The San Angelo Scene
I love music.
Although it’s been a few years since I’ve been in a formal band, no matter where I am, I tend to focus in on the music. What’s playing? And is it canned or live? Which songs always get played?
In my experience, there are accepted song sets that folks more-or-less expect to hear depending on the venue or occasion.
Going to a wedding? You’re going to hear “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey, and “Hey Ya,” by Outkast.
And, when people go out two-stepping, they want to hear the classics. They want to hear “My Maria” (fantastic song), a song like “Wagon Wheel” or “Forever and Ever.”
Those are the two-step songs, and they’re part of the expected repertoire for anyone who plays a dance hall — as they should be.
However, I’ve noticed that some songs become something like background furniture after a while. The song itself appears so often in bars and music venues that it might as well be a bowl of stale peanuts.
Explore The Artist’s Catalog
I’ll give you an example. I think the song “Margaritaville” is objectively a very good song.
I’m sure an expert could devise a formula to measure its combination of being both easy on the ears and universally memorized.
It’s got a great “A” verse, a good “B” follow-up, and closes with a “C” verse that ties it all together, with catchy instrumentation.
Hell, I like Jimmy Buffett, and frankly his “three chords is all you need” mantra is about as punk as it gets.
But when I walk into a local bar and hear the house band playing this song for the thousandth time, a little part of me dies inside. It dies because the song is good, but there are so many other amazing songs that need attention — demand attention.
Jimmy Buffett has plenty of other songs that are really quite good.
And I point out “Margaritaville” because it’s an obvious example, but I have a few others that sometimes cause a left-eye twitch: I’m looking at you, “Wagon Wheel,” by Darius Rucker, and you “Freebird,” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
And it pains me to say that. The “Freebird” solo is as classic as it gets, but I’ve heard it. I’ve really heard it about as many times as I can stand.
Finding the Right Vibe
As hard as it is for me to admit, even the iconic choruses of Led Zeppelin sometimes disappoint, like when the steamy, visceral, animal crying of Robert Plant on “Whole Lotta Love” plays at 10 a.m., while you’re driving to the hardware store for a replacement part on your washing machine.
I mean, I’m just not ready to be singing about how much love I want to give at 10 a.m. like that.
I need at least a few more cups of coffee.
Turning Classics into Clichés
I need about ten years.
Give me ten years before I hear another “Hotel California,” and give me a decade off from “Sweet Home Alabama.”
I’m pretty sure by this point Neil Young has taken offense plenty enough.
And I love country music, but if one more song is written in a country-style about how we grow up to work our days away, just to supply a nicotine addiction, I’m going take a long walk off the Field and Streams Fishing Pier at Lake Nasworthy.
Keep the Old, But Try Something New
I feel like Americans are far too comfortable listening to the same music over and over, and over again, and we’re also guilty of tuning music out when it’s in another language, or a foreign style.
I’m also guilty of closed-mindedness; I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to new music, sometimes I have to make myself listen to it.
That may seem like I don’t really want to listen, but I think it just comes down to setting aside enough time to get comfortable with something new.
No matter what, it seems like there will always be the 10-or-so albums I continually come back to.
I guess everybody is going to have the little comfort library they always love.
However, my library has grown over the years, the more I make myself try new things. Maybe the best metaphor is trying a new type of food. It might taste strange at first just because you’re not used to it.
I really enjoyed watching local punk band Includer this weekend. They are definitely original, and offer fans something different.
(And let me say, it was highly refreshing listening to music that was raised on Alt-Rock.)
The final issue with trying new genres, both as a listener and a performer, is the risk that it’s not quite to your taste, or the audience’s taste.
All I can do is quote your mother, trying to convince you to eat something new as a kid: “try it before you say you don’t like it…”
If you want to hear something new listen to Amma’s new EP “Live at the Penny Tap House,” available on Spotify.
Let us know: What new music should we listen to?
