DREDIOCK
It's very easy for someone to say they like all kinds of music. When I first met the bass player in my band he told me he liked all kinds of music. In the three years that we've been playing together I have discovered that he hates Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Primus, Metallica, Radiohead, REM, Pearl Jam, almost all country... ect. He is, however, very good at what he does.
On the other hand, I have had the opportunity to meet musicians-or in this case, people who make pleasant noise with instruments-who not knowing (because of a lack of focus) where their true strengths lie, try to be everything to everyone and therefore end up being nothing to anyone. One band in particular tried for over two years to get a following and be successful on a local basis. They got requests for country so they learned country. They got requests for classic rock so they learned more classic rock. They got requests for blues so they learned blues... ect. The main thing they accomplished was to confuse their audience. They were left with people like themselves who thought music was just pleasant noise. The country people would leave when they started playing rock, the rock people would leave when they started playing country. The blues people would complain about having to wait all night to hear the few blues tunes they did. In the end they failed because they refused to find one thing and do it well. When you do one thing and do it well, the audience will find you.
When thinking in terms of types of music, what isle do you find yourself hanging out in at the record store? For me, you won't find me in the country isle too much, although I appreciate a lot of country artists-Mindy Smith and Emmy Lou Harris for shear talent, Garth Brookes and Shania Twain for being such successful media potatos that I have to respect them-my main problem with country music is Nashville’s total tin-pan-alley approach to the music business these days; staff writers churning out hit after hit for professional studio musicians to play for the next pretty face of the week to stand in front of. Modern Country music is no different than the pop that the west coast labels churn out to the lemmings that lap it up like candy.
One thing I can tell you about musicians is that is considered bad form to criticize other musicians to laymen. On one hand we’re all out there trying to earn a living and we don’t want to influence an audience members opinion of a peer, therefore I would never be critical of a fellow musician-even another band. By the same token, if you came up to me at a gig and said, “Man, I just love the Dead. Why don’t you guys play some Grateful dead?” I would never tell you that I don’t like them. My job (literally), when I’m not playing, is to engage you in pleasant conversation, make you feel like your input is appreciated, get you to buy another beer, and stay a little longer, so why on earth would I criticize your hero? What I would do is give you a clever antidote like “You know, I was always amazed at how well Gerry Garcia Played missing a finger”, and go on to tell you that we just couldn’t do their music justice or say something to the effect of, “Most these people here aren’t as smart as you and me and they just wouldn’t get it. My job’s to sell beer you know!” One guy that has been following us around for a couple of years keeps telling me we need to learn some Jethro Tull. We’re not that kind of a band, but he doesn’t understand that. I tell him, “You bring the flute and we’ll play Tull”. One of these days he’s going to show up with a flute. In private, however, musicians can be the most catty, backstabbing people on earth.
To say that you appreciate all music is one thing. To say you appreciate all music equally is absurd. That’s like a Beatles fan saying they equally appreciate the wailing of Yoko Ono. It’s all music right? Just because I say I don’t “get” the Grateful Dead doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them. They were one of the most successful touring bands of all time. They toured for like 25 years straight! They earned everything they got. Maybe (as I’ve been told a thousand times) if I’d seen them live I’d have more respect for them. I didn’t. Their studio recordings, aside from a few like “Casey Jones” and “Truckin’” were loose, rambling, and unfocused. However, they had a huge fan base and my opinion is humble.
