Let It Bleed

What is up with the “vanilla rock” now? I started listening to “new” rock stations last year when I got tired of the hip-hop, teenybopper, trying-to-please-everybody-and-failing-miserably (at least where I’m concerned) format of the local stations and the “classic rock” stations playing Pink Floyd and Aerosmith songs every five minutes that I’ve heard at least 20,000 times. Yawn!

I discovered groups like Staind, Three Doors Down, Collective Soul, Audioslave, Puddle of Mudd, White Zombie, and a lot of others. Then something strange happened, which unfortunately happens with a lot of rock bands.
They started making money. Getting the big contracts. Three Doors Down was the first one out of the gate of obscurity with their “yellow ribbon” anthem of the Iraqi war “Here Without You.” They even had their image painted on a Nascar Race car. Don’t remember the driver, since I could give a rat’s ass about such things.

Then last night, I was listening to the station and heard a song and thought “oh, Three Doors Down have a new one.” Popped onto the station website and saw not Three Doors Down, but Staind? Huh? When did that happen? When did Staind start sounding like Three Doors Down?

So I speak to you in riddles because
My words get in my way. I smoke the
whole thing to my head and feel it
wash away 'cause I can't take anymore
of this, I want to come apart.
or dig myself a little hole inside
your precious heart ~ Epiphany

The beautifully painful lyrics of Epiphany reflect the agony of someone who is in a troubled relationship. That’s what was so great about Staind. The pain of life and love reflected in their lyrics.
In Right Here, it seems he’s either resolved these problems, or found a new girlfriend.

I've made a commitment
I'm willing to bleed for you
I needed fulfillment
I found what I need in you ~ Right Here

Maybe giving up drugs was the reason.

And it's been awhile
Since I can say that I wasn't addicted
And it's been awhile
Since I can say I love myself as well
And it's been awhile ~ It’s Been Awhile

Or maybe money is the answer to the equation.

I can understand groups like Stone Temple Pilots, Creed, and Guns & Roses whose members go on to join and create other “supergroups” like Velvet Revolver and Alterbridge, but it seems like it’s all turning into a soup of vanilla sounding rock. There are no unique rock groups out there. They are all imitators. Do I have to wait another ten years for this generation of musicians to come up with something different?

What do I know about music? I'm an average consumer who knows what I like and what I’m willing to spend my money on. And I’m not going to spend my money on a CD to get one good song that I can hear on the radio everyday for a year. That’s why downloading MP3s is so popular because why buy a CD for $13.99 for just one song when the rest of the CD is crap.

There are few perfect albums in music history. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Metallica’s Black Album. AC/DC’s Back in Black. And the odds are, none of these groups will produce one.

As one of my favorite songwriters once wrote: “It’s only rock n’ roll, but I like it.” But I wonder, are any of these guys willing to “stick my pen in my heart” and “spill it all over the stage”? Metaphorically speaking of course.

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A lot of bands have intense names, like "Rigor Mortis" or "Mortuary". We weren't that intense, we called ourselves "Injured". Later on we changed it to "Acapella" when we were walking out of the pawn shop. ~ Mitch Hedberg