I just read an article where Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode speaks about the loudness wars and the state of the music Industry. It is a good read, and deserves a bit of attention. I did not agree with everything he said 100% but it made my juices flow, and as such I must thank him for his candor and generosity. Here’s a link to the article in it’s entirety: Alan Wilder | Interview.
About the loudness wars, though… Didn’t I expound upon this first? :)
I do have a few points to add to the fray…
Alan asks:
“So who shall we blame for the whole mess? Do we stick two fingers up at the record companies who have sat around twiddling their thumbs, peddling overpriced re-issues for years while their A&R men bombard us with shallow, faceless pop idol, X factor boy bands? Is it fair to say “… well, you had it coming..?”
Yes, in part. I have always had the illusion that record companies sold and marketed art. Now I understand that it was plastic that they sold. The artist was nothing more than Advertising for it. So yes. Eventually, all Ad campaigns must change. They didn’t. So we did it for them. We realized we didn’t like plastic. We wanted the art.
Alan: “…Or do we accuse the casual ‘non-listener’ with the attention span of a three year old living in a disposable, homogenized, Paris Hilton-obsessed society, over stimulated with too much life choice?”
Yes. They are the result of a consumerist, globalist economy that dumbs them down, over medicates itself, expounds upon virtues that the leaders themselves laugh at, and treats the youth as disposable. This is what MTV really gave us in the end: Digital Soma.
Alan: “A society that places value in triviality and accepts mediocrity without much question? Or perhaps the devaluation has evolved from the cult of the DJ, where anyone can regurgitate the very essence of rock ‘n’ roll by lifting an entire 70’s funk classic, adding some rap drivel over the top and calling it their own work? Is modern music regarded as an art form at all anymore?”
Society? Yes. Music itself? No. Blaming music’s decline on a facet or segment of the cultural taste of others is unfair. Rap has its merits, and to many kids exists as their urban version of Punk. As for DJ culture, it exists to entertain a crowd in room, inviting them to dance. I have met many fans of DJ culture who have gone on to experiment making their own music.
Music inspires us in many ways. It is like using different languages. I cannot condemn someone for speaking Swahili simply because I don’t understand it. Someone does. When ever I am confronted with a style of music that I don’t like… I imagine that I simply must not get it. Which is ok. Differences are cool in culture. I say make your own.
Alan: “Or is it just another business now?”
It is the same business as it always has been. However, it now has competition.
When I was a child, music was all I had, on the radio, on my 7″ record player… My allowance enabled me to buy a mere 2-4 songs every couple of weeks. That was my entertainment, and sometimes saving up enough to build a model airplane or two. Fast food wasn’t everywhere. In fact, I only knew of one Burger King in all of NJ, and we went there when my mom took me to see my doctor. So fast food was special because it seldom happened. I played down by the tracks with my friends, running through the woods, reeling in mystery and innocence. Music spoke a language that was an extension of this.
Fast forward to now.
A kid 13-17 years of age is playing wii or Playstation while listening to music in the game, while behind him (or her) their laptop is telling them that their “friend” has just sent them an IM with dirty pictures of Paris Hilton giving some guy a blow job, while simultaneously another friend has sent them a link with the latest NIN album. Which by the way, he has put into a queue because he is in the middle of downloading the latest NC17 film, because he does not want to go to the movies tonight. However, he does not want his friends to think he’s un-cool, so he’s going watch it right after all those YouTube videos on all the great boob shots of famous starlets, maybe get that newer ipod on the net as well. Have to have the latest, best one. All by midnight of course, unless his parents don’t come home. Then he might text his friends and meet up at ‘M’ for a super-sized burger and some fries… He isn’t even noticing that all things around him are hinting at this mantra:
Buy, Buy, BUY! Have, Have, HAVE! Get, get, GET! Eat, eat, EAT!
Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. It’s real. Where does music fit into all that as an all-encompassing thing? It cannot. It is a language that speaks within a time frame, and such time frames are becoming smaller.
When we decide it is enough, we will chill the fuck out. Then, when we cannot bear it any more, music will be there to tell you us to move forward again. The future is not bleak. It is what we make of it.
– Claude S. | Anything Box
Filed under: Alan Wilder, Anything Box, Change, Culture, Depeche Mode, Life, Personal, music | Tagged: Alan Wilder, Anything Box, Culture, Depeche Mode, music, Music Industry
