I, F-bomb, in the act of musical creation, will observe varied influences in order to avoid monotony. I will embrace sloppiness. I will embrace moments of energy and escapism. I will try not to try... if that makes sense. I don't want to feel like I've recorded anything I didn't just... play. If I don't have a huge following and never see a single cent from it, well then, so be it.
Why give myself a self-motivational reminder? It's like this...
Some bands just try too hard. To be meaningful. To be deep. Whatever it is that they are trying to be, they come across like an act. It is a tough thing to put into words so I'll provide an example-- this comes from the Myspace page of a local Birmingham band:
Influences
Heartache. Happiness. The sounds you hear late at night when you're lying in bed and you're not sure if you are really awake or just dreaming. God. The feeling you get when the sun starts to rise and it's just so beautiful that you hurt inside.
Sounds Like
The way you have always truly felt inside but have never been able to tell anyone.
What? Are you freaking kidding me? I'm wondering just how many members of their theoretical audience ACTUALLY hurt inside when they look at the sunrise. And upon listening I discover a band that mistakes, like so many do, studio-polished, production-perfect recordings for GOOD songs. Okay, that's an objective thing, but bear with me. Some people actually devote their lives to the pursuit of major-label distribution and, ultimately, as many artists have discovered, slavery. This is what the band says about themselves:
Its sound has been compared to bands such as Radiohead, Coldplay, and U2.
What they mean to say is "We modeled ourselves after Radiohead, Coldplay, and U2." It's funny: I own records by all three of those bands, yet whatever feelings those artists seek to invoke, I find them all satisfied by Loveless (and I will blog about that album one of these days-- I know I've been saying it for a while). Back to the topic at hand; I have to give credit to this local band-- I've never heard music like theirs before. Oh wait... yes I have. Strike that credit.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
And I might as well include the most revered (which completely baffles me) Birmingham band
Exhibit D
Making music in this way might give you a radio or MTV hit... if that even exists anymore... but is that really a worthy goal? The object of making music shouldn't be success-- an audience, perhaps-- but not success. Obviously, I have fantasies of earning a living by making music, but I would feel personally defeated inside should I find myself pandering to a tween audience with stories of a girl that just hang by a moment -- only to be discarded in a bargain bin a few years later.
Are my songs good? I don't know. I can say this though-- if all of my examples in this post constitute 'good' I would rather be completely terrible.
There's nothing wrong with kickstarting a dance party.
Sword of D'Artagnan 2015 Streaming Vostfr HD
10 years ago
lol, i remember reading that at your house... so retarded.
ReplyDeletealso, i hadn't heard any of those Exhibit songs you posted.
ReplyDeleteand i was happy that way.
thanks for showing me crap music to prove a point.
yes, the point was proved, but at what cost Fbomb? at WHAT COST?!??!
You aren't familiar with Wild Sweet Orange? For whatever reason, so many people in B'ham consider them to be the front runners of the music scene. Or they DID anyway-- they broke up for some whine, whine, blah, blah reason, not that I really miss their music...
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with your assessment of some bands clearly "trying too hard", I find irony in your depiction of seeking a "major-label distribution" as a negative thing. 1. Your blog's by-line references popular culture, yet you are raging against it? Your telling me, if a "major-label" showed up with a check and actual major distribution, you'd run? Doubtful. The Music industry is in terrible terrible shape, and rarely does great musicianship meet the masses, but that doesn't mean ever. There are some great bands and great music that often transcend industry. My suggestion to you and your pop culture blog- spend less time pointing out the miserable things in music and life and "trying" to hard, and actually attempt to bring terrific examples of musicians, artists, and bands, or anything else in your version of pop culture that does bring meaning and authenticity. Bands like Wild Sweet Orange! Yeah, I said it. Your wrong about them. But the great thing about a blog- you get to say whatever you want. enjoy.
ReplyDeleteokay Fletcher, now that this guy's made a comment dissing your disses, i feel compelled to make a follow-up, reestablishing the diss preeminence. really, cheap jokes are the only kind of music criticism i have tolerance for, so i'll get the ball rolling again here.
ReplyDeletethis particularly is nagging me:
"Influences: [...] The sounds you hear late at night when you're lying in bed and you're not sure if you are really awake or just dreaming."
you know, could this really possible be an INFLUENCE to this band? can a rock band really be musically influenced by the sounds they hear when lying in bed at night (and not being sure if they are really awake or just dreaming)? or even non-musically influenced-- spiritually or emotionally, say: can that really happen?
i mean, hearthache i can see influencing your music. happiness obviously. God i guess. but really, the sounds you hear from the bathroom, or the hall or wherever when you're lying in bed at night? it's just hard to fathom that. "hey guys, i heard this weird droning sound when i was lying in bed last night, not sure if i was awake or dreaming, i think it may've been the Air conditioning unit but still it gave me a great inspiration for some song ideas, okay Jenkins i want you to come in with your fuzz pedal & kind of buzz your lips into the microphone for a few minutes, then..."
it would be different if they were making minimalist john cage crap. or digital noise music. then they could put some of those sounds IN there. but of course, that's not possible when your name is "to light a fire" (notice the emo reduction of that Jack london short story. the original story was called "to Build a Fire" & it was about determination & futility. now it's just emo. by the way, is it really even correct to "light" a fire? light a match, yes. a candle, yes. but i don't think you can simply "light" a fire in general, like a big fireplace fire, with just a quick flick of the wrist... i'm pretty sure that, in most situations, you do, actually, have to "build" fires. JL had it right the first time.)
