Bad Music

The other day, a friend of mine took me to a concert at a great little venue. Now, I've been to a ton of shows in my life, doing what I do, but I always appreciate the invite. So, I went, and oh my god, the band was awful. Now, here's the thing - a lot of people like this band, and you know what? That's great, but I thought they sucked. But it's not just them. It's their genre of music that I think needs to expire. Like, now. Now, sure, maybe I'm being too hard, like when I hated Dave Matthews Band (and everyone who listened to it) in high school and most of college, then finally got over it when I realized that well, while they might be playing boring, easily accessible music, their album are decent for background music.

But oh my god, (what they're now calling) post-hardcore and screamo - when are you going to die off and go away like nu-metal finally did?

I like punk. I love hardcore. Real hardcore. Like, oh, I dunno, Minor Threat and American Nightmare and the Refused. I even like some melodic hardcore like Boy Sets Fire's record After the Eulogy with all of its hooks and Nathan Gray preaching about the American economy. What I absolutely can't stand are bands like Thursday, the Used, Funeral for a Friend, Taking Back Sunday, etc. Either scream or sing. Or if you're going to do both, please do it so I actually believe you're so frustrated with a situation (not getting laid DOES NOT COUNT - you should just grab an acoustic guitar and sit in your dorm room and cry as you strum along instead of screwing up my scene because you're upset your game sucks) that you really must scream to make your point. Politics, injustice, the environment, etc. Those are good starting points for getting really angry. Want some hints from a band who does it right? Go listen to Fugazi, which you really ought to have already been doing.

The problem with these bands is that most of them sing about nothing of any real importance, yet they've got a following of teenagers who wear black, mope around, and sing about death. Now, I was a Goth teenager for a point. I wore black. I moped around. I sung about death. But believe me, Marilyn Manson is saying a hell of a lot more in his lyrics than the majority of these bands are. There's a difference between screaming along to "Get Your Gunn," a song about the murder of an abortion doctor, and singing along to a song about some girl breaking your heart. Frankly, I don't really care that much.

Pop is one thing. I don't really care that pop radio is crap for the most part and that the masses are getting cheap love songs. But it's these same bands that are on pop radio that have taken over the Warped Tour and more underground festivals where the "cool kids" are supposed to be going. Except that the cool kids are no longer the outsiders - they're everybody. It seems these days that practically every teenager has a MySpace account, reads Alternative Press, and knows about these tiny festivals. How did that happen? When did the popular kids want to be like the freaks? That would be like the khaki-wearing, white hat-sporting jocks knowing all the lyrics to Type O Negative or Rancid when I was growing up.

The real problem is that this music that's taken over these underground shows and a lot of the scene doesn't say anything. The music industry is feeding people the same churned out crap that they've been shoveling out for years, just with different packaging. Now people have an opportunity to say, look now I'm cool - this band I like has a lip ring and tattoos instead of a goatee or dreadlocks. It's the same old shit, and why the cool kids haven't woken up and realized it yet, I have no idea. Someone needs to get them a clue.

To all those screamo bands - take your music and get the hell out of my scene.