The song from one mediocre band. Perhaps

The song from one mediocre band. Perhaps

The Consumer and the GimmickToday there are many factors that hurt the music industry.

One factorinvolves the way we push musicians into allowing the industry to popularize onegood song thus forgetting the rest of the album. We the consumers have somehowbeen satisfied with just one good song from one mediocre band. Perhaps there isa simple formula for disaster. First the song is played on the radio and thenthe video is constantly on MTV, thus causing us to get tired of the music. It’sas easy as that!We sit and whine about not hearing enough from our favorite band, butonce they come out with new music we smother ourselves in it. We then get sickof it and are left looking for something new to fulfill our cravings. This iswhen we, the monster consumers of music, decide to take our interest to the nexthit song.

It’s not all our fault. You have to put at least some blame on thebands themselves. They feel that it is part of their job to indulge our wants.

We as lovers of what these songwriters do are appalled and disgusted by hearinganything but the best from our favorite bands. Once we have what we want it’snot long before we want more. This is because we consume the musicians’ talentslike a fast food happy meal. We open the box, take out the toy, throw away thecontents, and then bitch about being hungry. When we do this we always say,”It’s a cool song, but they are a one hit wonder.” We the hungry consumer donot give the bands a chance to show their true musical talents. One exampleinvolves the group Verve Pipe and their hit song “The Freshman.

” This songs LPwas out in December. No one noticed it until halfway through the month ofMarch. “The Freshman” was played every thirty minutes on the radio and fifteentimes a day on MTV. This in my opinion results in the complete overplay of onebands hit song. Now we consider them a “One hit wonder.” The Verve Pipe hasmore good music, but who is to say that anyone will ever hear it?Another thing that hurts the industry is the reliance on gimmicks.

Finding talent in a band that relies on gimmicks is as easy as lifting athree-hundred pound man above you head. Sure for some it is easy, but forothers it’s damn near impossible. A few bands that rely on gimmicks are MarilynManson and basically any rapper you can think of off the top of your head.

Surethere are a few rappers that have produced good songs, but many rappers relyvery heavily on gangster mentality and vulgar language. These gimmicks make rapmusic liked by those who see their music as a way of breaking social norms.It’s the attitude of these rappers that say, “I don’t care if my music isoffensive because that’s what I grew up with.” Is this really true? Is itreally their momma’s fault that every song they write relies on vulgar languageand gang-banging situations? It’s simply a way to keep their music popularbecause that’s what kids want to hear. If the kids keep pumping out the cash,then the music industry will keep producing the vulgar and obscene records.

This causes the industry to be run by bad mouthed money makers.Another band that relies heavily on gimmicks is Marilyn Manson. MarilynMansons small band of social screwups owe it to themselves to perhaps step backand see that he is not a heroic leader, but more like a ringleader at a circus.I truly don’t believe that he is a leader of the Satanic Brotherhood, but thathe could possibly travel with a circus and perform in his own side-show.

Thisis something that I personally believe is not worth following. This just showshow crazy one man can pretend to be. He creates some crazy satanic album andthen he just sits back and watches as the money and fans roll in.Marilyn Mansons music is however very potent. Even I have been pulledin by a small portion of his music. I love his remake of “Sweet Dreams,” and Ialso think that his song “Beautiful People” is awesome.

I am just one of manyprime examples of how one person who is disgusted by all of the gimmicks caneasily be pulled in by creating or even recreating catchy tunes.It’s gimmicks and consumer consumption that I feel make up relativelyninety-five percent of all that is bad with the music industry today. Sure youstill have the bands like Beck that try to show how to break those gimmicks bypoking fun at the very heart of all that they stand for, but there are alsobands that are strictly about making music. It doesn’t matter if you like theirmusic or not. This decision is up to you. It seems to me that these are thetypes of bands that are much happier making music and not just making money.

Gimmicks stand for failure within music and disaster for any decent and talentedmusician whose dreams were shattered by some gimmick reliant one hit wonder.Maybe one reason that kids follow gimmicks is that since time began they havealways wanted something there to grab hold of and to call their own. I thinkthat some bands that I consider gimmick bands try to give the kids something totake a hold of. Even though in my opinion only one or two out of twenty ofthese bands will be around for a sophomore record release.

Today we are all fixed on ourselves. We say things like, “I want to heara new single” and “I want to see new videos.” The problem is that when wefinally do hear these songs we are quick to make opinions on them. We stilllisten to music but we no longer hear it. All bands are seeing is dollar signsand all the consumers are seeing is a group of lyrics and some catchy tunes.I feel that new bands are not taken as seriously now as they were in thepast. When we get hungry we eat.

Perhaps the same food over and over again.How often do we try something new though? This relates very well to the musicindustry. We are quick to spin the same records, but how often do we try out anew band? We very rarely give the new guys a fair chance. I feel thateverything in the music industry has been going down hill for quite some time.

We have to change our ways. The next time you take a crap don’t flush rightaway. Just stand up and look in the bowl because what you see is exactly wherethe music industry is heading in the future. All that it’s going to take toruin it is a simple flush.