I, like all adults, was 17 once. I, like a lot of youth, had confusing thoughts of where life would take me and how I was going to cope with it. I, like most 17 year olds since at least the 50's, liked to listen to a style of music that my parents didn't understand. I have lived with music as a mainstay in my life since I picked up the guitar at age 11. Without getting too sappy, I begin to feel it's passion and how music affects our thoughts, moods, and feelings. For instance, every time I hear the theme song from Jurassic Park, which was composed by John Williams, I feel a real sense of rebirth. This was the first song I played in our new house here in Georgia. For me, it was an awakening to a new beginning. Are you laughing at this? It's ok. For some, music is just a way to relax from the everyday drudgery and there is no deeper meaning to it. For some though, music speaks to the very soul of our existence and compels us to move in different directions and seek out a meaning to it's impact on us. I've said before on Facebook that the best thing to do when you have a hard day is to take your car out at night to a highway, open your windows and play your favorite music at a higher volume than you normally would while driving. For me, it's liberating. It's my time to enjoy life and what it has in store for me. Different kinds of music speak to different groups of people. This paper discusses the alternative rock that has been growing in acceptance among the masses of youth and it's impact on a generation that has most parents asking, "what is screamo and who is A Day to Remember?".
To start off, let's look at the parents of these youth. Most of them grew up listening to the music of the 80's and/or 90's. A select few, like my brother, actually were into the alternative rock scene which included bands like the Cranberries, the Smiths, Fine Young Cannibals, Big Audio Dynamite, R.E.M, Violent Femmes, the Psychedelic Furs, and U2. Oh yes, U2 was considered alternative rock in the 80's. Most of us though, were listening to the Top 40 bands including Van Halen, Duran Duran, Def Leppard, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Police, Hall & Oates, Sheena Easton, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Foreigner and any band that made songs for movies. Top Gun anyone? My wife and I used to go into Baltimore, Maryland to a couple of nightclubs and dance to these tunes. It was a great time to alive. The 80's have been put up on a pedestal in the archives of music and is revered by most. Synthesizers ruled the charts while electronic drumbeats started to become the metronomes of soundtracks everywhere. What most people don't want to talk about in the 80's is how "fake" we all were. During the week, we were who we were, but on the weekends, we painted our faces up with various mediums, put on our stylish clothing, and hit the clubs as a showpiece. Unless we went with a group of friends, there wasn't much interaction between people at the clubs. It was all about the image. If you really take a look at the music of that time, it personifies that fakeness as well. Electronic instruments covered with lyrics that seem vague at times. The form of the art ruled over the function of it. The music was presented by the music industry, which we call the machine from here on out, as an image of what we should be as opposed to dealing with what we were going through. "Numb" is a good word to describe the 80's. To be seen and not heard.
Then we come to the 90's. I would say thank God for grunge because it was supposed to bring us out of the numbness of the 80's. The only problem is that somehow the music industry over steered and we ended up on the other "wrong side" of the road. Now, instead of being fake, we were supposed to show every bit of the ugly side of our lives. This was called being "real". The issue is, that unless you had an ugly side to show, you weren't in the "in" crowd. People began to crave an uglier side than their current situation. Drugs and alcohol were the appropriate mixture to get to this "ugly stage" we needed. By the way, when I say "we", I mean we as a generation of music artists and listeners. I personally never indulged in the drug scene of the 90's, but enough friends of mine did that I was very aware of the impact it was having on "us". Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam led the way from a Seattle, Washington base. Should have know this wasn't going to work out. With as much rain as Seattle gets, grunge could only pour depression and a lack of respect for the authorities over our sacred souls. Of course, the bands were able to appear on stage in the same clothing they wore to the mall earlier that day. Gone finally was the glitter from 70's disco, and the face paint from the 80's. It was jeans and flannel shirts. It was unwashed hair and problems. It was addictions and tolerance of each other. Somehow, grunge came to the forefront while maintaining an unhealthy rejection of the music industry....you know, the machine. MTV began to plug into this new reality. See where this is all leading? Reality TV was in it's infancy and the songs of the 90's played right into their hand.
Just a note.....at this point, you are probably thinking that I am nothing more than a cynical person that hates anything and everything to do with the music industry and therefore, music as a whole. Nothing could be further from the truth. I could write an essay on all the bands that I like from the various decades, how much they meant to me, and what single incidents of my life are defined by the music of that time......and that essay would be much longer than this one. What I am trying to present is what makes us parents the way we are and how that is going to affect the next generation and their music. Also, some people might say, oh....you are a musician in church; therefore, christian music isn't really mentioned here and didn't follow the same patterns that you are portraying here. Let me make one single statement about christian music that can probably be debated over many hours of discussion. I did listen to various Christian bands during this time including Phil Keaggy, Petra, Glad, Keith Green (before his untimely death), Amy Grant (before she went more secular), Daniel Amos, the 77s, and too many others to list. Other than a select few, most christian bands during the 80's and 90's were over-produced due to a "formula" that most publishers pushed onto the music of that day. It became dry, non-relevant, and nothing more than mere entertainment. To note: Christian music today has taken on more of a freshness and originality while maintaining a relevance to issues in today's world, but that's not part of this essay.....we move on.
