Malice Mizer: Gekka no Yasoukyoku

D: Gekka no Yasoukyoku

Because of cuts to the arts, it’s difficult for younger students today to access the classical music world and learn to appreciate something different.  Even if they don’t DO anything with it, countless studies show how beneficial music education is to students’ brains.  I’m currently reading a book about how music affects the mind (which I intend to blog about once I finish, but we shall see if it actually gets done) and what it comes down to is that it really doesn’t matter how much you know about music, but how well you feel the music.  But nothing seems to bridge that gap between the classical world and the regular world.

At least, not in America.

There are two Japanese anime series (that I known of) which take place in music school.  One is Nodame Cantabile, about students studying music in college and how their aspirations fuel their friendships.  They all learn from each other.  There is always some competition, either between the students themselves or the students and the real world – the timpanist’s goal is to be timpanist in a major orchestra, for example – but the students all learn from each other.  It shows that musicians / music students are people, too, and not completely in their own little world all the time.  Nodame Cantabile used a lot of classical music for its soundtrack and within the series itself, with the characters performing different works for their exams and performances.  The series, aimed primarily at teenage girls, consequently created a revival of interest in classical music among the youth of Japan.

But what about during high school, when one has to balance music with all the other academic subjects and extra-curricular activities?  Enter La Corda D’oro.  While the plot is less realistic than Nodame, the focus of La Corda D’oro is on music’s effect on people.  The main character is Kahoko, a girl who has never played a musical instrument, but she encounters a musical fairy that watches over her high school, which has a prestigious, separate music school attached to it.  The fairy, named Lili, gives Kahoko a magical violin that anyone can play and enters her in the school’s annual music competition.  This, of course, brings Kahoko a new array of things to think about and do.  She has to learn music, to practice, to face fears.  She also has to deal with music students jealous that they were not selected for the competition.  And yet, the other competitors (minus the violinist, surprise surprise) are intrigued by Kahoko and her simple love of music.  She strives for the sound, for the overall beauty, and does not focus on every single note and perfecting every moment, as so often a musician can end up doing without even realizing.  Kahoko hasn’t been taught that every note must be executed perfectly; she just wants the music to sound good.  The other competitors help her, each in their own way, and even though they’re all looking to win the competition, they support each other.  There’s also the high school “drama” that comes up, as many of the male competitors seem to have feelings for Kahoko (but it’s an anime aimed at teenage girls, so it’s easy to overlook that part for the deeper meaning) and many of the girls are jealous Kahoko gets to spend so much time with the desirable guys.  I’ve only seen the first group of episodes, but the purity of the meaning of music is contagious even this early on in the series.  As Lili’s words so often echo in Kahoko’s mind, “Music [in Japanese] comes from ‘fun’ and ‘sound’!”

Wouldn’t it be nice if, in America, we could have some television programs that showed musicians like this, without the backstabbing, without the silly drama, and highlight what makes music MUSIC?  Shows that enlighten others to the beauty of orchestral works instead of showcasing the orchestra as another collection of geeks?  Ah, to dream.

Twice in the past two months, Kyo of Dir en grey has expressed his displeasure that the band’s latest single, “Different Sense,” and their upcoming album, Dum Spiro Spero leaked a few days and a full week, respectively, of their release dates.  Leaked releases are nothing new to the industry, especially now that everything is digital and as close to instantaneous as one can get without having direct implants into the brain, but what concerns me is a lot of fans’ nonchalance over the whole thing.  Fans, not just of Dir en grey but of many bands throughout the industry, seem to believe that there is nothing wrong with this practice.  I’ve heard fans claim at concerts that the band members are all rich, that the bands make so much money, blah blah blah, the list of “reasons” for not buying albums or merchandise goes on.

Well, let me shed some light on this.  First of all, bands are not rich.  Record labels are rich, not the artists.  I’ve said it before, you’ve all heard it many times before, LET IT SINK IN.  Read about the distribution of royalties and see how comparatively little the artists make here.  Keep in mind, it is the record label’s money that the band or artists uses for tours and to create the album in the first place.  That’s one of the reasons why it’s so gratifying to see an independent band succeed and get recognition.  They had to do everything themselves, and if fans don’t financially support the band, the band cannot sustain itself.

