I tried. I really tried to watch the MTV music video awards. I tried to find something redeemable about pop music in 2004. What I saw and heard did nothing to rekindle my interest. In fact, it annoyed me so much I’ve compiled a small list of complaints.
- mainstream hip-hop sucks so much that rock is making a comeback
- Rock hasn’t changed, and seems to only be going backwards, sound and style wise. Mind you, that’s not necessarily bad.
- Music and the corresponding videos are as commercially bent-over as movies. Pretty soon, albums are going to include “the twenty.”
- You don’t have to bob your head when something sucks.
- Wu-Tang is for the children, but where are they now?
- People’s fascination with the newlyweds seems to affect their taste in music.
- When do people actually see these videos? I’ve not seen them before.
- Why isn’t anything else on at this hour?
Yeah. Music has really sucked ever since the Pelt Lander broke up.
I agree on EVERY count. I find it interesting that 107.7 up here recently changed their format to “The Stuff that EVERY friggin’ Person at Tom’s High School Was Listening to While He Was Listening to Awesome Hip Hop.” I find it interesting because they basically changed their format to exactly what 99.9’s format is (90’s Seattle alternative mixed in whith a couple of new songs). And they’re both owned by the same company.
As far as Wu-Tang goes, I feel sorry for those guys. Basically you have maybe the greatest and most popular hip hop group ever (I said “maybe”… I’m willing to entertain counterpoints) who never EVER won an award for it. Always beat out by some poppy douchebag. At some point I think these guys all came to the realization that creativity and originality weren’t selling any more and all people want to hear are stupid club jams about the karat weight of the “rapper’s” chain. So they decided to give it a go. RZA decided he wanted no part of it. The others lost the production genious that they previously took advantage of and went looking for the “hottest” new producers and guest appearances (like Puffy!). And that’s how it all fell apart really recently. There were several albums even moderately recently that Wu members put out that fell under the radar even though they were actually amazing. I guess you could say that they were so good that they had to fall under the radar considering what all the morons have been told they need to listen to nowadays. Like GZA’s latest, for instance. At any rate, RZA has stated that the group is entertaining the idea of putting out another album as a complete group and this time produced by the RZA. That’s including U-GOD and ODB. He has also said that if this doesn’t happen, he’ll put out The Cure instead. Honestly, at this point I think I’d rather have The Cure, my last great hope for a good Wu album.
That comment about “the twenty”… Couldn’t stop laughing about that. But, yeah, this is why we have P Diddy in a Method Man album as well. The S is for “sucks.”
All in all, though, changes are made and confidence is restored. Tracks 3 and 5 alone on the Jedi Mind Tricks album that Scott gave me are worth the haul, Sound Bombing 2 is as good as I remembered it, Quas will last me for another six months of bliss at least. And the greatest news: Portishead has finally officially announced that they are in the studio working on the new album. It is under way. It was supposed to be out five months ago, but I’ll cut them some slack if it’s as good as the last two.
The Gospel Of Wu according to Tom.
You’re pretty funny there, Alan.
Can’t help but throw in my two cents on hip-hop while here. Just got another album off Quannum records. “The Lifesavers”. These guys are good too. WuTang is for the children, for the fact that those few albums that were any good will be there for our kids. RZA is to busy making movie soundtracks and getting paid to worry about much else. Thank you ClearChannel for all the great music you allow me to listen to. I’ve decided that I will just have to start buying music again.