Did you ever...

I was going through my CD's earlier today and I picked up an old "History; America's Greatest Hits", by the BAND America, not the country, and I decided to listen for a little while.  Now I sit here listening to it still and I am remembering what it was about America that I really liked.

Guilty Pleasure - Pomplamoose

I was given a link tonight for a song by a band named Pomplamoose, and in listening a few of their songs I sat here slack jawed.  I do believe that this band is now my new guilty pleasure.

Remakes

Earlier as I was perusing the halls of YouTube (figuratively obviously), I came across some remakes by Carrie Underwood and it made me think.  As I was watching some concert footage that a random fan recorded, I realized that for the most part the songs I was listening to, she be recorded in a studio by Carrie Underwood.  They sounded that good.  Inasmuch as I believe that the songs I heard should be re-recorded by Ms. Underwood, there are oodles and oodles of songs that should have never been remade.

The Badge of Honor

I was thinking today about some of the bands I have seen throughout the years and I was trying to decide what united us, the '80s hairband-er (I may have just created a new word.  At least in my mind).  As I bantered about the potential link, I thought perhaps its the music, perhaps but what was the one tie we had and unless you were at a specific concert you had no clue what that freaky long hair with his impossibly thin goatee (it was growing in thicker every day) and the large chested, Aqua Net soaked bottle blonde had in common?  Then it hit me, we all had a Badge of Honor.

Concerts - The Hammer of the Gods

Now that is one dramatic title isn't it?  It seems to me that the description, "Hammer of the Gods", does fit a concert setting but in a non-religious fashion.  What is a concert really?  Isn't it our attempt to connect with our musical heroes?  Don't most of us seek a connection in the realm of "hero worship" and what do we worship?  No not the "almighty dollar", we worship our gods.

Everything I learned about life I learned in the '80s?

The decade of the '80s provided the listening public options that really had never been seen before.  With the onslaught of Pop, Alternative, Punk, Hair bands, Metal bands, Hair Metal bands that were pretending to be not a Hair Band, New Country, Electronic jibberish, and so many other creatures came from the primordial ooze that was the Decade of the '80s.

Mr. Music

Okay so the title of Mr. Music is really just a stupid attempt at getting your attention and if you continue to read, then I guess it worked.  I don't pretend to know everything about music, I act like I do. 

In a literal sense the title of Mr. Music reflects an appreciation for music that has no boundaries, but honestly anything that is assumed to be "popular" music now is trash.  It is not possible to consider Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga music, it is merely regurgitated bubble gum that fits neatly into a template that music execs know will make them money.  Today's music could be compared with the steaming piles of poo that was the era of Disco, that black hole in music that squirmed its way into the 1970's.

The Disco era overwhelms the musical senses by making us assume that all of the music from the '70's was trash and this was simply not true.  Bands like Black Sabbath, Rainbow, America, and T Rex made their mark in the same era as Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and the Village People.

Today much of the music can be slopped into a similar, all too comfortable '70s mold and with the onslaught of Bieber, Lady Gaga, and the Black Eyed Peas, bands such as Linkin Park, Stone Sour, Papa Roach and Avenged Sevenfold seek what their '70s rock bands achieved; success while their music goes unmentioned and a meager existence within the heavy radio coverage of the new era of Disco.

Its sad, it really is.  Within the confines of college radio, satellite radio, and a rabid group of fans, they will succeed.  They have to, its either that or Lady Gaga, and they thought Marylin Manson was bad.