Of course, I've been saying this for years about all the fluffy pop and hippity-hoppity music the kids all just eat up. But now I'm getting to the point where I don't even get what's currently passing for rock and roll.
Case in point: I was listening to the radio last night on the way home from work, and the DJ was all excited about the new Foo Fighters album that's coming out. Apparently it's two discs. One is traditional Foo Fighters, and the other is an all-acoustic disc, with John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame, dontcha know) helping out. I'm quite interested to hear that one.
However, the first track that this DJ selected to play was from the regular Foo Fighters part. He said it was "really rockin'". I gave it a listen. To be perfectly honest, I found it almost utterly indistinguishable it from any other Foo Fighters song I've ever heard. I don't mean to pick on the Foo Fighters here, they're not the only band with this problem, it's just that they happened to catch my attention last night. It wasn't a bad song, but if they hadn't announced it as brand new, I never would have known the difference.
I also have to admit that I was having a problem finding the rockin' part. The whole song was constructed around a constant steady beat from beginning to end. To my untrained ear it sounded like about 1.5 to 2 beats per second, or about 90-120 beats per minute. It occurred to me that this was the exact same rhythm that can be observed in people aimlessly jumping up and down in place. For example, ADD children who have forgotten to take their ritalin, drug addicts who are hopped up on crystal meth, or just people who really need to go to the bathroom.
I remembered seeing concert footage of entire crowds jumping up and down to the rhythm of whatever song was being played. I suppose concerts by the Foo Fighters and other similar-sounding bands appeal mainly to young people who like to jump up and down in one place for an evening and yell things like "yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-I'm-at-the-Foo-Fight-ers-con-
cert-and-I-for-got-my-ri-ta-lin-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah". I have to wonder, when it comes time to film the video, maybe they could just lock the doors on all the porta-potties and film the entire crowd doing the "potty dance" to make it look like they're all having a really rockin' time.
Personally, I wouldn't have used the term rockin' to describe music which makes me want to jump up and down on one spot for an hour and a half. When I think of new music I would describe as rockin', I think of what I've been hearing lately from bands like Finger Eleven or Seether. Music that makes you want to smash things, or at least drive really, really fast. I'm not entirely sure this is a good thing, but I do like it.
But, hey, if you like the Foo Fighters, more power to you. Have a good jump up and down.
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