American music today: a state of the union address

One word to describe the current state of music?

Weird.

How better to describe a music world that allows annoying ska8r girl Avril to coexist almost peacefully with the old rock stalwarts Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones? A world that embraces its alt-country sweetheart Jeff Tweedy and its fresh-squeezed Hives/Vines/White Stripes with the same ferocity. A world that hesitates to justify the solo career of Justin Timberlake yet celebrates the coming of emo on MTV, in the nauseating form of Dashboard’s Chris Carraba. A strange world indeed.

But the words influx, or perhaps predictable would have also been wise choices.

Because what we have seen in the last few months of 2002 is an absolute rethinking and readjustment of popular music, echoing similar shifts along the musical timeline. Think of the underground emergence of mangy, raw punk in New York City in the late ’70s, combating the early ’70s strains of paisley Partridge family pop and Foreigner’s brand of stadium, hair band rock. Or Seattle’s burgeoning grunge scene, with its unwilling warriors Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains single-handedly defeating the late ’80s-early ’90s slough of fermented New Wave and the cheesy rap stylings of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer.

We, too, are in for a revolution. We haven’t heard much from the augmented Ms. Spears, and other than Christina’s slutty whispers surrounding her new album, she is slowly becoming less relevant in the shifting musical tide (even a naked Rolling Stone cover couldn’t save her!). The welcome decline of pop begs the question: where do we go from here?

This semester I have noticed a few trends that just may answer that question. With three months worth of free CD’s in my dorm room, several amazing concerts ringing in my ears, and trusty Lester Bangs as my creative muse, I leave my post and head Down Under. Some parting words:

1. Think twice before you bite the hand that feeds you. Though denouncing the music industry and politics of the record companies has been a popular cause for many artists, some have simply gone too far in recent months. Tom Petty’s flop of a new album, The Last DJ, tried to be a hard-hitting criticism of the commercialization of mainstream music, but fell markedly short. Petty, one of rock’s greatest heroes and faithful ramblers, appeared crotchety and hypocritical. And who can take Michael Jackson seriously after his ‘Tommy Mottola is the Devil’ campaign? We accepted his eerie voice, his malformed nose, even his chimp Bubbles, but he has crossed the line with this one. Both Petty and Jackson need to separate the trite personal battles from the music. On a much smarter and brighter note, however, Wilco’s decision to switch record labels with the release of this year’s incendiary Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a clear success.

2. There are two paths at the top of the world: go greatest or go live. Oh, what to do when you’ve released more than 20, maybe more than 30 albums and the whole world loves you. Follow Bono’s blue-eyed example, McCartney’s star-spangled suggestion (Back in the US) or the Stones’ lippy lead (Forty Licks)-release a greatest hits compilation or a live disc. But make sure to add something new or choose a creative line-up to reward longtime fans. U2’s Greatest Hits 1990-2000, for example, culls a motley song crew from the band’s most versatile and innovative decade. Once you accept that the tracks aren’t the best or most popular songs in U2’s repertoire, you can appreciate the alternate takes and subtle beauty of lesser-known gems as ‘Gone’ and ‘Numb.’ Plus, the heavy-on-the-techno B-sides disc is a trip in itself. Also see: Bjork’s Greatest Hits and Dave Matthews Band’s Live at Folsom Fields, Boulder.

3. Minimalism is in. Whether you are listening to the bare-hearted poems of acoustic guitar guys Ryan Adams, Rhett Miller and Ben Kweller, or rocking out to the pounding drum-guitar of the White Stripes, you can notice a definite shift in the music world away from over-production and glitz back toward minimalist, mangy rock. Perhaps tired of the non-music of pop, artists are yearning for the simple days of guitar, garage and amp. Gone are the days of laser shows and stage costumes today’s emerging artists lack pretense and image. The musicians themselves are the attractions, especially in the case of the Vines’ infamous lead singer spaz, Craig Nicholls, who has been known to smoke a few and shoot a few in his time. Even more established artists are leaning toward the raw, fresh feel of garage rock, as evidenced by Beck’s current release, Sea Change, which reveals a stripped down, downright depressive Hanson, tired of computer generated sound effects and multi-layered composition and yearning for simplicity in song.

4. Punk returns with a vengeance and … crotchless tights? Many acts and bands have been saddled with the punk revival label over the years i.e. Weezer, Goldfinger but none have come as true to form as Karen O. and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sure we’ve also got the Donnas and Sleater Kinney, but Karen O. has the Mick Jagger strut, the Patti Smith sneer and the Iggy Pop sexuality. With her avant garde fashion, complete with Converse All-Stars, red lip stick, singular glove and yes, crotchless fishnet tights, she has inspired an entire fashion revolution among her fans, a la early 1980s Madonna. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, their lyrics, their stage presence, their sex, drugs and rock and roll all smack of CBGBs.

5. Death is just a state of mind. We have always immortalized our beloved music idols who have passed away Elvis anyone? Yet two have been the topics of recent conversation and commemoration: Kurt Cobain, rather belatedly, and George Harrison. Cobain’s mug has graced the pages of just about every national newspaper and magazine in the past months, in conjunction with the release of his journal and a new hits compilation (see Trend #2). Though I will never personally purchase or leaf through his journal (Courtney Love, you are a selfish, selfish expletive), I did listen to the greatest hits collection and must say, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ still gives me chills like the first time I ever heard it. Gentler Harrison, who passed away just recently, has also been heavily commemorated. His posthumous album, Brainwashed, finished by his son Dhani, is one of the year’s best, while the star-studded tribute to the ‘quiet Beatle,’ held at Royal Albert Hall in London on the anniversary of his death acts included the two living Beatles, Clapton, Dylan, among others will certainly yield an unforgettable album and TV special. I guess we just don’t forget our heroes.

6. Johnny Cash still rules. Period. At 71, after 100-plus studio albums and forty-two years of touring, Cash just released a new album, The Man Comes Around, which features several covers including a haunting rendition of Nine Inch Nail’s ‘Hurt.’ Enough said.