1I’ve spiralled down the critical path for awhile now and have begun to have definite opinions about music, which probably stems from my inability to make it without others asking me to kindly keep it to myself. I can barely watch MTV or even its better offspring M2 during videos without clicking the remote to better channels.2
But I was watching last night as the redheaded Nikka Costa strutted her stuff on the stage and I wondered to myself, “Who dyes her hair?” and “When will that scarf flop to the side and give me a peek at her boobs?” Shortly after that I wondered what chimpanzee programmed the synthesizer behind her vocals and why do the flavor of the hour bands get more airplay than my favorite bands when they work their asses off. Why does the canned beat that I’ve heard for years with a new shiny girl singer/guy singer/girl group/guy group garner so much money? Basically, why does my favorite band kick ass and no one cares?3
The reason is simple: teenagers control the airplay on MTV and your favorite Clear Channel Communications radio station. Don’t think that they don’t. As an adult I have a CD player in every place I go to listen to the music I was marketed to as a teenager and in college. As I get more attached to my collection of albums and music tastes, the music industry keeps trying to find something new to hook the younger generation who will inevitably complain about their music not getting any airplay and start to keep a set of about 20-30 albums in rotation in the CD changer. It’s easier to keep liking something than to find something new to like. Just like it’s easy to hook teenagers on bubble gum pop.
My appreciation of music doesn’t change every two months and demand that I absolutely must have this new album. As you get older to start building sets of stuff you like so can pontificate about which album is better than the other and say things like “Keep It Like a Secret was good, but Perfect From Now On is a classic.” Or “All That You Can’t Leave Behind is the best U2 album since Achtung Baby but neither lives up to their earlier stuff.” These are good arguing points when you are drinking with the people that introduced you to the stuff, the people that made you fanatical about the stuff.4
So you’re stuck, your tastes have evolved beyond what popular, and even alternative, radio and TV have to offer, but you still want to find kick-ass new music like what you already like, what do you do? Besides waiting for the next album from your favorite band that may have peaked on their last album never to return to their earlier greatness, that is.
I have a few answers in that regard. The first one is to cancel your subsriptions to Rolling Stone and SPIN and start subscribing to CMJ New Music Monthly. They won’t tell you explicitly who to listen to, but they’ll send you one CD a month of 20 songs from 20 different albums. Usually the better songs. Even with that they review even more albums and have genre mappings to go with them and their R.I.Y.L. feature: Recommended if you like.
I like to check for album release dates at this site. I betya didn’t know Wilco has a new album slated for July, didya? Or Built to Spill either? Well most of the dates are optimistic, so be prepared for disappointment when the Built to Spill album isn’t released on time.5
There are also a few things called file sharing programs that I’ll sound like an ass for pitching as my own special discovery. But if you’re among the disillusioned that don’t know what to do since Napster got whacked, try out the variety of Gnutella clients that exist to crush the RIAA and make them whimper.
Lastly, convert your friends. Make them see it your way, or as Built to Spill put it: “Share our perfect opinion, it’s the ideal ideal.”
[1] In German alt is old, alter is older, Mann is man, and in English alt. is short for alternative and pop is short for popular.6 The motive behind the title resides in some people’s constant need to be on the cutting edge of music and how it keeps getting harder as you get too old for that sort of crap even though you want to keep with the times.
[2] Usually Sci-Fi, Comedy Central, or the Discovery Channel.
[3] By the way, my favorite band can kick your favorite band’s ass.
[4] My favorite obscure music argument is about who is the better songwriter or artist: Jeff Tweedy or Jay Farrar?
[5] Guess what? Pitchfork says the BTS album was slated for June 19, it’s June 22 and Amazon says it’ll be out in July.
[6] Also alter in English is to change or modify something, but I figured you knew that already.
Further Reading/Delving:
The Official Flaming Lips site
Alt. Country Tabs this site is great but it was moving this week and I’m not sure if it is ever coming back.
