Are we not fucked? (1 Viewer)

Uriah Heep has had 16 line-ups since '69. Who are these "real Uriah Heep guys" of whom you speak?

And wouldn't you know it, the latest band is touring this summer. Mick Box is the only original member, apparently.
 
Uriah Heep has had 16 line-ups since '69. Who are these "real Uriah Heep guys" of whom you speak?
That would be the lineup from 1973's Uriah Heep Live, or any lineup previous to that.

Wow, according to wikipedia, they had more drummers than Spinal Tap. But I find it really hilarious that they made albums pretty consistently from 1970 to 1998. Hilarious (to me, anyway) because I assumed that they broke up around 1975. Didn't you?

I think when you kick your singer out, or less than half of your members are "original," you should find a new name for your band. But that's just me. If I was in Uriah Heep I'd be constantly lobbying for a new name anyway, just to be rid of the albatross hippie stink of the old one.
 
I review local cd's for a local paper and this band with a sense of humor did describe their band on the promo page as "Uriah Heep on crack." That's where I stole it from, I did quote them though in the review.
 
You made a point about the decline of Television, yet in the last 5-10 years, despite an influx of Reality TV and Celebrity trash vehicles we are currently going through a Golden Age of Television with numerous acclaimed dramas being churned out by networks. Maybe, just maybe there is hope for music.

In my opinion music has been devalued because the mystique is quickly stripped away from bands/artists before their careers can get off the ground. The kids would wear KISS facepaint, posture in front of the mirror pretending to by Jimmy Page, swagger around preening themselves like Paul Weller. There was a time when acts were untouchable, Rock stars were Gods. Do people aspire to be that bloke from Vampire Weekend?

Today there appears to be nobody out there to be in awe of, and not just listen to, but worship. Who are the youngsters praising nowadays? I remember when I was a kid, and I had musical heroes but they always seemed too human, and not out of this world, therefore as I grew up I cared about them less to the point that they are distant memories. Where as my Father and his generation still talk passionately and fondly about the 'legends' like Bowie, Kate Bush and Joe Strummer, they still have value and longetivity because they presented an untouchable image.

Perhaps the fault lies with current musicians and artists, if we are so pop culturally savvy then why are we not learning lessons from the past, instead of merely regurgitating ideas?
 
we are currently going through a Golden Age of Television with numerous acclaimed dramas being churned out by networks.
Not "the networks" as we've traditionally known them (ABC, NBC, CBS). At least not in the U.S. There may be some higher quality stuff coming from them than there has been in the past, but it is still cliched crap that is invariably about 1) Doctors, 2) Lawyers or 3) Cops.

The truly great shows of the past 10 years have come from the cable networks. But they don't compare to the network heyday, when they would produce 36 weeks worth of shows. The new "season" is 12 episodes. They're over before they start. And a brilliant cable show like Mad Men only gets a few million viewers because the audience is so fragmented. Or maybe because people blinked and missed the season. Either way, it doesn't matter, you can watch it on DVD a few weeks after the season ends. Could be that people have been burned by having shows pulled out from under them (Deadwood, Carnivale, etc.) and they don't want to commit to anything that could disappear without any resolution or conclusion.

But yeah, some really good stuff on the cable movie channels. I still don't see anything worth watching on traditional networks. I need to see something that can strive to be more realistic, and when you can't say "shit" or show a half inch of an ass crack without blurring it out, you lose any shot at realism in my book.

You're right on about lack of mystique in music. I wouldn't say that has anything to do with it sucking more lately. But there is something to be said for not knowing and seeing or reading about every last speck of a performer's life. The great showmen and salesmen knew that. Bill Aucoin or Peter Grant wouldn't have let KISS or Led Zeppelin Twitter, for christ's sake. They knew that there was value in mystery (and in the ridiculous rumors and urban legends that are the products of that mystery). The concerts now are more like promo tie-ins to reality shows or video games or whatever marketing the performer sees as their primary path to the most money they can possibly amass.

Not that rock bands didn't want to be rich back in the day, they did. But there were lines that it wouldn't occur to them to cross. Those lines have disappeared, of course. The Rolling Stones opened that door when they got a perfume company to underwrite their 1981 tour (and it was the Stones idea, not Jovan's - in fact they first approached Schlitz, but were turned down). That genie ain't going back into the bottle. It's pretty common that once the money starts to flow in ridiculous amounts, all the recipient wants is more.

But even as distasteful as a rock band being in a jeans commercial might seem to old curmudgeons, I don't think that is what makes music suck lately either. It doesn't help, since a young band is hesitant to do anything that might alienate potential sponsors, but it's not the root of the problem. The problem is rock and roll is played out. It's done. There's nowhere else to take it. It's time for something new. Hip Hop almost made it, but it never became creative enough, it just remained stuck in one monotonous mode.
 
Reading through these posts (and agreeing with many of them), I keep saying to myself: Kurt Cobain was The Last Rock Star.

We're currently either too jaded or too scared to invest emotionally in someone who might get overwhelmed and blow their brains out. Maybe I'm being overly-dramatic, but there it is.
 
for a long while i used to think how good the "kids today" had it with growing up with the internet as a resource. back when i was in a band, we didn't have it so easy. you did not have the ease of burning our own discs to cd. you actually had to scrape up the money to go into the studio and have your tapes mastered and have your singles pressed to vinyl, and either pass them out for free or try to sell them after your shows from the back of your van.

you'd tell people about your next shows by word of mouth and get them to sign up on your mailing list and mail them a flyer in the US mail! or each member of the band would take part of our list and call people to remind them about the show on friday. no email man! we looked up to Oingo Boingo at the time because they were the hardest working band back then and managed to make it all happen without a major label deal for many years and just did whatever they were doing.

i think about all that and think about facebook and myspace and just how easy it is now to get yourself heard these days, but as i'm reading this thread i am changing my mind because it actually takes away everything special about the whole process from both the band's hard work and the fan that wants to support the band. many people came on board and helped us because they believed in what we were doing and for the love of the shitty music we were making. and this kind of organic snowball just doesn't seem to exist in this landscape anymore.

ya know?
 
This is correct-in the late seventies early eighties living in Boston we had little idea of what was going on in the west coast. In example I had read a lot about the Screamers(LA) but only heard them about a year ago from youtube. But all the magic and mystique is gone for good and it's time for people to do their own local thing and find their own Michael Jackson or their own MJP in their own neighborhood.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top