More important than the financial aspect, though, is the fact that a song or album is the band’s collective creative product.  They have put in hours of time writing, recording, arranging, and mixing, selecting the songs that work best together for the album.  They promote the album through interviews and television appearances.  During this time they don’t get to do much of anything else outside of their work.  They anticipate the album’s release even more than the fans because they want to see the fans’ reactions to their hard work.  They want to show the fans what they’ve accomplished, what they’ve created.  If the album leaks,  it shows disrespect to the amount of work the artists have done.

Some respond as Kyo did, in a few simple words for everyone to read, while others, like Cinema Bizarre back in 2009, respond as so:

I keep trying to come up with an analogy for the situation, and the only thing I can think of is the following scenario:  You write a story that you plan to read aloud to a crowd on a specific date.  This story is better than any you’ve come up with before.  To make sure it really is good and not just your imagination and ego letting you think it’s good, you have a friend read it over.  The friend loves it, compliments you about it, and can’t wait to hear you read it aloud!  You’re all excited, you’ve picked out your outfit, have decided where you’re going to put certain pauses for effect; you’ve got the whole thing ready to go.  Then, a few days before your grand unveiling, you discover your friend who read the story told a bunch of your mutual friends all about it – the plot, the characters, the main climax, the resolution, even the twists – just because your friend was too excited to keep it a secret.  That crushed feeling you get in the pit of your stomach thinking about how nobody will be surprised and the anger at your friend for not keeping their mouth shut?  THAT is what the artists feel when they learn their album leaked.

Fans, I have some harsh reality for you.  Bands and artists owe you NOTHING.  They create music for themselves that they want to SHARE with you.  Every band and artist loves their fans and knows that without them, they are just another person in this world, and they show their appreciation in the form of more songs and albums.  Every time you illegally download their work, you insult them.  Why should they bother spending all that time carefully crafting art just so you can take it for free?  You deny the artists their recognition.  You deny the labels the money to keep the artist working.  In the end, you’re not sticking it to the man or making any statement.  You’re hurting yourself and other fans in addition to the artists.

You are not a fan if you illegally download music.

“But I’m broke and can’t afford to buy it right now!” is a cry heard from a lot of fans, especially in this day and age.  Whatever happened to saving up for something you want?  Asking for it as a present for a birthday?  Finding a way to legitimately purchase it on your own?  People have become so entitled over the past years that most don’t realize nothing has changed.  If you want something, you have to work for it.  That is the way life will always be, and it is much more gratifying when you’ve accomplished something on your own.  Maybe you have to wait a little longer than the rest of the world, but there is no shame in that.  It’s not like the music is going to just leave its places of purchase anytime soon.

I, for one, love the anticipation of the new album, of getting it in the mail or purchasing it in the store and immediately driving around with it playing in my car so I can listen and hear the new stuff.  I love sitting later in a quiet room and discovering all the layers of sound, the way the channels panned to create aural illusions, the way the music all comes together to resonate with the listener’s soul.  I love the thought that I waited for this element of perfection, and look forward to the upcoming tour which will surely follow the new release.  Maybe people heard it days or weeks before me, but now I get to hear it and feel the sound for myself.  There’s something magical in the first notes of a new song.  Isn’t that worth the wait?

No?  Then kindly remove yourself from the band’s presence.  They don’t need a “fan” like you.

There was always hope, as X Japan resumed activities, that Taiji would make a guest appearance and fans would get to see him with X.  For two concerts in Japan, fans got their wish and Taiji joined X Japan for performances of their song “X” and everyone got to hear Toshi shout, “On bass:  TAIJI!” along with the rest of the band.  Even though Taiji had said that he was never a member of X Japan (his departure from the band coincided with their name change from X to X Japan) he was important to the band’s history and evolution, and their early success.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I admire Yoshiki, so consider this next statement.  Taiji was just as important to X as Yoshiki.  Taiji was the one willing to argue with Yoshiki and announced his creative differences.  Towards the end of his time in X, Taiji’s contract was even different than the rest of the members’.  Fans always debate over whether the better bassist for the band is Heath or Taiji.  In the end, it would turn to an “agree to disagree” moment, as the two bassists’ styles are different and not really meant to be compared.

