Saturated In Sound 02.27.06
Posted by Jared McGuckin on 02.27.2006
I'm back with a new feature, no emails, and why its a good idea rock stars die early!!! All of this inside!
Hello friends, and welcome to yet another edition of Saturated In Sound. It's been a pretty rough two weeks here on the home front, but I'll spare you the details, because I'm sure you couldn't care less. This week was a busy one for New York Knicks, as they continue to "polish the silverware on the Titanic" as it were. Isaiah Thomas is filling the team with falling stars and big egos. It looks like he's looking for the quick fix, but what Thomas doesn't understand is that this team is so far beyond repair its not even funny. It's going to take a few years of solid coaching, good draft picks and patience. But, hey, what the hell do I know, I've only been watching the Knicks since I was 12. Anyway, on with the show…
People Actually Read My Column, I Swear…Look at All the Mail
Ok, that's a lie, there's no mail. But that's ok. I've had my fair share of mail over the past couple of weeks talking about "You-Know-Who". Not to mention there was the backlash edition, two weeks ago which was nothing but email, arguments and defensive positions. A good time was had by all, I'm sure. But no mail this week, sorry to disappoint. Well, I'm about as sorry as you are disappointed.
Look…A real column, not that cop out email bullshit edition nonsense
Yes it's true, I jumped the shark 2 weeks ago with the email edition of Saturated In Sound. Personally, but I think that topic deserved it, just to put it to rest and we don't have to talk about it again. And yes, it's true; it was a very busy week for me so the idea for an email edition of my column seemed pretty good…in theory. In practice it took more then six hours to complete that one, oh well. This week should be good, it's a real column with some damn good observations and no ranting. At least, I don't plan on ranting. Now that I've sold the hell out of it, let's see how I can let you all down.
Recently, a mystery photo appeared on the 411mania staff forums that seemed to baffle some of us in the music zone. Well, it baffled me at least. The photo was posted as sort of a guess who, type of thing.
This was the photo:
Like I said, I had no idea who this was. My best guess was Danny Bonaduce.
To my surprise it was revealed to be none other then the frontman for the recent 411 music zone's most controversial band, Guns‘N'Roses. Yes folks, that's Axl Rose. I'm not going to rip on him, it's just that he looks like Ali G for Christ's sakes. It's almost unbelievable. If you add his current look and all the Chinese Democracy talk, speculation, and drama together; one might come up with an answer akin to a "fall from grace", or perhaps not. And that's a long drawn out, overly ambitious introduction into this week's topic of "Our Rock Stars are Getting Old".
Like the rest of us, our favorite musicians of yore are getting old, and just like you change, they change. Unfortunately it almost always seems they make a change for the worse. Bands and musicians ranging fromMetallica and the aforementioned Guns N Roses, to Eric Clapton and Ozzy Osbourne have seen their best days behind them, yet they try to convince us, and possibly themselves, otherwise. Which leads to an excellent question, are the falls from graces that plague musicians just a part of the aging process, or is it just that their talent and creativity have run dry? Well, I don't really know for sure, but I do know that it's a rare occurrence when a band can maintain the same level of musicianship and interest in their music as they have in the past. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping we don't see bands like Slipknot, Korn, or Fear Factory playing music when they are climbing that 60 years of age mark. Look at the Rolling Stones, they're a joke. The music they make is substance free, and full of fluff and half assed attempts at songs that made them popular 30 years ago. They're obviously in it now for the money. Every time the strike it out on the road, they become the highest grossing concert of the year.
The Rolling Stones are not the only ones clinging to former glory, although they do it the best. As the years go by, all the greats of the past put out a lame record every now and again and remind us of what was. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant come to mind immediately. This was once one half of Led Fucking Zeppelin! Have you heard the latest albums from these guys? It's almost unbelievable that they were once part of the biggest and possibly the most influential rock band in history. They are both shells of their former selves. It's almost sad. Like I said before, I'm not looking for musicians to go on forever, but I do wish they would know when to bow out gracefully. But then again, I think Page and Plant are the exceptions to the rule, because no matter what they do, it will never get any better then the Zeppelin stuff and moreover, their contribution to Zeppelin will overpower anything else these guys do with their career. When they die, they will always be remembered for their work the Yardbyrds and .
