Razorlight were right... the songs on the radio DO sound the same...(OR we need a new movement)
Everyone looks the same too, but that's off topic.
At least they all sounded the same when i was listening to Kerrang! radio(English/British rock/indie/metal station).
Seriously, after 5 songs almost in a row of orchestral and/or electronic backed prog rock about conspiricys or space or the ultimate-ness of life that ALL SOUNDED THE SAME, i felt like bashing my book on my forehead and whining "OH MY GAW ITS LIKE THE EARLY/MID SEVENTIES AGAIN!"
And everyone knows what happened after that....
Trubble is..... it won't make all thet much difference. I can't help thinking that punk really IS dead, and any more so called 'punk explosions' will just be half-hearted and fizzle out after about 3 bands trying to make it happen, because it's been done. You can't shock anymore. They sell safethy pin earrings with jangly stuff on in Topshop. They sell ties saying 'PUNK' in claire's. A girl walks down the street with short spiky blue hair and no-one gives a shit anymore. The movements evolved until everyone on the radio stations and everyone on the high street noticed how fucking cool the whole thing is and encouraged it in everyone.
So, in response to the boring music, we can't bring punk back again, it hasn't been away long enough, there are still taggers on, it'll have to wait at least another 10 years before it can come back all shiny and look and sound even slightly fresh, so, we need a
NEW MOVEMENT.
We need something actually ORIGINAL, something that WILL shock, something that makes people sit up and listen and think 'whoah, what the fuck IS this', like when the radio stations heard the first punk records, the first hip hop records, even the first Rock n Roll records. Something interesting. New.
Trouble is, it's really difficult to be original. You could do what Johnny Ramone did back when he decided he wanted to make music, and that is stop listening to ANYTHING. Just quit. Be your own ipod. Seal yourself off from all influence. I don't know about you, but that would drive me a little insane. Besides, what The Ramones did wasn't purely original anyway. It was just Rock n Roll stripped down to it's very bare bones, most Ramones fans will tell you that. When they started out they themselves thought they were a Bubblegum band. (I have no idea what that is, but the images it conjures seem ridiculous but kind of believable).
Truth is, you're never going to be COMPLETELY original. Someone will have done it before you. If you think you're playing a completely new kind of music, it's probably just a couple of old kinds of music mashed up. If you'd never heard music in your life, and then you invent an instrument and start to play a tune on it, that's probably going to be original.
But a new movement, it could happen, and people might think of 2007, or 2008, or 2009, or whenever anyone gets round to it, like they think of 1976/7. 'Oh yeah, that was the year ****** started. Yeah, when i was your age i was one of them.I had all *****'s records, you know. I wore ******, ******, did *******, everything. It's fuckin dead now, of course. All this shit nowadays, that's not real ******, it's pop shit.'
All a musical/cultural movement needs to get started, really, is a couple of bands that have something that sounds fresh and original, yet sound similar, and have a very new, very different, distinctive look, which is nevertheless similar. Then they influence a load of other kids who think 'wow, i BELIEVE in this! I wanna DO this!'. They form bands too. The two original bands, and maybe later a coupke of the influenced bands, get really popular, people hear about their crazy ways/look/music/morals/ideas, newspapers get worked up, parents worry when thier kids start looking like these bands. A couple of artists join in too. They may design album covers for said bands, or just have art that carries very much the same original style of the music. This all sweeps a western country(probably USA or UK), spreads to other westen countries, and then you have a movement. To my small understanding.
So. Crash course on starting a movement. So GET OUT THERE AND DO IT!!!
Or maybe if i'm so bothered i should give it a shot myself.
This said, even though the songs on the radio all sound the same, i'm still going to buy Muse's latest album. Because even though they are one of said pompous pseudo-prog bands, they do it the best out of all of them.
*very fast end-of-radio-advert-voice*ThisBlogWasNotIntendedToOffend,HurtTheFeelingsOfOrAnnoyAnyoneWhoReadItOrWhoLikesTheKindOfMusicIDon'tAndIfYouWantToTakeUpAnIssueWithMeAboutThatKindlyDon't,JustDismissMeAsTheIdiotic,NaiveChildThatIAm.NotThatIThinkItWillDoAnyOfTheAboveButIHaveLearnedToPutSimilarDisclamersAtTheBottomOfBlogsInGeneral
At least they all sounded the same when i was listening to Kerrang! radio(English/British rock/indie/metal station).
Seriously, after 5 songs almost in a row of orchestral and/or electronic backed prog rock about conspiricys or space or the ultimate-ness of life that ALL SOUNDED THE SAME, i felt like bashing my book on my forehead and whining "OH MY GAW ITS LIKE THE EARLY/MID SEVENTIES AGAIN!"
And everyone knows what happened after that....
Trubble is..... it won't make all thet much difference. I can't help thinking that punk really IS dead, and any more so called 'punk explosions' will just be half-hearted and fizzle out after about 3 bands trying to make it happen, because it's been done. You can't shock anymore. They sell safethy pin earrings with jangly stuff on in Topshop. They sell ties saying 'PUNK' in claire's. A girl walks down the street with short spiky blue hair and no-one gives a shit anymore. The movements evolved until everyone on the radio stations and everyone on the high street noticed how fucking cool the whole thing is and encouraged it in everyone.
So, in response to the boring music, we can't bring punk back again, it hasn't been away long enough, there are still taggers on, it'll have to wait at least another 10 years before it can come back all shiny and look and sound even slightly fresh, so, we need a
NEW MOVEMENT.
We need something actually ORIGINAL, something that WILL shock, something that makes people sit up and listen and think 'whoah, what the fuck IS this', like when the radio stations heard the first punk records, the first hip hop records, even the first Rock n Roll records. Something interesting. New.
