Today's Music Industry- fail?

“Modern music is as dangerous as narcotics.” -Pietro Mascagni

Today's music industries are failing and there is no way you can deny that. When teenagers can start a music career at 14, 15, or 16, you know that there's something wrong. A career in music is a dream career, and you shouldn't be able to just breeze into it. You have to work for what you get otherwise it isn't deserved. These people like JoJo, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Little Bow Wow, and others show what i'm talking about. Each of them hit major success before they were 17. I think that's pathetic. Some people haven't even finished high school and are already making millions, when some people who have twice as much talent are working harder than these celebrities will ever work and never getting a chance.
Another thing that pisses me off is the song "Day and Night" by Kid Cudi. It's a terrible song, and it just sounds like he's singing it just to get it over with. There's no expression in his voice. No effort, no clear cut talent that you can tell was worked hard for and well deserved. It comes off as if he's just doing it because he knows he's going to make a club hit that will make him tons of money. It's disgusting.
Music should not just be about money. It's about talent, work, morality, and a common thing uniting everyone.

Stick to What you Know You're Good At

“I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.” -Elvis Presley

There’s an age-old debate about musicians-turned-actors and vice versa. People who should stick to singing have appeared in movies and people who should stick to acting have attempted to sell albums. What is it that makes singers think they can act? There are some cases in which the acting has been terrible: Britney Spears in Crossroads, Madonna in Swept Away, Jennifer Lopez in Gigli, Mariah Carey in Glitter, and Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog (awesome movie but the dude cannot act). There also have been a few cases in which I didn’t mind the acting: Beyonce in Austin Powers, Eminem in 8 Mile (it wasn’t really good but it didn’t suck), Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazard (only because the role was made for her) and Reba on her show ‘Reba’. I have to say, thinking about movies that singers acted well in I realized I couldn’t think of that many at all. There have been guest appearances on TV shows that have been alright, such as Taylor Swift on CSI and Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother. I just don’t know what it is about them that makes them want to act so bad, especially when they’ve already made a ton of money in their music career. The same goes for actors-turned-singers. They’re never successful like they are in the movies. They may have a catchy song or put out an album but usually it’s either terrible or little known. The majority of these cases turn out badly: Lindsay Lohan, Eddie Murphy, Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Raven. Although I must say there are a few surprising cases in which the actors actually weren’t horrible: Scarlet Johansson, Hilary Duff, and Leighton Meester. I even liked that one song Will Smith did that came from Men in Black. Paris Hilton even attempted to make music, although she’s not an actress or a singer thus I can’t really categorize her. There are so many people out there who would kill to be able to live their dream as an actor or a singer, and these celebrities are taking advantage of having the ability to both. It pisses me off- just stick to what you’re good at!!

The Music of Christmas

"Blast this Christmas music! It's joyful and triumphant!"- The Grinch, Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas

It’s that time of year (almost)- Christmas music has officially taken over the airwaves for the next month. I find that people either love or hate Christmas music. I personally like it. Sure, some songs make me want to rip my ears off, but there are others that are so nice to listen to. A lot of good bands have covered Christmas songs and given them a new edge while still keeping that festive aspect. There’s nothing like walking into the mall on a snowy December day and feeling the rush of warmth, the smell of cinnamon, and the sound of Christmas songs playing throughout the building. I love being festive and getting into the Christmas spirit, so i’ve put together a list of my top 10 favourite classic Christmas carols. I’ve also put together a list of my 20 favourite Christmas songs done by celebrities.

Top 10 Classic Christmas Carols
10. Twelve Days of Christmas
9. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
8. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
7. Let It Snow
6. Winter Wonderland
5. Little Drummer Boy
4. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
3. Frosty the Snowman
2. We Three Kings of Orient Are
1. Jingle Bell Rock

Top 20 Celebrity Christmas Songs
20. Brenda Lee- Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
19. Bruce Springsteen- Merry Christmas Baby
18. Band Aid- Feed the World
17. Bruce Springsteen- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
16. My Chemical Romance- All I Want For Christmas is You
15. The Ramones- Merry Christmas
14. Jackson 5- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
13. You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
12. Fahoo Forays- The Grinch
11. Bob & Doug McKenzie- the 12 Days of Christmas
10. Marilyn Monroe- Santa Baby
9. Twisted Sister- Deck the Halls
8. Jimmy Eat World- Last Christmas
7. Bryan Adams- Something About Christmas Time
6. John Lennon- Christmas Song
5. Elvis Presley- Blue Christmas
4. Boney M- I Want to Wish You A Merry Christmas
3. Faith Hill- Where Are You Christmas?
2. Taylor Swift- Last Christmas
1. Chuck Berry- Run Run Rudolph

Rollingstone.com

"That's not easy to find in a corporate world, somebody who cares about music." -Michael Penn

