Radio Drones

Of late I have noticed an interesting phenomenon. There are many musical groups I like, but quite often I like them because of an album or song that is outside the band's usual style or subject matter. Three examples leap to mind: Metallica's Black Album; They Might Be Giants Flood; and Green Day's American Idiot. All three are, in my mind, masterworks, and yet the bands' fan bases seem to feel that they don't measure up to previous work. I have listened to earlier, and later works of these bands, and still find the albums mentioned to be superior, and definitely different. And that's what I like about them. I appreciate musicians who don't just find a formula and keep repeating it over and over(hear that Aerosmith and AC/DC?) I find it hard to fathom why anyone would want to hear the same three songs with different lyrics for fifteen albums. Metallica's earlier work was very gritty, and angry, and rough, and many of their fans resented the polished sound of the Black Album, whereas I like it for just that reason. I have also heard that Green Day fans either love or hate American Idiot, often saying things like, "I liked them better before they quit the booze and drugs." Personally I don't find American Idiot to be that different from any of their earlier stuff; it's just more polished and focused. And I have yet to hear a Green Day album that I didn't like. My own fave, Blue Oyster Cult, had some clunkers in the '80s(Club Ninja being the worst), but at least they were trying new stuff. I welcome change and growth in my music. One of my favorite performers was Ronnie James Dio, who fronted for Black Sabbath after Ozzy left, and then went out on his own after 3 albums with Sabbath. I followed his solo career closely, even saw him live three times, but he had used up all his ideas by the third solo album, and I lost interest.

I know that people sometimes fear change, which is why American Idol is so popular. (Anyone who is truly original usually doesn't make it past the first cut on that televised freak show)(and I'm sorry, Puddy, Clay may be a great person, and have a good voice, but he is hardly anything new musically) But I just don't get how groups or performers can keep making cookie cutter songs and albums, and people hail it like it is a cold glass of Gatoraid in the Sahara. They may not have been the greatest musical geniuses of all time, but I appreciated bands like DEVO, The B-52's, and The Go-Go's just because they didn't sound like everybody else. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between Brittany Spears, Christina Aguillera, and Jessica Simpson without looking at them. And the boy bands are even worse. Pop music today is more formulaic than a high school chemistry class. And the rock scene isn't much better. Bands either sound like Limp Bizkit or The Offspring, with the occasional gem like Disturbed or Godsmack. Come on, people. Embrace the new, the original, or someday all music will sound like the stuff they play at the local mall.

Marius