Longing for the day ...

(Pop) music's lack of cultural examination

Not very long ago I was reading about how activism in pop music was a thing of the past. I thought that was a pity but probably a symptom of every marketer's gold rule: don't alienate enyone (offending non-target groups with pop music is fine - in fact it helps gather exposure - but don't ask people to think too hard).

However, I recently came across this, which looks at some attempts to sledge the Bush administration in song. Now, I'm no fan of the Bush administration's foreign policy record but no-one deserves some of these pathetic attempts at musical critique. If you're gonna sledge someone in song, you should at least make it entertaining ...

Still, these all seem to be American takes on American politics which is fine, but got me wondering where the Australian equivalent is. With the exception of The Living End, I can't recall a single Australian cultural critique in a popular song since Redgum (please correct me below if I'm wrong). That's a disaster - remember that the nursery rhymes we tell our kids these days were once cultural and political critiques ...

Which brings me the next point: Germaine Greer finally said something with which I agree. She wrote in The OZ: "If your ambition is to live on Ramsay Street, where nobody has even been heard to discuss a book or a movie, let alone an international event, then Australia may be the place for you." I have to say that that's frighteningly (and unpleasantly) accurate from my limited experience.

Australian should engage with current affairs and culture more ... and I intend to when it's appropriate. Writing and singing about personal relationships, etc is fine when there's something people can share about that experience, but there's more to life than endless amounts of attitude and image ...

Spam - the scourge of the Internet world ...

Had a thought the other morning: spam costs bandwidth - especially the porn spam and stuff with big images and things ...

I wonder how long it will be before some firm sues for the cost of spam ... or some law firm takes a class action on behalf of people bombarded by the crap.

I wouldn't mind so much, but getting 6 copies of the same spam message promising me wealth, a larger penis, eternal youth .. whatever, is wearing abit thin.

Any Lawyers out there wanna take this one on?

Another belated update about day jobs.

Forgot to mention: started back at work Monday. The Premier declared an election today so we're going to be flat out until Feb 7.

BTW, about my job: I love my day job. If I had to pick a day job to do, this one would be it. The boss is great and I get to "read and think all day" as my Angie puts it. I get exposed to great ideas and new information every day. It's challenging and it's rewarding - it's enabled me to research and think and design this project.

But the trouble is, it doesn't satisfy this itch I get every time I listen to the radio, or hear an odd sequence of notes in the windchimes outside the kitchen, or read about a band that's just released a new CD. I've tried giving up music several times before - but I can't. I keep hearing songs in my head that I've never heard before. Little fragments of tunes ... snatches of lyrics ... grooves in my stride.

That's why I want to give up my day job - for something better. For something more fulfilling to me personally. And if I can arrange to afford to give it up then I've a very priviledged person and I will owe a huge debt to the rest of mankind. I'd like to repay that debt by helping to entertain them and by helping others to gain the same freedom to vcreate that I will have.

But of course, that's a long way off yet ...

Songwriters must get with the program, too ...

OK, the latest whinge from the music industry - but not from the artists or Executives, this time: The New York Times tells us songwriters are hurting from free music downloads (AKA file swapping). This, of course, is a no-brainer. If songs don't sell, the songs' creators of all kinds get nothing for their efforts.

What I found really interesting about this article, though, was what was stated but not examined. The article featured a 75-year-old white songwriter whose song, written for a theatre musical, was performed by a ?young? African American rapper, Jay-Z. Further down the article, a 45-year-old male writes songs for Britney Spears.

What's going on here?

I think what's going on here is what's always gone on - collaborative production of music. The "pop" we hear as "Britney Spears' latest hit" is actually the result of the efforts of a lot of people - only one of whom is the attractive Blonde who gyrates along to the tune in a pop video. Trouble is, the marketers try to downplay this complexity or pretend that it doesn't exist - it's much easer to market a single phenomenon like "Britney" or "Jay-Z" or "The Backstreet Boys" (five guys plus backing musicians sold as a single band).

That's fine on its own, and it works well for selling cars, but it indicates a mindset that says its OK to separate the music from its source - and that's the attitude that I reckon is responsible for much of the decay in the popular music "industry".

Music everywhere is used in social settings and involved in rituals, rites and ceremonies (yes, even pop music fills that description). The music provides intra-group communication and communion in a way that spoken or written words cannot. This process of sharing is essential, timeless, a cuts across gender, age and ethnic boundaries.

But if the music is disconnected from its roots (commodified), its essence is destroyed. It's replaced with shallow marketing gimmicks like "attitude" and tries to present unrepresentative images (like New York Street culture in remote third-world villages). This disconnect between the performance and it origins leads to manufactired pop and tripe like Shannon Noll's utterly souless version of Moving Pictures' What About me?

But what really got me thinking about this was the accompanying article about a company that determines what sells (in the US retail market, anyway). Seems that this company, which has no public profile or accountability, is hired by most of the major retailers to tell them what to bother stocking and what not to.

