gogogadgetearl . where’s my sweet guitar solo?
2007.05.08
-
ok, so here's my thoughts on music...
i love, love, any kind of music that the artist pours themselves into. not something that was written that they perform...something that seeps straight from their soul into their instrument. where they don't just play an instrument, they translate their love, anger, joy, and pain into beautiful sounds. i pine for music like that. perfect examples of artists that treat their music as such: fiona apple, muse, stevie ray vaughn (his rendition of little wing is in my top 3 songs of all time), tool, jimi hendrix, peter gabriel, jeff buckley, and a few others.
one thing that really bugs me about modern music, though, is the fact that it is so focused on lyrics and less on the music. don't get me wrong, i understand and fully respect good lyrics and the need to use different words and unique language to get a point across...however, the majority of modern music has become more "poetry set against instruments" and less "true music". seriously, when was the last time you heard a truly great guitar or piano solo? i challenge any of you to find me a guitar solo that lasts more than 2 minutes (par for classic rock) on any album that went gold in the last 5 years. i'm betting that's going to be a tougher challenge than most people would imagine...
i know the lyrics to less than a fraction of the music i listen to. to me, the voice of the lead singer is just another instrument...and i'm fine with that. they could be singing about little pink ponies or how to change a tire for all i care, i just want the notes, the chords, the harmonies, and the dissonance to unchain my mind, my heart, and my soul. that's what music is to me. :-)
comments
-
- [ 2007.05.08 | 3:24:07pm ]
-
Surely you left The Mars Volta out on accident, Earl? I'm sure you did...
Last time I heard a good piano solo was listening to my brother play :P
But then again, I'm sure you if you stick to jazz, you'll find a ton of great guitar, piano, drum, bass, etc. solos...- [ 2007.05.09 | 11:23:11am ]
-
that may be true, but how many jazz albums went gold in the last 5 years?
- [ 2007.05.11 | 12:48:28pm ]
-
who cares about going gold as long as the quality of the music is good. support the musician, not the RIAA.
- [ 2007.05.12 | 4:21:19pm ]
-
that's a fair point, but for another argument. i wasn't talking about how the best musicians don't play good solos anymore - i was talking about how most modern (popular) musicians don't play good solos anymore. if i were to rate musicians by the quality of their music, rather than their popularity (the best gauge being albums sold), then i'm sure there would be many, many more people on the list of having guitar/piano solos >2mins.
- [ 2007.05.12 | 10:48:02pm ]
-
Well, the masses suck. What else can I say? :P
- [ 2007.05.14 | 5:44:23am ]
-
/agree
- [ 2007.05.14 | 8:03:39am ]
-
You want a band that writes every song like it's the last one they will ever write? Listen to Dragonforce (Fury of the Storm, Valley of the Damned, and Through the Fire and the Flames are, imo, their best.) The lyrics can make a lot of their songs sound the same but they have some AWESOME guitar solos.
- [ 2007.05.21 | 3:30:37pm ]
Now, I'd be hard pressed to find an album with 13 songs on it, and one of those tracks barely breaks the 4-minute mark. And at least 3 songs on the CD sound exactly the same. I made the mistake of buying Nickelback's "The Long Road" album. Every song's play track could have been underlayed beneath the first track's lyrics and the songs would still pan out as feasible solutions. Manufactured rock...Truly a sad time.
I get into music for the exact opposite reason as Earl. For me, its a great piece of lyric set over a healthy heapin' of accompaniment that put my soul at rest. This wasn't always the case, I was a band geek through middle and high school, and despised vocals in my instrumentation. However, all that changed when I got to college and found Christ in the lyrics of songs that I had always heard, but never really listened to. And being a huge fan of heavy metal music, I started to find music that wasn't so much about "how my parents hated me and it's all my fault and I just want to kill em all", (which was pretty much all of mid 90's early 2000's rock) and more about being uplifting and hopeful, or at least songs about finding strength in the face of adversity.