There should have been a movement away from rock 20 years ago, and I've never understood why it didn't happen. It almost did. When Peter Gabriel did So and Paul Simon did Graceland, I thought that the revolution to a new pop music characterized by fusion of international styles was immenent. One of my greatest disappointments as a music fan is that this didn't become the "Next Big Thing". I think it should have.

Lowest Common Denominator

Well, at least we can always listen to 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes' any time we want.

Nobody talks about jam bands here becuase im not around. And when i was around nobody wanted to talk jambands.

Anyways, bisco is probably my fav band right now, they are one of the few 'jambands' that can totally break away from the song they are playing and explore something entirely different.

Grasshoppa Wilson!



Speaking of jam bands, I can't help but think of Phish whenever I see your handle.

Was the 90's revolution the popularization of hip hop or Nirvana? Both?

Maybe I haven't been alive long enough to recall what a revolution feels like, but I think with the ubiquity of music online and the amount of options listeners have, no one thing could come along and upend everyone's ideas of what music should be. Everything is already being pushed to it's extremes. Music is more hardcore, lo-fi, nonmelodic, and experimental today than anyone cares enough to find out about. I just don't see the cultural climate allowing for a "revolution." People's tastes are too diverse, person to person, and when the Next Big Thing is playing on the radio, for every three people that listen, two will turn up their iPods.

Also, Wilson, is Zappa supposed to be holding a joint in your avatar? Didn't he not smoke? "Drugs are the government's way of keeping you from being political" and all that?

I think he's just twirling his outrageous moustache.

It would be a cigarette, Zappa preferred cigarettes and black coffee to drugs and alcohol.

Yeah Bisco really is on to something, they just keep getting better (Although I always think of the vocals as being sub par). They played a Halloween show near me but I had to pass it up to see Alice in Chains. It was the right choice and besides I don't think they'll ever be able to top the late night set I saw with them and umphreys at bonnaroo.

But getting back on topic. Jam bands just can't really ever be picked up by the mainstream, they've been around in certain forms forever.

Onop,

you bring up a good point but music needs to be moved in a direction. I think theres always been personal preference, people probably thought the same thing once tape decks were added to cars. But ipods and the like will be able to help people to listen to more music, get bored of the shite they listen to quicker and dig for something more interesting.

But I guess that is just me thinking ideally

i thought this was a rather interesting read on the current state of music. it's got a lot less to do with actual music and a lot more to do with social trends.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0&sql=61::6;NP

i pretty much agree with what she's saying though. especially when refering to a generation of kids who have no idea what it's like to actually have to wait to hear something new. it's no longer about what albums you've bought, as in spent time and effort to own. initially downloading music was great but now i'm turned off by the whole thing. seriously, my friend downloaded the entire frank zappa discography a while back. 9 fucking gigs - 4 full days and a few seconds of non stop zappa. how is anyone seriously supposed to appreciate something like that? i can't. fuck no. as much as i love 'hot rats' or 'apostrophe' or 'the grand wazoo' i can only handle so much zappa at once.

it's getting to the point of almost being some fucked up status symbol for hipster kids. "i have X amount of tunes that don't get played on mtv therefore i'm fucking cooler than you." whatever. all i'm seeing from the current state of music is an ungodly agrandization of the already massive pile of shit people had to wade through in order to find the few pieces of music that really touched them.

as for the comment about ipods allowing people to sift through music faster i suppose that's technically true but what are they going to hold on to? what's going to stand out when you've got thousands of tunes you 'have' to check out? when it costs nothing to obtain why would they hold onto anything once it's past their fancy? like the author of that article states, going digital is starting to look more like going disposable. yes there are, and there always will be good music being put out but i don't expect to get it for free. if i have to work a little to get my hands on something i'm not really going to be inclined to just offer it up for free for a bunch of lazy asses who could care less about what they're hearing. then again i also remember what it was like to anticipate an album for months before having to find someone to drive me a half hour to pick up the disc on release day.