Word: rocks
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...kind of sincerity that's giving me listening fatigue is the canned, planned type that sells albums because of the mistaken notion that it's selling soul. These days everyone from suburban mall kids to pseudo-intellectuals on campus are buying rock records and going to concerts seeking a genuine emotional experience when what they are really receiving is one that's once removed. Rock 'n roll these days is similar to the concept behind stonewashed jeans (the most trite and absurd and tacky of recent fashion statements). It's a way for people to buy a look of wear...
...rock n' roll terms, the worst offender of this genre is U2. Enough is enough with this Irish intensity that Bono and the boys want us to believe imbues their Celtic Christian Consciousness. I don't doubt that life is tough in Ireland, but U2 music is produced for maximum movingness effect that is achieved through lots of driving thumping beats, plenty of references to a hopeless, endless search (for sincerity, it seems), and ripping guitar riffs interspersed at the right moments. One is tempted to suggest that Bono lighten up and smile for a change of scenery. If Bono...
...only thing worse than copping the sincere attitude (and in the case of U2 I don't doubt it started out sincere and was eventually co-opted by the forces of commerce) is having an attitude. Enough with Sting's image as the politically correct artiste extraordinare who can rock out with the boys, jam with Black jazz musicians, do the classical thespian thing, father a host of love children and be just the eccentric country gentleman donating his time and energy to worthy causes. I mean, aren't we bohemian? Gimme a break...
...problem here is that I am describing a relentless, insidious rock 'n roll process that happens to even those--especially those--with the best of intentions. So what's the answer...
Sadly, there really is none, except for rock 'n rollers to remove all pretensions from themselves and their music right from the start. I would never advocate depoliticizing rock 'n roll or diffusing its rebel yell, but only when it expresses honest emotion and reminds us of the reason the artists got into making music in the first place. At the same time, no one ought to be trapped in a past that no longer relates to their very cushy present--Bruce should once and for all quit with the blue--collar crap-but it seems that when sincerity...