Worms Of The Senses By Refused

They told me that the classics never go out of style but, they do, they do. Somehow guys, I never thought that I do too. I got a bone to pick with capitalism and a few to break. Grab me by the throat and shake the life away. Human life is not commodity, figures, statistics or make believe. And yeah, I like eating excrement, not getting paid for it. Play the guilt, play the fear & play the anxiety. Seduced by the opportunity and robbed of hope. Alien nation is not commodity, figures, statistics or make believe. Marginalize away the joy and sell me boredom. And yeah, I like working doing nothing, not making anything. Blame the poor, blame the uneducated & blame the sick. I got a bone to pick and a few to break.

It’s been awhile ..

It’s been awhile since I last post stuff here. Have not been productive the past few months since I am now battling with mental disorder. Maybe I’ll try to come up with something that relates music and mental disorders. Till then.

Working-Class Heroes : The Blue Collar Struggle To Be A Modern Musician

Preface

It’s where the Dillinger Four doesn’t need to be, since they have found ‘it’ elsewhere; where Off With Their Heads hopes isn’t too far off on the horizon; where Gaslight Anthem may be on its way toward and where the Bouncing Souls seems to have been before deciding on a different destination. But “it” is not a rock star. “That’s a lifestyle that doesn’t parallel anything in real life at all,” Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem states in frustration. “It’s like the “rock ‘n’ roll dream”, but injected with cancer. The reason why younger people idolize rock stars is because they all want to be famous.”

When historians study the world phenomena at the end of the Millennium’s first decade, they will shrug their shoulders at pop culture’s strange obsession with the “rock star.” This theme could be seen everywhere in 2008, specially in youth culture.

From folders and notebooks bought by teenagers during Back to School season to “ripped off tee-shirts” sold by retailers ranging from petty traders to big label companies, everything seems decked with Gibson Guitars, microphones, Marshall half stacks, and headphones–the tools of the rock ‘n’ roll trade, or so designers are told.

It’s a trend that seemed to blossom with the release of Guitar Hero and its successor Rock Star, which inspired legions of bored teenagers to see music as a game that’s surprisingly easy to master.

Then there’s Camp Rock, a Disney Channel Original Movie about a summer camp for aspiring rock stars starring the Jonas Brothers, and Hannah Montana, where a teenage pop singer (played by Miley Cyrus) struggles to live the life of a regular girl. Tweens across the country live vicariously through their safe rebellion and identify with their struggles, which are typical to teens and probably real rock stars. Needles to say, it’s very “cool” to be a rock star right now.

But what’s new? Since the Sixties, the rock star archetype has involved a lifestyle of relentless and regretless sex and drugs, a trendsetting sense of style, wealth, influence, and that romantic, rebellious dream of living day-to-day, city-to-city. And all one needs to start such a carefree and fun life, it seems, is a guitar and an ego.

But this isn’t reality of rock ‘n’ roll. For most musicians, this legendary “rock star” lifestyle is an unreachable (or unappetizing) myth. Perhaps it’s a reality for one half of one percent of all musicians; certainly, though, the rest struggle to make ends meets. Many musicians sacrifice family, friends, and the comfort of a “normal life” to follow their hearts.

To be a musician is to be considered “blue-collar” by default. Band members have to bust their assets between tours, taking temp positions or working out shitty jobs as clerks, telemarketers, package handlers at courier company, waiting tables or working at clubs, if the band hopes to finance its next trip to the studio or another tour.

One thing is for sure; the band will be working, and hard–usually too many hours for not enough money. And there are no benefits besides the intrinsic satisfaction that they are following their passion–music–and trying to make a modest career out of it.

Doused in Mud, Soaked in Bleach

I succumb to the fact that the time period of the height of Grunge music was my most favourite time of my life. There will never be another era of music like the grunge period where a cross section of people, intelligent people, will appreciate the same sounds of music. I will always have grunge music constitute in my life and it’s so wonderful to still have Pearl Jam around after all these years.

20 years of Grunge Music seems like Ancient History by Darragh McManus 31.10.2008

Twenty years ago this weekend, Nirvana released Love Buzz, the first single by the band who would ignite grunge from an interesting local scene to a global phenomenon.

And this is significant why? Because grunge wasn’t just another musical or youth trend – it was the ultimate expression and fusion of most of the defining cultural, ideological and social threads of the modern western world. Feminism, liberalism, irony, apathy, cynicism/idealism (those opposite sides of one frustrated coin), anti-authoritarianism, wry post-modernism, and not least a love of dirty, abrasive music; grunge reconciled all these into a seminal whole.

For Generation X-ers, male grungers represented all that is good in men. They were the fabled “New Man” with the volume turned up to 10, gentle-natured but discordant and angry. The women were intelligent, non-conformist, cool. Each took the best aspects of their opposite gender and retained the best of their own. Grunge took back loud music from poodle-rock and gave it a heart, soul and brain. It married a love of noise with thoughtfulness and sensitivity, putting a trash soundtrack to lofty principles and uncommon erudition. It turned old paradigms on their head, like the one that said rock music was made by “real men” and feminism was for ball-busting harpies and emasculated weirdoes.

