Yesterday my wife brought something to my attention about how "American Idol was killing music". I laughed. How can American Idol kill that which is mostly dead, or rather forgotten?
Let me explain.
I love music, and always have. I did my stint on the road with a band (as a bass player) and I am a collector of great (at least great in my opinion) music. One thing I have noticed though, is that my collection leans more to the past than to the present. There is something missing in modern, overly produced, candy coated pop stuff they (the proverbial powers that be if you will) call music.
I can appreciate that people like Ms. Spears, and the like are entertaining. I am not going to come down on them saying that they are destroying music. They aren't. They are merely a sideshow. They fill their role as an attention getter, pure entertainment. Unfortunately they have become media whores, and in my opinion not by their own design. I think in today's world the mass culture has left the muse for the celebrity.
Let me give an example.
I know someone, who at this time shall remain anonymous, that was in arguably one of the largest bands of the nineties, and is still relevant today (although he is no longer with them). I could go to the grocery store, the movies and wherever else I wanted with him without anyone saying anything. Why? Because his face isn't plastered all over kingdom come as a burgeoning sex symbol. He is arguably one of the greatest guitarists alive, and if you saw him play, you would need to retrieve your face from the floor in a cup as it would have been melted off by his sheer virtuosity. But next to your face you would notice something else that had melted. And that my friends is what is missing today. You would notice something that is lying there that you haven't seen in a while. And while this may sound trite, it is true, it is your heart.
Now I can sense the rolling of eyes and the "Oh my goodness what cheese is this" escaping your lips, but bear with me. When is the last time you saw a musician, that is escalated in today's society, that has a voice within culture, that you couldn't take your eyes off of when he/she was applying their craft. The type of rapt attention that makes your cheeks hurt because you can't help but smile, or your mouth dry because you just stare with your mouth open. Yes today's music can get my booty shakin', and my pulse racin', but there is more to it than that. I think that if you are any sort of musician, or any sort of true music lover you know what I mean. There is a deeply profound connection with true music. Music that comes from your heart and soul, where the author of said music must have bled to some degree, and cried to some degree. A song that is wrenched from personal experience other than a teenage breakup, or who can I f*** tonight. Something that makes your spirit move, which in turn causes your body to move, which in turn locks you in, to where you don't even know anything other than that song, that refrain, those notes, those words screaming down on you like f-16's on a midnight patrol in Baghdad.
That is what is missing, and don't you miss that? Don't you miss those feelings?
That is all.
The Capt.
