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Maybe
there's some faulty beginner-level scribing class for rock critics,
but many
writers for some reason or another make their first essay a
"why music sucks today" rant. Trust me, I've seen
dozens of these. It's simple- you complain how soulless and
stupid everything on the radio is and how much better music
was when... you get the idea.
The problem with an article like this is that the whole premise
doesn't hold water.
Think of this- when was there a time when there wasn't any bad
music around?
A: never. Good music is always out there, it's just a matter
of finding it and not limiting yourself to one type of music.
But is it really possible to make a reasonable complaint about
music today without
sounding like an old fogey or out-of-touch cynic? Well, yes...
but it ain't easy.
Roman Candle is a rootsy North Carolina band about to come out
with a V2 album
(The Wee Hours Revue) but sadly, it won't include their best,
smartest song,
"Why Modern Radio Is A-OK." As singer/guitarist Skip
Matheny explains "we wrote
this song in May of 2004, between the recording of our upcoming
album (May 2003)
and its release date (June '06) - (which was) two record labels
later. It is going to be
on a newer record we've written called 'Love Songs For An Empty
Room.' Not sure
when this record will come out."
In any case, the title is a ruse (they don't love today's radio)
as the singer actually
thinks just the opposite. But rather than just make the usual
observation about the
good old days, there's an interesting twist. In the song, Matheny
and his buddy are
actually glad that radio sucks today- that way, none of the
songs will break his heart
the way that the classics once did.
We hear the song only with a voice and acoustic guitar, appropriately
lonely as he
recollects the way that he once was actually moved by the music
he heard on the radio.
Like some of the best country songs, "A-OK" finds
both solace and heartache from
the radio (wonder if there'll eventually be the same kind of
songs written about online streams...).
And so, they name-check their favorites, including John Lennon,
Frank Sinatra,
Neil Young, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan
and... Radiohead?
The last ain't exactly classic rock (though he does dig their
earlier material, which is
closer to it) and truth be known, neither is Ol' Blue Eyes but
they're nice/interesting
surprises to be included there though I gotta wonder why Ray
Charles isn't on that
list too.
Also, not since Blondie's "Dreaming" can I remember
such wonderfully hilarious
rhyming wordplay: "Van Morrison" and "chorusing"
(that Emo bands do) plus "John
(not Johnny) Cash" and "trash" (again, sticking
it to Emo) plus Radiohead's
"The Bends" and "Sir Patrick Spens."
The last one isn't something they pulled out of their hat- it's
an old English folk ballad covered by Fairport Convention. Not
the kind of thing you find in a rhyming dictionary and exactly
the kind of thing that a true music-nut/record-geek would have
in their vocabulary.
In their blog, the band provides the story behind the song but
more than a mere explanation, the words speak for themselves:
I was down at my favorite watering hole
with a buddy of mine that was out on parole
and we were flipping through the jukebox,
talking how we'’d been and how we are.
Well he'’d got a library card and he'’d pierced
his tongue
And a buddy in prison had turned him onto Neil Young
And he thought it'’d be best to play some for the entire
bar.
Now he didn't know it but while he was in Jail
I'’d had my heart broke by a woman to wondrous to tell
And we'‘d fallen in love to half the songs that jukebox
played
So when he flattened his dollar on the side of the machine
and I saw "comes a time" come on the karaoke screen
I'd realized there was a few things I had forgot to say:
Don'’t play Neil Young
Don'’t play Van Morrison
Just let some high school emo band start versing and chorusing
Because there'’s no way it will break my heart as far
as I can see
And that's why modern radio is A OK with me.
(Over the sound of the bar noise my friend looked at me and
said):
He said a pop song used to be a powerful thing,
you could turn on the am and John Lennon would sing
or Frank Sinatra would speak to all of the girls.
And you could think like a hawk or think like a dove
or think of a winter afternoon when you fell in love and
Ten songs on a record sounded like a string of pearls.
Now my buddy rattled on till an hour had passed
And I thought about shoving his head through the front door
glass
And leaving him for dead, but a friend is a friend to stay.
So I listened to him talk about Johnny and June
And how true love goes from midnight to noon
I bought another round just in time to hear him say:
They don'’t play Sam Cooke
They don'’t play John Cash
They let some high school emo band play the prettiest trash
And there'’s no way it can break my heart as far as I
can see
And that's why modern radio is a sack of monkeys to me.
He said it makes me so mad I want to get out and shout it
And I smiled and said I hadn'’t thought that much about
it
and we walked out the street and parted ways
I might'‘ve gone to a movie, but my money was spent
so I went on home, the Lord knows where he went
and wrote and open letter to all modern dj's"
"Don'’t play Bob Dylan
Don'’t play the Bends
Don'’t play anybody that'’s ever heard Sir Patrick
Spens"
Because there's no way it will break my heart as far as i can
see
And that is why modern radio is a-ok with me.
You can listen to "Why Modern Radio Is A-OK" on the
band's MySpace page.
Until the band finally makes this tune widely available, you
can be sure it'll be a concert favorite for now. This is one
"why music sucks" tale that should be heard.
-- Jason Gross
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