'No Thanks'-giving III

This is the season to give thanks for all the blessings life has bestowed upon us... but what's the fun in being happy all the time?

The last two years, I used this week as an opportunity to have a 'No Thanks'-giving, which was a Festivus-like twist on the holiday, using it as an occasion to vent about a few things in the world of music I wish I could say 'no thanks' to. They never disappear, but I can voice my displeasure nonetheless. The pool of complains is running lower now, but we still have a few things to talk about this year. Let's see what still gets my ire up.

Nostalgia Bands

Creativity is a fluid dynamic, I am well aware. It isn't easy to crank out new music on a regular basis, especially with the knowledge you need to keep doing it. Inspiration is nebulous, and sometimes it fades away from you. That has happened to me, and it's a different feeling than writer's block. Having no good ideas is a different reality than having no desire to keep creating. The former happens to us all, but the latter is more concerning.

We all know the bands out on tour who either haven't made a new album in decades, or don't play anything but the songs they recorded before CDs became a thing. They rake in huge money playing the same setlist of fifteen songs they have been playing for as long as our memories can stretch back. It's hard to blame them for doing it, but there is still something uncomfortable about artists who no longer strive to make art.

My former favorite band falls into this category. They still head out every summer and play shows, but this year marks fifteen since their last album, and we will soon be hitting five years since their only one-off single in all that time. At a certain point, it is less a question of whether they will ever make music again, and more a question of why we should care about them still existing as bands. If they are never going to give us anything new, and we have all heard them play the same songs a thousand times, what is exciting about them anymore?

Recently, Rush announced they returning to the stage, which is what put this particular thought in my head. Rush was one of the few bands that ever walked away with their head held high, saying a fitting goodbye to their fans, and ending with a well-received album to go out on. Now, they return a decade older, a decade further from being at their peak, and without Neal Peart. I would never expect them to make music without Neal (nor would I want them to), but something about them playing into the nostalgia of being Rush again, despite not being Rush anymore, leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

It's true in all facets of our culture; we can't leave the past in the past anymore. Between remakes, reboots, and stations that never stop playing the cultural touchstones of generations that came before us, we live in a world of nostalgia. People who never even lived through those times ape the sounds, styles, and looks, because they know that time better than their own. It's all... pushing some of us in the direction of thinking there isn't as much reason to keep looking forward anymore, when the future is merely going to be a newer version of the past.

Rock About Rock

As someone who has written lyrics for over half of my life, I have an affinity for the written word. There are two ways to write great lyrics, which can be separate or combined; write about something interesting, or say the mundane in an interesting way.

Unfortunately, when it comes to rock and metal, we wind up with far too many lyricists who act like a lot of the fans and treat the words as an afterthought. What that results in are countless rock and metal songs about how great rock and metal are, or how rock and/or metal the people singing the songs are. Ugh. There might not be a lyrical trope I hate more than writing music about the very music you're making. At least the pretend Satanists are very poorly trying to talk about an actual philosophical idea. Rock music is a boring topic for rock music.

And it all derives from one simple conceit; you shouldn't have to say it. Whether you are writing about how rocking you are, or how rocking your music is, the songs should speak for themselves. If you have to brag about your credentials, you probably don't have any to be bragging about. It's not unlike when you see someone driving either a hideously expensive sports car or a massively gigantic pickup truck, and you think to yourself how they are compensating for the flaccid effects of a lack of everything bravado stands in for.

This has plagued even the greats, as no less than Ronnie James Dio would often write "We Rock", or "Long Live Rock & Roll". You can't give yourself a nickname, and you can't gaslight people into thinking you rock more than you do. We laugh at people who constantly brag about the most mundane things for no other reason than they have to make themselves look good, but we allow rock and metal musicians to brag about being rock and/or metal as if any of it matters. Being metal to your core doesn't make you a good person, and it doesn't mean your music is going to be any good either. More time spent on making art, and less on how it is perceived, would be a big help. 

Too Forgiving Fans

As fans, we are inclined to give people who make music we like the benefit of the doubt. That can be a positive character trait, but it can also expose our own weakness in not being able to set clear boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable. Of course, that could be the result of many people simply having no ethics to consider them violated, but I would like to think we can all agree that a few things cross the line.

Look at As I Lay Dying for all you need to know. Trying to contract a murder is a pretty clear red-line that should not be crossed, and while I'm not going to deny the possibility of rehabilitation, no one is forced to go into business with such people after they are held accountable. Not only did the band get back together, but the questionable person was accused of assaulting his wife (Don't ask me how anyone decided to be with him after knowing what he was capable of trying to kill his partners - I've stopped trying to understand people), which imploded the band again.

Far too often, there seem to be no consequences in this world anymore. People get away with the most heinous of things, because too many of us are caught up in the illusions of celebrity, and will forgive people if they entertain us in some way. If we look back, we can find countless examples of such things. How many of the classic rock stars of the halcyon days either wrote songs about pursuing underage girls, or actually did exactly that?

We know who these people are, but yet the stories become footnotes in their histories. They remain beloved by too many, and several of them are treated more as being our goofy uncles than being people who had predatory instincts. There are still members of the 'journalistic' sphere that trot these people out, and act confused and/or outraged themselves when some of us question why they buddy up with such people.

We should look back with degrees of horror that Ted Nugent wrote a song called "Jailbait" about being a low-rent Jeffery Epstein. We should be aghast that Winger was shouting "she's only seventeen" all over MTV in the past. We should be ashamed of ourselves that Metallica cutting their hair still gets more attention than the child exploitation that occurred on covers of Scorpions and Blind Faith albums.

I want to scream "Fuck you" at all the people who let this stuff slide without ever contemplating what this says about them. The only upside is that right now the 'band' Dogma is actually under some fire for the stories being told by former members that they were being mistreated and/or abused by the management who put this manufactured group together. They were being paid below minimum wage, barred by legal document from speaking as human beings, and one singer who turned them down couldn't get a clause put into her contract guaranteeing her physical safety. I'm encouraged to see some pushback, but it still isn't enough. There hasn't been any word from Dogma's label or distributor holding them accountable, or dropping them as clients. I fear when the next desperate musicians sign up, and a new single/video is released, we're going to forget all about this.

When I say I'm glad I don't call myself a 'metalhead', or part of any music culture, this is why. Too many people can live with themselves supporting evil, but I can't.