I’m lost in music…

I have so many great ideas of things to write about. In no particular order: Hüsker Dü’s drummer Grant Hart and other unsung heroes of alternative music, Terry Hall, Shane McGowan, Sinead O’Connor and other artists with uncompromising personalities and largely unseen or unaddressed histories of abuse, the great records I borrowed from my friends or vice versa, an ultimate comparison between Steve Albini and Mark E. Smith, how the song “Valerie” migrated from The Zutons to something attributed to Amy Winehouse, and much, much more…but I cannot put it down to paper. Somehow the magic is gone, and yes this is an inspiration issue, with a personality obsessed by quality experiencing long periods of drought is only natural.

And yet there is more, because I have a nearly finished imaginary meeting between Terry Riley and Beyonce sitting in my drafts box forever. It should not be too complicated to finalise a piece about complete artistic freedom versus total control and orchestration, but I’m blocked by quality, by the need to say something stimulating or interesting. I need my reverse Pink Floyd moment (Pink Floyd being the ultimate object of hatred for Johnny Rotten or The Sex Pistols in general). I need Punk, I need DIY, I need something to believe in or feel passionate about.

But without preaching. I’m so tired of being right. I can’t even laugh anymore about the fact that Bruce Springsteen cover bands having difficulty getting booked because of the political convictions of The Boss himself. Everything is politicised, and not in a good way. In the 1970s and 1980s everything was also politicised, the difference is that now there is a certain hatred, a wish to destroy the other, combined with absolute humourlessness. It destroys everything. Think about it again, and try not to laugh (really): Bruce Springsteen cover bands are effectively being cancelled. The copy is being cancelled, not even the real thing…

At the same time we are being flooded by AI generated music (sorry for using the term music in this context…). Not even copies, fakes. It makes you wonder: are these being created to circumvent personal accountability? I mean, a hate song created by AI, that is actually a pretty cowardly move. No one cares or cares enough to ditch streaming platforms, no one cares enough to support real artists again. Fandom is officially dead and buried, replaced by celebrity like financial statistics. The only thing AI does in this hyper-monetised society is taking the most common denominator (or demoninator…) of the simplest and most common Pop music to create something that sounds über-familiar.

I read something today, can’t remember where, something along the lines of: it is 2035, for the first time ever astronauts land on Mars. In a cave they discover a human skeleton and 4 words written on a wall. My first impulse:

We are totally screwed!

(I hope someone thought: leave us kids alone!)

We live in a world where Taylor Swift is more interested in making even more money than doing anything that comes close to an opinion (let alone an action). In a world where at the same time Thom Yorke should have an opinion on Israeli politics and warfare, and freedom of speech does not apply to the boys of Kneecap.

We are totally screwed…and…I’m lost in Music!