Grunge wasn’t nihilist or moany – they really did want a better world for everyone. It was misrepresented as being self-absorbed, but actually addressed big themes, things outside the artists’ private concerns – a rare thing in popular music.

These bands weren’t restricted by the limits and ideologies of genres like punk, which insist that you write certain kinds of music and lyrics. They didn’t recycle banal cliches but tackled weighty subjects – one could almost describe Soundgarden, for instance, as existential.

So Pearl Jam wrote about domestic abuse, illiteracy, the maltreatment of the mentally ill. Nirvana looked at alienation, rape, stultifying conformity. Alice in Chains dug deeply into the black hole of addiction. Soundgarden pondered the search for meaning in an indifferent universe. Courtney Love wrote ferocious lyrics about misogyny, eating disorders, sexual predators.

Aesthetically, they eschewed babes, booze and fast cars for cropped hair, college degrees and ever-present frowns. And they lived out their principles in concrete, courageous ways.

Most grunge bands were politically active. Lollapalooza combined music with information stalls on everything from organic food to voter registration. Pearl Jam fought a ruinous battle with Ticketmaster and refused to make promos; Nirvana constantly antagonised their new, macho audience.

It was a long way from Axl Rose thrusting his crotch in your face on MTV, and of course it couldn’t last. Grunge was replaced by frat-boy rock, pimp-wannabe gangsta rappers and hyper-sexualised Britney/Barbie dolls.

For my generation, grunge was more than just music: it was subterfuge, knowledge, philosophy, empathy, wit, courage, love, desire and anger, and it saddens me that nothing has truly replaced it. Sure, there will always be musicians who are politically aware, socially concerned, risk-taking; not everyone is Fred Durst. But the days when gender constructs became virtually meaningless, when brains and coolness and sex appeal weren’t incompatible, when mass popular culture transcended humble origins to become something profound, subversive and greater than itself … those days are gone. They’re in the grave with Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley and Kristen Pfaff.

Into the Wild Soundtrack by Eddie Vedder

It’s been more than a year since the movie, Into the Wild, were released (September 2007). Based on the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild tells the true story of Christopher McHandless (Emile Hirsch), a recent college graduate from a privileged family, who chooses to abandon money and possessions and embark on a lone journey across the country towards the Alaskan wilderness.

I am aware that I am late, but I manage to get hold of the soundtrack recently. Handpicked by director Sean Penn to spearhead the soundtrack to one of his biggest screen endeavor, Into the Wild, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam frontman) provides a wealth of original material as well as two lesser known covers in this his first solo effort to date.

An appropriate opener, “Setting Forth” grabs you by the throat and sets the tone of the film with Vedder’s trademark howl. It’s followed by the brief but potent banjo-driven “No Ceiling.” Each song that follows paints a vibrant landscape in time with the obstacles and encounters he faces along the way. “Rise” and “Long Nights” have Vedder singing from the perspective of the disenchanted McHandless as he weighs his romantic notion of the world against the harsh reality waiting to confront him. “The Wolf,” a minute and a half of cryptic organ alongside Vedder’s chanting baritone vocals, is the inevitable release of that frustration. The cover of Indio’s “Hard Sun” features Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney swooning in the background and the introspective “Society,” written by Jerry Hanan, gives a contemplative look into the main character’s motives for his actions. A compelling account of survival and determination requires a fitting musical accompaniment, and Vedder brings it with fervor, capturing the plight of an idealistic young man pushing himself to the limits of all known boundaries.

Stepping away (but not too far) from his grunge rock roots with a banjo and an acoustic guitar, Vedder has created a moody and haunting depiction of a man shunning the restrictions of society while battling the unforgiving cruelty of the wilderness. Emoting from the purest depths of a tender soul, he vividly captures the intensity of an adventure few of us would ever dream of taking.

A pensive mix of electrified ballads and solo acoustic instrumentals, the music is a basic but solid stuff and if you’re a big fan of Vedder then it’s a worth add on next to your Pearl Jam collection.

Inspired by Staind, Showcase by Stereopath

A Staind Showcase by Stereopath

Stereopath showcase independent local bands playing ‘theme’ live music. This October, Stereopath is dedicating it to famous American hard rock band, Staind. Bands performing are John’s Mistress, Melodica, Naked Breed and Sam. Go check out this link for further info: http://stereopath.blogspot.com/

Their latest poll result shows that the next music genre that people would like to listen to in their next show is Grunge (44%). Maybe we can expect a tribute to the Seattle sound music scene performed by local band the likes of Butterfingers, Bloodymary, Battlegrounds, Chaise Longue, Flu, Motherland, Servent Jamm, Prana, Love Me Butch, Subculture, The Pilgrims (man, I miss these bands).

“..playing whatever you want as sloppy as you want as along as it’s good and has passion.” Kurt Donald Cobain, RIP 1967-1994

Keep on Rocking in the Free World!

muddy banks of whiskah

“A symphony of harsh tones, tearing chords, pounding drums, somethings that so many define as simply noise is so soothing to our ears. Being classical in a way only we can comprehend expressing feelings that we cannot put into words, things we feel in a way. Only that beautiful noise can describe when that harsh symphony swells to a peak, a crescendo. We feel release of the pressure on our hearts and minds, and for a short, and all too rare and precious time, we can be free.”