also, their other influence:
"The feeling you get when the sun starts to rise and it's just so beautiful that you hurt inside."
i'm amused that they phrased it this way-- an average band would have just said, "when the sun starts to rise & it's so beautiful you hurt inside." but, that's too simplistic for this band.
apparently there's an additional feeling, that you feel while you're hurting inside, BESIDES the actual hurting inside itself-- there's some extra feeling potential that's not used up by the simple hurting, and this is where the band draws its influence... the secret feeling zone. the feeling only nameable by indirect means.
just on the level of influences, this band is easily one of the more original i've seen in Birmingham... as for their music... well, i'm not sure i ever want to hear it, but if i do i'll keep a lookout for mysterious nighttime sounds & hurtful sunrise feelings.
Thanks for the comment JWI-- I greatly appreciate the fact that you read the article. I just thought I should clear up some things:
ReplyDeleteThough it may SEEM from the tone of my post that I have made it my mission to complain about the state of the music industry, I eventually felt guilty about doing so, and, in my next post (the day BEFORE you posted your comment) I praised local music artist, Greg Summerlin for the sheer exuberance of his music.
As for the inquiry you directed at me: Would I turn down a major-label offer? In this scenario, had a major label been my ONLY offer, then, no, you're correct, I would not have turned it down. My hopes for an opportunity to support myself making music would lead me to that choice.
HOWEVER
The more likely scenario would be that I would recieve offers from independent labels with wide distribution (examples: Matador, 4AD, Sub Pop) BEFORE I would EVER be considered by a major-label. I would be much happier at such a label, because they have audiences that are wide enough for my music to be heard, hopefully enjoyed, and sell well enough for me to support myself as well. I wouldn't be a "Top 40" artist, no, but I would have more creative control over my music. I would make less money, but extreme financial success isn't my 'goal'-- I know that sort of thing doesn't bring fulfillment and happiness in life.
Then we come to Wild Sweet Orange. Yes, what I said about them was strictly my opinion-- but having admitted so, I don't think I'm wrong about them either. Let me share this excerpt from their myspace blog entitled "Last wild sweet orange show in a sorts" :
'as some of you know,
garret and taylor have given ALOT to wild sweet orange, have attributed so much to the sound and so much to the journey of wild sweet orange. they will play their last wild sweet orange on TUESDAY AT WORKPLAY IN BHAM ALABAMA. WSO will continue and will put out new cd, BUT, the wild sweet orange you have grown to love is gone for ever. chip i just might put out a hip hop record next. so all im saying is if you like the emo-core music we have put out, if you like the song TILT or house of regret, come see us on tuesday, cause we might never play these songs again! ;) so come say goodbye to teen angst. pack up your Chuck Palahniuk books, stop watching american beauty and come be thankful and live it up! one last time to be angry at your parents.'
To me, this implies that even THEY know that they haven't been honest in making their music. They have aimed themselves at a high-school, radio-friendly audience in order to break to place themselves in the eye of potential major-label distribution because they believe that life is all about selling records.
I'm not as unhappy as you might think. Dry humor and dark humor are simply my style. So is my cynical tone-- it is NOT my life outlook. I do not wish to tell anyone that it should be THEIR life outlook either. I wish to stress that. Also, it is not my intention to offend anyone, though I suspect I will often run the risk of doing so. I may have offended you, but I hope you will continue to read.
'F-Bomb'
Oh, and, Brett, you basically made my point more understandable-- thanks!
ReplyDeleteJWI... hang on for a second before you navigate away from this comment page. There are a few more points I'd like to address. The first of which would be that you accused me of attacking pop-culture. This term encompasses many things-- and if you HAD actually READ some of my blog, which it has occurred to me that you HAVEN'T, you would see that I have mentioned film, literature, and music (signed to INDEPENDENT labels) in my posts. These are all pop-culture topics that I haven't been "raging against" as you said.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the posts prior-to AND following this particular post each discussed music I like-- so your suggestion had already been met before you EVEN MADE IT.
I don't completely suspect you will revisit my blog, but IF YOU DO it would be great if you could provide me with some reasons why you like Wild Sweet Orange-- OTHER than the fact that you were once THEIR TOUR MANAGER!
when i was in high school and junior high, Wild Sweet Orange was one of the bands we loved to see the most. because we were angsty and mad at our parents. but the older we got, we outgrew that whole scene; and while there's a bit of nostalgia attached i don't see the depth in that music that i once did. it just sounds...high school.
ReplyDeletebut as far as this major label business goes:
the aim of a musician shouldn't be a contract, it should be a connection with themselves and, as a performer, with their audience. if that leads to success, then awesome. if not, then whatever. a musician does what they do because they love doing it, not because there's some goal of fortune and fame.
lol Fbomb, i wouldn't even bother with that guy, his comment was borderline incoherent anyway. "spend less time pointing out the miserable things in music & life" -- lol, what of what you said was about life? i guess your inability to make yourself like Wild Sweet Orange (great name, crappy song) signifies a hatred for life in general... i love how he comes in at the end of his comment to give away his main reason for posting-- because "Your wrong about" Wild Sweet Orange. no explanation. your just so wrong!
ReplyDelete