Maybe a band like this can only come from Canada.\u00c2\u00a0 Where they don’t have the American Dream.\u00c2\u00a0 Where it’s not about becoming rich and famous as much as personal fulfillment.<\/p>\n
I was driving in the neighborhood pushing the buttons on XM and I found myself on XMU listening to a song that sounded like nothing special that eventually hooked me.\u00c2\u00a0 It was "All The People" by Jets Overhead.<\/p>\n
We’ve been conditioned by the mainstream media to believe only what they authorize is any good.\u00c2\u00a0 That they’re professionals.\u00c2\u00a0 Sifting through the detritus.\u00c2\u00a0 Emerging with only what is best.\u00c2\u00a0 But somehow in the past fifteen years the world has gone topsy-turvy.\u00c2\u00a0 It turns out that reality is contrary to the perception those in power are purveying.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out that the bigger the hype, the more mainstream something is, the WORSE it is.<\/p>\n
Let us analyze why.<\/p>\n
It’s about the bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 If you want instant revenue, the easiest way is to purvey something obvious, something just like what came before.\u00c2\u00a0 Because initially, innovation is hard to sell.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s that which is left of center, that which is not made for a mass audience, that which is buffed and shined by the creator, not a committee of executives, which resonates.\u00c2\u00a0 Because by time those at the corporation get through with the work, it’s lost all its personality, all that makes it special.<\/p>\n
I once read that it’s our imperfections that make us lovable.\u00c2\u00a0 But all the imperfections have been removed from mainstream media.\u00c2\u00a0 The women have all been plastic surgeried to look like an airbrushed icon out of the pages of "Playboy".\u00c2\u00a0 Yet almost nobody in your hometown looks like this.\u00c2\u00a0 The records have this sheen, this in your face quality that if they were human you’d reject.<\/p>\n
Life is lonely.\u00c2\u00a0 Just talk to a high school student going to a dance.\u00c2\u00a0 Making him or herself up in front of the mirror.\u00c2\u00a0 Worrying whether they’ll end up desirable.\u00c2\u00a0 The singular goal being to be popular, and almost nobody qualifying.\u00c2\u00a0 What helped these individuals prior to MTV was music.\u00c2\u00a0 They felt that the music they listened to was made just for them.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, music is made for the masses.\u00c2\u00a0 Sold in in your face videos.\u00c2\u00a0 Mainstream music doesn’t even play the same role in society anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s just grease for the club.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas it used to be a lotion that you rubbed all over yourself in your bedroom, to not only feel good, but to shield you from the barbs of society.\u00c2\u00a0 And, with your tunes playing you felt powerful, like you could win.<\/p>\n
This music that resonated was oftentimes subtle.\u00c2\u00a0 Without the sledgehammer hooks of the records on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuff like Jets Overhead’s "All The People".<\/p>\n
I didn’t want the track to end.\u00c2\u00a0 But eventually it expired.<\/p>\n
I came home and fired up my P2P application.\u00c2\u00a0 And couldn’t find the track I was looking for.<\/p>\n
So I googled Jets Overhead.\u00c2\u00a0 And found their Website.\u00c2\u00a0 Where they were GIVING AWAY THEIR MUSIC!<\/p>\n
Bands no longer split up their enterprise.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no longer recording income from the record company, an advance from the merch company, touring revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s all together.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe because most of those who can render advances aren’t interested until you no longer need them, are worried they’re going to fuck with your product.<\/p>\n
The major label is no longer your friend.\u00c2\u00a0 The seventies are dead.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll tell you what to record, how to look, they’ll choose the emphasis track and if you don’t hit right away, you’re done.<\/p>\n
Whereas if you do it yourself, you’ve got control.\u00c2\u00a0 You can execute according to your OWN vision.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that there has to be rigidity.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes you decide to be OUT OF CONTROL!\u00c2\u00a0 To take RISKS!\u00c2\u00a0 Knowing that if you fail, you can go right back to the drawing board.\u00c2\u00a0 But, oftentimes it’s these risks which pay dividends.<\/p>\n
Jets Overhead doesn’t sound like there was ANY third party input.\u00c2\u00a0 That a group of people got together in a rehearsal space and got the sound down that THEY wanted.\u00c2\u00a0 And sure, they want people to hear their music, but they won’t COMPROMISE IT in order to achieve this.<\/p>\n
But the funny thing is, if you succeed at this game, of following your own muse, fans tell EVERYBODY ABOUT YOU!<\/p>\n
That’s what I felt as I heard "All The People" play on XMU last night.\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to TELL YOU!\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to be the bearer of the news.\u00c2\u00a0 Wanted to clue you in on something you were unaware of.\u00c2\u00a0 That would make you feel connected.\u00c2\u00a0 In touch.<\/p>\n
This process has been eliminated by mainstream media.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be movies grew by word of mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 Now there’s saturation advertising climaxing in endless TV ads on Thursday night and all but the box office smashes are gone from theatres in three weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 And despite all the hype, the big records don’t last long on the chart either.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re momentary, of a time, and when that time is gone, they’re forgotten.\u00c2\u00a0 But GREAT music is timeless.<\/p>\n