Taiji was both an amazing bass player and guitar player, as well as a great songwriter.  Here are the songs he wrote for X:

“Dear Loser” the opening instrumental for their first album, Vanishing Vision, here as their entrance to day two of their three-day Tokyo Dome concerts in 1992, also Taiji’s last concerts with the band.  Taiji’s the one in the cowboy hat.

“Phantom of Guilt” also from Vanishing Vision, and #7 of my top 10 favorite X Japan songs.  I wanted to orchestrate this song in college for Orchestration class but was assigned Bartok instead.  Both Taiji and hide sing harmonies with Toshi.

“Desperate Angel” from 1991′s Jealousy, which is a favorite of mine to karaoke.  Also one of the three X songs to use a cowbell.

“Voiceless Screaming”, also from Jealousy, is #3 on my top 10 X Japan songs list, and my favorite X Japan ballad.  Ironic because it’s the one ballad Yoshiki, my idol, had absolutely nothing to do with.  Taiji plays guitar here, and sings harmony again.  This is my favorite performance of this song.

Then there are moments of bass bad-assery, like in “Give Me the Pleasure”, from Vanishing Vision:

the PV for “Week End” (a single off of Blue Blood) where he dances in splits (see 2:41)

and, of course, his legendary bass solo from the Rose and Blood Tour – notice he’s missing part of his middle finger on his right hand:

Last, but certainly not least, Taiji’s guest appearance with X Japan in 2010, Yokohama, Japan:

“Just like the people who have found an interest in music for the first time, I wanted to make music like the music which was able to influence me.”

~Taiji Sawada (7/12/1966 – 7/17/2011)

R.I.P.

I don’t mean this to open up a debate about quality or funding or anything, I just wonder.  I know there’s other good music internationally.  There are amazing bands with sales records and tour attendance that, when you consider they haven’t “made it” in the U.S. market, are quite astounding numbers.  So what makes the American bands so appealing internationally?

Let’s have a discussion, shall we?

Everyone always has this mentality of “It can’t happen to me.”  Well, when it comes to nature, anything can happen anywhere.  You can’t fight it, you can’t run from it, you just have to deal with it.  And when you’re on the outside looking in, you know you’re lucky that it hasn’t happened to you, but at the same time – if you have a soul – your heart aches because you see the devastation, the desperation, and the problems and you wish there was something you could DO, something more tangible than donating money.  The worst thing anyone on the outside can do in this kind of situation is nothing.  Understandably, times are tough for all, but there has to be something that can be done.

If nothing else, everyone needs to learn from this tragedy and prepare themselves for something like this to happen to them.  Japan is a nation prepared for natural disasters.  They know their location on the tectonic plates, they know tsunami can hit them; they’re an advanced nation with technology and warning systems the U.S. doesn’t have.  They KNEW there would be an earthquake and tsunami.  They took all the drills seriously.  They knew what to do, the evacuation routes, everything.  Nature is just stronger than we humans.

Make your plans now.  Create an emergency bag for yourself and anyone for whom you are responsible.  Figure out how you’re going to let people know you’re okay.  Learn how to stay calm in an emergency.  Understand and accept that nature will always win.

And while you’re doing all that, donate what you can to help Japan.  This literally is an event that changed the world, and we all know the results of this event are only starting to unfold.

I cannot properly express the emotions I feel.  My heart goes out to all affected by this tragedy.

Let’s start at the beginning.

It was April of 2003.  I was in my sophomore year of college, going through a lot with classes and personal issues.  Through a project for one of my classes, I discovered the online radio station Japan-A-Radio.  I’d been listening to anime theme songs (aka Jpop, though I didn’t consider it that since everything I listened to came from an anime) since sophomore year of high school, so I thought a whole radio station dedicated to the music was awesome.  As I did my homework one fateful afternoon, I heard a song that made me stop and just listen for its entirety.  It started with a lone, raspy kind of voice, then the piano came in with this beautiful melody.  It was the piano that transfixed me, which was weird because the piano is one of my least favorite instruments (sorry, pianists!  It’s nothing personal, I assure you!)  I checked the streaming info on my player and it told me the song was “Unfinished” by the band X Japan.  I made a mental note of it, and when the song was over I had to run to rehearsal, all the while replaying the song in my head.

