How I Was Abandoned by Modern Rock

I am a man.  Beyond that, though, I’m a muti-dimensional, complex human being; a person capable of feeling a wide range of emotions.  Why is it then that so much of today’s modern rock songs only pander to the roided up, angry, “powerful” man?  Why is it that I can no longer turn on a rock radio station and hear something that caters to me?  Something that speaks to who I am?  I hope to examine this phenomenon and give you insight into how I became the indie rock-loving hipster that I am today with this Random Rant.

The 1990s

Favorite Bands: Live, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, The Offspring, Oasis

Most of my youth I spent consuming the media that was presented to me.  Movies, music, television – I ate it all up.  This was before the time of the internet, before one could discover new music with a few mouse clicks and a pair of speakers.  Music was what MTV told me it was.  Grunge music was everywhere, sending hair bands and 80s metal bands to the curb.  Like most, the first time I can remember hearing an alternative rock song that I just flipped out for was probably when Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” first showed up on MTV.  As great as they were, though, I was still young and a few years away from being able to appreciate it all.

I hit my prime in the mid-nineties, with the groups listed above.  I remember the first time I heard “Lightning Crashes” by Live, knowing that it was a powerful song without fully able to comprehend what it was all about (“placenta” was a foreign term to a 10-year old).  And great music has always been able to do that, to take you to a place that you can appreciate without having experienced it yourself.  “Tonight, Tonight” or “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins are equally as touching, and beautiful.  And while these bands also had their moments when they rocked out like nobody’s business, they were always at their best when toned it down to subtly express their inner anguish or turmoil.  Oasis is right up there with them, as “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” remain some of my favorite songs to this day.

The other bands on the list – No Doubt, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters, etc. – were about having fun.  For as great as it is to have a song move you emotionally, a song that can make you smile, that can make you have a great time just by listening to it is also a wonderful thing.  And for as much as I hate the Offspring these days, as a 14-year old kid, “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” was good enough for me.

2000-2003

Favorite Bands:  Finger Eleven, Incubus, Relient K, The Grass Roots, System of a Down

It’s a bit weird, but for the most part, this period of my life was overrun by two bands: Finger Eleven and Incubus.  There wasn’t a whole lot else that mattered to me.  Looking at the above list of bands that I enjoyed, I notice that they all have the same thing in common.  They can be fun and a blast to listen to, and can also move you with lyrics that speak to you, or melodies that infect you.  I’ve always been a cheerleader for Finger Eleven.  Even now, though I don’t listen to them, I’m glad to see they’re finally achieving some mainstream success after all those years of being pushed aside by their label to make room for Creed and the likes.

But modern rock music started to change during this period.  As new bands like The Killers and Franz Ferdinand introduced people to an entirely new side of rock music, lesser bands began to garner much of the attention.  One look at the Billboard charts for 2003 can adequately show the change.  Bands like Trapt, Seether, 3 Doors Down, Chevelle, Nickelback, Staind, Saliva, and Cold had some of the top singles of the year.  Bands who worship the power chord, speak only in cracked, loud voices, and make rock music for the sex and the drugs were quickly becoming the norm.  

I felt abandoned by rock music because it was no longer speaking for me.  I didn’t drink, spend my weekends on endless sexual conquests, and I required more of my music than a “powerful” voice from some “powerful” dude singing over “powerful” chords.  Testosterone-fueled music overran rock stations and tv channels.  What happened to making music that was original, that was real, that was multi-dimensional?  As I soon found out, it was there all along.  I just wasn’t looking for it.

2004 – Present

Favorite Bands:  Of Montreal, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, The Shins, Muse

In 2004, a friend of mine showed me a CD from a group called The Postal Service.  A few days earlier, I had gone out and seriously considered buying Linkin Park’s Meteora.  The first time I listened to this group, consisting of Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, I was in love.  Literally.  This was music that spoke to who I was.  It was pop music, but its lyrics were deep and meaningful, its compositions fun and interesting, and the voice of Gibbard was astonishing.  I made my friend drive me to the local Best Buy so I could buy a copy for myself.  I wore that thing out over the next year or so.

However, the CD had a much larger impact on me.  It made me aware to and entirely different realm of music that they called “indie.”  I went on the internet and looked up The Postal Service.  *click* Their singer is Ben Gibbard. *click* He sings in a band called Death Cab for Cutie. *click* A girl named Jenny Lewis did vocals on The Postal Service’s album. *click* She sings for a band called Rilo Kiley. *click* Amazon.com says that if I like Rilo Kiley, I’d like a band called The Shins. *click* *click* *click*  

You see, as I was slowly becoming disenchanted with modern rock music, I was amazed by this wealth of different, talented, and interesting bands that were just waiting for me to listen.  Today, my favorite bands still share the same characteristics as they always have.  They are sometimes emotional, sometimes fun, and muti-dimensional.  Just like me. 

At the time of this writing, the Modern Rock Charts on Billboard.com still shows all of my least favorite groups.  But hidden amongst the Staind and 3 Doors Down are bands like Coldplay, Weezer, and, yes, Death Cab for Cutie.  As a society and a culture, we deserve more music like this:  music that speaks for itself rather than trying to prove its toughness, music that isn’t afraid to show different facets of the artist’s personality.  As humans, we are all different and equipped with the capacity to experience all that the world has to offer.  Shouldn’t our music reflect the dynamics of our being?  If you’re like I was, and you feel completely disenchanted with the music that the radio and MTV keeps sending at you in waves, look elsewhere.  There’s a whole mess of music waiting to be discovered.

