Thanks to everyone who turned in to Contagious Radio last night. Special thanks to Shok and Legion for letting us invade the netwaves.
If you didn't get to hear the show last night, you should be able to listen today. We do most of our babbling during the show's third hour.
We actually didn't get to play any music, but did a good deal of talking about music (yeah, and All My Children, too). Shok asked us what we thought about upcoming trends in music. I said that it was kind of hard to answer that because anytime something exciting comes around, it is nipped in the bud by cynical yet hopelessly trendy sorts known as hipsters. Now, some might stick us into the hipster category as well, but in our defense, I'd like to say that a) None of us have ever appeared on the Cobrasnake and b) We don't hang out at Star Shoes. Back to my argument, though. Pick an artist that you have heard name dropped lately. Now Google said artist. Look through all of the pages and see how many of the sites are blogs. Maybe there will be something on Pitchfork, but you probably won't see anything in the major music magazines yet. Read all the raves about said performers "awesomeness." Wait until the debut album is about one week away from hitting the streets. Go to the bookstore and look through the music magazines. Chances are, you will see this artist in almost every issue. Then go back online, check the blogs and, most importantly, check the chatboards. Chances are, you will find more criticism than praise of said artist.
It is really a sad time to be a musician. I pity all of you wielding instruments right now. Unless you are part of the hip-hop scene, where apparently, selling-out just makes you cooler, you are doomed. People will talk about how you are just no-brainer 80s revivalists even if you sound more like Supergrass than the Jam. You're popularity will wane before you can even get played on KROQ.
Contrary to popular belief, the current crop of alternative bands are not typically crossing over into the mainstream. Check out the charts on Billboard. Most importantly, look at the Top 20 albums and singles. There is a reason that Fuse and MTV separate their countdowns (which are, btw, identical) into Top 20 and Top 20 Rock.
I know what bands I like and I want those bands to get popular. Really popular. I would love it if my much younger cousins asked me about Winston and the Telescreen, for example. Hell, I was excited that my cousin liked the Hot Hot Heat song I played for her the other day. Now, that is a band that is already considered really huge, but how many of your high school-aged relations have actually heard "Middle of Nowhere?" It's too big for college radio, yet unless you listen to 103.1 or 106.7 all day, you probably won't hear it. It's not "Hollaback Girl." So, people, I implore you to stop jumping the gun on bands and scenes. Let something happen. I'm really sick of Gwen Stefani.