The word to describe the 90's would have to be either "depressive" or "ugly".
The new millenium brought with it a rebirth of creativity in music. Bands began to look upward and outward from the 80's and 90's. What the 90's did for the music industry is embed tolerance between different genres of music. Fusion began to take place in a wider format than ever before. Bands like Linkin Park were beginning to understand how rap, funk and rock could mingle to produce a sound that was both fresh and their own. They even coupled together with Jay-Z, which became a huge success. There was no boundaries to what could be played. Blues, Rock, Jazz, Rap, Funk, and Swing. All of these and more were added to the repoitore of musicians. Bands were looking for "their" sound. We acknowledged those that tried and succeeded, while encouraging those that were failing but not giving up. This is where most of the next generation come in. They have been bred with a form of tolerance for each other. Where race no longer matters. Skin color is no more a difference than the color of clothing we wear. Mixing of cultures becomes a celebration of life. Don't believe me? Go to a gathering of our youth and watch them interact. They give each other hugs. I'm not talking about the small pat on the back hugs we give each other. I'm talking full-on, I'm so glad you are alive hugs. This is honesty at it's purest form. We are all humans and deserve to be treated with the same respect for our commonalities as well as our differences. I'm not saying that all youth are able to co-habitat with all other youth. If this were true, we wouldn't have the cyber bullying that has driven others to take their own lives. Nothing is perfect in this world, but if I had to choose a decade to be growing up in, I believe this decade might be the one. They now have multiple ways to stay in contact with each other. Facebook, MySpace, texting, and cell phones have created a social ring among our youth that helps to deal with the misunderstandings and disagreements that occur from time to time. They have a better chance of growing up together as a society than any other at this point. My word for the first ten years of the new millinium? Collaboration. Actually, I wanted to go with Fusion, but my wife convinced me to use the other. So we collaborated and came up with that.
Have you heard "their" music? Speaking as a parent, I am being sarcastic. This is the type of talk I heard when I was 17 from the adults around me. On and on about how offensive our music was and how they couldn't understand the words. Questioning our sanity time and time again because the music was going to drive us to some point of despair or recklessness. I am here to tell you that I had a few moments of rebellion in my time and I'm sure Van Halen was playing very loud and clear while it was happening, but the music did not "drive" me to that rebellion. It was the confusion and insanity of being a youth and the lack of excitement from the boring picture my parents painted before me of adulthood that made me want to revolt. "Wait till you are our age", they would say. Didn't want to get to their age any faster than I was. I was enjoying being young. I admit that my parents were right in a lot of things they did for me and to me, but they also made some mistakes. We all do. We're also in this for the first time in our life, trying to figure out where our parents went right and wrong and making the adjustments for our own family. It is with this understanding that I approach the music of the youth today.
Screamo has to be most misunderstood music of all time. I was in a club in Baltimore last year with a co-worker of mine watching his son's band perform. They were quite good. After them, a "screamo" band came on stage. 4 electric guitars, a bass and drums with musicians that also doubled as backup screamers to the lead "screamer"? I don't want to say singer here, because it would be an insult to actual lead singers. It was horrible. Most of us went running for the door to get away from it all. This brings up a good point. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing well. Listen to "A Day to Remember". This is good screaming. You can understand what the person is saying and it's done in a way that it adds to the songs passion. I even watched Greeley Estates play at Warp Tour 2007. Now this is a screamo band. 30 minutes of ear piercing screaming over music that is played at a driving pace. Not my cup of tea, but I was amazed to hear the lead screamer actually talk to the audience after the set. How he could manage that after what I had just heard made me go back and listen to their stuff some more and get to the bottom of all this screaming. It's a talent. Don't laugh....I know that sounds silly. Remember, some of these bands get up night after night and do the same electrifying show only to get on stage the next night and do it again. For those old enough to remember, how about the Heavy Metal bands of the 70's and 80's. Same concept, just a different delivery. Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden always made me wonder how he could do his job night after night with that much energy and singing.
