday night in the spring, spent on the town with your girl.  The oddly pretty girl, with freshly painted toes and the mischievous little crooked smile.

The members of The Faces were steeped in R&B and displayed the wisdom of musicians who had played this music for years, night after night, nights in dingy little rooms where the only audience was the people you are playing with.  Nights fueled with wine and illicit substances and sharing the secrets of the music that left your soul full and warmed.  They came together after spending years in other bands, stomping the stage in clubs and theaters across England.

Yes, they were looking for cash and booze and dope and girls and all the fat trimmings, and who's to say today's bands are all that different in that regard?  Still, they had the base experience in a sound that inspired them.  The joy and love of the music seeped from them like sap oozing from tree bark in summer.

When I listen to so many bands today I hear a disconnect between the music and the lyrics and the people creating the sound, the joy is absent.  The love of their music, their own songs, seems replaced with a forced effort to rouse a sing-along experience on thin words.  Raunchy, loose riffs have been pushed aside.  No one really seems all that comfortable.

As light in weight, and as lacking in mass as The Faces were, in today's musical environment, they would kill.  Joy can trump all.