About a week later, after constantly hearing the song in my mind, Japan-A-Radio played it again.  I listened with a huge smile on my face, and when the song was over I jumped on KaZaA and looked up the song, along with any others I could find.  I ended up with ten songs; five ballads and five rock.  To my delight, the piano came through on all the ballads and even one of the rock songs (“Silent Jealousy”) so I knew the pianist I admired was actually part of the band and not just a session musician.  I decided not to research the band right away and just blindly love their music.  I told all my friends about this new band I’d come across and even remember saying to one friend, “For all I know, they broke up years ago and one of their members is dead.”

I was so mad a few months later when I discovered that statement was true, but it didn’t change anything.  I still loved the music, and music can last forever.  I collected all the albums and listened to them non-stop.  I got one of my best friends into X (and rock in general) when I locked her in my car on a trip to the mall and played “Art of Life” the whole way there and the whole way back.  “Art of Life” became my favorite song of all-time.  It is a deep song, tortured yet hopeful, amazing in its construction and admirable for the amount of skill and concentration it would take to play it.  “Art of Life” changed something inside of me, and learning about X Japan’s story and the stories of all the members inspired me.  I wanted to do what they had done.

Yoshiki’s story stuck with me the most, as the band had been his dream and he did so much to bring it to fruition.  I decided I wanted to learn from him and work for him, and this gave me the courage to alter my major and take a different path than the one I’d been traveling.  I collected everything I could of X Japan releases and memorabilia and wistfully dreamed of what it would have been like to see them perform.  Whenever I was upset, their music consoled me.  I could quote it, I could cry to it, I could dream to it.  To me, it’s the most powerful kind of music:  The music that merges with your soul and expresses the words you can’t speak, unleashes the emotions you can’t feel, and provides the hope even when everything is futile.

Throughout the remainder of college and graduate school auditions, Yoshiki and X Japan were the driving force to keep me going.  One warm June night in 2006, I was talking online to aforementioned best friend about how jealous we were of those in the L.A. area for their anime convention, Anime Expo, and the guests they had.  I then received news of a very special guest heading to Otakon, the large east coast anime convention, later that summer:  Yoshiki.  We immediately bought passes and started planning.  I got to meet my musical idol.  About a month later, I moved to L.A. and eventually got into grad school.

My grad school education was rough, and in the midst of all the craziness one thing happened that kept me going.  X Japan reunited, and through luck and friends in Japan, I got to attend all three nights of their reunion concerts at Tokyo Dome in Japan.  It was an experience like none other, complete with performances of every single song I could have hoped for, including “Art of Life.”  I ended up losing my voice completely, but it was all worth it.  I knew that if I could see X Japan perform live, anything was possible.

I cannot give up on my dreams if my idols never do.

X Japan did a small tour of North America back in the fall, a little over a month after their U.S. debut at Lollapalooza.  The first show of the tour was in L.A., at a much smaller venue than the Tokyo Dome.  (Tokyo Dome concert capacity = 50,000.)  I managed to get a spot in the standing room only crowd just above the pit, with a perfect view of the stage and nobody in front of me.  I watched in awe and amazement as they commanded the stage and gave the same effort to this smaller show that they did their Tokyo Dome lives.  And I cried.  I full on sobbed and had no control over any of it.  Watching my idols perform, and watching my two biggest influences, Yoshiki and Sugizo, right in front of me was more than I could ever imagine.  They started “Art of Life” with Sugizo playing a violin solo before Yoshiki went into the piano solo.  It was amazing.  It was incredible.  And it was all I could do but wonder at how much power the music had over me.

