Conditional Conditions for A Lot of Great Music
In an earlier post, I talked about all the ’90s music I was digging up as I was learning it for a solo show this month.
Which, by the way, had a complaint.
Someone complained about a song. No information, no song, no other things were said, but I’ve never had a registered complaint. I’ve gotten a lot of bad looks and stink eyes and shrugs and over-the-shoulder kind of business, but never an actual registered complaint.
I’m taking it as a badge of honor.
But it is so weird. Like, it was a good show. It wasn’t a performance complaint. It was a complaint about song choice. No blue words, no nothing. No singing about cocaine or minorities or anything.
So bizarre.
Anyway.
A lot of those songs from the ‘90s are really, really good. Even the ones I didn’t really love on the first pass.
I mean, you never know how good it is until you’re able to look back. Really, sometimes you do, but my point is this: if the conditions are right, good music will emerge.
This is what I’m trying to do every morning down in my little home office. Make sure I’ve set up the proper conditions for good music to happen.
But look at 1982. I made a playlist of just the amazing songs that came out one after the other. It’s insane.
And for everyone that says music is dead, I disagree. Hard.
I have a 21-year-old kid and I have a 19-year-old kid. Both of them are really good guitar players, like way better than me. They’re great listeners, and all their friends play instruments.
They’re not interested in electronics. I mean, they have passing interests and stuff like that, but they aren’t down with stuff like Anjunadeep and grooving out to DJs.
They’re looking for bands.
So…
I think there is going to come a moment when streaming will turn into what it’s going to be and take a dump somehow, and maybe global financial turmoil will turn off the spigot of endless investor money. Who knows?
Something is going to happen because they fiscally don't work. And it’s all careening towards something.
And who knows what that is?
But I feel like, in the next three to five years, we are going to have an event that gets the conditions right for music and bands again.
And the songs will come, for sure.