never mind the bollocks

There are many things that I do not understand. I am not talking about the demands of my current course unit, nor the inexplicably addictive nature of curry. On this occasion I am talking about Punk Rock. I actually have in my extensive collection, a cd of The Sex Pistols. I don't ply it very much, if indeed at all these days, but I have it just as a reminder of how bad things really can be. I have heard it said that punk arose from a rejection of the then state of pop music that had become dominated by bands like Queen, Pink Floyd, Genesis and others. From this rejection came a movement dominated instead by sheer crap. Young people who had little or no talent suddenly thrust themselves to the fore, moaning and complaining about very little, being utterly obnoxious and producing antimusical sounds that were anarchic, banal and worthless. Most of the perpetrators lapsed rapidly into the obscurity from whence they had come, while others joined the Rock Money Machine that they had been rejecting, and thankfully the phase died a death very quickly. For a time the loudest noises came from these empty boxes and the big names took a rest. Now that punk is dead and buried, the big names are still there and still filling stadiums over and over again.

So what was the point? I could understand the punk movement if it had brought about change, but it didn't. Things are just the same as they always have been. The music industry is dominated at ground level by the pap, faceless boy bands and girl bands, that last five minutes and are then replaced by more of the same. Nubile young women with voices that all sound much the same warble out their imitations of good black singers, and effeminate young men do much the same. Then there are the bands that have musicians in, and who make some good records and tour the festivals and fill the odd stadium. These tend to have rather longer half lives than the boy bands and girl bands.

And yet, still at the top end of the pyramid are the elderly and tiring, who can still sell millions of recordings and fill the biggest venues whenever they can muster the energy to play.

Music should be about musicianship and quality. i don't want to hear crap music - I can sing badly enough for myself, and can even muster 5 chords on a guitar. Note that I say muster and not master. Today seems to be about mustering, and the reason that the big names survive is because they have a quality of musicianship that people really want to hear.