Individually, each member of X Japan is very talented and very different.  Yoshiki is both a drummer and pianist, balancing his hard rock edge with soft, classical piano…most of the time.  Heath’s bass is simple in its execution compared to the programming of his solo works.  Pata’s shredding guitar does not happen all that often nowadays (but he did do a solo at Tokyo Dome!) but his skill on the acoustic should not be overlooked.  Sugizo brings his own flair and energy into the band and proves his adaptability and wide knowledge of music styles bouncing among X Japan and all the other projects he is a part of.  And above it all, Toshi’s voice soars with a purity and ring all its own.  He is a charismatic front man who shines through even the darkest times of his life.

Over time their music has changed.  They started out as 80s heavy metal in 1982 and progressed into hair metal in the late 80s and early 90s.  They pulled a Metallica and cut their hair in the mid-90s, and with the change of look came a change of style.  Their sound went from 80s metal to 90s rock with electronic elements and programming instead of shredding guitars.  Beautiful power ballads are the constant link through all the changes.  Nowadays they combine rock and ballad, dark and light, heavy and ethereal, and somehow it works.  Their first U.S. single comes out in March, and I cannot wait.

And here, since you’re probably curious, are my top 10 favorite songs:

1. Art of Life (The first time they ever performed it live.)
2. kurenai (Their first major single.  The link has video of hide in it, too!)
3. Voiceless Screaming (with original bassist, Taiji)
4. Standing Sex (Pata on the mic!)
5. Forever Love (Understand this is from their final concert in 1997, and it’s towards the end of the set)
6. Rose of Pain (X rocked out with an orchestra in 1991, long before Metallica, the Scorpions, or KISS thought to… Just sayin’ ^_-)
7. Unfinished (The song that started it all for me.  This is my favorite performance of it.)
8. Phantom of Guilt (I wish they did this one live more often!)
9. Drain (LOVE the siren lights!)
10. Week End (Snagged the actual PV for this one.)

And other songs worth checking out, in no particular order:

• Scars
• Dahlia
• Dear Loser
• Sadistic Desire
• Silent Jealousy
• Endless Rain
• Rusty Nail
• I.V.
• Jade

SEEN:

• A New Found Glory / Blink 182 – 2001
• 12 Stones / Jerry Cantrell / Creed – 2003
• Vanessa Carlson / Third Eye Blind / Goo Goo Dolls – 2003
• Story of the Year / Hoobastank / P.O.D. / Linkin Park – 2004 (for my 21st birthday, Hell’s Yeah!)
• Little Richard / Chuck Berry – 2004
• Dir en grey – 2006 (x2), 2007 (x2), 2008, 2009 (x2), 2010
• Kagrra, – 2007
• Duel Jewel – 2007
• Miyavi – 2007
• Vidoll – 2007
• alice nine. – 2007
• Merry – 2007
• girugamesh – 2007
• D’espairsRay – 2007, 2010
• MUCC – 2007
• X Japan – 2008 (x3), 2010
• Versailles – 2008 (R.I.P. Jasmine You)
• GLAY – 2008, 2009
• Juno Reactor – 2008
• Tadahisa Yoshida – 2009 (x2)
• Cinema Bizarre – 2009
• The Killing Red Addiction – 2009
• Moi dix Mois – 2009
• VAMPS – 2009
• ALSDEAD / Satsuki – 2009
• Uchuu Sentai NOIZ (x2) – 2009
• The Offspring / 311 – 2010
• Apocalyptica – 2010
• Luna Sea – 2010

Want to see:

• Scorpions
• Disturbed
• 30 Seconds to Mars
• Metallica
• Tokio Hotel
• B’z
• Gackt
• D
• Sugizo (solo)

Want to see again:

• X Japan (duh)
• Dir en grey (duh again)
• girugamesh
• D’espairsRay
• Miyavi
• Linkin Park
• Apocalyptica
• Versailles
• Cinema Bizarre (if they get back together)
• ALSDEAD

I’m sure I’m missing some, but that’s my list at the moment. 

HOWEVER

People post cool things on facebook, and I read them and consequently find other interesting things and play some weird form of Six Degrees of Separation.  Today’s trail focuses on music’s effects on the mind.