Trouble is, it's really difficult to be original. You could do what Johnny Ramone did back when he decided he wanted to make music, and that is stop listening to ANYTHING. Just quit. Be your own ipod. Seal yourself off from all influence. I don't know about you, but that would drive me a little insane. Besides, what The Ramones did wasn't purely original anyway. It was just Rock n Roll stripped down to it's very bare bones, most Ramones fans will tell you that. When they started out they themselves thought they were a Bubblegum band. (I have no idea what that is, but the images it conjures seem ridiculous but kind of believable).
Truth is, you're never going to be COMPLETELY original. Someone will have done it before you. If you think you're playing a completely new kind of music, it's probably just a couple of old kinds of music mashed up. If you'd never heard music in your life, and then you invent an instrument and start to play a tune on it, that's probably going to be original.
But a new movement, it could happen, and people might think of 2007, or 2008, or 2009, or whenever anyone gets round to it, like they think of 1976/7. 'Oh yeah, that was the year ****** started. Yeah, when i was your age i was one of them.I had all *****'s records, you know. I wore ******, ******, did *******, everything. It's fuckin dead now, of course. All this shit nowadays, that's not real ******, it's pop shit.'
All a musical/cultural movement needs to get started, really, is a couple of bands that have something that sounds fresh and original, yet sound similar, and have a very new, very different, distinctive look, which is nevertheless similar. Then they influence a load of other kids who think 'wow, i BELIEVE in this! I wanna DO this!'. They form bands too. The two original bands, and maybe later a coupke of the influenced bands, get really popular, people hear about their crazy ways/look/music/morals/ideas, newspapers get worked up, parents worry when thier kids start looking like these bands. A couple of artists join in too. They may design album covers for said bands, or just have art that carries very much the same original style of the music. This all sweeps a western country(probably USA or UK), spreads to other westen countries, and then you have a movement. To my small understanding.
So. Crash course on starting a movement. So GET OUT THERE AND DO IT!!!
Or maybe if i'm so bothered i should give it a shot myself.
This said, even though the songs on the radio all sound the same, i'm still going to buy Muse's latest album. Because even though they are one of said pompous pseudo-prog bands, they do it the best out of all of them.
*very fast end-of-radio-advert-voice*ThisBlogWasNotIntendedToOffend,HurtTheFeelingsOfOrAnnoyAnyoneWhoReadItOrWhoLikesTheKindOfMusicIDon'tAndIfYouWantToTakeUpAnIssueWithMeAboutThatKindlyDon't,JustDismissMeAsTheIdiotic,NaiveChildThatIAm.NotThatIThinkItWillDoAnyOfTheAboveButIHaveLearnedToPutSimilarDisclamersAtTheBottomOfBlogsInGeneral
I so agree maybe punk is dead I dont know
BUT I KNOW we need something new exiting something that make us say "what the bloody f*ck this is real!!"
thats what we need Im gonna give it a try
maybe I fail, mybe I change the world
who knows
Dumbfuck, May 12th, 2007 at 04:53:56pm
There are new movements now, you need to look for them.
The problem is that in the 70's everyone was the same, then after the Pistols, everyone started to wonder if it was a good idea. In the 80's we started to see more individualism and finally throught the 90's and to this day, everyone is trying to be different. I've metnioned this before, thought about it ages ago, and read my own thoughts in a book called...I can't remember, but I'll look for it later. 'Different' isn't different anymore. It's not shocking if everyone is totally whacked out on hair dye and tight jeans and stuff. This is because all that has become a uniform.
What's different than different? The same. Uniforms, real ones, looking alike. This will be the new different. It's what uniformed bands in the late 70's tried to do. It sounds stupid, but people are shocked to see teenagers in suits walking down the street. And hey, you dress smart, you look smart. I really hope that this is where ska will get kick started again. Uniformism and conformity are virtually untalked of, unthinkable. You wanna shock? There's how.
Anji, April 25th, 2007 at 09:24:37am
Thankyou, Vicious, for the third paragraph, it made me have a teensy bit of belief.
That may be what i could do. I could start a movement with WRITING....
Or not.
I'm not so sure about the music. I'm stuck in the confines of a band with a lead singer who wants complete centre stage and is scared of drums because she doesn't want us to be a 'loud band' when that is all i want to be. As well as the mythical 'original'.
HHHHHHHhhhhhhhmmmmm.
Boo Radley, April 23rd, 2007 at 03:49:03pm
Yeah, I agree with you.
But I'm actually starting to think that punk is dead, for the same reasons as you. About a year ago someone said in a magazine that punk is dead because it doesn't shock anyone any more and there's no resistance to it. I sort of understand that.
I think that movement's like punk rely on the image and beliefs a lot, and that's the bits that don't shock people any more.
& to be honest, I think you should give it a shot yourself. I don't know you personally, but I do think that you're one of the few people alive who could actually do it. I always notice that you have a way of thinking and writing, when I read your blogs, that's really unusual, but still interesting.
Oh, and I think someone needs to tell Claire's to get back to selling pink fluffy sh*t instead of black "punk" sh*t.
Vicious.., April 23rd, 2007 at 03:00:35pm
Your right I'm so tired off every one dressing in drainpipes and converse apparantly trying to state there individuality and be different when everyone knows that they are in the fashion here right now. It seems nothing can shock anymore and the way we are now I doubt we ever will. The kids are all too lazy and the bands are just a bunch of corporate rock hor3s! Good blog by the way very true =]
Revol, April 23rd, 2007 at 02:51:01pm