Mills College WeeklySince some people don’t seem to get how music works, I’m going
to explain a few rules that can be considered right just because I
said so. If you are currently a musician in a famous band, it is
ill-advised to start a new project without following these rules.
First, you need to have a valid reason for wanting to start a new
project. Second, if you start a new project, it must be just that,
new-not a revamped copy of something you did already.
Dave Matthews. Why does he have a solo CD? First off, his band
is named after him. That’s a key indicator that he has no good
reason to start a new project; he IS the current project. The name
Dave Matthews Band clearly implies that the music of this group
focuses on him. Does anyone even know who else is in the band? You
don’t need to know because it’s all about Davie Boy. Forget that he
started a solo project for no good reason. Why is it that he’s had
more success fronting his band than he has going solo? Is it just
now that he wants to offer his songs as high quality duck food? I
think so because they’re wack, wack.
Now onto the subject of starting a new project, that really is
new; how is Audioslave successful? The newly formed band consists
of Chris Cornell previously from Soundgarden and former members of
Rage Against the Machine. Class, I have an announcement to make.
You cannot be a new band playing the same music with a different
name. My question is has anyone else noticed that they sound like
Rage Against the Machine with a new lead vocalist? Now you could
argue that they’re musicians set in their styles and anything
they’re going to do is going to be reminiscent of their older
sounds. Their guitarist, Tom Morello does have a unique sound. I’ll
give you that. However, you cannot take the exact sound and make it
reminiscent of the old sound. It needs to be new.
Obviously, we as listeners don’t quite understand the economics
of music. If we demand something good, the industry has to supply.
But we’re completely letting the industry tell us what we want. I’m
trying to understand how is it that we’re being sold the same
product with a different name, at very low quality. And what’s
worse is that it comes from talented artists. People who can
actually write great lyrics, riffs, melodies, you name it. And all
of this they write completely on their own without the added help
of synthesizers, songwriters, producers, or whatever other money
governed machine or position.
News announcement: Chris Cornell. Dave Matthews. You’re fired.
Management wants you gone by the end of the day.