Which leads me to an interesting question concerning dead rock stars and what ifs. As we all know, young talented musicians have a way of dying early and my question is, how would they evolve with music if they were still alive? I'm not even going to attempt to answer that one as there is no right answer and no way of truly knowing. But what I do is that its good thing bands like Nirvana are gone. Nirvana rose the top quickly and after Cobain swallowed a shotgun shell, the band solidified their place in music history. They left on top, there was no "fall from grace" or a fade away. To my understanding, that's what Cobain feared the most hence the bullet breakfast. Now we can listen to Nirvana with a sort of wondering ear, wondering what they would sound like or how they would have evolved over the years. It's those questions of "What if…" that will only increase the legendry status of a band, because when you leave when you're at the top, you will always be remembered and loved.
When you die early there was no time for big mistakes. There wasn't enough time for career threatening decisions. Jimi Hendrix for example, was only 27 years old when he died. He didn't get a chance to ruin his career, or fall off the musical map. He came in, did his thing, blew everyone away, and left. There's nothing more to it. We didn't get to see, Jimi get in legal troubles or see him become some sort of crazy recluse. We saw him at the beginning of his career, on top, and that's where he left. And you know something, I'm glad. I'm not glad that he's dead, or that we've heard all the Hendrix we will ever hear, but I'm glad we got to see, hear and appreciate him for his talent. We didn't get to pity him because he wasted it. Elvis Presley created a gigantic splash when he came on the scene and it ended with him playing Vegas. Elvis died on a fat drug addict who died on the toilet. Everyone will remember that. Everyone got to see the slow steady decline of a man who once meant so much to rock and roll, slowly let himself go and become a joke.
As it stands today, I think there are only a small handful of bands that will be remembered in ten years time, but I don't think there are any legends in the making, at least none like the ones I mentioned above. There are too many musicians staying well past what their talent allows and I guess that's what it come to. Some of the most revered greats in music and film died before their time. They died with seemingly unlimited potential, but the fact of the matter is, if they had longer, they ran the risk of not being remembered at all.
Take Me Off The Shelf
Korn – Korn
This week, I'm throwing my support behind Korn's debut record. I heard about these guys just before they broke out with their first single. I was 15 years old and in high school, and for me, this CD was about as angry as it got for me. I loved the all the raw emotion and rage that was featured here. Sadly, each album after this one got progressively more experimental and less angry. But, I can still toss this one on and enjoy it. Although my music tasted and gotten heavier by the year, I can still hear the fury put forth by Jon Davis and company.
WTF Moment Of The Week
A new feature! I can sense the excitement. Every week, I'm going to share with you my WTF moment in music of the week, just like the title says. Make no mistake about it, it's just another outlet for anger for me.
As reported on 411 last week: Bono and Bob Geldof have been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Award.
"They are the typical kind of high-profile, celebrity nomination," said Nobel watcher Dan Smith, former head of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. However, Smith said the committee was more likely to use Nobel prestige to propel some lesser-known person into the world spotlight.
Geldof, former leader of the Irish punk group the Boomtown Rats, was nominated for organizing last year's Live 8 benefit concerts, while U2 frontman Bono was proposed for his fight against world poverty.
Credit: Billboard
I admit, I don't really follow the Nobel Peace Prize all that much, but I was always under the impression that the nominees were people who made a difference in the world over the past year. What the hell did Bob Geldof do? He put on a concert people were interested in for about 3 weeks. And the only reason that people showed even the slightest bit of interest is because Pink Floyd was playing. Nobody gave a flying fuck about the cause at hand, and that includes Geldof himself.
And Bono? Please, talking about world peace and poverty doesn't mean your doing something about it. It means you're talking about it. I don't know if he gave any money for the cause, but if he did, that's not the answer either. Throwing money at a problem does not make it go away. How can Bono be nominated for a peace prize when he evokes such a strong feeling of violence within me?
I don't care if they're just "celebrity nominations", maybe they should nominate people who are doing something worthwhile and deserving of some real recognition.
If I'm pimping these guys, does that mean they're my ho's?
It this week's column seemed a bit short and rushed…that's because it was. I promise I'll be back next week with more ideas and opinions to make you mad, event hough you know I'm right. But to close this week I'm going to leave you with a quote by Jimi Hendrix pertaining to the discussion above,
"I will be dead in five years' time, but while I am here, I will travel many highways and I will, of necessity, die at a time when my message of love, peace, and freedom can be shared with people all over the world."
