My music appreciation is primal. It's about what the music makes me feel when I hear it for the first time and succeeding times after that. Does it instill any powerful feelings within me or is it just more of that generic pablum that's going across the mainstream airwaves all the time as a matter of marketing course?
Does it have some melody or purity of sound to it?
Does it take me away to some transcendent place?
Does it move my emotions?
Does it have great lyrics?
Was there a lot of secondary mixing in the background to make it a truly extraordinary, sophisticated masterpiece?
Music to me either stands on its own or doesn't. I don't particularly care who the artist is. Just because it's put out by a so-called pop star doesn't mean that it's good music.
All the technology in the world can't give music soul or passion.
I'm critical of a music industry that chooses to manufacture a few, fake cool people as the pop stars of the moment as opposed to selling music on its merits or lack of them by opening up mass media access to all artists with some talent but that's the way it is. I can't change it so I won't harp on it this book.
I want to provide knowledge and information about all aspects of the world of music for your recreation.
Chapter 1. Music is the Voice of the Soul
Music One-Liners & Music Quotes
Music is the language of the soul.
For there is a music wherever there is a harmony, order, or proportion, and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres.
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1643
When I hear music, I fear no danger... I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
Henry David Thoreau, 1857
Music frees the soul.
Music is the art of beauty with sounds.
My Critique of the Mainstream Music Industry 1
Music is the universal language. Everybody likes one kind of music or another. The problem is that a lot of it is pop culture indoctrination.
A lot of people don't really like music for its purity as a medium of freedom, joy, peace, bliss and transcendence, they are indoctrinated by the mainstream music biz as to what's supposedly cool and good which is one of the reasons I'm pretty well turned off to it but it's there, it's dominant so I will cover it in this book because that's my job.
I won't criticize the so-called top 20 pablum on Music TV and pop chart radio stations beyond this chapter here because it's not my place to. I've already trashed mainstream pop culture entertainment in some of my other books by stating that instead of people seeking to discover who they are as original individuals then living by it, many simply plug into pop culture entertainment to fill themselves up and live their lives as generic, brainwashed, pop culture clones.
To criticize the pop culture entertainment industry may make me seem like I hate music but I don't. I love music, it's just that I'm not brainwashed as to what's supposedly cool, fly and off the hook in the moment.
In my opinion, most of the pop music released in the past 15 years is not real music in the glorious, esthetic sense that music is spozed to be. It's cloned, manufactured crap with everybody copying what everybody else is doing on the top 20 charts.
It's like an elite club. There is no rhyme nor reason as to why the major record labels choose a handful of people to market and promote such that they become the cool in-crowd pop stars of the music scene for a moment and all the other artists, many of whom have musical abilities that are superior to what this in-crowd creates, are shut out.
Many great musicians fall by the wayside this way while some flakes get manufactured into pop stars. It's just part of the injustice of the world but what really gets me is how the people of the world can be that stupid to fall for it. Somebody once said don't underestimate the stupidity of the American public.
I think it's got something to do with the sheeple effect. Most people aren't strong enough to stand on their own so they go with the crowd and do whatever they're told by the mainstream pop culture marketing machine because they want to look cool to others and you're supposedly cool if you act as though the music on the top 20 radio stations is cool even if it's crap.
Music videos are a marketing ploy created by the mainstream music industry geared to indoctrinate young people and fill them up with images of what is cool and off the hook such that they become eternal consumers, aspiring to imitate what they see in these images on the box because they wanna be perceived as cool too.
To me, the entire industry of music videos is like a bunch of adolescent kids doing an art project. They have fun doing all kinds of wacky, weird things but at the end of the day when all is said and done, it is what it is, a bunch of meaningless, useless crap yet to most so-called, young, happenin' people, it's like The Emperor Has No Clothes phenomena.
All the stupid, brainwashed people act like music videos are on the cutting edge of what's cool in life because everybody else is acting that way when underneath the façade, to an objective outsider looking in, it's all a bunch of frivolous, meaningless stupidity yet it just goes to show you how powerful the music networks are and how gullible many young people are in buying into this crap as cool shit.
