Markley's Blog

What has happen to
music in today’s world? Well the way the question is asked
you have to wonder if those that posed it, want to know if it what has happened
to it, is for the better or worse. So since this is my article and my opinion,
I will look at it as what has happened to it in the negative. We have to
because to “me” music has taken on a whole new meaning than when I purchased my
first 45 record back in 1973.

Case in point; they don’t even make 45’s
anymore and unless you have iTunes or another source for purchasing music, you
can’t even buy a single song by itself. That’s what they were called back in
the day “singles”. When the demise of the vinyl LP happened with the
introduction of the CD, the little 45 died to the cassette single, (which they
don’t make anymore either).  I have two
cassette players in my stereo listening room and I can’t tell you the last time
I recorded using one. I now record everything on CD. So you ask yourself,
“Where he’s going with this”?

I’m really not sure and I kind of got off the
path and started reminiscing on how as music collector the way you listen has
changed. Now back to the music itself. I have been collecting music for over 35
years and have seen and heard music change in a way that is perplexing. Some
artist in my collection I have been a fan of since their first recording and
the maturing of that artist into a musician, icon, superstar, award-winning
whatever label you want to give have been both exciting and saddening.

Some artist I became a listener to much
later into their respective catalog of work and come away with the same
reaction. I don’t want to pick on any particular artist or their work, but to
make my case I will highlight a couple to show you what I feel has happened to
music in today’s world. I started to listen to Elton John when he released is
“Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy” album. Of course I had heard his
big hits before than on the radio, but to start to enjoy the deep tracks of an
artist work; with Elton it started right there. Lately though because of the
cheaper price of older recordings I have purchased a lot of his younger
recordings. In so doing the music seems so much fresher and raw. Elton and his
unrestrained best. Playing music to be enjoyed and not just worrying about
having a number one song.

There are so many bands that have had the
pressure applied to them that they need a big hit single. Bands that in the
beginning played the music that was in their heart and soul, have been stripped
of that influence and have been given a new drive that is corporate driven.
Music has for that past 30 years become big business. Make a hit single and
sacrifice the artist’s heart. I believe in my own musical travels that I first
noticed it in the mid-seventies.

There were three major releases that started
the spiral downward trend to making money instead of music. In 1975 Kiss
released their first live album, which broke out as a huge success for them.
Six months later in 1976 Peter Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive became the
biggest selling live album of all time. With those two recordings the record
companies felt that all of their acts should release a live album. In fact
there were several bands that had only two studio recordings and then put out a
live record.

 
Now granted Kiss had only three studio albums, but they figured what
better way to show off their live show than by putting it on tape? It worked.
Then in 1977 Fleetwood Mac had an album that would be not only the bench mark
of their career, but also the bench mark of the recording industry. With the
popularity and the number of hit singles that came from that record, every
record company went in search for that.

It was no longer let the artist tell
their story from the inside of their heart, soul, and mind, it became how many
hit songs can you write. A band had to put together a formula recording that
had the potential to be a big hit. If those in charge didn’t like what they
heard they made the artists go back and do it again (so much for artist
interpretation and inspiration). In the early to mid-eighties several of your
well-known 70’s rockers got labeled as corporate rock.

Bands like Styx, Journey, 38 Special, Kiss,
and Foreigner, all had a great reputation for being bands that would produce
some classic music. And most of these bands earliest recordings are their best.
But those that followed in the 80’s become so predictable and so formulated
that they lost that raw rock sound and became polished studio carbon copies.
Album after album sounded the same.

That direction ultimately was the
demise of several of these artists who are now returning in one form or another
to recapture the early years of their career, and if you’re lucky enough to
catch one live it would be better than any live album they could ever sell or
you could ever listen too. The music has changed and become a business to the
point that the music lover has very few options. There are no longer record
stores or stereo stores. (Other than the big box stores)

Formulation destroyed music. When disco was
the rage bands like The Stones, Queen, and Kiss all had songs that had a disco
beat to it. Do you really think that was their idea? Even Led Zeppelin had a
disco influenced song with “Fool in the Rain” with the blowing whistle and
disco influenced beat. Too much corporate influence has infected music. Looking
over my top 10 list of my favorite albums all of which were released 1976 or
earlier, are albums in the bands early part of their respective catalogue. Or
the album was the one that broke their career open and was before the corporate
change began. I don’t even want to get started on how MTV both changed and
ruined music as we heard it and see it, and now there is no music on MTV

I listen to older recordings that were
released for the sole purpose for the artist to articulate themselves and
compare it to one that was recorded to make a buck and they can’t stand next to
each other. Bring back the days when music was recorded to enjoy and have it
fill us with emotions and make us conjure up thoughts of whatever was going
through our minds at the time. Why listen to some spew out vulgarities and
cheapen the art of recorded music? Music in today’s world has changed and it’s
sad because the real artist can’t be heard over the ringing of the cash
register.