Music Theory

[cincyinco]

).

2) Someone in the band must play a guitar. Not just a bass, but an actual guitar.

I used to think the same thing but a band jcalled Keane has challenged that notion, at least for me. Clever 3 piece british pop band with brilliant and witty lyricism. No guitar and no bass. Just a singer, drummer, and pianist.
Even if you're not a pop music fan, check em out. Surprised at how complete and whole their sound is.

[Larry Schuler]

1) I like it.

[RichRed]

I used to think the same thing but a band jcalled Keane has challenged that notion, at least for me. Clever 3 piece british pop band with brilliant and witty lyricism. No guitar and no bass. Just a singer, drummer, and pianist.
Even if you're not a pop music fan, check em out. Surprised at how complete and whole their sound is.

I agree about Keane. Their lyrics can be a bit too "woe is me" at times, but I like them a lot.

[westofyou]

I thought this was going to be about counterpoint as utilized by the masters...like Gerry Mulligan.

I don't really have any rules. Music elicits an emotional response. That response is either favorable or unfavorable.

I have one rule.

Avoid John Cage.

[DTCromer]

If I see someone at a concert wearing plaid shorts, flip flops, collared shirt (probably flopped), and singing with all of his hippie fraternity brothers, then you won't catch me listening to it.

If the song is played on 1 radio station more than twice a day, then I won't listen to it.

[SunDeck]

If I see someone at a concert wearing plaid shorts, flip flops, collared shirt (probably flopped), and singing with all of his hippie fraternity brothers, then you won't catch me listening to it.

If the song is played on 1 radio station more than twice a day, then I won't listen to it.

How do you keep track?

[gm]

OK everybody get your melodic dictation books out...

(it's been a long road since Music Theory 101/102 back in '79)

My theory on music is that I'd rather be playing it than listening to somebody else play it

(But when I do listen...let's just say I've been in a "celtic" mood lately. John Doan is from Oregon and he and his musicians only play on 19th century instruments, for example...)

It beats listening to Red's FSN pbp on TV...

[Johnny Footstool]

I used to think the same thing but a band jcalled Keane has challenged that notion, at least for me. Clever 3 piece british pop band with brilliant and witty lyricism. No guitar and no bass. Just a singer, drummer, and pianist.
Even if you're not a pop music fan, check em out. Surprised at how complete and whole their sound is.

I've never heard of Keane, but they appear to be a little like Ben Folds Five. I liked Ben Folds Five, and I own their first album, but the lack of guitar kept me from becoming a real fan.

[Johnny Footstool]

If I see someone at a concert wearing plaid shorts, flip flops, collared shirt (probably flopped), and singing with all of his hippie fraternity brothers, then you won't catch me listening to it.

If the song is played on 1 radio station more than twice a day, then I won't listen to it.

I used to have a similar philosophy, but I realized it was more important to simply like what I like and stop worrying about who else likes it.

[OldRightHander]

I used to have a similar philosophy, but I realized it was more important to simply like what I like and stop worrying about who else likes it.

Amen. I either like a song or I don't like it. How many other people like it has nothing to do with my decision to like it.

I am so sick of the attitude that if you don't like obscure stuff you don't have "taste." I like a lot of obscure music, but not because it's obscure.

[FlightRick]

There's some new song that is being played tirelessly that fits this description right now. It's some song aout singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long. Most of the entire song is the same 2 bars over and over again. And these two bars are a grand total of 3 notes with the exact same rhythm. There's nothing to the song at all. I have no idea who it is, but if they're making a lot of money off of it, I'd love to be a song writer for that guy.

It's Kid Rock. And though he's come far since his days as a rap-rocker being pigeon-holed with that no-talent d-bag Fred Durst, I'm pretty sure the song you're talking about is (purposely) cut from the same cloth that some rap is, in the sense that the two bars you're talking about being repeated are two bars from the actual "Sweet Home Alabama."

It's just that instead of being sampled, they are repeated and re-interpreted throughout the song. In fact, I think I remember an interview where Mr. Rock said his intention with that song was not just to pay homage to Skynyrd, but also to show the versatility and ubiquitousness (note: Kid Rock did not use the word "ubiquitous," but you know what I mean) of that one simple progression throughout rock music history.

And in that regard, I declare: "Success!"...

Then again, I long ago came to the conclusion that sometimes "originality" is really over-rated, especially when it's originality for originality's sake, and not because it -- you know? -- ROCKS. People need to learn to cope with the fact that they're probably not as clever as they think, and that the vast majority of good ideas have already been had at this point in history.... the best you can do is reshape those good ideas in a way that's meaningful to you, and still accessible to an audience, otherwise, it's all just masturbation.

This viewpoint is born of one too many times being in a band with some wanker who insisted on putting his guitar in some weird tuning or inventing new "chords" or somesuch nonsense, and then getting on stage with the confidence that we were being "unique" while simultaneously being confronted with an audience reaction that clearly indicates WHY those ideas had never before, in the history of music, been had. Meantime, in other bands with players no more instrumentally talented than Kurt Cobain or with songwriting aspirations more theoretically-complex than AC/DC, we get nice reactions and people who see us going onto the internet to write about what a great time they had and how seeing us totally put them in the mood to throw empty whiskey bottles at moving cars.

Music's about what makes you happy, I think. In my experience, I've had the good fortune to develop part of me that realizes my happiness is a function of other's happiness, so put me down as being completely ammenable to Kid Rock or anything else that gets you in the toe-tappin' or fist-pumpin' part of your anatomy... simple and crowd pleasing ain't necessarily anything to be ashamed of.


Rick

[OldRightHander]

Many classical composers were always borrowing ideas from one another. Now many years later they're called geniuses or great composers, while in reality they were producing what was the pop music of their day. Of course, it can be argued that the quality of their pop music was a bit better than what we have today, but that's a different point.

[Johnny Footstool]

That Kid Rock song also samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London."

[registerthis]

I have one rule.

Avoid John Cage.

But 4:33 is a classic tune.

[improbus]

Being original doesn't mean that you can't borrow. Every musician does it to some degree. No musical piece is truly original, but I hate formula music. Record companies are notorious for this. They find a band that people like, such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana in the early '90's, and then they find as many bands that kind of sound like them and market the heck out them. So you end up listening to Bush and Silverchair and a bunch of other obnoxious stuff. They did it with the hair bands, they did it with Southern Rock, they do it with Hip Hop, and they will always do it.