Original Sounds Version 5.0
When it comes to radio stations, I have absolutely no loyalty. Of course I listen to KDHX but I also enjoy the oldies button. I confess that I also listen to corporate pop, hits from the 80's whenever I can find them and faux hip-hop.
This evening I caught the classic Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf. That, my friends, is music. Can you remember the last time you heard a contemporary song that rocked you like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody or Rush's Tom Sawyer? (Reader michael m. set me straight on the artist of this song.) And though the Cowboy Junkies did an adequate cover of Sweet Jane, wouldn't you much rather hear Lou Reed do it original style? Can anyone ever come close to Phil's "wall of sound" style? Rhetorical questions, all.
Oh, right...my point. Today's singers are nothing more than tweaked regurgitations of yesterday's has-beens. Sometimes the tweaking is bypassed altogether. One top 40 station in town plays a group called the Gorillaz. Lemme tell ya, the Gorillaz are a 100% rip off of a little group you may know as Cake. And the currenly popular Pussycat Dolls? Slap a slight Leeds accent on those birds and you're listening to the smooth sounds of the Spice Girls. And that damned Mariah Carey? Well, she sounds just like...uh..Mariah Carey from 15 years ago but before that she copied Whitney Houston.
I know there are not really any new ideas. And even dudes like Eminem, Jay-Z and Outkast are stealing someone else's sound. I guess I just wish it were a little less obvious.
This evening I caught the classic Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf. That, my friends, is music. Can you remember the last time you heard a contemporary song that rocked you like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody or Rush's Tom Sawyer? (Reader michael m. set me straight on the artist of this song.) And though the Cowboy Junkies did an adequate cover of Sweet Jane, wouldn't you much rather hear Lou Reed do it original style? Can anyone ever come close to Phil's "wall of sound" style? Rhetorical questions, all.
Oh, right...my point. Today's singers are nothing more than tweaked regurgitations of yesterday's has-beens. Sometimes the tweaking is bypassed altogether. One top 40 station in town plays a group called the Gorillaz. Lemme tell ya, the Gorillaz are a 100% rip off of a little group you may know as Cake. And the currenly popular Pussycat Dolls? Slap a slight Leeds accent on those birds and you're listening to the smooth sounds of the Spice Girls. And that damned Mariah Carey? Well, she sounds just like...uh..Mariah Carey from 15 years ago but before that she copied Whitney Houston.
I know there are not really any new ideas. And even dudes like Eminem, Jay-Z and Outkast are stealing someone else's sound. I guess I just wish it were a little less obvious.
posted by SJM at 7:34 PM
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