A world without heroes
I look at today’s music scene and I see a lot of talented bands getting a great deal of exposure and selling a huge amount of CDs. Good for them… I see new bands playing the shit out of Ozzfest and I see new bands all over the media plugging their latest whatever. I see new music high, and I see new music low… But I don’t see any fucking characters anymore. I don’t see any rockstars. No rebels.
No heroes.
I don’t see anybody sticking out like a drunken Russian sailor at a communion. I don’t see anybody breaking out of the box to wave that big fat middle finger to the world.
There are no rebels out there anymore. The fun police has cracked down on rock and stripped it of all its rights.
I’ll give you an example. When my kid got pissed off at me the other day over something she ran to her room, slammed the door and blasted… what…? Not an outrageous CD. No, she took her accordion out of the closet and started belting out stuff that would have made Lucifer take notes for his interrogation rooms.
This kid wanted to tell me to shove my authority up my ass but all she could think of in her frustration to say those words for her was her accordion.
Now, when I was a kid I would have gone to my room to blast “We’re not gonna take it” or “Motorbreath” or some other song that spoke my thoughts out loud and clear for my dumbass parents to hear and get upset about. The fact that my kid didn’t even know what to play me (and she has access to all music there is) shows us that in these overly PC times there is no room for heroes, rebels or characters that can sum up all those feelings you need to just fucking scream to the world every once in a while.
We live in a time where an “outrageous” band like Slipknot releases an edited version of their CD to appease the parents of the kid who wants to buy it.
The fucking parents?
Can anybody imagine how much Ozzy, Led Zeppelin, Slayer or Guns’n’Roses cared about the parents? Are today’s parents that much more sensitive than yesterday’s were? I fucking hope not.
It’s not that the music itself sucks today compared to when I was younger (yes it does, but you know what I mean – I have to make a point here) it’s just a different cup of tea, and that’s fine and as it should be. New music will forever belong to the young and all that, but it’s the lyrical content and overall attitude that has been watered down to this candy ass PC generic crap that inspires no teen rebellions and doesn’t make a dent in the Big Brotherhood of the parental generation.
Is emo today’s music for the new generation? Emo is all about sitting cross legged on the floor, swaying back and forth crying about your broken fucking heart. That won’t grow hair on your balls or sharpen your claws. Tell your fucking diary all about it and stop pussifying the young you fucking kumbaya bitches!
Our heroes spoke to us. David Lee Roth was out there doing all kinds of crazy shit, Ozzy snorted ants, Liam Gallagher put out his cigarette in Mick Jagger’s hair on national television, singers would jump into the crowd and punch a guy out who threw shit at them, Dee Snider put up a fight against censorship that ended up in congress and Rob Halford came out of the closet waving a smelly middle finger to the gay bashers. It was a colorful world of diverse characters that spoke their minds and acted out their rock’n’roll dreams without any regard whatsoever to what was “correct behavior” or what would sell more records.
One of my first memories of a musical parent/kid clash from my childhood was when Bruce Dickinson (singer of Iron Maiden you dumbass) on the subject of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll told a Swedish reporter live on national television:
“When I am done with the show I down a bottle of Vodka and if you don’t fucking like it what the fuck do I care? It’s not like you listen to us anyway you fucking wanker…”
My dad thought the guy was a jackass but I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I didn’t know anything about downing a bottle of vodka but the guy had basically told my dad to go fuck himself. Iron Maiden became my band for all eternity.
Nobody dares standing out anymore for the fear of losing sales. Since metal and rock “evolved” into a disposable paper cup format (here today, gone tomorrow) these bands feel they have to step carefully so not to piss off the powers that be. Record deal, soundtrack, video on MTV, Ozzfest, tour… Gone.
The market does not allow today’s bands to stand on their own as individual entities because they are too busy milking them for what they’re worth while they’re worth it.
I don’t know what for instance the name of the bass player for Disturbed or the singer of Cold is (or any other “hot” band) and neither do I care because they seem to have nothing to say. Not that I am looking for heroes for myself but I would LOVE it if at least one of today’s so called rockers out there would step up to the plate and inspire my kid to tell me to go fuck myself and then blast their CD throughout the house until I shut the hell up.
I would like for one of these fucking lame ass MTV generic metal bands to stand up for themselves and their fans and say to the world “FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! WE DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK, SAY OR DO! WE DON”T CARE IF YOU HATE US OR LOVE US. FUCK YOU!”
The world needs a hero. More than one actually. We need to put the fun back in rock and the middle finger back in the face of authority. Our kids need rebels to make them think for themselves and to inspire them to do their own thing. That’s important… otherwise the whole damn point of rock (kick ass fun and adrenaline raging like white noise in your blood) will become moot and void of meaning.
And that’s the goddamn truth of it all and you can quote me on it too.
The Gospels
of Grace
