Hearing those words makes me weak....
There seems to be a lot of talk about what is wrong with the music industry. Sales are down, bands are being dumped, and things just generally look gray. Some point to downloading, others to DRM. Well I am here to tell definitively what is wrong with the music industry, and why it can never recover.
Our story starts with the fact that the wretched song "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder was recorded and released. Note, I refuse to link to either the song or the artist. The song manages to combine the worst of Grunge, Power Ballads, and Hair Metal into an unholy Chimera of vomit inducing schlock. At least the band has brought back the sexism of the late 80s.
In the next chapter, "Lips of an Angel" goes on to become one of the best selling singles of the year, and the album "Extreme Behavior" is the 10th best selling album of 2006 with an astonishing 1.82 million albums sold. Given the state of the music industry, it is only reasonable to expect more of this crap to be released in the next year, further alienating individuals whose ears actually work from major labels and radio stations. This will send the industry into a death spin from which it can never recover. Truth be told, I was hoping that James Blunt would win a lot of Grammys to help speed up this process, but alas.
And finally, in the epilogue, Jack Ingram has now foisted "Lips of an Angel" upon country audiences everywhere. What is truly remarkable is that Mr. Ingram's version of the song manages to be worse. Who would have thought? Now it has become obvious that the recording industry has no new ideas and is creatively bankrupt. Some evil executive could have slipped Hinder through with some clever subterfuge, but the rerecording of the song illustrates the industry's acceptance and celebration of it.
In other news KEXP managed to play both My Bloody Valentine and Love is All in the same set while I was writing this, so maybe there is hope after all.
Wow, somehow I am not surprised that I am the first one with the balls to commend on this posting. It is one thing to offer up a legitimate critique of the current state of the music industry (and I know every one of us has at least something to say about the poor state of said industry) however it is another thing to centralize your arguement completely around one artist and/or musical composition. No matter how objectionable the content of this work.
ReplyDeleteI have to state at this point that I, personally, find the song to be quite palatable. Where the song lacks in any (ANY) real message it does have a certain quality that is sadly missing from most of the sludge getting pumped our way by the music monarchy these days - the ability to not totally bludgeon your overt sensibilities in the first three seconds.
This is to say that it is, at least, not another cookie-cutter ganster wannabe piece of *bitch *ass *shit.
I use the Hinder song because it would have been a boring and trite release in 1996, and the fact that it was released in 2006 shows the lack of imagination on the part of the music industry. The fact that it was covered and released again within a year further highlights the industries' desperation. It might not be "cookie-cutter" rap, but it is "cookie-cutter" rock.
ReplyDeleteI should also say that you might be the only person that I have heard to even imply that there is anything subtle about Hinder, so kudos for that.