Open All Night

The line between various genres of music is so blurred now it is infuriating. It was easy to see it coming, like back a decade when country singles started appearing on pop stations. But really, it has to be the Music Industry controlling how we think again, right? (after all, it isn’t anything new) But honestly, how stupid are we as a country, when we perpetually let the music industry manufacture a group, manufacture their music, control when/how it gets played, and then fill their pockets with money! American Idol is merely a microcosm of it. We are just a herd of frigging cattle. Moo.

I am just tired of it. I remember being furious back in college when the local “alternative” station changed their format. They changed to “rock”, which really simply meant that they alternated playing a 90’s song with a 70’s song. Honest to God?Pearl Jam?Led Zeppelin?Nirvana?Pink Floyd. But, that is a separate problem, mainly because most of the radio consumers are of the age that likes “classic rock” and they have the money for advertisers. It screws the young who like alt rock and has led to the deterioration of music diversity in many markets. But beyond that point is how every radio station plays the same friggin music now. As an example, look at the band Evanescence. I have five preset music stations in my car. One is alternative, one is rock, one is pop, and the other two are “we play music that irritates noone, and say that you can play it in the workplace, but really are just a Michael Bolton song away from your parents listening too.” And guess what?I yesterday completed the quinfecta. I heard the new Evanescence song on the fifth station. There is just no stratification. Other examples of bands that succumb to this are The Killers and Panic! at the Disco. I usually enjoy each of these bands (each a charter member of the new “Pussy Rock” movement?man I wish I remember who coined that term) however I get tired of them so quick because of how they are overplayed. I find myself migrating to talk radio now because of it. I must be getting old.

Well, I was going to write more, about something actually interesting, like “the meaning of Evanescence’s new song “Call Me When You’re Sober”" or “why polygamy and those who participate in it are fascinating,” but I have written enough for today and need to go.

Looking for my blood pressure medication, -Michael