zappa73

June 30, 2012 at 5:51am

Excellent response shwaum - my thoughts exactly, but articulated better than I would have.

Pop music is "pop"ular because the next generation is moved by it. Why the previous generation has to bitch and complain about the next (dumb, lazy, bad music, bad hair blah) is what's really tiresome.

Hey, I'm locked into 60's blues rock (Hendrix, Cream), 70's funk (Stevie Wonder, James Brown) and 80's Hard Rock (Ozzy, Van Halen) so the 90's weren't even my thing even though I graduated High School in '91.

I wasn't into Grunge at all. To me going from Clapton-Hendrix and Randy-EVH to Cobain was ....not my thing at all.

My daughters LOVE Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga etc. It makes them want to sing and dance.

Good on all of them.

It's music - if it pulls them in it's popular.

guitarladd

June 30, 2012 at 5:28am

Well, Cornell, let's hear some new Soundgarden songs that will just Blow Us All Away!! They did put out a new album didn't they. Maybe it will blow everybody away. If anybody hears it. I'll have to check 'em out on youtube and see if there is some new stuff there. Lately I'm on youtube checking out all these young girl shredders and bluesgirls and drooling. Sometimes at their guitar playing. I'm an old blues guy so you gotta be playing blues to impress me anyway. It's like David Letterman said about Joe Bonamassa "If you don't sound like that there ain't no reason to get out of bed" Guess I'll just stay in bed today, my knees will feel better.

blayneb

June 29, 2012 at 3:40pm

Geez I don't see it as whining. I don't see him bemoaning his current status. Just his hope that what is abyssmal now (and it is) we'll hopefully give rise to some real good new stuff. I spent time at the gym listening to today's top 40 and it's either the same 4 chords or machine music over and over. Yes Adele is somewhat of a bright spot but the rest is drivel (Lady Gaga GAG me). Sorry but it is. I hope he is right and some new good stuff will come out.

shwaum

June 29, 2012 at 1:31pm

I'm not a big fan of current music either. I can honestly say that I haven't heard anything in the last 10 years that's really blown me away. But this whining that these old washed up hacks are doing lately about current music is getting almost as old as they are.

When Rock n' roll first came out, the Jazz, Country and Blues guys were panning it at first. When the British invasion happened, the older American Rockers didn't like it. When punk hit the scene, progressive rockers hated it. When New wave came out the Metal guys were trash talking it. When Grunge and Alternative went mainstream, the hair metal bands hated it.

I realize no one wants to fade away. But guys like Chris Cornell, Billy Corgan, and Iggy Pop need to except the fact that they're no longer relevant. Maybe if their work was better, it could be timeless, like Led Zeppelin, Elvis or the Beatles. But it's not. They're stuff was mediocre at best during their prime, and now they're no longer in their prime.

Instead of bitching about the current scene and wasting time trying to relive their faded glory and tarnishing the memory of their old acts with financially motivated reunions, they should put some of that energy into doing something new and not half assed.

Ultimately, I believe the music that is popular now will too fade away and those musicians will probably bitch about the new music that has taken their popularity and relevance away.