Whinge, whinge (A musical post)

I just feel like whinging about music.

I have 4 favourite bands, 2 of which have now split up, and there's a very real possibility the other two, which are now considered veterans of their respective styles, will break up inside the next 2-3 years at the most.

In about 6 years, I don't want to be one of these 29-30yos I laughed at a few years ago who listened entirely to bands that are extinct and just persistently whinge about the state of current music and how crappy it is and how it was so much better in my day. I guess I just have this thing about growing old, and so long as I can *feel* young I don't care.

I was reminded of a bold prediction a friend of mine made as a 17yo in 1990 that by his 20th birthday, heavy metal as it was then would be completely dead. As it was so entrenched and still regularly getting top 10 singles/albums, everyone laughed at him ... and then by July 21st, 1993, he proved to be right. I think the current trend of popular music will be flushed out as soon as kids get bored of it, and it always seems to be those "change" periods where the record labels can't quite figure out what style to flog, that the bands with real talent come to the surface. Just think how many good bands came to the fore in 1991-1993 ... not all of them lasted out the decade, but it was a good era in music. I hope there'll be another one very soon, so that way by the time I'm 30 there'll be current bands for picky, bitchy people like me to listen to :P

Update - In October 2005, one of those bands (Tea Party) broke up, although it's still alive in the form of its lead singer Jeff Martin who has now gone solo. Tool released a somewhat sub-par album in May 2006. Thankfully, I got into other stuff along the way ... although I'm still waiting for that "change" period to come, both popular and alternative music have utterly stagnated. (23/05/06)