*********************************** AM/FM ***********************************     The Death of Rock    or...  The Direction of Music -----------------------  Recently there's been a lot of talk about where music is heading. Is rock dead and is rave going to survive? What will happen to todays' stars when the fashions change again? With the issue of rock-versus-rave in mind, you may be interested to hear that Altern-8, that band of such exciting diversions (!), hired a real African witch doctor to pronounce that rock is dead. All this in front of a concert crowd at a recent rave. Now, whether this profecy is true or not is worthy of discussion. Certainly, the charts (at least here in the UK) have been filled with dance material. Underground artists such as the Prodigy and so on have all of a sudden become highly fashionable and it's lasting!! Some could say that it's all a bit like the Manchester fashions we had a little time ago but I'd be inclined to disagree. Bands such as the Orb, Bizarre Inc., and others seem to have within them a certain longevity which is quite startling, considering the material they're using. Certainly, to those who despise such music, which is basically wholly electronic, the future seems a bit gloomy but don't you think that rock has had its day? I mean, how long can characters such as Mick Jagger be wheeled out and publicised? I am not in the least bit interested, thank-you-very-much, in his love life. I don't CARE about Jerry Hall. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW who he's been prodding with his love truncheon over the past few months. In fact - I DON'T WANT TO KNOW FULL-BLOODY-STOP!! Such battering-to-death of rock "personalities" makes me SICK. The Rolling Stones haven't produced a decent record in ten years. And yet they are regarded as legends in their own time. Why? Because they happened to be about at the same time as the Beatles? So did Lonny Donnegan and most people look upon him as quite a sad case. The only difference I can see is that Jagger & Co. took some pot whilst they were in the limelight and Lonny didn't. Therefore, they have a certain sort of persona that others can look up to. BULLSHIT! All it means is that the records they produced whilst out of their trees were SHITE. Only a few good songs were made with the author taking drugs - most of them by John Lennon. This is one reason why I respect the music of recent months - because the people producing it don't want to know about publicity, they just want to get on with the music. Okay, so they might pop the odd tab or whatever but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know what you're doing. (I am in favour of some drugs being legalised - they can help, you know. Just be careful.) Moreover, the rave bands are so uninteresting that I'm glad that their lives aren't foisted upon me. And they also like it that way. Whilst Jagger, Wyman, etc etc are getting much-needed publicity (they ain't getting any younger OR better at their craft) todays' bands are making the music that more and more people want to hear. And I will not stand for this "But it's not proper music" garbage either. People who play guitars are using a machine just as much as someone who uses a sequencer. So don't talk such crap. We've had the publicity boom and its ensuing repurcusions (faces on the front of "Hello!" magazine and pictures of stars' new-born babies) and I think that we're all getting a little embarrassed and bored by it all. At least I am, anyway. I don't want to see Madonnas' buttocks, thank you, even if they are quite plumptious. I don't need the stimulation, she doesn't need the sensationalism and I think we are soon going to see her downfall if she continues this pathetic play-acting. Madonnas' success is built upon the news story and she needs the press more than she knows. So does Michael Jackson. God knows his music isn't up to much these days. For all their talent such artists of the late '70s, early '80s rely on the magazine articles for sales. Without them they'd be lost. But The Shamen and others rely more on the power of their music than the quick quip in the social column. And THIS is interesting. There has always been the "Are the Pet Shop Boys gay?" debate. And I don't think we'll ever know the answer. But do we want to? Their music is far more interesting than their sex lives and this is what we should concentrate on - the product, not the packaging. As electronic music becomes more intense and more prominent I really do think that rock music will die. And quickly. If its marketing remains the same - boring articles going on about "Oh, and I knew Miles Davis, you know, he's one of my greatest inspirations" - name dropping and more, then it will die and good riddance because it will have become stale and over-used. And the last thing we want is for a generation to become a cliche. Because that is what will happen if this crap goes on much longer. As Bjørn and many other people said in a previous article about rock music going down the pan, people are running out of ideas. Look at Dire Straits, look as Genesis - and WEEP. I, personally, find these present bands excrutiatingly annoying - as they are seen as some rock forms of messiahs - here to save the world as we know it. It's such a crock of crap that it's unbelievable. Rap artists have invaded and they are one reason for the rapid deterioration in dance music. Okay, so some of the records are highly danceable but this is only due to the fact that they pick and choose the riffs etc that they use from a wide open pool of some twenty years of rock/pop history. Naturally, there are going to be some amazingly catchy hook lines waiting to be put over a beat. However, I blame people such as commercial radio stations and magazines for hyping bands beyond their limits and hence creating a situation in which we are told who is the best and are not asked an opinion. I KNOW who I like (and it most certainly is not Kriss Kross) and don't need to be told. I like Gabriel, PSB, KLF, Electronic, Lenny Kravitz, Prefab Sprout and more. There is a wide forum of music there and I refuse to be dictated to by some hack journo who thinks he's Gods' gift to music. Okay, so maybe some of the ideas these artists use are recycled but so are the ideas of Mozart etc. Some people like jazz because it is the only innovator now. I don't think that is very fair, to be honest. Rap was an innovation (not a very clever one, conceded) and so was the dance revolution of garage, house, industrial and rave. I truly adore music. I think it is essential to who and what we all are. I like all sorts of bands; from the Pet Shop Boys to Prefab Sprout; down from the Beatles to the Macc Lads. It's all good stuff with something to say. But the medium of music is being abused in the foulest way. And it must change. I am afraid that we can't go on with the publicity bull that is so plentiful nowadays without falling foul of becoming totally passive towards bands which do not even inspire us. People say that the popular music of today is vapid because the generation it is aimed towards has no new or revolutionary ideas. My generation is accused of being the ones who are willing to be passive and let the governments get on with it. Yet, who forced us to start cleaning up our planet? What generation is it that began the revolution which concluded in the ending of the cold war? I do believe it was mine. And I think that the reason music is becoming soulless is because the audience it is aimed at does not require it. What my generation needs is inspiration and stimulation and that is what todays music provides. Tell me what YOU think. I want to know!! And maybe we can have some sort of debate through the pages (should I call them that?) of AM/FM. So, get in touch with me, Dave Cassidy, at: Cynostic, 85 Wyken Croft, Coventry, CV2 3AD, ENGLAND. Or telephone me: +44 (0)203 613817 Or even send me a fax: +44 (0)203 682084 I want to hear your views!! (Your opinions, if I get enough, will be put into an article in the next issue of AM/FM.) *********************************** AM/FM ***********************************