Just saw this discussion, and I couldn't agree more with you, and I'm 29 years old.
I didn't grow up the 70s, and still too me it is painfully obvious that rock music has devolved over the last years. Rock music just doesn't have that sense of authenticity and freshness like it used to have, and lacks in songwriting and playing/singing talent. Too much commercial crap going on. The White Strips sounds fresh to some people because of the rough sound and playing, and some of their songs do catch a certain level of that rebellius rockmusic-atmosphere. Listen to "The Real Me", "Baba O'Raily", "Won't get fooled again", "Join the band", "5:15" etc.. with The Who. That's freshness and authenticity without crappy playing and singing. The Who was just an example. Another example could be Queen - A Night at the Opera, or Black Sabbath - Sabotage.etc..etc..
There are obviously a few truly talented commercially successful bands out there today (U2, Coldplay etc..) and I hear some good songs here and there (like Superfamily's new single, - Norwegian band) but still, the late 60s and 70s just had an overall peak in quality rock music which I doubt will ever be reproduced again.
Typically today you'll have your hip MTV, 70s inspired rockband/pop artist emulating previous great acts like Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell, Queen, Led Zeppelin..whatever, but without the interesting chord changes, unusual instrumentation and experimantel song structures (and great playing/singing) that made these bands/artists so fascinating. All you end up with is some dull, by-the-numbers song full of clichés. Hell, you can't even play a decent gitar solo today , or have anything resembling an intelligent instrumental section however short, without beeing daft and uncommercial.
In terms of progrock, Flower Kings has made some brilliant stuff - and they're quite present.
thewaag wrote:
I guess that we are looking at a generation gap here. I come from a time when you expected a recording artist to be able to play his instrument. Jack White’s random pawing of the Little Phatty is not what I would call playing.
You can call it art if you want. I guess that knowing when to drub the keys of the Little Phatty to get the necessary “sound” for your composition could be considered art. So can Yoko Ono’s screeching. It is just not my definition of the word, and I realize that this is strictly open to individual interpretation. I won’t call your opinion pointless because you think that Jack White’s keyboard doodlings are genius artistical interpretation.
My rock idols are guys who were virtuosos of their instruments, as well as being great songwriters. There were plenty of guys who wrote and performed rock classics who were not instrumental masters but could at least play the instruments that they performed with. People can say that Keith Emerson hid behind a “pretentious modular tower” and that he would “stab his keyboard with knives” but this was all for show. The guy played the absolute bejesus out of his instruments. Having not watched Jack play the keyboard before, I don’t know much about his keyboard prowess, but if the video clip is any indication, he has none. If people want to idolize him for that, go ahead. I won’t, but I won’t criticize you for doing so.
My comment was just a statement that here was a guy making big money as a musician and he shows no proficiency on one of the instruments that he plays. And yes, it does bug me that people consider this to be genius. It is incomprehensible to me, but again, I am older than most people on this forum. Musical tastes and expectations have changed. There are people on this board who regularly post music clips that show more keyboard ability than does Jack (at least in this clip). I appreciate their work a lot more.