And that’s about as cheesy of an ending as you’re gonna get!

Moods – Frenetic

I’m doing this week’s Moods all Jill style.  That includes a definition.  That’s what makes it awesome!

Frenetic – adj. – fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way.

So if you just so happen to be in a frenetic mood today, here’s a playlist to make sure you stay that way.  Each song has its wild and uncontrolled moments, and each is sure to please.  So enjoy this playlist, person.  I worked hard on it.  Kinda.

Frenetic

Top 5 Albums I’m Not Ashamed to Own (But Probably Should Be)

If you flip through your CDs, or scroll through the albums in your iPod, you’re likely to find at least one album that only you get.  Your friends diss it, the reviews for it are less than generous, and if anybody finds out that you actually own it – much less enjoy it – you’re probably due for a good water-boarding or three.  These aren’t guilty pleasures, just pleasures free of any guilt that probably should be associated with them.  You like these albums for no good reason, and to hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.  Yeah.  Here are my Top 5.

#5:  Sixpence None the Richer: Divine Discontent – Hey, remember “Kiss Me?”  That song is not on this album.  Nope, this one is filled with a bunch of songs you’ve probably never heard of (and a really fantastic cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”  When it released in 2002, Divine Discontent was considered a disappointment, as it’s predecessor went platinum, and the best this one could do was make #9 on the Christian charts.  But don’t count it out.  It’s filled with absolutely amazing songs like, “Breathe Your Name,” “Tension is a Passing Note,” and “Still Burning.”  There aren’t a lot of bad songs on this one, and if you still find yourself singing along to “Kiss Me” every time it’s played on your local mix station, you owe it to yourself to at least give this one a chance.  At the very least, it blows Leigh Nash’s solo album out of the water and makes me very excited for the possible Sixpence reunion in the near future.

#4: Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics – I got this in High School, being a big South Park fan (still am), and totally fell in love with it.  Some may say, “Well Cale, you’re well into your 20s now, and need to put that behind you,” to which I always respond with a jubilant playing of “Swiss Colony Beef Log” as sung by young Eric Cartman.  You see, the bottom line is that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are kind of like geniuses.  With cojones.  Any yahoo off the street can write a christmas song.  It takes a real man to write a song called “Christmastime In Hell” or “The Most Offensive Song Ever,” which chronicles an angel’s conversation with the Virgin Mary, reassuring her that she can perform as much oral sex as she wants and still be a virgin.  Mmm.  Yep, you can’t beat that.

#3:  Justin Timberlake: Justified – I can’t even remember the name of Justin’s most-recent album, and I don’t care enough about it to even bother looking it up (it had ‘sex’ in it, right?).  Bottom line – I didn’t care for it at all.  But his debut solo album, Justified, is possibly one of the best mainstream pop/R&B albums of the last decade.  Under the wing of Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, Justin was able to make an album that just keeps on giving.  “Senorita,” “Like I Love You,” “Cry Me A River,” and “Rock Your Body” were just the singles.  Everything else on here ain’t half bad either.  Of course, if you were one of the millions of people who bought this album, you already know that.

#2:  Finger Eleven: Tip – It’s a weird thing hearing Finger Eleven’s new songs on the radio every time I happen to turn it on.  The band has done well for themselves, considering their meager beginnings as the Rainbow Butt Monkeys (that was literally their name – I have that album too, but I’m totally ashamed of it).  By all accounts, especially my own, their best work came before they ever got their first song played on American radio.  Tip was released in 1997, and it is an absolutely amazing rock album from start to finish!  Scott Anderson has always had this unbelievable ability to write passionate and infecting vocal melodies that you can’t help but sing along with, and his lyrics have always been a little deeper than his contemporaries.  That doesn’t necessarily ring true on their new song, “Paralyzer,” but it’s true.  If you find yourself liking their last two albums, I highly suggest that you check out the first two.  Tip and Greyest of Blue Skies are masterpieces of alternative rock.  For realsies.

#1:  *NSYNC: No Strings Attached – If there was ever one album that could ruin any credibility that I have as a music blogger, this one has to be it!  The first time that I heard this album I was in high school, forced to listen to it by two girls who happened to be in complete control of the stereo of the car we were riding in.  I objected, I squealed, I pleaded, but they just kept on playing it and singing to it.  I don’t know how I actually got around to liking it, but it must’ve been around the time “It’s Gonna Be Me” came out.  That song is badass.  Add in “Bye Bye Bye,” “Digital Get Down,” and “It Makes Me Ill” and you’ve got yourself an album of unparalleled awesomeness (or gaiety…I can’t decide).  I know that this probably seem like a joke, but it totally isn’t.  In the liner notes of Justified, justin writes a thank you to his band-mates.  

Chris, JC, Joey, and Lance – It makes me proud to be your friend and watch you shine in all of your endeavors.  I can’t wait for the new *NSYNC album

Yeah, I can’t wait either asshole.  So quit with your “Hey, I’m like Michael Jackson from the 80s” routine and put some stuff together.  JC can only make so many terrible albums before we stop caring.  And we do care.  Well….I do.