Jeff Pollack: 10 Bands Shaping The Post-Nirvana Era
Not 'meh,' but close. Unfortunately, the best most original stuff is too quirky for major airplay/pop sales.
Look at Rebecca Black... the LOWEST common denominator mindless schlock with kindergarten melody maybe ever.
Funny how the mind works: quick tangent to corporate profits at an ALL-TIME high while RECOVERY struggles (see other blog post today), and the GOP's hugely rich forming a civil war (see other blog post today "there’s class warfare, all right,” warns Warren Buffett, “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning."). The money-wads are smiling to the bank, while trying to deregulate even MORE (GOP, Tea Party - 'down with regulation'), pollute MORE (GOP, 'curtail the EPA!'), lay off more people, make more profits, cut corners and let inferior (cheap) materials blow up like Halliburton's work on the Deepwater Horizon.... and we're left with huge unemployment, whole areas becoming uninhabitable, eating oil-soaked (now radioactive) shrimp (G.E.'s nuclear reactors [at Fukushima] have been cited as design/flawed for awhile, and they're cited as one of the most profitable companies in the post-linked article) while we're left humming "Friday, Friday, I'm so fucking glad it's Friday!! Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!!!"
Oh Jesus. This is right now, not some time in the future. I really hope this makes even one person get more involved in trying to make the world a little better, whatever that means to them.
I wish there was one person I could find to just go punch in the face. But I guess it doesn't work that way.
Corporations need to be reined in by the people. We have to work hard and fast on that.
And get our anger out through rock and roll, or in the gym, or something.
Here's to the rock and roll:
First of all, post-Nirvana rock and roll?
Kurt Cobain charging balls to the wall, strangling his guitar neck through walls of raw distortion, and howling out melodies and sensitivities is something I see nothing of in the list that follows.
Nirvana was Nirvana, and these are all post-Nirvana "rock" bands of some kind, but here are my quick takes because I'm here already:
His list, followed by my takes:
Arcade Fire: interesting, entertaining, overly-dramatic; does push the envelop for "new rock entertainment"
Coldplay: safe, cozy, too-often limp rock and roll, good for driving maybe for a little while. "Fix You" is nice now that I've seen the incredible "Young at Heart" and watched an 80-year-old guy sing it with hard to express emotion, as his friend - with whom he was to sing the song as a duet - died weeks before the performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_n0zvoHlVk
Dave Matthews Band: groovy, quirky; I have a few CD's
Death Cab For Cutie: I like it, I should buy some CD's/downloads; Soul Meets Body pushed metaphysically and sonically forward I thought as much as anything that year (wow, 2006)
Green Day: yes, great band; rock and roll, with edge mostly alive; American Idiot puts them near the top of this list
Linkin Park: I don't get it
Muse: I don't know about it, it hasn't affected me
Pearl Jam: whatever, probably is a good time if you see/saw them someplace where a beer's less than $5
Radiohead: in the top few of this list; definitely has a forward-thinking sound; I like where Thom Yorke is coming from personally/politically, but don't buy the music for some reason
The White Stripes: finally a band with some of the visceral appeal of Nirvana; I like it; but Jack's spooky/drugged out (is he a Satanist or not? thing) is distracting to me
Funny the writer had a few smaller bands, Fleet Foxes (interesting pop) and Bright Eyes that are interesting. He mentions legacy... ah, ok. I think alot of the promise of 'post-Nirvana' rock is that we get so many flavors from all over, and technology is making it so easy to record music and share things. Technology can help us share things like Black's "Friday," or share things that turned into Egypt's social rebirth. What a breadth of opportunity... of places to spend our energy.
A collection of ideas, letters, opinions, and inspiration. On freedom, on Generation X, modern society, the ethereal dance of the unconquered mind (ok, that's the name of a photo exhibit in San Jose, but it's nifty sounding), the Democratic Party, how much rock and roll and the web will fuel activism, things worth chronicling, things we can improve, and the future.
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Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.
What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.
Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?
Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.
Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)
Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.
But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)
Still we are finite on this ride.
It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.
For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.
What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.
Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?
Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.
Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)
Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.
But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)
Still we are finite on this ride.
It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.
For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.
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