Rock is Undead
I listen to the radio at work regularly, a rock/nu-metal montage that labels itself Extreme. It’s not. It devotes significant portions of its programming to pot smoking, which, though a waste of airtime, I have no issue with. If they were really extreme, I guess they’d do crack or something. And its DJs are generally obnoxious, talk over the intros of songs (a peeve of mine), and say stupid things like: You catch the State of the Union last night? Bush says it’s OK to bomb Iraqi children. And I’m not making that up.
The problem I have with it is the music sucks and that’s not the fault of the radio station. There is very little new music out there. Period. If there is, they’re not playing it on the radio. Nothing is new, to wit:
* Boxcar Racer is Blink182 in disguise, and it sucks.
* Audio Slave is a combination of Chris from Soundgarden and the former members of Piss & Moan Against the Machine (they haven’t Raged in a long time), and it sucks.
* Perfect Circle is Tool, and it sucks.
* Zwan is remnants of Smashing Pumpkins and some others, and it sucks.
* Queens of the Stone Age is remnants of everyone in Seattle who ever had a band, and it sucks.
* Dave Grohl is on the new Nirvana release (new but it’s 10 years old). He also has a new Foo Fighters album out (it doesn’t suck), and he plays drums for Queens of the Stone Age.
* The Red Hot Chili Peppers,Pearl Jam,Rob Zombie,and Metallica are all on their 100th albums.
All these people who have been around for a long time and side projects mean there is not a new sound out there. It’s all re-hashed old stuff. How many Dave Grohl songs can they play on the radio in one day? About 30, I’d guess. These types of bands are the majority of what they play. They do play some new stuff (i.e., not rehashed marketing ploys) periodically, like Trust Company, Mudvayne, Taproot, and a few others.
It seems rock isn’t dying but anyone who is successful is just doing side projects or starting new bands for a dollar. And the bands that have been around for a while are sticking to formulas to create their music, at least it seems that way since it all sounds the same. I can’t tell a difference between any Metallica songs released since the Black Album. And our extreme friends eat it up and force it on us. And the pot smoking audience sits idly by going Dude, I’ve totally heard that before. Now where’s the Chips Ahoy?
And if somebody could explain to me why Rob Zombie has a career in music, I’d appreciate it. Is there anything more awful?
