DescentBB

Many here have commented on the musical talent of many of the contemporary musicians. It is interesting that Bob Dylan concurs:

BOB DYLAN has launched a withering attack on contemporary rock bands in the programme notes for his latest American tour.

"I know there are groups at the top of the charts that are hailed as the saviours of rock'n'roll and all that, but they are amateurs. They don't know where the music comes from," he wrote, adding, â??I wouldn't even think about playing music if I was born in these times... I'd probably turn to something like mathematics. That would interest me. Architecture would interest me. Something like that."

ahh, so by "concur" you mean he agrees with some here who say that modern musicians are amatures.

right, i was confuzzeled there for a sec.

i'm liking our local music around here (OZ). JJJ has the hottest100 for the previous year every australia day and it's always a great day. good stuff.

Dylan (one of my heroes) wrote sh1t loads of songs based on three chords. So does todays average rock band..whats wrong with that? Sounds like grandpa zimmerman needs to be put out to pasture.

well dylan is a genius lyricist... most people really are not that insightful now a days. i'd like to read the full piece the excerpt was taken from to put it in context.

But I do completely agree with him on their actual skill. Honestly, the only bands who still seem to have a clue (and they don't always do well) are the old ones like U2...

What choice do they have? Everything has been done. Originality is hampered by the insane creativity of the past. I notice every time I try to make something original, I end up sounding like I've taken a peice of Zepplin, fused it with some Floyd, and sped it up with some Metallica. Out of all my attempts, I've written two songs that I think I can call original.

The 'it's all been done before' syndrome is killing music and movies. I've noticed that when someone somehow finds a yet-unexploited niche, it's immediately pounced on and hyped right into mainstream and loses any artistic credibility very fast.

(This is seperate from the fact that most 'artists' today are mediocre anyway.)

Word testi.

All artists whether it be musicians writers or painters have been influenced by the past. To define "originality" by saying it's something never thought of before is absurd. Even Pink Floyd and Led Zep had their roots; the bands that they drew inspiration from and emulated. But they took something and changed it. The originality came from the different spin they took on an already established genre of music. The difference between bands today and bands of yesteryears is that those bands had feeling; they meant it; their lyrics had merit and worth. It wasn't just angst or greed or synthetic emotion. Hendrix felt his music. Bonham felt it. Dylan felt it. Linkin Park doesn't.

*ponders*

hmm, what if all this angst is the true underlying theme of our age? i mean what if what we are dismissing here as foreign and staged, is really the TRUE STORY of our age - that it's all we have to talk about and we simply don't want to admit that we are all so trite.

"disenfranchisment & disempowerment designed into a system fostering immaturity - it's net product being confused thrashing about & unfocused hot air" is a nice way to put it.
"spoiled angsty vibes" another way.

Considering the DBB seems to be full of social minorities, I kind of doubt it. For some reason the old tetchy veterans of a 10-year-old game seem to look at everything much more cynically than most people.

Probably because most of us are about 10 years beyond pop culture...

i think i've got the wrong message in this thread. but you know what? im gunna rant anyway.

i dont care. our band may not be original. hell, we may not be anything special. but you know what does matter? i love my music. i love our sound, i love my instruments. i love my band.

i love to play live. i love to get up there and rock the ★■◆● out. i dont need a crowd to do it.

how much has dylan made in his lifetime to critisise people like me? i guess his fortunes justify degrading all the HARDWORKING, TALENTED muscians around. the people who I do and have seen struggle through days with only their acoustics. The bands that struggle to make it to their own gigs, or do their best to get up there when they can barely stand up from illness. and still put on an exellent show.

i don't care what some rich ★■◆● thinks. i, like many, do what I love. and i work for my band. may not be original, but i still worked to make the band what it is.

Ummm...HD, unless you are at the top of the charts Dylans comments aren't directed at you. Just keep on truck'n and prove you are the exception.