I’ve been around long enough to be close to forty years old. In that time I’ve gained many likes and dislikes, and changed my mind about said items as well.
For instance years back I hated Chinese food, and if I was dragged to a Chinese restaurant, I always went with the “safe” route, the lemon chicken plate. Today however, I love eating Chinese food.
The same goes with music. I remember my first years listening to rock music (Mercyful Fate was the first rock band I remember ever hearing), finding new bands and changing favorites on an almost yearly basis. Seems every new band I heard was better than the last.
What happened to those days?
Today I’m lost in a sea of nostalgia, because frankly, it’s all that’s good anymore.
The last time I heard a new band and thought, these guys are actually good was in 1996 with Linkin Park. This is 2009! Granted, LP is not the same as they were then, and sure, I can name some new groups from today’s era, and some are actually decent, but I remember the fan following (being said fan myself) of groups back in the day like early Queensryche, Metallica and Def Leppard and how devoted everyone was. Being very familiar with vinyl records, the first time I saw Queensryche’s debut four song EP carried around at high school by someone else made me rush off to go buy it for myself, and then after I got it home and heard The Lady Wore Black…yeah, that was a day I still haven’t forgotten.
There are no such days like that anymore.
Sometimes I think classic rock lives on simply because those of us that have experienced situations like the above, miss them, and so in a way want to re-live it somehow and experience it in the now. Sure I remember the first time I saw Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit video and sure it’s a great song, but it’s not a memory I cherish, nor do I think of it anytime I hear the song. However you will catch me listening to Elvis and reminiscing over the days when I had Elvis and Molly Hatchet on 8 track tapes and loving it.
Maybe we’re more impressionable when we’re younger, and maybe that’s why memories are more vivid and stronger then over now, I don’t know.
I remember days when I was full of excitement over an albums release and would go to the midnight releases just to have it as early as possible. Today I have very little emotions and wonder if it’s not a carryover effect of just not experiencing anything that’s any good anymore. My marriage to my wife and the birth of my son aside, I can’t name the last real emotional thing I’ve experienced, where I thought that this was just amazing and where I was inspired, and that’s not just musically.
Years ago I remember leaving a friends house with another friend and hearing what we later found out was Metallica’s Harvester Of Sorrow’s debut playing on the airwaves for that station, which was immediately followed by a concert announcement, and despite that I didn’t hear the beginning of the song, me and my friend were amazed by the song and had to wait till it was over to hear who it was and what song it was. I grant that I may not be exposed to enough new stuff of today to hear what’s really good, but I do know that when I turn on the radio to a program or station that plays recent hits, I am never awed anymore.
I like The Flaming Lips, I like The Editors, I like Death Cab For Cutie, I like Neutral Milk Hotel and Nickelback and tons of other bands, they are all good bands, decent talent, some good songs, but all in all, so many bands sound so much alike in today’s world, and I realize that maybe that is what sells today (but with the dwindling purchases, not taking into account increased piracy of course, of albums these days), but maybe not, maybe it’s more than that.
No Comments