Uli Jon Roth on technique vs. musicality

[awangotango]

"bach was a pretty good bass player" - jack

damn gary's squeezing some nice tone out of that old SG (i'd like to know what pickup is in that), he always gets sweet tone but this up there with his best stuff.

[garbeaj]

Yep, and also lets look at who is BEHIND the popularity of the current music crop. Teenagers (13-20/early 20's). They dont like expressing emotion.....they dont like to cry in front of people. The tendancy is to Show off (technically). They dont like to be naked and show their innermost emotions, which arguably is what real music is about. Its 'cool' to be macho, but for the long haul as a musician, you gotta be able to cry, maybe not whine, but cry.

I think what you are saying actually applied in the late 80s, but not so much to today's pop music.

There's some fairly emotional and "good" music that gets popular among young people as refelected by the pop charts. The real deal is that dance music has almost completely obliterated all other forms of music in the conciousness of this young demographic. Almost no one actually plays an instrument. When they do have musicians onstage, they are usually college educated or "Berklee"-type school jazz majors on whatever instrument, but they just stand there and mime their instruments to pre-recorded tracks to try to fool the audience into thinking there are actually people playing. (Nuno with Rihanna is a notable exception).It is just one constantly repeated formula of dance music with lyrics that are all about self-involvement and sappy emotions that always somehow seem to be "set free" on their "one last chance" for "one night" on the dance floor "tonight". They might sprinkle in some dubstep in their EDM to try to be avant garde and fairly routinely have a rapper make a terrible perfunctory appearance (very few people have an actual song that they've done by themselves as the listed artist...it's almost always "So-and-so-...featuring DJ "_____" and "Young ___".

Plus I think there is an almost complete lack of "macho" attitude in popular music. Everyone is gay or if they are straight they are constantly showing their emotions or their "feminine" side to make the pre-teens and teenagers (and deluded women over 18) think that they are sensitive.

But there's still good stuff out there that gets popular...Mumford and Sons, Adele, The Black Keys, etc. Before Adele, Amy Winehouse was extremely popular in that demo...she was brilliant IMHO. There are some good things that get through, almost inexplicably...

[Tone Slinger]

Yeah, I was WAY off with stating what I meant. I was refering to more of the rockers/metal heads. 'Lots of distortion and solos' types.



Here is sort of an example. These guy's are like in middle school


http://youtu.be/BjMfdzjbl_Q
These dudes are, well, MAD.......in EVERY song (hey, at least anger is an emotion, right ? ) So music to them is sort of only an outlet for their anger ? Its more than that to me (and most everybody else whos still playing in their 'older age' and beyond.
http://youtu.be/oE3sVg40eKg

[awangotango]

Give that kid a decent low gain guitar tone and I'd love to hear that real music over 90%of the bands around today. It's fantastic, I don't even see anger problems there, just grating guitar tone.

[garbeaj]

I would have to say that I would much rather all the emo metal than this completely emotionless EDM dance music that really dominates the world right now. I say again, guitar music as a dominant force in music was eclipsed a little over a decade ago and electronic dance music is king and has been for around a decade now. At least the emo bullshit has some sort of expression of emotion, even if it is from a bunch of upper middle class whiny kids...well people like Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park are actually a bunch of 30-40 something year old kids, but the kids that listened to these whiny kids over 10 years ago are the only people playing guitars now. They just have even more piercings and more tattoos, more seven string guitars and muddy farting guitar tones. But I will even take these kids over David Guetta, McLemore & Ryan Lewis or Nicki Minaj.

[awangotango]

I hear ya, I used to enjoy some of that emo stuff and alot of the tunes where actually well crafted and complex. It's all the same pace and drum beat/pattern though, that's the deal breaker for me with respect to modern rock music. The drummers all sound exactly the same and playing all the same basic pattern even though it is amazingly technical and speedy. I'd rather hear the plodding of herman rarebell because it's a uniqe style of using that kick drum for melody emphasis. Drummers who are songwriters are as rare as a hens tooth. It's the main think holding back my search for a swingin' band. I cannot find a drummer who knows what it means to swing or play with melody.

[Tone Slinger]

Great posts there Garbeaj and Awangotango.....I got at what y'all were sayin'.....and let me tell ya, I dont feel any better......it actually depressed me a bit cause i AGREE with what was said.

Herman Rarebell, HELL YEAH, I love a man who LOVES a woman and man, did 'ol Herman love him a woman or two (thousand ) his lyrics in 'Another Piece of Meat' or 'Dynamite' were those of a man with more libido than 'ol Gene Simmons

He was SMASHING the fricken drum heads on Tokyo Tapes 'Polar Nights'

[awangotango]

he's still out there playing. Heard him play with michael a year so so ago. There's talk of him michael and rudolph doing something together. Would love to see that. They all say they'e going to the grave playing music which is great for us fans.

I'm pretty sure I saw michael also play with carmine at a local show? Check out king kobra ready to strike for his best drumming on record if you ask me! technique and musicality for sure.