Kids and Music.

It just sucks that a few kids listen to Rush, and it sucks that even fewer know what Rush is.

 

And it's not just Rush, of course....it's all those other bands that they're missing out on, too! Jesus. I just don't see how people can pick Avenged Sevenfold over Porcupine Tree. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty big fan of A7X...but seriously, they don't even come close when in a contest with progressive rock/metal.

 

Just recently, I changed out my iPod completely because I've been listening to the same stuff for five years straight: Dream Theater, Rush, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, etc. I've got to admit, that stuff was getting to be a little too much; it was time for something different. Since my dad is pretty much lazy and decides not to fix the iTunes on our computer, I went over to my friend's house and changed out the songs that I had for her stuff. I now listen to more modern stuff like Atreyu, System of a Down, Linkin Park, and I Set My Friends on Fire. That's stuff isn't so bad, but now that I've had it for about a month now, I'm starting to miss the ol' prog.

 

Here's what I pretty much noticed while listening intently to the two styles of music.

 

1. The guitars are usually in the same tuning: either D, D flat, or C.

The guitarists, for some odd reason, don't like to change up their tuning very much; they keep it the same throughout ever song. Take Atreyu, for example. From what I've heard (I can't judge every song because I haven't heard every song that they've ever written), they keep their guitars in C tuning! Not that it's a bad thing, of course, because C is actually amazing, but it does tend to get a little bit old after the third song you listen to.

 

2. They overuse the root note of the song.

We prog musicians/music listeners are so used to hearing different keys and starting scale degrees that we get a little bored of hearing the 'do' of the same key throughout a song or even a couple of songs. Like I said in reason #1, they like to keep the same tuning for almost every piece they write, and the key of the song is 96% of the time the lowest power chord on the guitar. Whether it's two guitarists in the band, rhythm and lead, or just one, in almost every measure, there HAS to be a C note played, or a D note, or a D flat note. It's almost addictive, I think, because when I play guitar, I find myself hitting those notes. Weeeeirrrd o.O

 

3. The singers often times use the same melody for different songs.

Let's say the melody for a System of a Down song was D, E, F sharp, E. Stupid example, I know, but just bear with me here, I don't have a guitar with me at the moment. In another song, it might be (same key, mind you) E, D, F sharp, F sharp. I know that SOAD like to use foreign scales, but I can't think of any at the moment, so we'll just stick with major. That's pretty much how they do for the vast majority of their music. It's a little annoying, but I guess we musicians have to put up with it if we wanna be 'hip'. Haha ^_~

 

4. There's always a 'crunch' sound in the guitar tones that they use.

Now, me being a guitarist, I pay close attention to the guitars during a song. I notice that with every song, whether it be all gain with no bass or vice versa, a little bit of gain with a whole hell of a lot of treble, or even clean with a small amount of gain, there for some reason has to be a certain 'crunch' in the tone, no matter if it's a slow song or not. I'm not complaining about it, I find the crunch sound way more pleasant to hear over a clean tone, but that's just me. That's just something I notice. There have been a few reported occasions where they don't use a crunchy sound, but that's pretty rare for the songs and artists on my iPod.

 

5. [Last one, I promise] What's with the constant use of screaming??!

The first time I heard Octavarium, the climatic part when James LaBrie starts screaming, "Trapped inside! This! Octavarium!" I literally had a music orgasm. LMAO it was AWESOME! Just the emotion put into that part made me like..."Gah!" lol

But yeah, I have to complain, the screaming done in most of the bands that I listen to on my iPod is pretty much getting a little wasted. One of my most favorite screamers, however, the one from the band Attack Attack!, is amazing. I don't necessarily criticize his over use of his talent, but I guess for the screamer of Atreyu I have to admit, not the best in the world. Mainly because I don't like it THAT much....I dunno. Just the screaming in general I can do without, except for Att Att ^_^

 

 

 

 

OK! Now that's all said and done....you're probably wondering, "How the hell does this fit into the category of kids sucking at listening to good music?!" Well, my progheaded friends, the generation that we live in today is just another generation of evolution: evolving into something more stupid than the last. With less attention spans and more incoherent humour, we often find ourselves in the midst of an apocalyptic era in terms of good music. What you guys have heard on the radio 30 years ago is much more different than the music we hear on the radio today. And, in my opinion, the sh*t that was played back then was f**king AMAZING. Led Zeppelin overrules the Backstreet Boys with Jimmy Page's left pinkie. Haha

 

But then again, music is an opinion. But seriously, who said that there's no such thing as stupid opinions? ^_~