What Happened To Rock and Roll???

The following appeared in the December 12 issue of The Vail Mountaineer. I will be starting a weekly column with the paper, beginning early 2010.


What Happened to Rock and Roll?
Trevor Jones for the Vail Mountaineer

Snow Daze is in full swing and once again we can be grateful for a thriving and growing music scene here in the valley. I'm consistently surprised with the quality and diversity of music available in the valley, especially with regard to the live music scene. We even have access to some great local radio. One thing that has always flabbergasted me however, is the lack of quality music on popular radio today. The landscape of pop music has changed dramatically over the course of three generations since Elvis Presley released “Hound Dog” in 1955. For years, rock and roll and its close cousin jazz were America’s primary cultural contribution to the world’s popular music.

Then something happened. In the thirty years since the late 70’s, our popular contribution to the world has gone from the soul searing music of artists like Miles Davis and Led Zeppelin to pre-fab, generically predictable pop singing by artists who use technology, rather than creativity, to bolster their inevitably short careers. Rock music used to be dangerous, sexy, at times downright hedonistic .We’ve all heard about the Zep’s propensity for sharks. Something primal in me still wants to see Robert Plant scream like a banshee and not simply for the impressive range of his voice. When I first heard “No Quarter” for the first time I felt like I was getting a clear glimpse of what hell might be like, without ever having to go there myself, of course. When Plant sung “Walking side by side with death/The devil mocks their every step”, I believed him, which in turn scared the dickens out of my little 15-year gourd!

I turn on the radio today and get a clear glimpse of, well, nothing. Which constantly brings me back to the question of exactly what it was that happened, what it was that produced this puddle of amorphous goop we call pop music on the radio today.

A little history might help us find our answer and the beginning of the end started in a decade many of us would love to remember to forget, the 80’s (although I was no more than a fetus by the time rock had collapsed, absolving me of any blame for this mess). Remember those turquoise and neon-green ski jackets, made out of what seemed to be wind-breaker material? Those garments were undeniably awkward and really serve as an analogy for the entire decade. Things got a little weird for a while and music was no exception. Take a look at the aesthetic principles of artists like David Bowie, Rick James and bands like Poison or Whitesnake and you’ll quickly start to see how music which was once fueled by testosterone and a universal, pagan energy became tame and packaged in a shiny little box. As the once virile funk scene morphed into disco, the deal was sealed. Led Zeppelin had long hair. But they weren’t effeminate, they were just dirty. Kurt Cobain and the rest of the flannel-touting Seattle rocksters tried a valiant thing by leading an early 90’s movement that once again promoted a hard, dirty image that their blond-bombshell predecessors in the 80’s couldn’t see through their eye-liner. The byproduct of a fiery punk scene in the 80’s (admirable in its ideology, but failed in its sustainability), the legacy of Nirvana was quickly consumed and spat back out by the execs at MTV, a channel which promoted the biggest music industry travesty to ever occur in the history of the world: ‘N SYNC and The Backstreet Boys.

As the country enjoyed an unprecedented economic boom in the mid-90’s it was prime time to flip on the radio and enjoy some pop music, so sugary it made Jolly Ranchers look like organic granola. A short, fat, bespectacled business-man named Lou Pearlman saw a wealth of opportunity in producing polished, boyish, auto-tuned bands, never mind the fact they didn’t play any real instruments. To make a long story short, Pearlman masterminded the likes of 'N SYNC and those adorable Backstreet Boys, ruining the musical futures of countless young Americans by exposing them to songs produced by computers, not people (more on auto-tune in later columns). Not to mention Pearlman was convicted of conspiracy and money laundering and was the impetus for books like “The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History." Thank god for Bernie Madoff, eh Lou? Finally, Pearlman is credited with a practice some people have labeled "PervGate" while managing his boy bands. I'll let you Google that one.

Most of us are vaguely aware, if not completely ignorant of people like Pearlman. We go out to see music at the bar and after playing music all over the country I can tell you, the Vail Valley loves its musicians, and we love the valley right back. Thankfully, live music still lives on at Finnigan's, or Main St., or Snow Daze or Hot Summer Nights and radio doesn't really affect our overall listening perception, other than serving as some tolerable filler while we drive to the club. It is stand-up individuals like Lou Pearlman and greedy corporations like Clear Channel who have wrought the filth that we listeners now languish in when we turn on the radio. Clear Channel started as a car dealership, bought an ad agency, and finally realized that by putting more ads than music on the radio, they could construct a monopoly in the radio world. Now, if you like Poison or N’SYNC or disco… great! All analysis aside, everyone should enjoy whatever tunes tickle their pickle. Besides, no single band could ever bring about the cultural and societal changes which affect how entire industries, like radio, are structured.

In addition, there has always been a plethora of amazing music to explore, outside of radio. Pop radio feels good, but make sure to get out there and explore different artists with the vigor of exploring a new ski trail. There’s a mountain of music out there.

Trevor Jones is a writer and musician based out of Denver and Vail. He currently spends time recording and touring with his band, Frogs Gone Fishin'.