Again, that on its own is not a problem - it's economically efficient - but it creates a self-fulfilling prophesy of what will sell. If a recording is not available, no-one's going to buy it, are they? It also indicates a mindset that says it's OK to not to allow people to have something that not many others want - or that the anonymous arbiters don't think others will want. Trouble is, if people can't find something they want (or like), some of them won't buy anything at all ...

It's just this removal of consumer choice that the left, and particularly many Internet activists, rail against. And they tend to blame the only entities that gain from the process: the faceless, dehumanising music-promotion corporations. That's probably unfair and misrpresents what companies are about but it's entirely understandable.

However, the Internet is built to subvert this narrowing of choice, and also to harness the power of collaboration. I'm glad that my efforts at this web site have been designed to oppose these "music industry" trends. I want the music associated with this site to have as diverse a source of inputs and to be distrubted as widely as possible. I think I can make a living out of doing exactly that and make a lot of people fairly happy, too.

That's what music is all about.

(Thanks to Phil Tripp's Music Industry News for the links)

Tuesday Update

OK, I've been rather busy and Angie has been using the PC with the Internet connection to do her Honours thesis research ...

Revisiting my list:

1) Got these in place but have yetto finalise the content for most of them. This will take a while because I need to finish recording some songs before I can put them on the pages ... ditto photos merchandise artwork, etc.

2) Focksy is coming over to help out Thursay and Aaron turned up our place on Monday ... serendipity hey?

3) Done. New arrangement works well. Needs a few more holes in the wall for cabling though.

4) Done. No content yet.

5) Not even started yet.

6) Did this. Angie was very appreciative. The improvement didn't last long though.

Actually, I've spent the past two days preparing to record things. It's been stinking hot and I've been holed up in a 6' cube with no doors or windows playing and singing - love it! Got six songs ready to record digitally on Thursday. Will spend tomorrow preparing and trying to get down the parts I can withuout Focksy ...

Can't wait to post the recordings.

Mental Note: The site is almost structurally complete but needs to look better. Ideas, anyone??

I Long for the Day

I started writing this song for a bet in 1996. At the time I'd just had *another* band fall apart through no fault of mine and had move in with my then-girlfriend (now wife), Angie, quit my comfortable public service job and gone back to Uni to study journalism.

Angie asked me why I didn't just give up the whole music thing, and I explained that I couldn't. She wondered why, and I explained that it was just sort of in me and wouldn't go away (I'd tried before). She said if it was in me, I had better prove it - could I write something right now?

I started stuffing about with a Bluesy thing in A and had written the three verses by that night. The middle 8 took another couple of years (I'm still not happy with it - ideas, anyone?).

LONG FOR THE DAY
Huge

A
I get up. I see my day unfolding before me.
E
I feel down when I think about a nine-to-five grind.
A
Well I don't need to feed my ego with money.
E
So I try to look around:

E+m7+m10
Try to find reason,
I'm waiting for the season,
E D A
I'll finally reap what I have sown.

Got a girl who thinks there's something special about me.
We get down and forget about the nine-to-five grind.
Got some friends who like a song to brighten the night-time.
So I sing the blues,
Playing my guitar,
Singing and old song,
Paying my dues.
E D C
And I long for the day when that's all I have to do.

[this part being re-written]
D
Don't work your life away
C
Make time for living, too
You're better off that way.

Don't waste your life away
Go out and get some, too
Come on, we're off to play,
D C
It's up to you, but I long for the day, when that's all I have to do.

Got a dream that some day I'll be somebody special.
I got a plan. I'm getting closer every day.
But it's hard trying to put the day job behind me,
So we all play along,
Laughing and writing,
Loving and fighting,
Singing our songs,
And I long for the day when that's all I have to do.

Intro/Chorus x 4

********************************

Please note: This song is APRA registered: Work Id GW33369808; ISWC T-060669720-4. You can copy, reproduce and distribute any part of these lyrics and chords for any non-commercial purpose as long as you acknowledge its source. I'm interested in your feedback, comments, suggestions. If you make something good out of it, let me know and I'll consider adding it to the site.

If you perform it or broadcast it for any purpose, please let APRA know.





License this music for commercial use through Pump Audio









This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

Getting on with it

Well, so far, so good. Got the basics up and running - now trying to make it all look half-decent.

Played last night at the Mt Gravatt Bowls Club with my Celtic folk band, Bun' Ber E. That was our last gig until mid-Feb (see Gig Guide). It was also Andy's last gig with us as keyboard player. We'll have to see how Fred shapes up in the new year.

It's a funny gig playing that Celtic Folk stuff. Usually lots of enthusiastic toe-tapping from die-hards who don't show much appreciation, but last night they were dancing and hugging and generally going on. Each to their own, I guess.

Anyway, today's missions:

1) Get the legals (almost done) and other auxialliary pages working on this website.

2) See if Aaron is available to help record the fist five songs next week (since I haven't heard from Focksy). (Practice, practice, practice!)

3) Install new mic and pre-amp in the studio. Gonna re-design it a bit and reduce the number of cables heading to the outside world.

4) Create a "Media" category for Press Releases, etc.

5) Read Fred's KN-1000 manual and ry to work out how midi compatible it is.

6) Clean up the kitchen while the familiy's away ...

That's about it. I'll let you know how I get on.