is it my imagination, or is a lot of popular music nowadays moving toward protest themes as was the case when i was a kid?
when i listen to switchfoot, incubus, velvet revolver maybe i’m missing something or noticing something that doesn’t exist, but it seems it’s the first time i’ve seen this sort of thing since we gotta get outa this place, eve of destruction, ohio, etc.
in the case of switchfoot, it’s not just protest, but lyrics that challenge. i regard this as a positive and hopeful trend, if this trend actually exists.
Maybe it’s just my time to turn into a cranky old fart, however prematurely, but I don’t hear what you do in today’s new bands. Too cynical, too slick, too market driven. In any event, if it’s there, it’s not the first time since the 60’s. Remember the Clash? London Calling and Sandanista are the reason we’re not still listening to Supertramp, Journey and Foreigner. Same goes for X, the Jam, and a host of other late 70’s/early 80’s punk acts. Something tells me, Dan, that you didn’t spend that era with half your hair shaved off and the other half dyed purple. But if you did, take it from me, destroy all known copies of the photos.
It’s the circle of life, Dan. The really smart old rockers(like Bowie) have reinvented themselves and are playing to yet another generation of youth, while the old, washed up, or dead are replaced with younger, contemporary versions of them.
I’m not following current pop much, but I am finding a lot of the type of music I listened to in the 80’s is available now as well.
Same sound, same angst, same three chords. ;p It is kind of funny listening to 16 year olds talking about how some band has sold out because they haven’t yet realized it’s all about the money.
Dan, while you picked a couple of the better examples. . .I find most of the modern attempts at protest music to be nothing more than hollow, whiney shells wearily mimicing the earlier generation’s soul-searching anti-establishmentism. Or they simply lift a week’s worth of headlines and one-liners from the CNNs and NYTimes of the world and rage into a microphone. For the most part I’m still waiting for the talents who can transform the past, the sensational, and the mundane into reverberrant anthems with some “meat on 'em.”
Incubus speaks to my soul. The jury is still out on Velvet Revolver with me. . .big talent. . .lets see if they can come through.
Either a leash or his own private methadone clinic he can take on the road with them.
I had the pleasure of catching STP in '97 just before they split up that time. . .They were the best performance I’d seen since AC/DC’s For those about to rock tour.
I was wondering much the same thing after I heard the new Beastie Boys CD, with lyrics like:
“So step up to the window and place your bets
Is the US gonna keep breaking necks
Maybe it’s time that we impeach Tex
And the military muscle that he wants to flex
By the time Bush is done what will be left
Selling votes like E-pills at the discotheque
Environmental destruction and the national debt
But plenty of dollars left in the fat war chest
What the real deal why you can’t connect
Why you hating people that you never met
Didn’t your mama teach you to show some respect?
Why not open your mind for a sec?” - Beastie Boys, “It Takes Time to Build,” from the CD To the 5 Boroughs
is it my imagination, or is a lot of popular music nowadays moving toward protest themes as was the case when i was a kid?
when i listen to switchfoot, incubus, velvet revolver maybe i’m missing something or noticing something that doesn’t exist, but it seems it’s the first time i’ve seen this sort of thing since we gotta get outa this place, eve of destruction, ohio, etc.
in the case of switchfoot, it’s not just protest, but lyrics that challenge. i regard this as a positive and hopeful trend, if this trend actually exists.
When I was really listening to music it was the grunge era with the likes or Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam all with angst and angry about their childhood. Now listening to JJJ the youth station playing the latest tracks and trends feels like everyone is on Ritalin now days with no real energy, same level and singing about no important subject or into rap. I watched an old episode of South Park the other day where all the kids got on Ritalin because Timmy was diagnosed with ADHD and got out of doing homework being on the stuff and I feel in that episode. I am sure there are bands out there but I would have to search and JJJ is an Australia wide youth station. They are certainly biased to the left but that’s as far as it seems to go here.
The bands you mention aren’t really young and what the youth are listening to I would have thought? Maybe different and a lot more music stations in the US.
The bands you mention aren’t really young and what the youth are listening to I would have thought? Maybe different and a lot more music stations in the US.
They were pretty young in 2004 when this thread started.
The bands you mention aren’t really young and what the youth are listening to I would have thought? Maybe different and a lot more music stations in the US.
They were pretty young in 2004 when this thread started.