MusicRadar is one of the best music sites online, though to be fair the bar isn’t exactly as high as the moon. But they do have a tendency to write catchy headlines like this one:
Neil Young says that “nothing is real” when you take the “dark step” into digital music production.
I have no doubt that when Neil came out with “Rust Never Sleeps” with that over the top fuzzed out guitar sound there were older musicians lining up to say that his song wasn’t “real” guitar and he was ruining the guitar or whatever nonsense old farts back then said. It’s too bad that Neil can’t embrace, well, the present, but “old man yells at clouds” isn’t really all that newsworthy, except when the old man is famous and has a history of yelling at the clouds.
When Wendy Carlos released “Switched On Bach,” I’m sure the critics lined up, stones in hand. Some people think the music they grew up with is the only “good” music. It’s funny to hear a kid who grew up in the 90s talking about how the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the greatest band of all time. I like them, quite a bit, but historically I don’t think they’re at the status of the Beatles.
Why am I blogging about this? Because I LOVE technology and I’m 57, and I recognize that a lot of old farts my age or older closed off their minds to new ideas sometime around 2004. Seriously, someone ought to make fun of Neil Young for being an old man yelling at the clouds. Might as well be me. Musicians right now have the best recording tools and technology and instruments and amps of all time. There’s no barrier, and as a result, there’s more people releasing albums than at any other time in history. But some want to yell at the clouds. Have at it. I’m going to work on my next album.
