Squeeze the Soul

It is difficult to believe that back in the sixties The Beatles were considered "pop". Back in those days, "pop" meant popular music, and fortunately the audience must have had a good sense of music because unarguably tons of "pop" from the past has the musicians soul all over it. These wide ranging emotions that acts such as the Beatles and the Velvet Underground, to name a few, incorporated in their music captivated the minds of their generation and scores of kids to follow thereafter.

Considering this it is quite a sad state of affairs today when the mainstream music industry is owned and operated by all of five major, money grabbing, socially irresponsible corporations. Somewhere along the line from the days of Led Zeppelin and the Doors, music took a back seat to marketing and profit driven corporate culture. From the days of being cool by playing good music that touched that hearts and souls of listeners, being cool has now become wearing fashionable clothes and being in with the crowd. The music has become quite secondary. In essence the attitude is there, but the music is not.

What is it then that causes such a situation? Could it possibly be because of the youth of today, or with respect to the few of us who are conscious, the majority of the youths today, who are so engrossed and captivated with the celebrity obsessing culture in this media saturated world, that they lose their sense of reality permanently?

Whatever happened to being yourself? I see young kids emulating their favorite celebrities and trying to be like them as much as they possibly can with their noticeably smaller means to do so. Does this society we live in erode these young souls' sense of identity so much that they resign their lives to being someone else, instead of what the core of their soul has to offer?

The questions are vast and the answers few and far in between. However, sad as the situation is there is hope. There is hope in the wave of new music we have seen recently. The decline of chewing gum "pop" artists such as Britney Spears, and the rise of indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand, and more recently the Arctic Monkeys, coupled with the fact that true rock is making a comeback in different shapes and forms via bands such as the Strokes, and more neo-rock bands such as Porcupine Tree is very hopeful. The fate of generations rest on these souls who stand for good music, and on our responsible shoulders.

On the issue of the pervasive corporate culture which has so taken over the music industry, we now have independent labels and promoters giving these big names a run for their money. Corporate types in suits are holding emergency meetings behind their closed doors, on their heavy oak, ebony and mahogany desks trying to figure out how to battle these knights who stand for all things true. The advent of P2P systems, and the internet savvy generation has tipped the scales in our favor. Now all we can do is wait and play our cards right.