I get a lot of my music news and information from a lot of different places. One of the best places I know is Rolling Stone Magazine’s website, www.rollingstone.com. It’s got a lot of interesting content and a lot of different types of media. There are a bunch of different blogs on it as well, a few of them pertaining to the music industry. They have a lot of information about bigger bands as well as lesser known bands (who are on their way to getting big). I have a subscription to the magazine and a while ago I started hearing about Kings of Leon. I thought they might sound good so I downloaded some of the songs. Soon enough Rolling Stone started talking more and more about them, and now they have gotten to be a really big name band. Thus, I was able to watch and read through Rolling Stone as a little known band from Tennessee made it big. Another good thing that I love about Rolling Stone and Rollingstone.com is that the music they feature and talk about isn’t just from one genre. They talk about music from every genre, from Snoop Dogg to Johnny Cash to Joni Mitchell. This makes it a good read for not only rock lovers, but lovers of any type of music. It describes types of information like new albums coming out, what bands are going on tour, who’s in trouble with the law, how ticket sales are doing, reviews of new music, and much more. Also, every year they have countdowns like “Top 50 Songs of All Time” or “10 Hottest bands of the Year”. This is a good website, and I always discover new (and old) music to download from it. All in all, I would say that this is a good website to look up if you’re into the music world.

Introduction (should have been the first post)

“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we are from, everyone loves music.” -Billy Joel

There are so many reasons why I love music. It’s sparked my interest to become more knowledgeable about different types of music, and different artists involved. I feel like my brain is actually a music library, filled to the seams with both useless and useful facts and information about it and its history. I also have a passion for playing different musical instruments, and am constantly learning more in my spare time. So far, I can play the guitar, drums, bass guitar, steel drums, trumpet, keyboard/piano, and the recorder (yes, I know that almost everyone can play the recorder). I just want to inform my readers right now about why I love music so much.
Music is universal. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world; there will always be music. Whether it’s a genre specific to your area, or music taken from another area, there is no escaping it. Music is a beautiful thing. It can be anything in the world. You can attach elastics to a Kleenex box, and that’s music. You can smash lids from garbage cans together- that’s music. It can be anything from a few guys in a garage band with a broken bass amp to a symphony with two different horn sections and a conductor. It has so many forms and themes, and it can be so contradictory in what it represents. It can represent unity or independence, love or hate, peace or war, life or death...the list can go on for miles. There are songs about anything in the world, and anyone can make a song.
I want my readers to know that i’m going to be throwing some curveballs at them. There will be some positive aspects and some negative aspects that I will talk about. Don’t expect it to be sugar and spice and everything nice in here. I want to expose some of the problems in the music world, and some things that in my opinion need to be changed.
In my blog i’m planning a few things, as far as features. I can almost guarantee you that I will be adding some video clips of footage when I talk about amazing people in music history, which I will be talking about a lot. I will be adding audio, and music videos, depending on the topic of the entry. I will be starting each blog with a quote from someone about music and the importance it has.
I guess my last words before I officially begin this blog are to keep an open mind when you read about music, and always remember that when you listen to music, someone on the other side of the world is listening to the same song you are. Let that inspire you.

Local Music Is Where it's At

"The hardest thing in the world to do in this business is start a band nobody's heard of." Tom Whalley, Interscope Records


One of the things I love the most about living in Niagara is the local music scene. There have been a bunch of bands that have begun to rise to stardom (and have already reached it) who came out of the Niagara music scene. In St. Catharines, where I am from, we have a music festival every year called S.C.E.N.E Music Festival. I like it because it’s a huge deal in promoting local music and getting our bands recognized. It takes place in downtown St. Catharines, and spreads 185 bands across 14 venues, indoors and outdoors.
I did an e-interview with Steve Levitt, who is the festival coordinator. He said he’s involved with, “overseeing the hiring of our staff, Our Administrative Assistant, Publicist, Graphic Artists, Volunteer Coordinator, Website Designer and so on...We also arrange with dealing with the city for any permits or requirements we need, staging and tenting of our outdoor stages as well as dealing with the clubs to organize the day’s events, street marketing, postering and flyering, as well as finding sponsorship for the festival.” He’s been with S.C.E.N.E since 2002, but the festival has been going on since 1995. Steve actually performed at it every year between 1995 and 2000.
S.C.E.N.E, in my opinion, is good for promoting local music because it brings people out for some bands that they like, but in the process they discover new bands that they also might end up liking. It has also grown in attendance, from 20 bands at 3 venues in 1995 to 185 bands at 14 venues in 2009. The attendance has been between 5000 and 6000 people over the last 4 years. “It puts [the bands] in front of a lot of people who may not know who they are and to just have your name associated with the amount of advertising that goes out is a lot in itself. We also distribute 5000 Dropcards each year that features 50 of our performing artists and you can download a track from each artist so this helps spread the word about the new and emerging talent from the area as well,” Steve said.
In my closing question I asked Steve if there is anything that he thinks could improve S.C.E.N.E in future years. “People try to make it into a competition instead of supporting each other. Yes, there will always be bands that consider themselves better than others and the public will see that the same way but if you share your fans with other bands and try to turn their fans into yours it opens the doors for endless possibilities!...Yes The DIY approve is still alive and kicking!”