Music as Medicine for the Brain

The Five Weirdest Ways Music Can Mess With the Human Brain

Seven Insane Ways Music Affects the Body

Are Smart People Drawn to the Arts or Does Arts Training Make People Smarter?

Musicians Use Both Sides of Their Brains

And just for fun…

Six Pieces of Music That Mean the Opposite of What You Think

I’ve been on a bit of a music psychology kick as of late.  I’m sure there will be more where this came from, especially once I get to reading some of the books I got for Christmas.  And perhaps I’ll get around to finishing all those other posts sitting in the queue.

Just wondering, in 200 years…will our Metallica, Slayer, Madonna and Prince be the equivalent to today’s Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven? How much further can music progress?

I told her I would write an essay on that when I got home from the D’espairsRay concert (which was amazing, by the way!) but I fell asleep right when I got home, so I’m now writing my essay.

Let’s begin with the classical composers.

Bach wrote music because it was his job.  That is why there is so much of it.  He, however, did not believe his music would outlive him, and had it not been for Felix Mendelssohn re-discovering Bach in the early 1800s, Bach’s music would have been lost.  What makes Bach so revered in the music world is the fact that his compositions are the basis for compositional technique.  The rules he followed (and correctly broke) when it comes to chord structure, counterpoint, harmony, and melody are still taught today.  Bach also played a plethora of instruments, which means he understood their individual capabilities, and he must have been quite good at them because some of his solo violin works are challenging.  (Fugues for violin?!  What was he thinking?)  The thing to keep in mind, though, is that Bach came from a musical family, so his training began at a young age and he was always surrounded by music.  With that knowledge, it’s not surprising that he was able to write the music he did and become as famous as he did during his day for his performances, nor is it surprising that he could build upon the things he learned and improve them.  Yes, his death marks the end of the Baroque era, but at the time of his death the Classical era had already started, so it was more like he was the last composing in that style.  That is not to say that his music doesn’t define the Baroque era (at least, the late Baroque era), but I am just pointing out that innovations in composition were already happening before Bach passed.

Mozart had the “honor” of being the child of one of the first recorded stage parents in history.  His father knew both Mozart and his sister were talented and had them out and performing as children.  Of course, Mozart being a prodigy helped to catapult his career, but he was not the only child prodigy of the classical composers (Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens leap immediately to my mind).  He was the first, though, and being the first gets certain distinction.  Mozart’s music isn’t necessarily innovative, as Haydn did far more with chordal experimentation and tones, and wrote far more music (104 symphonies vs. Mozart’s 41, for example) but Haydn also lived longer and, like Bach, composed for a living.  The thing everyone believes about Mozart’s music, though, is the fact that he seemed to just intuitively know what he wanted and where.  Now, had he lived long enough to see Beethoven in his hayday, it would be curious to have seen what influence Beethoven’s music had on Mozart, but since that didn’t happen, we just get to wonder.

Now, I had it beaten into my head during school that Beethoven is the bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras, which I do believe to be true after playing a number of his early works and listening to many of his later works.  Beethoven experimented with instruments and tonality and expanded the classical world’s ear with his compositions.  He also created whole movements of works based on motives rather than melodies.  Think of the opening to his Fifth:  dun-dun-dun duuuuun.  It’s not a melody, just a rhythm set on different pitches, and it pops up throughout the other movements, too (like the third movement).  He did the same thing with the second movement of his Seventh:  buuuh buh-buh buuuh buuuh, while adding one of the most beautiful melodies over the theme (which, I might add, THE VIOLAS GET TO PLAY FIRST!)  And who else, to this point in time, thought to include a full choir and vocal soloists for his Ninth?

At the same time, Beethoven was a celebrity in his own right, and when he passed, the city mourned him.  It did not matter that he went deaf as he aged, for he still heard the music in his head, and, if anything, the struggle to hear strengthened the emotional impact of his compositions.  There’s something about Beethoven’s works – perhaps it is the fact that he did not compose for a living, but rather, as an art – that makes them more emotionally powerful.  That’s not to say that Bach’s and Mozart’s works do not evoke an emotional response, but there is something in the context of Beethoven’s music that really pulls at the heart.  I, personally, do not know any fellow musicians who frown when Beethoven is part of the concert program (unless it’s the Sixth symphony, but I may be alone in that).

