End Of An Era?

I had promised (myself) that I would not write any more articles on music. Music is a personal choice and my views, as always, cause a lot of bad blood between me and my friends. But I have returned with this post on the aforementioned subject, and in a particularly vengeful mood. I will deal with guitarists, or a lack of them, in the coming few sentences. Mayhap, people will agree with me on this point, though I am sure that one person will hate the criticism of my pet peeve, alternative music, here.

Now, when I said “lack” of guitarists, I didn’t mean it in the actual sense. What I meant was, there is a serious dearth of good guitarists. Virtuoso guitarists. The world has seen the Hendrixes, the Pages, the Claptons and so many other brilliant musicians. There are countless such guitarists I can name, who have changed the face of music. They’ve come and gone. Some are still alive, still lighting up crowds all over the world with their nimble, yet marvelous fingers and enterprise. They represent an era gone by, resplendent in all its glory. They have delighted many-a-man, whether in The New World or in the Far East. Whatever genre they have dominated, they have enhanced their own field and set an example for future musicians.

But has this example really been followed by these recent generations? The 80s and the 90s were the decades when pop music pretty much ruled the roost. The beginning of the 21^st century has seen the sad advent of anti-music, in the form of hip-hop and rap. So why has there been a lack of true guitarists in recent times?

I’m sorry to say, but this is mostly because of alternative music. Alternative music has really destroyed the niche that virtuoso guitarists enjoyed. Alternative blends simple acoustic strumming, keyboards, a boy-band-ish voice, and occasionally, a few chords on the good old electric guitar. Alternative, being the easiest way to create any sort of music, appeals to most people who are willing to sacrifice mastering the art of playing the guitar for a quick buck. The 21^st century has seen the mass production of such pseudo-alternative bands, almost to an obnoxious limit. I say pseudo, because true alternative music was first created by good bands like REM and Duran Duran.

Such bands, which graced the 80s and 90s, had good guitarists like Peter Buck of REM, and brilliant singers like Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran. It is sad to see no such talent in the alternative bands of recent times. Of course, playing the keyboard requires talent too, but keyboardists can never rival the brilliance of a true lead guitarist. Well, whatever happens, I seriously hope there is a resurrection of the 60s and the 70s. And true rock fans, keep the faith. Good times might yet be on their way. 🙂

What’s The Frequency, Kenneth ?

Music. I just can’t survive without it. This is a tribute to all those people who have helped me love music as I love it today. Among those are 2 of my best friends and my sister and a cousin. Let’s get on with it already now!

Genres of music are really confusing as many artistes tend to mix many genres into their creations. I am really lost for words when someone asks me to differentiate between different genres of music. Although the distinguishing features are far too many, its really hard to put sounds into words. Making bass noises really sounds like someone trying to convert Morse code into music with extremely poor results. Many-a-times, my friends ask me about the difference between hip-hop and rap.

Now I’d say its easy enough to recognize. Not that I’m a professional, but its pretty easy even for people who’ve heard about these genres for the 1st time. And as my friend pointed out, most hip-hop/rap artistes are African-American (read black). Don’t count me as racist, its really a fact. (Let’s just call African-Americans as AAs, in case anyone reading might be offended by the “black” tag). Rap and hip-hop requires a certain amount of talent with regard to singing to be able to carry it out perfectly.

Rap requires a lot of quick singing/speaking which is really what AAs do best. Hip-hop is really a kind of melodious rap with the singing keeping pace with the tune. Now, I’m really not a fan of rap or hip-hop as i consider the lyrics of most of these artists as senseless and arguably violent. I’m glad I took my friend’s advice and switched to rock from hip-hop. While I really can’t insult any person’s musical choices, I really feel rap and other such genres are detrimental to the moral values of the society.

Now moving on to similar genres like RnB, House, Trance, etc. Most of these are recently coined genres (I guess so). RnB is similar to hip-hop, except that it is more melody-oriented rather than vocals-oriented. House and Trance music is what you commonly hear at most discos and nightclubs. Trance music is a rage nowadays with many DJs cashing in on their sound-mixing abilities.

Now, coming to my favourite genre. Yup, you guessed right. Rock it is. Rock is completely different from the aforemntioned genres. While the others create music from electronic devices along with the traditional ones, rock music is (mostly) based on the combination of guitars, drums and occassionally, the piano. I’d say rock requires a lot more talent than the other genres do. But its just a matter of opinion.

Rock is just one part of the story. There’s jazz, blues, metal, etc as well as pop music.

Pop music makes use of a lot of melodious singing combined with pleasant sounds. It is mostly on the talent of the vocalist that the success of pop artistes is based. Jazz is a version of pop/rock which is accompanied by use of wind instruments like the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, etc. Blues is strictly an acoustic version of rock, thus making no use of electric guitars/ electric bass whatsoever.

Coming to metal. This is the most misunderstood genre of music ever. Most people relate metal to noise. I’d agree to a certain extent. But to a certain extent ONLY! 90% of metal is noise. The rest 10% has some of the best artistes of all time, like Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth among others.

These are the most popular genres in music. I might have missed out some, but please bear with me. The musical choices you make are your choice and your opinion only. Don’t let this article (or my opinion) influence you. The point is to enjoy music, be it classical or just our Masala Bollywood songs. So as John Lennon and Jim Morrison strove to do, enjoy the poetry that is music !

And as Joe Elliot sings – “Let’s Get Rocked”!