Nothing is ever totally new. Even when the Beatles exploded as risk-taking, experimental artists, traces of influences from the Byrds, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and others could easily be spotted in their music. This isnt a bad thing, and no one holds it against them: the greatest artists of the world always have a creative way of spinning something old into something new. Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the innovative spirit of the 60s has given way to increasingly computerised instrumentation, preposterous stage shows or louder and dumber guitars. As in many mediums, musical shock value has increased while its quality has cheapened. The last truly groundbreaking bands might have been The Talking Heads or The Police 35 years ago, but the basic way of structuring and presenting a pop song has remained practically unchanged in six decades. There's a reason classic music is still so popular: it's better. Rock music is dead, its principle bands playing undistinguished chords with ridiculously overdriven guitars and sexually explicit lyrics that make ZZ Top's Tube Snake Boogie seem like a sly, coy wink. Even Madonna sounds sophisticated next to her musical descendants, whose songs are awash in tuneless sound effects. Faster, heavier, louder, weirder these are not, in and of themselves, innovations worth celebrating.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
