"the conventional is now the experimental"

thinking about pop music today, i realised something. theres been a shift, somewhere in the last ten years, where pop music is now a more genuine form of human expression than rock music is. rock bands are all so obviously designed and fake nowadays (kooks, muse, fratellis etc), all singing about what they hope the kids will like, whilst a lot of the pop groups of the moment, like girls aloud or you could even say britney, are talking about their own lives ('piece of me' by britney is amazing by the way, i stand by a lot of the things shes done recently-i thought the head shaving incident was an amazing statement-and i love that track a lot). and girls aloud singing about getting your frock on and getting pissed with the girls on a weekend. pop music's so direct, so melodic and accessible in contrast to the directionless, boring and oh-so-often patronising rock music that slathers around at the moment.

i was just thinking about this when, bang, as if from nowhere, this came on the telly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQViQPs-Np4

it sums up everything i want to say about how shit rock bands are at the moment. this music does literally nothing for me. there is music that i dont particularly like but i can still go 'yeah, i get it, just not my thing right now, still good though' eg drum n bass, david bowie, justin timberlake, amongst others. but this music i see nothing in. it goes straight through me and yet it drives me crazy. this track manages to contain all the things that i hate about it: the dull, uninspired guitar work treading the tired old rock band format; the completely meaningless, unimportant lyrics; that fucking top hat being the one gimmick that is needed so they are vaguely identifiable from the fratellis (but doesnt the fratellis guy also wear a top hat); the mild, shallow interest in 'vintage' things that goes no further than saying "i'm into vintage"; the same old boring 'man on the street' style of singing; the chorus about some girl who was a bit upsetting at one point in his life, the generally cynical lack of effort and they confuse punkish honesty and free-spiritedness with casual laziness and a lack of interest.

i hate it, i hate it so much. i dont like to get angry about things but this honestly is, in my opinion, some of the worst art that has ever been made and it upsets me that people are saying 'yes, this is enough for me to be happy with'

and when these fucks talk about music, they always say stuff like "well we've always loved the kinks" in the same joyless, uninspired way. god i really hate these idiots...sorry for going on.

it's amusing and great that we've got to a stage where commercial, processed-beats ridden pop music now has considerably more soul and pulse-raising melodies than music made by a garage rock band.

when did music lose its meaning? there is nothing inspiring about this shit. even the video is completely awful, a mish-mash of senseless sketches that mean nothing, to no one. i know that everyone my age hates nirvana and thats fine but i still reckon kurt was the last person who knew what the fuck to do with a guitar. no one since kurt cobain has had any real idea of their own about how to approach the tired old horse of rock. in a way this was because nirvana were all about how old and constricting rock music had become. when kurt would give up on songs live and just take the piss, they were my favourite bits, cos he was breaking out of the mould and leaving it all behind. incidentally nirvana are the only grunge band i've ever really liked, the rest of it is all either pretentious noise (mudhoney) or scuzzy misery-rawk (pearl jam), so i'm just talking about nirvana, not grunge, which was on the whole pretty negative miserable music.

when did musicians stop caring about the constant pressure to keep the quality up?
when did people start ripping off post-punk and why?
when did the smiles and laughs on musicians faces turn into smirks?
when did irony become acceptable in not only fashion but also music?
when did 'trash fashion' become acceptable?

music is so beautiful. more than any other form of art, it is a way of directly connecting two souls, instantaneously. when someone sings to you right, you understand everything about them, you're best friends for a minute. it makes you realise the inherent beauty in the world around you. people put music and their favourite songs in the most important parts of their lives-their weddings, funerals, sexual intercourse, even suicides are all done to music. it matters to people more than anything else. it's played in lifts and shopping centres because it makes the people there feel better. it is a current that runs under society. doesnt it say something about humans that 99% of our songs are about love (or lack thereof)? it's the only thing in the world other than a person that can wrap itself around you. Music's amazing, it's my favourite thing. i have 'wasted' my life and failed many exams that i shouldn't have failed because of my listening to music constantly and i just get honestly upset by mediocrity like this. it just pisses on everything that i love and hold dear and i want it to die.

today i overheard someone say,

"i only read mills & boon. if its not mills & boon i'm not interested."

can you imagine actually living such a life?

every foals song, the same.

also, just now i got an email with the subject line 'New in hip-hop: Barry White'

i went to a keele open day recently and was naturally told that the student radio system was 'amazing' and had won awards. i was expecting something totally appalling but have just started listening to it and it actually is amazing. i'm pretty sure that i must have just caught it at the exact moment when its most perfect for me. this show that i'm listenign to now, broadcast thursdays 22:00 to 00;00, has so far played some un-named microhouse (its frustrating at first, but theres also something kinda exhilarating about hearing a great song on the radio and it then slipping away from you forever, makes you appreciate it all the more), some burial and autechre well as some hip-hop and a lovely r&b track with someone whispiering 'you are my only flaw'.

i'm pretty satisfied, its been an amazing playlist so far. its kinda weird cos its a playlist that seems to be of the kinda '3am post-club' type where you jsut want things to be soft, but its on at 10pm, i guess cos thats the latest this place broadcasts. lol. if you wanna check it out (though i have little doubt that at all other times it plays the feeling and adele/duffy over and over again) then the link is http://www.kuberadio.com

WHEN I SAY 'B.I' Y'ALL SAY 'G'
WHEN I SAY 'R.I' Y'ALL SAY 'P'

an urgent appeal

i need to find this r&b song. it was pretty high in the charts about a year ago, it was played on the hits a lot, and it was based around this crazy, all over the place clarinet sample witha woman singing over it. i really really want this song but cant think of any way to find it. does anyone know what i'm talking about?

i remember this cos i finally found out that the song i keep hearing and wanting on classic fm when i'm in oxfam is this. it's always a great moment when you finally get hold of a song, and i'd been hearing this for weeks as the radio is always on classic fm in oxfam. i dont really mind this, but i hate the way the emphasis is always on how you should 'relax'. i dont really understand this view people have of classical music where its always 'relaxing'. it can be the most rousing and inspiring of music, and its heartbreaking to have a station like classic fm where everything has to be smoothe and lovely. i hate being told to 'relax' at the best of times, but especially when i'm being told to 'relax' with music.

there are things i like about classic fm, though. i love it when kids ring in with requests, as they are invariably terribly smart kids who are learning the piano or something and so know exactly what they want and request precise, obscure pieces unlike most of the adults who request 'theme from lord of the rings' over and over again.

on the subject of classic fm, today i swear i heard some elderly woman phone in for a request and say 'my name is problem'. now, whether or not she was intentionally quoting wiley we'll probably never know, but nevertheless: cool.