I have very eclectic taste. My Ipod is so full of randomness, it’s ridiculous. It’s a surprise what decade will shuffle on, let alone what genre. I do have my favorites, though, across the wide range of all musics of all times. Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven” is agreeably one of the most amazing songs I will ever hear until the day I die. Most people enjoy it for the level of guitar skills. I enjoy everything. The guitar: sick. The vocals: sick. The lyrics: double sick. It’s eerie and slow and then suddenly fast and kicking your ass. It’s perfection. It’s not even a song; that thing is a work of art and an eargasm.
Any Def Leppard is also perfection to me. Thsi is probably because I was raised on it. They were my mom’s favorite band and were plastered on our television from the time I was born – you know, back when music television actually played music. (I’m looking at you, MTV and VH1. We are all very disappointed in you.) By the time I was using full sentences, I could tell you that the band was Def Leppard, the name of the song, and whether the drummer had one arm or two when the song was made just by hearing it. I don’t think I will ever accomplish anything else in life that will make my mother any more proud. Unless I figured out how to magicly give birth to a unicorn with a British accent that laid eggs full of $100 bills – that would probably top everything.
The Everly Brothers, a little bit of Elvis, Chantilly Lace by the Big Bopper, The Beatles (good God, The Beatles!), Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons….Heart’s Magic Man, Alone, and Never…
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata #14 (Moonlight Sonata) gives me chills every time and makes me want to cry and hold my breath and do a dramatic ballroom dance routine all at the same time. Für Elise, as well.
All of these are amazing and inspirational and memorable. These people and these bands are immortalized for their contributions to the arts and to the music world. But notice how all these that I’ve named are prior to or just barely a part of my generation. That’s the scary part for me. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy quite a bit of current music, but how much longer will To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left. To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right be done? In 3o years will people my age be saying that the song ‘Clique’ changed their life or changed their view of art, or even held real meaning to them? Frankly, that song just makes me want to immediately *click* to a different station.
‘Beauty and a Beat’ by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj is currently #9 on the Billboard Top 100. NUMBER NINE! And part of the lyrics are “Buns out, weiner,” which is then rhymed with “Selener.” Nicki, come on, that’s not even a real word.
I imagine she’d make a face kind of like this in response to critique…
Then I come across something even worse. A “song” called ‘Swimming Pools‘ by Kendrick Lamar. It’s a rap about drinking – how original, right? And it gives some typically amazing rap song advice:
I’mma show you how to turn it up a notch
First you get a swimming pool full of liquor then you dive in it
Pool full of liquor then you dive in it
I wave a few bottles then I watch em all flock
All the girls wanna play Baywatch
I got a swimming pool full of liquor and they dive in it
Pool full of liquor I’mma dive in it
Riiiiiiiiiiight. That seems “legitimate” and as if it took a whole lot of “talent.”
Another great example is an ad I recently saw on Youtube before the real song I was attempting to listen to, who’s chorus is just “Who booty is it? Who booty is it? Who booty? Who booty? Who booty is it?” Are you kidding me?! Who is deciding what to consider music these days?!
Then I started thinking. What if this is the good music now? What if…my old music soul is just taking over my ears? Then I thought again. And I realized that I don’t care if I have old ears. I will take my old soul and old ears and old good classic music over being relevent any day. And in addition to that, I will stay relevent according to the artists, bands, and music that continue to be of real talent with something new and something to contribute, and I’m definitely okay with that, too.
Related articles
- DEF LEPPARD To Play Entire ‘Hysteria’ Album During Las Vegas Residency (blabbermouth.net)
- Get the Crowd Going with These Karaoke Songs (apartmentguide.com)
Casual, Possibly-Nonsensical Ramblings 