Heavy Metal is not to Blame

"Heavy metal uses apocalyptic themes and images of power and darkness, the ability to translate verbal ideas into musical ideas that successfully convey the ideas of the words is critical to heavy metal authenticity and credibility." -Wikipedia.ca

It really pisses me off when people say that music prompts suicide. Songs cannot physically make someone kill themself. It is the person themself who chooses to do the action. Nothing else. I'm not trying to be an insensitive bitch about the subject. I'm really not. Suicide is a serious issue and should never be joked about, and people I know have been affected by it.

My point is that there have been many bad things that have happened that people blame on music; specific songs and genres. I'm going to throw out a bunch of examples now that pissed me off.

In 1985, two teenagers in Nevada killed themselves two days before Christmas. They had listened to Judas Priest before they did it. Because of that, the parents of the teenagers took Judas Priest to court and tried to sue them. They claimed that the music of Judas Priest had prompted the boys to kill themselves. The fact is that both of the boys were troubled dropouts, had criminal records, had problems holding jobs, and had already led sad and miserable lives BEFORE they listened to Judas Priest. Each had also come from a family with a history of domestic violence and child abuse and had gotten counseling.

In 2006, a 12-year old girl and her 23 year old boyfriend were charged for murdering her parents and brother. I remember reading the article in the newspaper about it. They were describing her and it said "she states heavy metal as her favourite music." This was a completely unneccesary comment, especially since they did not talk about any of her interests, only how old she was and where she went to school. Heavy metal music has nothing to do with the killing. Maybe her 23 year old boyfriend?? TWENTY THREE YEARS OLD. Something is a little fucked up there. First of all, that's illegal because she is TWELVE. Second, he probably made her do it. Third, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HEAVY METAL MUSIC. Music didn't make her kill her parents. So why the fuck would you mention it in the first place? Oh yeah- stereotypes.

This happens all the time. Bands and music get blamed for people who were depressed in the first place who commit suicide. Music cannot make you commit suicide. You are the one who physically takes your own life. In the end it is your own decision, and if you really want to do it, whether you listen to a song or not, you're still going to do it.

I apologize for my brutal language.

World Beats, yo

"Music is the universal language of mankind." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Outre-Mer

One of the things i'm amazed with is world music. It's fascinating. There are so many different things associated with music, and it's all over the world. I think it's amazing how there are so many different dances to different types of music, and it seems like no matter where you are in a country, everyone knows the dance.

Take Greece, for example. My Greek uncle is always playing these Greek songs, and I always thought it would be different in the actual country of Greece, and that these songs were 'North-Americanized.' I was proved wrong. I went to Greece this past March, and throughout the streets the exact same music was being played. It clicked in that this music was being shared all over the world, even though it originated in one country.

In one continent (Europe, for example), there are thousands of types of music that vary per country. Germany has different music than Italy, Italy has different music than Switzerland, Switzerland has different music than Turkey...and so on and so forth. It's exhausting, really.

My favourite thing is when bands take different aspects of world music and put it with theirs. My favourite band, the Dropkick Murphys, is an Irish punk band. They have the basic band instruments (guitars, bass, drums, vocals) as well as traditional celtic instruments (fiddles, bagpipes, mandolins, accordians, etc.). It blows my mind every time I listen to them. When I see them in concert, it's even more amazing. Other bands I love do this too, but the Dropkick Murphys are my favourite.

In my opinion, there is no bad genre of music. I think I have music from every nationality on my Itunes, and saved on my computer. The best thing about it is the weird looks I get when I play something random. Those weird looks actually show the intolerance, judgements, stereotypes, negative conotations, and other things associated with lacking cultural experience. That's my opinion, and it's not changing.

The Roots of It All

"If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would have changed the history of music, and of aviation." -Tom Stoppard

History's important. In everything.

Especially music. In my opinion, it's so important to know where everything comes from. You may think your music has nothing to do with other types, but you're wrong. Every genre of music came from another genre, which came from another genre, etc.

It all started with the Renaissance.
Well, technically you could say that it started in ancient times, all the way back to the cave people and neanderthols. Archaeologists have found ancient musical instruments, like sticks being hit together. For this blog's sake, we'll stick with modern music, onwards from the Renaissance.
During Medieval times, people listened to classical music and composers. This carried on into the Renaissance, in which people listened to classical composers. This actually carried on into the 20th century, when things started to change.
First came Jazz music. Then swing music. Everybody in the 1920's was going to clubs and doing the jitterbug and the rabbit hop. Then came country and grassroots, then rhythm and blues, which led into my personal favourite genre, good old rock and roll. This is where it gets crazy. Rock and roll music led into other genres, such as disco, harder classic rock, and...hip hop. Original hip hop featured guitars and riffs placed with the beats, and then transitioned into the hip hop we know today.
Crazy, isn't it?