I've started with the more hardcore side of the alternative rock scene so I can challenge most adults reading this that there is something worth looking into in this music. We should look into it. It's the music that our youth is listening to these days. If we ignore it, then we are no better than our parents were when we were 17. There are "milder" bands in this genre. In fact, it has ranges in it that already rival that of the rock genre. When you mix in written lyrics with the music, the picture starts to become very clear. These bands are speaking right to the heart of the matter. Honesty reigns supreme at this juncture. Our kids are hearing the same frustration, elation, confusion, tolerances that they are feeling in this music. It speaks to them at a very deep level. Some might be afraid of this happening to their kids. Don't. While I don't hear God being portrayed to the youth in most of this music, what I do hear is help. Never in my life have I heard so many bands take on the social issues of our time and theirs. Nothing is sacred. Let me give you one example. I believe that abstinence will be higher among the youth of today than any other decade. They have the same sexual urges we had at their age. The difference is education. Most of these bands are preaching how much it would suck to be pregnant with a child at such an early stage of their lives. Dreams are shattered, and goals are set aside. How about abuse? Not only to each other, but to themselves. Ever heard about "To Write Love On Her Arms"? I thank God for men like Jamie Tworkowski, who created this organization. If you don't know what this about....google it. There seems to be a sense of community among the youth of today and they look out for each other. One of the other reasons that this genre is pushing the barriors of music is due to the "home recording" phenomena. What I would have given to have access to the recording software the youth have. Not to mention the use of MP3s. I would have written alot more than I did. Actually, I wrote a bunch of music when I was younger and kept it all in a suitcase with my guitar pedals and cables. That was stolen one day and most of it was gone. Sure, a few songs made it into the church music and have been forgotten, but because I had no real way to capture my music back then, it went away. What I lost was more an image of me. My heart and soul were in those songs and I had never taken the time to put them to memory. Now, all our youth need is a computer, software, and a way to plug their instruments and microphones in. Most music stores have multiple packages for purchase. With the internet, self-publishing is now feasible. You no longer need the money to create an album or cd. The youth's heart and soul is made available for all to experience and have it affect theirs as well. Because of this, they push social agendas relative to them further than we have in the past.
If you have a moment in the summer, do yourself a favor. Go to a Warped Tour concert in your area with an open mind. This is the Holy Grail of the alternative rock scene. You will see a little bit of everything. Marketing plays a big part here. Let's face it. Now that MP3s have taken the money from the music producers, they now have to rely on marketing to feed their pockets. Concerts are becoming more expensive because that is the one thing that cannot be stolen. The live experience. There is only one way to get it. My first Warped Tour was in 2007. I took my daughter and two of her classmates, Scott and Joe. We had an amazing time. I found out that year that most of the youth involved in the alternative rock scene were just as ordinary in the inside as me. You couldn't tell from their appearance outwardly. There was all sorts of clothing, hairdos, jewelry, shoes, etc. I went with an open mind to not judge anyone by the cover of their book and found that inside were geniune people willing to be respectful to me as an adulthood and speak open and honestly about themselves. They didn't know me and I didn't know them, but when all was said and done, I had been changed. I was curious more than ever to see into the lives of our youth and understand their music. After all, I had been playing and listening to music for 30 years now. I had defended all types of music through the 80's, 90's and 00's. Why stop now. This music became easy to defend as I listened to it. The message was pretty clear and simple in most of it. The world can be a tough and ugly place to live, and life can be challenging, but we can make it together if we support each other and yes....there are times to celebrate. In fact, the phrase I hear more now that economic times are rough is life should be celebrated, while bad times should be survived. There is no "giving up" in this generation. Suicide is not the option, but a selfish abnormality. One person's hope can help another get through their issues. Of course, not every song is a social standard to be held up high and waved. There are songs that are mere entertainment, and that's okay.
We took 13 youth with us to Warped Tour 2008. It was a great time. Other than the missed communication at the end where we ended up breaking into small groups amongst 100,000 people and wasting over an hour finding each other, the trip was epic. We saw Cobra Starship perform right before they hit it big on the mainstream market. We also checked out Family Force Five. There were many other bands, mostly of a smaller stature in the music industry, but that's the focus of Warped Tour. Kevin, the promoter and organizer, wants to bring bands before the audience that would have never had the opportunity. Of course, organizations like "To Write Love On Her Arms" are given premiere staging to the audience. Social Issues are discussed among the many tents that align the outer perimeter. Not everything that is said do I agree with, but at least the issues are being brought to light. Discussion amongst our youth is the strongest ally they have. Their generation will be defined by them as we defined ours, but they will be more self-directed due to the technologies made available to them. Ours was defined by social medias such as MTV. Theirs will be defined by a culture that wants to be heard, not just seen. I say we listen up to what they are saying to each other through their facebook pages, their texting, their conversations, and their music. I support our youth as a parent that understands the impact of music on our lives and I like what I'm hearing. I might not understand it all the time, but I'm willing to give it my attention.
Music I really like: (Not in any kind of order)
Van Halen, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, 12 Stones, U2, Aldo Nova, A Day to Remember, Alterbridge, Andy McKee, Aretha Franklin, Dream Theater, Beastie Boys, Bella Fleck, any Big Band music, most Jazz including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, George Benson, Joe Pass, Sara Vaughn, Stanley Clarke, any musician known for his/her guitar work like Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Satriani, Eric Clapton (slow hand), blues guitarists both young and old, alternative rock bands like Paramore, Funeral for a Friend, All Time Low, Family Force 5, Cobra Starship, Chiodos, Hawthorne Heights (before they lost their guitarist), New Found Glory (older stuff), Taking Back Sunday, Underoath (some), We the Kings (some) and this list is really not complete, but I don't want to bore you with all the music I listen to on a daily basis. The point is....I feel more balanced when my music list is. Oh yeah.....I like Brad Paisley alot too.
