In the Age of Music

I was on the phone with my daughter yesterday, and she says, “Dad, I got some bands you need to check out.” We talk music all the time.

I would love to pass those recommendations she made to you, but I didn’t write them down, and I’ll be damned if I can remember them. Also, I’m kind of embarrassed to ask her if she could repeat the names again. It reminds me that I had way to much fun in my 20’s if you know what I mean.

In what was formerly known as junior high, now called middle school, and high school, my best friend and I were into music, with the exceptions of Country and Western, and Polka.

I could tell you who was in what band, what their new album was, and their classification in the music world, among other things. I was THE resource for useless and non-paying musical trivia.
I graduated high school, and it was off to college. And from that point on, because of having two jobs, bills, and stealing food, the breakfast buffet of the Residence Inn, I had to make music a low priority.

I think my swan song as a music junkie was around the time of the debut album from Nine-Inch Nails, PRETTY HATE MACHINE.

Flash forward to now. To be blunt, I don’t know shit about what is going on in music. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still love music. And because of this, I still listen to the music I listened to back then.

Which gets me to the point I’m making now. And what I’m going to state further is from my own perspective.

On the other hand, my best friend kept up with music and has been introducing me to what’s new out there for years.
I’ve told him that I still continue to fall back on the bands I grew up with. Yes, it is a matter of money. But now with SPOTIFY, that really shouldn’t be a factor. But I make no apologies.

Yesterday, on a SPOTIFY playlist, Billy Joel’s SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT came on. I had not heard this song in a while. At that moment, after all these years, I had an epiphany. It’s structure and telling of story fit with what I am trying to do now as a writer

I won’t bore you with the song’s details as you either know it or don’t want to know it because you didn’t even think Billy Joel was still alive.
Not only is it a great song(F-you haters!), but if you REALLY listen to the lyrics, SFIR is an excellent piece of storytelling!

As I am trying to be a writer and really get a handle on my craft and available for freelance work, I might add, songs like SFIR are a learning tool.

Like all good music, these types of songs incorporate clear storytelling elements, never age, and always remain something new. This can’t be said of all popular music of the past, which at their times were praised (See Milli-Vanilli and Iron Butterfly).

I can maybe provide you with a sense that I’m not full of shit. I should put the bong down; I believe the most fantastic piece of music ever written is and always will be Beethoven’s MOONLIGHT SONATA. How about that?

Then again, I could very well be full of shit. Maybe serious storytelling still exists in this day and age. Like I stated earlier, I don’t know shit about today’s music.

I can tell you even when I was Mr. Music Trivia, the singer-songwriters of the mid-’70s provided me with inspiration. It’s continued influence today helps push my determination to keep writing.

So to my best friend and others, who enjoy giving me shit, I have only one thing to say. I will continue to listening, admiring, respecting and learning from past artists like Billy Joel, Springsteen, Cat Stevens, Kansas, Rush, and others. I also want to add, and I say this with the utmost respect and love, Fuck you!

Unfortunately, as a self-proclaimed disciple of music, I have no choice but to mention Bob Dylan. OMG!

Sorry Dylan fans who can still hear when Bob Dylan is doing “Bob Dylan”, I cringe in pain. His voice reminds me of the sound my brakes would make on my 1985 Volkswagon. But there is no denying he is a great songwriter. Dylan’s songs can only be tolerated when done by others. This is exemplified by Jimi Hendrix’s version of Dylan’s ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER, and the Byrd’s doing Dylan’s MR. TAMBOURINE MAN.

So let’s admit it. Music is THE most powerful of the art forms. No other art has music’s power to take you back through time and nail that moment when you first heard that song. It’s a vinyl time machine!

Those feelings of that time, place, and moment when you first heard, let’s say, LIKE A VIRGIN, are as clear as the picture on a 4K TV. And yet, you can’t remember where you put your car keys in the morning.

Music is an always-open doorway to the soul no matter what you’re listening to and its time. And that does include Madonna’s LIKE A VIRGIN.
So the only thing I can now think of to say is, you kids, stay the hell off my lawn! I have to fix the blinking 12:00 AM on my VCR.