Beethoven’s experimentation opened up the possibilities for the Romantic composers to experiment with instrumentation, chord structures, orchestra size, and so on and so forth, in a way that made it almost out of control by the end of the Romantic Era.  While Mozart and Bach defined their eras’ musics, Beethoven’s music became the launch pad for something new and different.

Fast forward nearly 200 years.

Now we are in a period of time where music is all around us, from the radio, to television, to movies, to our own iPods and phones.  It has become a huge commercial industry, and advances in technology have made it possible for nearly anyone with a computer to create music in some way, shape, or form, even if they cannot read a note.  That is not to say that this is a bad thing, as it opens up a world of creativity and it’s always interesting to see what those not bound by rules and conformity can (and do!) create, but it has also led to an accessibility of new music that happens so quickly it is very easy to become a one hit wonder.  There are exceptions, but let me sound off on Flip’s aforementioned four:  Metallica, Slayer, Madonna, and Prince, before speculating.

The ones with the greatest chance of musical eternity are Metallica.  Metallica’s music can transcend genres, and that gives them a big plus for musical longevity.  We have thundering drums and bass, and shredding guitar solos, but we also have a melody listeners can sing and remember.  Metallica’s music can translate to acoustic covers, or find a place with a symphony orchestra.  They are not afraid to experiment with their sound, and they allow their own personal experiences influence their music.   There’s also the fact that they’ve been recognized multiple times by their peers for their music achievements.  Plus, they inspire creativity and ingenuity with their music.  For example:

Lego Metallica

Apocalyptica

Now, I would not say that Metallica’s music in and of itself is anything groundbreaking, but the fact that they have been around for nearly thirty years, have a dedicated fan base, and are still relevant in the mainstream music scene today means they have something that will outlast them as people.  I think, 200 years from now, musical society will look at Metallica in a similar light to Beethoven, being the famous and accessible bridge between genres and eras.

I can’t say the same for Slayer.  As influential as they have been and continue to be, they are very much a metal band and will always be a metal band, and that does not offer them universal appeal.  Slayer will probably be remembered for their lyrical content and the controversies surrounding their releases, and not their music.  However, in the world of metal, Slayer will be up there with the greats for all eternity.  I guess that means Slayer will be the Shostakovich of the future – great, heavy music that many get into, but sometimes the music gets overshadowed by the themes it expresses.

Madonna and Prince…if the world never passed the 1980s in terms of fashion, sex, and things that are socially acceptable, Madonna would be queen forever and always, and Prince would be the king.  But again, it’s not so much their music as it was their images and lyrical content that got them noticed.  Neither of them found a sound that was particularly new or groundbreaking, but I will say they each created a sound that is individually theirs among a sea of other, similar, pop music.

The true innovation here is that both of them are very charismatic performers who made their live shows into spectacles, although I admit that I find Madonna to be a great deal more entertaining to watch and listen to than Prince.  Madonna also seems to have an easier time finding universal appeal as an all-around entertainer.  As far as their music surviving into the next 200 years, I think it will be lumped together in a chronological history of pop music throughout the 1980s and 90s.  Madonna probably has slightly more of a chance of her music outliving her than Prince, but both of them will be overshadowed by Michael Jackson in the long run.  I am not sure who to compare Madonna and Prince to in the classical world.  Maybe Paganini?  Although he was a virtuoso violinist, and neither Prince nor Madonna could be considered a virtuoso, but all are known more for their performances than their music.

I do have to say, though, that none of them – Metallica, Slayer, Madonna, or Prince – will ever fall into obscurity, because they have created their careers doing what they wanted and creating the music they wanted to.  They all have the status and credibility as artists, which they all rightfully earned over the years, to follow their creative energies and visions.  They are true to themselves and do not follow what others tell them to do, which makes them loyal to their craft and brings them loyal and devoted fans.

So now we beg the question:  How much further can music progress?

