...Music thoughts

As of recently I have been going through a lot of cynicism when it comes to music these days.

Sure, there are great bands out there, but the problem that confronts us is the undeniable fall of the music industry. Only in times like today can bands such as brokenCYDE and Hollywood Undead survive.

I'm not stubborn, I know the way we consume music(and all our media for that matter)has taken a turn down the digital age road, but it doesn't help the fact that I don't like where music is at or what it has become.

The days of playing shows to get noticed are long gone and I miss them...badly.

As venues go bankrupt and are forced to foreclose, there is surely another .com that spurts up in its place to further the online music business.

Yes downloading music is easy and convenient, but what's lost in the process is everything that is good about music, the Cd art, the intimacy and the ACTUAL sound of the song not being washed away and reduced to .mp3 format.

I sometimes find myself thinking back at my earlier years and all the great Cd's that I grew up listening to. I can tell you what the Cd art looked like, who the band members were, every lyric to every song and the overall lasting effect the music gave me.

On the other hand, I sometimes find myself thinking if there will be any Cd's that I can sit back and reminisce on in ten years.

Don't get me wrong, there are good bands out there, no, there are great bands still, but when you reduce yourself to the instant gratification of downloading music the art becomes lost in the process.

One song here, one song there. You know you've done it, downloaded that one song and neglected the possibility of the whole picture, the album. Sure, you'll make bad purchases, but you'll also find those albums that will be ingrained in you forever.

Think about it, what if you were to have just bought Led Zeppelin's single, "Whole Lotta Love"? There's no argue that this is a fantastic single, but in the process of the quick fix of music, we lose out on what was to become one of the best records of all time, "Led Zeppelin II"

The online music industry is great in theory, giving us means to discover new great bands, but at the same time it gives means for bands like 3oh!3 and Cobra Starship the chance to not only get heard, but actually make it in the industry.

There is nothing real and worthy about two skinny emo kids singing about, "doing the Helen Keller." Oh yeah, and I'm from Colorado, I've TRIED to like these guys, there's just nothing there at all.

There once was a day and an age where playing in a band started actually by picking up an instrument first. Today, starting your own band begins at your local Urban Outfitters where people learn to be in a band for the fame, not the art.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I'd agree with you on this, but for me, I won't reduce myself to this kind of music, I can not and will not do so.

There are so many good bands out there for the bad ones to ruin it for everybody, so I beg you, buy a physical CD, give music a chance and find something real in one of the lost arts of our time, music.