music reflecting war and times

musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
edited October 2006 in Other Music
This year so far has been amazing in terms of music, best year for it since the early 90;s. This year we had Tool, Audioslave, Mars Volta, Chili Peppers, Pearl jam, Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Spearhead, etc... all release albums, that in my mind are some of the best works ever.

I posted earlier in the summer about how the music released now was so scary and apocalyptic. Pearl Jam's record is very powerful but also very depressing, Tool's record who often put some Buddhist spin on life and to rise above pain, "Pain is all an illusion" as they said. The new record doesnt have any buddhist saying. Maynard even said as much, he suggested he didnt want to give people hope.

Its truely disturbing the people we look up to for inspiration seem to have almost given up hope. Ed at the Gorge suggested its "harder and harder to say its ok".

I agree with them 100 percent but I mean this is an unbelieveably scary time.

I am a 1960's fanatic and cant think of a single instance where a philospohical leader or buddhist beliefs were sort of given up. I cant think of a single time. Ginsberg was popular even in 1969 and 70 when all hell broke loose.

The guitar chords on Right in Two, the opening chords are just so melancholy and speak more powerfully than our current predicament than anything I have heard so far.

Pearl Jam's guitar word and ed;s voice in Army reserve are just as frantic.

My point here is:

1. Why has there been a lull in music the past couple months?

2. Why is music seeming more and more frantic? Why are Tool giving up hope? I often look to music for comfort and strength and its disturbing to think alot of the musicians are just as jaded, terrified, and cynical as the rest of us.

3. The 1960's produced great antiwar songs, and we certainly have had our share in this generation of equally good protest songs, Neil Youngs new record, pearl jams new record etc... but the feeling of despair and hopelessness that permeates the tool record and alot of new music seems new to me. You wont find it in Vietnam era music. Why?

4. The last song off 10,000 days suggests we are destroying the system and it needs to be replaced. Even the most powerful antiwar songs of vietnam never went that far. Ohio, any early dylan song, joan baez etc.. are all powerful but they never suggested we were in the act of collapsing.
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