How Apple and Myspace Are Killing The Band
My mom always said that technology makes you stupid. I can see decent arguments on both sides of that one. You can do and learn a lot with the aid of something with a silicon chip in it, but you can also grow dependent on it (like my friend who can’t drive anywhere without the GPS on, even if she’s been there before), and you can lose all social skills in the course of a few short text messages.
The same could be said of the music scene on a macro level. GarageBand, FruityLoops, Myspace, and dozens of other cheap software packages and social networks bristling with teenage girls have paved the road for some incredible musical talent to be shared and discovered. But they’ve also created a climate ripe for stupidity and “untalent” to be shared, spread, and smeared all over the interwebs, and thus our lives. You know what I’m talking about. 19 out of 20 bands on Myspace are terrible. I just browsed through all the bands on the home page of Purevolume right now and nearly all of them suck. Cool, cheap technology still doesn’t do a whole lot for you if you can’t sing or write an original song. Or riff. Or drumbeat.
Oh, and it can’t help you come up with a good band name either. (All you bands with names that follow the pattern “[verb] the [noun]” or “the [anything]“, I’m talking about you).
Apple and Myspace are killing “The Band,” drowning it out in a cesspool of bad soundwaves. Furthermore, they’ve sparked the creation of a plethora of one- or two-man nonbands. Nonbands are bands where two or less dudes get together and pretend to play instruments to tracks they’ve already recorded in their basement on their iMac. Sure, a lot of great bands have started this way and eventually found someone to play the drums (and some are really awesome solo acts that a full band can’t do justice to), but the only thing that separates most of these guys from Milli Vanilli is that one of the band members actually played an instrument in their bedroom at one point (although the other generally just tags along). I discovered another band like this today: Inkwell. Bleh! That’s all I’m gonna say.
I’m as guilty of this as the next nonband. I compose songs in GarageBand on my Macbook Pro, I played in a band with an iPod for a drummer, and I’m wearing the T-shirt of a really great band that started out as two guys with Keytars (and now they’re actually a band and they’re awesome - check out Love You Long Time). The point is, though, real bands as we used to know and love them are getting harder and harder to come by, and it’s… well it’s evolution I guess. But it makes me a little bit sad.
I won’t even get started on all the Escape the Fate wannabes that keep cropping up everywhere. That’s a rant for another day. I just pray you suckers don’t make it to the warped tour!
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