Musing about music today

Hmm.

Whenever you listen to a record, what are you listening to it for?

Is it the fact you want to feel happy, therefore you hear an upbeat or energetic song?

Is it because you feel down and want to sooth your mind, hence you listen to something calming and smooth?

Or is it you are just pissed about anything you tune into something grinding and harsh-sounding?

What ever it is you listen to in any situation, have you considered the why and how music can turn from classics into disposable crap (aka Simple Plan)? The answer: MTV.

MTV's role in today's fickle world of musical tastes is simple: take, market like siao (crazy), and then dispose of the used 'artist' (hopefully Simple Plan). Fun huh?

If you look back over the years, any singer (notice I say singer) who's debut album turned them into MTV's Artist of The Month only lasted less that three years on the popularity charts. Eventually people wonder where they went (good examples: Ricky Martin, Sum 41 etc). Of course, then MTV pushes out a book or TV programme which shows what they (the discarded people) are doing at the moment, and then come back to forcing idiots (like Simple Plan, Hoobastank and 50 cent etc) down your throat.

One thing: due to their overly-excessive marketing of these people (or simply punk-whiners and bullet-riddled gangsters), the ability for truly talented people who want to be heard and have the talent to show for it are dutifully shunned aside because.... They don't want to be just another tool of MTV.

What happened to those days when we could call a song a classic? Is a 'song of the summer' considered a classic? Whatever happened to Rock N' Roll? It's been torn apart by MTV and mutilated and mutated into stuff that isn't considered Rock N' Roll anymore! (eg Simple Plan)

What can we do? Simple: Boycott MTV. Ignore their ridiculous charts and artists of the months, and songs of the summer. Remember: these 'artists' aren't long term (eg Britney Spears) and tend to resort to desperate measures to get publicity (eg Paris Hilton, but she ain't in music).

What else you can do.... just stick to YOUR tastes, YOUR opinion (just like me), YOUR own self identity. Most important of all, just peel MTV off your television choice channels. It'll do you good. Absolutely.

Cheers, (I did say I hated MTV right?)

Crawldaddy