Being the old guy that doesn't understand today's music!

Pretty disappointed in television last night. Decided to watch the American Idol finale because it was mentioned that Aerosmith was going to perform.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have it out for American Idol for the same reason most people do. Seems like the majority of people who hate shows like this is just because it is cool to hate them (like Nickelback). I give everything a fair chance and come up with my own decisions. This includes television shows, bands, books.. I never base my decision on somebody else’s taste. Too much risk of missing some great entertainment!

What made me sad was what mainstream music has come to. I felt so damn old watching this show. I kept telling my wife that “music just isn’t the same as it was when I was younger”. I can’t believe I finally turned into that old foggy guy, but I have.

Sure Rhianna looked good showing off her legs. Any guy will admit that. She also has one hell of a voice which she has proven in a few cases (Eminem Recovery is what comes to mind). But if she was wearing baggy clothes or weighed a hundred pounds more, nobody would care about her. She is selling sex appeal and that is all. Just like the majority of the female singers out there. Now there are a few obvious exceptions of course, Adele being the main recent one in my opinion. But Rihanna’s music was absolute garbage. Sure it was a cool dance number and theatrical performance, but it is pretty sad when this is what is dominating the charts.

This was my first time giving a Rihanna song a chance, and these were the opening lyrics:

"I've been everywhere, man
Looking for someone
Someone who can please me
Love me all night long
I've been everywhere, man
Looking for you babe
Looking for you babe
Searching for you babe"

Do you think if Adele was singing that garbage she would have sold almost ten million copies of 21 in the USA?

Throughout the entire two hour episode all that kept going through my head was that interview Billy Corgan gave at SXSW. Talking about how he was part of a music era that changed the world, and how all the bands out there now wouldn’t have stood a chance twenty years ago. After Billy’s interview I read the comments below. Everybody saying he is just bitching. Well… yeah…. he is…. BUT he makes a lot of damn sense. Like he said the only way to get noticed now as a band is to light yourself on fire on youtube. Nobody cares about the talent, they just want the next cool thing. Like he said, todays generation has a goal of being famous, rather than being respected. He also pointed out that at the turn of every decade there is a moment of music that is absolute garbage, until it finally gets sorted out and the good bands prevail. But this time it got stuck at the garbage stage. I’m with you Billy! Well said!

Now I know every generation has their teeny bopper music. And there is a place for this. When I was younger my sister was always listening to New Kids on the Block, and my wife was into Backstreet Boys. The teenage girls need this and I think its healthy. And these groups were perfect for that. But these performance at American Idol are what is mainstream success. This is what the majority of the population enjoys.

Everybody is entitled to their opinions and I respect that. If you like this music that’s great! But again, it disappoints me tremendously. 

There were a few highlights of the show. John Fogerty being one. Except the fact that he was playing his songs at such a lower pitch to give the American Idol winner a chance of actually hitting the notes. You could tell John was holding back. Sure the producers didn’t want him to outperform the new American idol. As well, Aerosmith was great. It is noticeable that they have aged but they can still pull off a rockin’ performance. However, it sure wasn’t worth putting up with the other two hours of the show.