Let's Talk About Tunes Baby - Volume 1

Life interfered with Blog Writing Today, so I will give you that story here tomorrow ... Here is a back up blog I have been sitting on for a while because I thought it sucked, so feel free to take the night off ...

I have my System of a Down CD in the CD player on the way to work this morning, and the idea came to me to write down what my opinions of music are since my tastes tend to be rather eclectic at best. My musical tastes are pretty close to my talk radio tastes in a lot of ways, and I realize that the analogy might sound a bit off, but it is what it is. I listen to music that challenges me and makes me feel differently, and often. Bands like Sytem of a Down, Primus, and KoRn for example actually could be proclaimed the Shubert, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin of today’s times, and it isn't a very far stretch of the imagination. When Shubert for example was alive, he was far less than enthusiastically received, but he did have a rather nice following that grew and after he was gone {which was very young, so you have to factor in that he was younger than most of the members of the bands I mentioned} his works were being rediscovered and heralded more and more each year for thier complexity, and while he was alive, he rarely even finished a symphony, as it wasn't going to be heralded in his mind anyway. The fact that a composer of the old guard was living on the other side of town {Beethoven} and wouldn't acknowledge the new and unpolished composer Shubert didn't help matters any either. It's good to note though as Beethoven’s music was rather polished and more methodical, to Shubert’s far more unclean, dark and at times terrifying overtones. Both of them are considered “classic” in anyone’s books.

Mozart was a very interesting character as most of his music was played on an instrument that had only been around for a very short time, and he was by far the innovator of it. This strange piece of equipment known as the piano, changed everything after Mozart, but while he was alive it was a very strange instrument that only his genius level could bring strait to the forefront. The great composers just prior to Mozart {Like Bach, Pachelbel, and Vivaldi for instance} sounded a good 200 years behind the music that Mozart played, and really he only came along right after thier reign. It was simply the way that he challenged the people who listened to him, that made him totally stand out {aside from the fact that he wrote more symphonies per year alive than any 4 of the great composers combined of course} and that was the gateway for Chopin to test the boundaries even more. Despite the fact that Chopin was very popular during his lifetime, it was purely based on the shock value of the many things that he wrote, and the complexity of the abilities it took to play it. As a raw pianist Chopin far out shadowed even the great Mozart, but it took a lot of challenging to do so.

Tchaikovsky as I have often said is one of the greatest composers ever, but his music was so far ahead of it's time that he was totally incapable of earning a living at it. He was absolutely HATED by the people of his homeland, and the only reason his life made any history over in Russia was because of the amazing ways he constantly tried to kill himself. He was also a horrible failure at that. Andrew Carnegie, who was one of this countries great visionaries {and coincidentally dollar for dollar based on the times, one of the richest men who ever lived} built the Carnegie Hall so that he could bring Tchaikovsky to the United States and give him a venue, and the 1812 Overture {one of the greatest pieces ever made thank you} was written by him on the way here out of gratitude for an opportunity. Andrew Carnegie was elated by the performance and truly adored Tchaikovsky’s music, it's just too bad nobody else did, and years later Tchaikovsky finally did kill himself the old fashioned way ... Pneumonia from trying to drown himself in the Russian Winter water.

I hear this often in a lot of the music I listen to today, and I also here music that is totally devoid of this today as well. Primus is considered a terrible band by MOST people I know, and to be honest with you songs like Pork Soda, and Tommy Was a Race Car Driver, don't make my argument look any better, but they are on my must buy list every time a new CD comes out. Songs like Mr Krinkle are hidden on every CD that they make and I often have to just sit there in awe of how amazingly gifted they are. System of a Down as I was listening to them today I have known for quite a while are so amazingly powerful and complex in what they play that it sometimes sounds jumbled and often too Metallica-ish, but the way that everything they do changes so radically from song to song it is like listening to the second coming of Shubert. KoRn on the other hand might sound like jumbled up noise, but when you are listening to it, there is almost a challenge put forth musically to try to see what direction any given song is going to end up. More over, just try to see if thier style can even be maintained from album to album as they are always transforming into something more with every song that they write. It was the unquestionable drive that you would have seen from a man like Mozart that was often considered crazy just because he was better at music than anyone else of his time.

Here's the part where I get to be insulting, and point out why certain bands or artists have for the most part made me ill whenever I am forced to here them, and the whole “talk radio” angle really comes through here. There are artists out there that have not written anything even vaguely original in over 30 years, that I not only gave up on wanting to hear anything new from them, but thier new stuff simply makes all of thier older stuff sound older, and less original. Pink Floyd has been intolerable to me as long as I can remember. Every album is a “profit break” like the Rolling Stones, and is totally lacking in anything original from thier first album. Like the Rolling Stones, they were radical and exciting when they first came out {I assume actually as I wasn't even born yet} but now sounds like a droll meandering stutter from an elderly old fool, with Alzheimer’s. Sadly I get a feeling of being totally ripped off, when a radio station throws a tune on from one of these guys, or worse yet when I have to hear Eric Clapton and then the babble about his “genius” but then again it is probably because I don't get stoned.

Talk Radio is the same way, as I know that a lot of you assume that I listen to Rush Limbaugh everyday, but the funny part is I don’t. I like him and all but don’t get me wrong, I can form most of my own opinions and have them sound pretty similar. Another radio station in the area has a flaming liberal named Alan Combes {sp} on at the same time and THAT is what I listen to. He’s very polite and listens well most of the time anyway {not like a Paul Bagala or James Carville that screams over you and rips you with indecipherable rhetoric until you just give up talking to them} and because of THAT he has actually been able to stretch my mind in “some” more left leaning ideals, because he makes valid arguments and stretches my perspectives. The fact that I have heard him bend and pay attention a lot of the time makes all of the difference, because music, politics, child rearing, or just life in general is a challenge and if NOT worked at or educated, then probably not worthy of my time ;8o)

Have a question you want answered? Feel free to ask this sicko! Post any question you want Jeremy Crow to answer in the comments section of this blog and he will answer it totally honestly and to the best of his ability A.S.A.P. {One Question & One Answer per Blog, and no answers will be given to things that will harm others!} Nothing that was printed here was intended to offend anyone, and if it did, you begged for it. If you believe that there are some measures that can be taken to change me, then please feel free to pray for me, and while you are at it yourself, because you read this far, and if you hated every minute of it, then you are an idiot, not me, or the other people who like what I have to say! .. JC~ Other Crap This Weirdo Publishes ... Mental Notes & Random Musings {Daily Blog} Mental Notes - TagWorld Edition {Whenever} Mental Notes - MySpace Edition {Weekends} Mental Notes - Yahell 369 Edition The Crow's Nest {The Homepage of J~ Crow} {Weekends}

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