Stagnant Music: How Exciting!
Since I've been in college I've felt some extreme disconnection from my blog, I've been posting very little and the posts which I have been creating have been anything but thought provoking. I'm hoping I can change that. Today I have a post which I feel will actually make you think and answer a very intersting question. My question today is what do you listen for when you listen to music? Or what do you want to hear when purchasing a CD? Not why do you like music but what exactly do you hope to hear?For me when I listen to music there is one very important thing that I listen for, that one thing is innovation and originiality. If you look on my other blog Imagine Echoes: The Review you will notice that one of the ratings at the bottom of each review is originality. I feel that it is one aspect of music that goes terribly overlooked, especially in the current era of music. Most music played on the radio is just a rehased sound of every other song that comes before it. It seems so rare to hear something unqiue and different. This is the reason why I love progressive rock, these bands are willing to push the envelope and explore new territories by incorperating varities of different sounds and styles. The long compositions telling extravegant stories with both their lyrics and instruments make it such a unique genre. Bands like Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis did phenomenal things creating album after album that sounded different than the previous.
I believe the art of orginiality has drifted far away from music which is certainly a sad thing, and an important factor why musical fads come and go. Some modern bands do utilize their creative spirit such as The Mars Volta and Tool but unfortunately most bands now and days are unwilling to make the bold step towards non-conforming music.
posted by Jeff at 1:27 AM
9 Comments:
originality is a big part of it--and one of the reasons that I, too, dismiss so much new music, which is very formulaic. You picked tow good examples of bands that break away from this.
But I don't always listen for the same thing in music. Sometimes I want the creative, the complex, and the challenging, so I'll break out the Rush, for example. But sometimes I feel like the tried and true, something mellow and familiar. It all depends.
-- david
I agree that I don't want it to sound like someone trying to be AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc. I want them to be themselves. Having a hint of who they were influenced by is fine, but don't copy them.
As a rule, I have to enjoy the music itself. That's why I buy the album. The lyrics could be great, but if the song doesn't keep my interest with creative riffs and a good beat, I'm bored.
David - I understand what you mean. I sometimes want something pretty basic and not complex but in general I like when bands are creative.
Mike - Yeah, influences aren't bad, it's just a matter of them not trying to exactly replicate the sound.
When I buy a new CD, what I want to hear depends if I'm buying an album from a band or artist I already know, or if I'm buying something completely new to me.
In any case, I'm always listening for good melodies. It had to be pleasing to the ear. I also try to determine how well the album is mixed - how well one can hear each instrument.
If it's an artist I already know and love, I'll usually want some originality and progression. I want to see what new sounds they can make. Sometimes, though, it's not bad to hear something familiar. When you buy a Johnny Cash album, you're looking for thumping guitar lines and a deep voice, and usually nothing more. You know what you're getting but you don't care.
Another question I ask when listening to music is, does it move me emotionally? Do I think it's beautiful? Does it make me want to dance? It is exciting? If any song or album provokes an emotional response from me, it has done its job.
I had to think about this for awhile. Yes, originality is a big part of it but when asked "what exactly do you want to hear" this is my answer:
I want to hear something that moves me. Something that touches beneath the surface and either makes me think, feel, want to dance, want to make love, or want to drive fast (I'm sure I can add to that list). So if the music moves me - both and/or instrumentally and lyrically, I have found something I like.
I agree with what you are saying about creativity. But even prog-rock got really stale in the late 1970s. The older YES stuff was boring.
I had the privilege of seeing YES, Pink Floyd (Meddle and Dark Side tours), and Genesis in concert.
What do I want when I listen to music? Creativity is definitely very high on my list. I think that's why my tastes range from Finno-Urgic rock to Dhol Foundation to Japanese fusion. That's why when I accidentally stumbled across Mars Volta's, 'De-Loused in the Comatorium', I was very pleased.
Sometimes I want lyrics that are so well crafted that I stop what I'm doing just to listen to them. I feel that way about the Bob Dylan release. I like the poetry of his words. Again, it's the creativity.
I want to be surprised when I listen. As the music progresses, I want to hear the tune go in directions that I had not anticipated, but immediately make sense when I hear them.
On the subject of prog-rock, I heard a music historian talk about that genre. He noted that the audience for prog-rock was overwhelmingly male. It was considered intellectual music. He was NOT saying that women are not intellectual. But he did strongly make the point that the female audience with the dollars in their purses at the time wanted, first and foremost, something they could dance to. That was why prog-rock, YES, ELP, etc. never had the really widespread commercial success of people like, ugh, Peter Frampton. The demographic appeal was too narrow.
My experience was that in the 1970s YES and other music like that was something we got high to. We definitely did not dance to it. We smoked up and kicked back. Long ago and far away.
I don't think anyone is truly original anymore. It's just a matter of how one interprets their influences and whther or not they grow from album to album. What I look for depends on the artist. I am afraid I buy a number of cd's by bands that sound a lot like 80's metal because that's what I like. So I may not be a real good one for talking about originality.
Where are you? I miss you!
When I listen to music, what I listen for depends on whether or not its music I've heard before.
If its new music, originality is very important. If it's music I've heard before I listen much more carefully. I listen for things I might not have heard before, nuances, "hidden" solos buried in the mix and things like that.
Take Chicago for example, their old school hard rock with horns, not their eighties prom fodder. Much of it is layered, it starts with one instrument-- a guitar, a bass, the drums, keys, sometimes even the horns. One by one the other instruments would come in usually the vocals would be the last ingredient in their musical stew. Sometimes I play close attention to the horns, other times the fiery guitar work of Terry Kath who somehow managed to play both lead and rhythm parts simultaneously with ease, and other times Peter Cetera's bass work or Danny Seraphine's drumming.
With Toto I listen to how well the different band members compliment each other, 2 keyboardists, 1 guitarist, 1 bass player, a drummer and sometimes additional musicians. But I particularly enjoy hearing the two keyboards play off each other and the fiery guitar work of Steve Lukather.
With Dream Theater it's largely drummer Mike Portnoy and keyboardists Kevin Moore (on the early stuff) and Jordan Rudess who catch my ear. On the older material I would marvel at the lyrical skills of Kevin Moore, but in all honesty, Rudess can play circles around him on the keys, but he's all chops and lacks Moore's general sense of melody.
Those are just examples of course... It really varies from group to group.
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