Well, first we need to agree on how to define “music,” as different people find different genres appealing.  It’s probably easiest to go with the idea that music is organized sound, therefore we can incorporate sounds of all kinds, whether they come from instruments, computers, or nature.  Therefore, we accept that the clicks of typing on a computer can be a musical rhythm.  Leaves rustling in the wind provide music.  Cars passing by, planes flying overhead, the whir of the computer fan…all can be considered elements of music if organized properly.  This is the idea behind John Cage’s music and the concept behind the movie August Rush.  Music is everywhere if you’re just willing to listen.

Such a blissful, Utopian view…

Now for the harsh reality:  We have the music industry.

The music industry needs to stop looking for a quick fix to all its money problems and instead look for artists it can nurture and cultivate into stars and stop going for the new hot thing every five minutes.  Yes, it’s a business, and the point of any business is to make money so you can survive into next year.  I think they sum it up the funniest in the movie Josie and the Pussycats.

That was just for fun, and not to start the whole “subliminal messages” debate, so please don’t start it.  The point is, the more money and backing anything has, the more it’s advertised, the more it gets seen, and more of a buzz gets created around it.  My cousin and I have a theory that, the more advertisements you see for a movie, the worse it is.  Anything worth seeing or worth listening to will create its own buzz, but if it has to be shoved in people’s faces for them to pay attention to it (and becomes popular as a result) it probably was not worth the attention its getting in the first place.  Unfortunately, money rules the world, so if something annoying and obnoxious has more money than something of quality, everyone will know the annoying thing and it will get more attention and become more annoying, and in turn potentially discourage the thing of quality from trying to make it.  If someone decided that sounds from animal mating rituals were the next big hit, suddenly there would be tons of advertisements for albums with those sounds recorded in high quality audio, ready to take to the airwaves and consequently be sampled and remixed until there’s a venerable menagerie on every single radio and music television station around.  It would give “Welcome to the Jungle” a whole new spin, perhaps even sparking a resurgence in popularity for Guns ‘n’ Roses… No, probably not.  I think GnR did enough of their own self-destruction to ensure they would never hit that mark again.

While that idea itself is ridiculous (the animal sounds, not Guns ‘n’ Roses), that’s basically what happens.  In an effort to make money and see profit, something new comes along, auto-tuned to perfection, and within months we see it everywhere, we can’t escape it, and there are at least five clones and the fan base starts warring over who is better.  It builds its own competition until the NEXT thing comes along and the cycle starts again.

It’s not always negative, though.  One thing that got shoved in everyone’s face just last year was Owl City.  Personally, I thought the song “Fireflies” was annoying as hell, but a lot of people liked it for its different sound and positive spin on the world.  What annoyed me about it was that anyone with enough time on their hands and the right computer programs could create something like that.  Give me a Mac, LogicPro, and a day and I could do the same exact thing.  But there is a certain beauty in the thought that anyone could create that.  Unlike the days of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, one no longer needs formal training in order to create music.  All one has to do is sit down at a computer, or record sounds, or pretend to sing, and they can create a song and upload it to the internet and share it with their friends.  Maybe it becomes viral, and the creator wins their fifteen minutes of fame.  That’s not to say that people who do this are hacks, because that is not always the case.  All it means is music is more accessible for anyone to create, so how far it can progress is only limited by one’s creative capacity and their imagination.  Whether or not we as a people get to hear it is another story, as that depends on the popularity and quality.  American Idol has shown us there are plenty of people who have become famous because of how bad they are, but it’s also given some genuinely talented people the chance to see their dreams come to fruition.

What is certain, though, is the fact that however music evolves next is going to be completely dependent upon computer technology.  Check out the music in this blog post.  I actually relaxed to the ethereal sounds of slowed down, indecipherable, technology manipulated Justin Bieber earlier this afternoon, and it was nice.  It was like music from another plane of existence and not the pre-packaged pop the collective ear has become used to.

No matter how far music progresses (or regresses, as the case may be) the fact remains that there will always be something or someone pushing the envelope or trying to change the perception of music in the world.  Whether they succeed or not, and whether the music lasts the test of time, is up to the individual creators themselves and how much work they put into it.  Just remember the quote from The Sandlot. “Heroes are remembered, but legends never die.  Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”