It was YOU, Bubba.

[AFK]

Well, I hope you're fucking happy.  You've turned the world into a homogenized, sterile plastic diorama.  Everything fun is illegal, everything boring and trite is glamorized, and they've even made a kid-bop version of Devo.

Oh, Goddammit.

Or kill me.

From the OP, because I think this is what it was really about, or at least that's how I took it.

And music is but one symptom of this.  Movies, art, fuck even politics. 

Even when someone tries to be "shocking" it's boring.  It's like society has forgotten how to be original.  Some say "Everything has been done"  That's such a lazy cop-out. 

Sometimes I think it is because there is just too much.  Now, anyone who can afford a laptop a Casio Keyboard, and a $30 music editing program can become a "rockstar" on Myspace.  Radio has become watered down, plasticized, DJ's are being replaced by computers. 

And 24 hour cable news seems pointless when 18 to 20 hours of that is devoted to people debating whether or not Britney or K-Fed "won" the divorce.  Who cares?  Why not devote one of those 5 minute segments to the daily deathcapade that is The Sudan?  Oh, right, who cares about them.  They have no oil or anything else our society could possibly have any use for.  Unless, of course, Survivor Sahara is in the works. 

[LMNO]

So, what would be the solution?

Sincerity?

Earnestness?

"Serious business"?

[AFK]

Honestly, I have no clue.

The cynical/emo part of me would say, kill the Internet (that I'm using right now), kill the cable companies (that my wife and I watch Law and Order reruns on everynight), and kill the radio station conglomerates (that I listen to sometimes on my way to work)

I guess I'm too busy being a part of the problem to know the solution.

Maybe I'm just getting cranky old man syndrome...."Back in my day"  "I remember when"

the kids probably see it differently. 

[LMNO]

Well, cycling it back, in the Regan 80's, the DIY culture was spawned, and some really great punk and post punk music was created, a lot of which influenced bands today (ever play a Gang of Four record at a party?  Half the kids will think it's a current NYC band).

So, my guess is that the vital personalities are avoiding the media circus, probably even avoiding myspace and youtube, and playing shows in their friends basements.

Sadly, I am probably too old to observe this by myself. That's one reason I started my punk cover band.  Maybe this old fart will get exposed to the "next big thing".

[AFK]

So it's kind of like, to generalize:

Those who have tried to be the next "big thing" couldn't do it.

Meanwhile

Those who could be the next "big thing" aren't trying to. 

I can see that.  There's a lot of "noise" to cut through in the mainstream media. 

[LMNO]

Pretty much.  I've found to be loosely (very loosely) true that if you focus on being popular, you lose a lot of your edge.



or maybe, it depends of what your definition of "popular" is.  A lot of bands I like were content to simply make ends meet, and didn't really care to go the MTV route.

Then again, if you offered them millions of dollars (coughSonicYouthcough), they certainly wouldn't say no.

[Z³]

I think LMNO is almost entirely right about this, and as far as music (or any other medium) goes... the best thing you can do is support the culture. A systems end goal is apparent in terms of classical conditioning, or in other words, mass media promotes homogenized crap because thats what it wants to promote, anything to make a buck... and anything to maintain the stranglehold.

It is my belief, at least in terms of music, that whenever an 'underground' trend starts to pick up steam the big labels will pick and choose the lamest and most homogenized artists in that style and promote the hell out of them, and the various clones, until the original style is mere footnote in history. The intention there is to get common recognition of something behind the business version of it, which is being promoted, as opposed to anything original or independant.

It seems odd that a similar thing is going on with the 24 hour news channels. The obvious lack of connection between Al Queda and the Baathist party, for example, is something that pretty much everybody with a functioning brain and an internet connection fucking knew about months before it ever became an issue on CNN.

In both of these cases, I think there is a common factor, and its that the information at question comes from an outside alien force (A major record company, a news-media corporation, a radio conglomerate, whatever). All of these sources of mainstream information are filtered down through many different layers before they finally arrive at the teeming mass of individuals who are ready to consume it.

The solution, in terms of news-media, is already here... in the form of the internet, and personal communication. There are millions of sources of information out there from every different bias a person could possibly imagine, and with that a person can choose to tailor the sort of news he wants hear towards something that he likes, that makes him feel warm and fuzzy. This may actually be as much of a problem as it is a solution. As opposed to one bias and one agenda, you can pick out whichever one suits you the best.

As far as music goes, there is plenty of it out there. Whatever it is that gets exposure through mass media is easily a very small minority, if people are interested in something they can seek it out, and the tiny pocket cultures that form based on common interest in an uncommon thing still do exist... its just that they seem lack the power to really do anything besides amuse themselves. Oh well.

[Z³]

Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass, since come to think of it there are still a lot of fairly unique artists that become hugely successful. At the same time, homogenized crap does get mass produced for a cheap buck.

I guess it just goes both ways (in and out) (of) (the ass).

[AFK]

It seems with a lot of bands "cult status" lasts longer than "worldwide fame"

I can think of some of the underground metal bands I follow.  There's this one in the UK that's endured for over 10 years which is a long time for an underground band of any sort to be able to endure.  But, that's because they have day jobs, not in the music industry.  Can you imagine, walking into a bank to set up a mortgage and there's King Diamond in a suit ready to take your business?  

Okay, silly scenario.  

and spot on with Sonic Youth.  Washing Machine was the last album of theirs I purchased.  Though, I don't remember the last time I actually listened to it.  

[LMNO]

To be fair, SY did sort of flip it around, once they set up their own record label & started releasing SY jam sessions every other month, for cheap.

[AFK]

But has Thurston Moore ever gotten over his obsession with Patti Smith?

[LMNO]

No more than Kim & Karen Carpenter.

[Cain]

The internet has kind of helped alot.  The site where I download alot of my music from, for example, puts up stuff that gets nowhere near the commercial UK (or sometimes even US) scene.  Because I'm not paying I'm willing to listen to alot more stuff I've never heard before.

[AFK]

The internet has helped me too but in a different way.  Some of the more recent bands I've got into were from recommendations from other cats on message boards.  While the internet can lead to oversaturation I concede it also leads to the sharing of ideas, including music. 

[P3nT4gR4m]

The corporate involvement, while inevitable, is a double edged sword. Some amazing bands that I'd otherwise never have heard have been brought to my attention through the usual publicity and press channels. Teh downside is that there's so much money up for grabs that 'safe' decisions are often made as integrity is bought by marketing. I can't really blame any one specific artist for selling out in this fashion, since 'rich and famous' are such a golden carrot to be dangled in front of sensitive individuals.

All I can do is listen without prejudice and see if the noise I'm exposed to at the end of the tube sounds good to me. Various things can make this so, good lyrics, good musicianship even, nowadays, a good accompanying video (itself an artform imo). The truth is that the singer and the musicians can be tweaked in the studio, the video was probably nothing to do with the band and the lyrics could have been spat out a computer but it's not the production engineers, the hack lyricists or hell even the band that I'm listening to - it's the one song, right at that moment, does it or does it not connect with me?

I tend to prefer bands that can pull it off live but I've been to enough drunken weddings and parties to know that even the spice girls can sound great when you're fucked out your tiny skull, dancing with some sister in law or gf's cousin, juggs almost falling out of low cut strappy top.