Death of a Legend and the Music Industry

photo courtesy of ronniejamesdio.com

About a month ago, twenty-eight days to be exact, Keith Elam (a.k.a. Guru from Gangstarr) passed away from surgery complications caused by his battle with cancer. Then, to my surprise this morning, I heard news about another artist who also lost his battle with the same disease: Ronnie James Dio... Heaven and Hell, Holy Diver, Devil's Horns...a Heavy Metal Rock Legend.

When Michael Jackson passed away last spring, I was extremely devastated. Then, that following December, The Rev from the metal band, Avenged Sevenfold, died suddenly at a very young age of twenty-eight. I didn't take The Rev's passing very well. Let's just say that to this day, I am still mourning his death. When one of your heroes die, sometimes, the only way to hang on to them is through whatever legacy they've left behind. In this case, its through their music. However, knowing that they wont be able to create new music that can inspire a new generation, that's a hard pill to swallow.




Speaking of music of the "new generation," there is something horribly wrong at the direction the our music is going. Dio's death just highlighted the imporance of good music of the past. Looking into the future, its pretty cloudy and grim. Let me emphasize here that this is "our" music, not the music industry's but OUR music. In the 60/70's we were blessed with Zeppelin, Joplin, Hendrix, Stones, Dylan, and The Beatles. Even in the late 70's, it gave birth to Heavy Metal and Punk, which was needed to offset the brief musical movement of disco. Then, in the 80's, we had glam rock, new wave, Metallica, and the birth of hiphop. The 90's gave us grunge and alternative music in the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, as well as giving rise to R&B sensations like Jodeci.. It even popularize "gansta" rap, such as Dr. Dre's The Chronic album. Then, in the turn of the century, year 2000, it's as if music turned for the worst; in comes Britney Spears, Christina Aguillera, the "Latin explosion" of J-Lo and Ricky Martin and N*Sync/Backstreet Boys. Both the Rap-Rock and the Raggaeton genre took form and a new generation of "crossover" begin to take shape; N.E.R.D. teaming up with Britney, Timbaland singing with Justing Timberlake, etc. This decade also moved the hiphop movement more into the pop category

It is now 2010, a brand new decade. Yet, to our disappointment, music still feels like it's on its downward spiral to destruction. Either the music industry has become so greedy that they frankly don't care anymore at the products they put out or they just don't seem to get it. Our ears are constantly violated by music from Ke$ha, Lil' Wayne, Chris Daughtry, Lady Gaga, and LMFAO.... by Beyonce, Caged Elephant, James Blunt/Jack Johnson/Jason Mraz, Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas... by the "autotuned" Glee cast singing karaoke style (more on this digital phenomenon in a bit), T-Pain, Jamie Foxx, Britney Spears and Owl City... by actors/reality-show-stars turned singers like David Hasselhoff, Jared Leto, Leighton Meester, Heidi Montag or one of the ladies from Bravo's The Real Housewives of (put city here). Why are we letting this happen? Please, for the love of God, give us our music back.

...and then, there's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qw5bKTBQE4

I would like to discuss "auto-tune" for a moment. This music production technique has been around for a long time. Even the likes of Cher and Madonna has used it in the past. However, we should only use this to fix the small minor tuning imperfections of vocal tracks. Let's not use it to alter the whole entire song creating this digitized unnatural vocal sound that's really borders the absurd. Good singers with phenomenal distinct voices, such as the late Freddy Mercury from Queen, are a dime a dozen. But by auto-tuning vocal tracks, we're only paving way for a future of artists who can't sing, but will somehow manage to sell albums based on their popularity at the time. This is unacceptable. Again, we want our music back.

That brings me to the subject of individuality and preference. We all are unique individuals who have our own thoughts and likings. What we need to do is to exercise this power of choice. The music industry hires smart songwriters and composers. They produce songs that are so catchy it starts to "ear worm" itself to our daily lives. But that's exactly what they are banking on, that we buy this talentless music simply because we've heard it a million times on the radio, or MTV, or a popular TV show. My plea is not to stop buying music...no... not at all. We need to buy music that we love in order to support the musicians. We have to start getting music that inspires us... that motivates us... that moves us... that lets us escape, even for a brief five minutes, the crazy nuances of reality. We have a choice, and we should never forget this applies to our musical preference, too.

This brings me back full circle to the recent deaths of these revered musicians. I'm deeply saddened by the passing of these dear and beloved artists. We really looked up to them because they've inspired us in some way, shape or form. Personally, when things get tough, I pop in my Bob Marley CD; or when I feel angry, I play Metallica, In Flames, Killswitch Engaged, Cannibal Corpse or DevilDriver; or if I feel the need to be creative, I'd play Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Avenged Sevenfold, Queensryche, or The Misfits; or if I'm working on a long project in the office and need tunes to let the day pass by quicker, I'd pop in some Clapton, MJ, Pearl Jam, Gangstarr, Iron Maiden or Dio.

... inspiration has always moved me in the right direction, and music has always been the vessel for my life's journey.

RIP Dio... RIP Guru... RIP Rev.., RIP MJ...

They say that change does not happen overnight. But when we start to choose and realize our music individuality, give it time and what we'll have is a revolution... a music revolution the industry is in dire need of having. We want our music back, and its time get our voices heard.

DCVince