By Troy Brownfield

Things are looking bleak . . . war is approaching . . . so I'll talk . . Music!

THE STATE OF MUSIC '03 and an actual point

With the Grammy's just passed and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions done for the year, I figured now was as good as time as any to give my semi-annual lecture on the state of music. The good news happens to be that there are a lot of great bands banging around out there if you just take the time to look. Vital scenes are happening in many towns (not the least of which is Indianapolis), and several progressive or intelligent artists are getting awards and/or good ink. And when you have a year where The Police, The Clash, and Elvis Costello and The Attractions all get into the Hall, that's definitely to be considered a good omen as well. Onto the music . . .

Avril Lavigne: "Ooh! I wear a tie! Over a T-shirt! I'm so punk! I sing about skating! I'm a skater! I 'm a punk skater! I'm surly! I'm a teenage surly punk skater girl!" Avril, with all due sincerity, get the fuck out of here. I normally give performers some slack if they write their own stuff, but Avril's self-indulgent "look at me I'm so hip" rantings come off like nothing more than the whinings of an over-privileged seventeen year-old. Oh, wait a second . . . And another thing: saying you're punk doesn't make you punk. I could say I was born a poor black child, and it wouldn't make me any less white. Listen, kid; The Ramones were punk, The Clash were punk, Television were punk, The Sex Pistols were punk, SOCIAL DISTORTION IS PUNK. You are bubble gum. You're not Black Jack, you're not Big Red, and you sure as hell aren't Bubble Yum. You're a chiclet, and your flavor has just about run out.

Vanessa Carlton: Yes, she's a talented piano player, but Sweet Baby Jesus are her songs repetitive. And BORING. I tried to listen to a couple, and I had to hold up a mirror to my nose to make sure I was still breathing.

John Mayer: Nobody ever went broke writing songs for chicks.

Good Charlotte: No. Bad Charlotte! Bad! Bad!

New Found Glory: It's kind of charming that their name is really a desperate wish.

T.A.T.U.: If you buy only one CD this year by a prefab Russian pop duo that dresses in Catholic schoolgirl outfits while stomping on the pseudo-lesbian panic button, make it this one.

Nickelback: They're Creed without the edge. Seriously. If they were any more middle-of-the-the-road, they'd be a median. And Chad Kroeger's song from "Spider-Man" has to be the most egregiously overplayed Seal rip-off in human history (don't believe me? Listen to "Kiss From A Rose" from the "Batman Forever" soundtrack, THEN listen to "Hero"; it's even more blatant that the whole "Teen Spirit"/"More Than A Feeling" thing).

Pink: Another entrant in the "I'm edgy because I say I am" camp. People have forgotten what real danger is on live TV. It's not wearing a bra like the drummer from No Doubt, it's not half-assing a war protest like Fred Durst, and it's not putting on goofy clothes just to get an extra mention on an entertainment show the next day.

If any of these artists had one ounce of sack, they'd grab the mic and say something like, "They say that record sales are down. Could it be because the major labels cleared out the good bands, we're marketing second-generation shit, radio has broken the genres in too narrow a fashion, and MTV refuses to break new bands that don't fit a pre-determined mold? The recording industry is broken, the former hippie sell-outs won't fix it, and I wish that I could lock you all in a fucking room and play Good Charlotte over and over till you piss yourselves and apologize."

So what's good then?

The Raveonettes: Our resident music man Shawn reviews it here: Come on . . ."Attack of the Ghost Riders" alone!

Har Mar Superstar: A hairy white guy grinding to funk, rhythm and blues in tighty-whities while a troop of outrageously hot chicks gyrate around him. I don't know if it's art, but I like it.

Zwan: The supergroup featuring ex-Pumpkins Corgan and Chamberlain, A Perfect Circle ex-patriot Paz, and indie faves David Pajo and Matt Sweeney made a GREAT disc with "Mary Star of the Sea". Pumpkin-haters probably won't dig it, but screw them anyway.

Longwave: Shawn introduced me to this band, and I am GRATEFUL. Noisepop is a weapon, and the Americans have perfected it. The Day Sleeper EP just KILLS.

Sigur Ros: Definitely not for everyone, but the Icelandic soundscapes are frequently stunning if you can get into them.

Representin' the Old School: I recently read the book Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad. It's a tremendous study of the American independent underground musical movement from 1981 to 1991. I came away with a newfound respect for bands that I'd previous only heard of, as opposed to having heard, and a deeper appreciation of the music that I already knew. While there are obvious notables, like Black Flag, The Replacements, Fugazi, Mudhoney, Dinosaur Jr., The Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and the almighty Husker Du, the book is also a primer on some of the lesser-known acts, like the powerful Minor Threat, the pioneering Minutemen, the truly strange Mission of Burma, the astounding Big Black and the terrific Beat Happening. I'm currently reading Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which charts giants that you should already know, like The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Television, the Sex Pistols, and of course, The Velvet Underground.

Really, the root of this all comes down to one thing: seek out something NEW. We're a culture of routine. FORCE YOURSELF to do or try or read or listen or taste or see something new all the time. If you take the time to go to a museum when you normally never do, then YOU are part of the SOLUTION and not the PROBLEM. If you stop in a local club to see a band just because you haven't before, YOU are HELPING. Why? Because you are expanding your parameters and thinking and promoting the positivity of creation. That is NEVER bad.

I've had people tell me that you should work to live, not live to work, but I see far too many people doing it the wrong way. I've had people tell me that their job is only what they do until they find what they really love. NEWS FLASH: your job IS what you do, and if what you do after work is go home and do nothing, then you DO live to work. If that's not what you want: change it. I know it's hard. Trust me. I've made no secret of employment troubles on this site, but this year, for the first time ever, I've started making real money by just writing. It's because I've never stopped doing it.

How does all this fit together? Like it always does. There are forces in the world that want you to be a certain way, like certain things, and make certain choices. Why? Because, for one reason or another, that's what they want. I don't want you to like the same things I do if you don't like them. I just want you to try. That's what you should want too.

So what are you waiting for? Go listen to some of the music that I suggested. If you don't like it, tell me, and we can argue. That's always fun too.

Troy Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. The rumors are true. We're taking the music back to Terre Haute. The only question is when. Email Troy at psikotyk@aol.com

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