What’s today’s music missing?

By Phil Cobb | June 8, 2015 |

Matt Pearl

A friend of mine shared a YouTube video the other day, a cut from an episode of The Glen Campbell Show, I believe, that had Merle Haggard doing spot-on impressions of several other country artists, including Hank Snow, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and another one or two.

Now I’m not going to claim that I possess any great knowledge about country music and its storied past, but that moment of old television made me laugh.

When Cash hit the stage in the middle of Haggard’s impression, there was a look of playful rivalry in both men’s eyes.

I am sure that such moments are present in the experiences of musicians today, but I rarely see them.

It seems that the entertainment industry has become a reflection of America itself: we are more impressed by anything when it’s marketed, pushed and wrapped in a glittery package.

But what about substance?

What about significance?

I wonder at times if many artists today consider themselves to be breaking new ground. My impression is that most music is just about building a new dance club on ground that’s already been broken.

Any idiot can sing a song about what he has personally experienced.

But how many musicians who can sing use the collective human experience to teach us important lessons?

Not many.

Music is an open forum for humanity, and there is room for all types of it. I would rather listen to my two-year-old sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, or hear my four-year-old belt out the lyrics to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than listen to self-serving pop stars sing ditties about their 20-something, rich kid problems.

Still, that music serves a purpose.

But at the age I have reached, I want music that has either musical creativity or lyrical thoughfulness — and I really like it when music has both.

Basically, I like music that sounds nice and says something. Is that so much to ask?

The synthesized, message-free tech slop that clogs pop radio airwaves is making me feel old.

Why?

Because I turn away and say things to myself like, “You can’t even understand the words! Who could possibly enjoy this stuff?”

So, I do what I used to do when I was a kid.

In my teenaged angst, I would listen to Dylan, to Simon and Garfunkel — old stuff that was packed with meaning.

I did it then to show how deep I was (which was a pretense) back then.

Now, I do it because it’s still what I like.

I give the radio another chance pretty frequently, and occasionally I’ll hear something I like, or something by an artist that, with some age and experience, will become a meaningful musician and lyricist.

And maybe I have misdiagnosed the issue.

Perhaps I am the one who has an unreasonable expectation for modern music, and blaming the musicians themselves is unfair.

I accept that, if it is the truth.

Still, if folks could write and sing so profoundly about the human experience 40 or 50 years ago, I can’t find a good reason that they can’t do it now.

I suppose some of them do, but old fogey-ism has hit me pretty hard, and I’m missing it all.

So, to anyone else who finds himself or herself out-of-tune with what the radio dial is offering now, at least you know one guy out there understands you.