To me, it looks like a bunch of self-centered narcissists full of themselves, prancing around, acting like frivolous airheads. It's not art, something that inspires me or makes me feel good. It's just a bunch of random images a bunch of overrated punks put together masquerading as an artform. I like music video parodies Mad TV used to make. They showed how stupid those music videos are.
It seems kind of unseemly to me, people making ridiculous music videos over here that cost lots of money to make while over there, some kid is starving or can't get basic medicine. There's no standard of reality.
Some people would argue that it's escapism but to me it's manufactured escapism. If I want escapism, I go for a swim at the lake or for a walk in nature. I have never seen one music video that takes me away to some mythical, magical, transcendent place. I just see punks prancing around thinking they're the cock of the walk, all that and then some.
When PBS does a show where they're showing the coastline of Ireland and put some background music to it, that's fine because the focus is on the video footage. The music is just an afterthought. It's not like music videos where the focus is spozed to be on the music.
When I want to be entertained, I want something with either inspirational value, transcendent value or masterpiece artistic value. Music videos don't cut it. To me, they're just random images created by a bunch of flakes masquerading as artistes.
What exactly is watching a music video spozed to do for me? Is it spozed to make me feel good, bring me to a level of transcendence, inspire me to do great things, show me how advanced and special some people are out there that create this stuff or temporarily free me from the mundanity of the human condition?
To me, the images are so random and devoid of any meaning that they not only do nothing for me esthetically or spiritually but to watch them would be a complete waste of time. They don't even entertain me.
Music videos are worse than just mindless, useless entertainment because they're mind and soul pollution. They warp impressionable people's minds as to what's cool, fly and off the hook. In my opinion, they're part of the downfall of the moral fiber and the power of rugged individualism in the western world because a lot of people allow themselves to get brainwashed by all this crap.
I usually listen to music when I work out, relax or when I use recreational substances. It's an audio medium to me. It either stands on its own as music to either move me, inspire me or make me feel great or it doesn't. There are no video images there to pollute my appreciation of it.
We live in a capitalist world. The music video networks are huge advertising, indoctrinating tools for the companies that market product to the youth and they're slick enough to do it all subtly, making it seem like the youth are freely choosing what they market at them because they're special, happenin' individuals cool enough to buy what the corporate heads want them to buy whilst thinking they are freely choosing these things themselves.
Such is the state of our corporate world and most of our young people and stupid, older people don't even know they're being massively brainwashed like that.
If you wanna be really cool, stop watching all those brainwashing music video networks and live by the pure inspiration you feel in your own soul.
If you're a musician, strive to create your own music rather than just imitating what all the other clones do. How many young people have the guts to do that? That's why I can't stand the mainstream music industry with all its manufactured pop stars.
My Critique of the Mainstream Music Industry 2
I like great music because it helps the soul soar but there is very little. The occasional song moves me. It helps me run faster for a minute, lift more weight, dance around when I catch a buzz and feel free and high.
I love to dance freely to good music but I don't find it much in the mainstream top 40. Lucky for me the internet has enabled me to find true beauty, true artists and great music even if it is not in the mainstream rotation.
Music has to have some semblance of transcendence to it in order to transcend the mundane and the ordinary. That's the point of music but you wouldn't know it listening to most of the crap being created masquerading as music.
Music is one of the pathways to the soul as I've discussed in one of my other books but great music generally ain't in the mainstream top 40. That's a bunch of crap created by capitalists trying to make money.
The true purpose of music is to try to help people reach levels of transcendence and freedom in their lives. That's what a true musician does, aspires to help people feel good to great good by the power of a beautiful melody or to capture some social tragedy like the Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger type songs.
A Righteous Brothers song makes me feel romantic for a minute. The song Memories makes me feel nostalgic for the old days for a minute.
I remember biking while listening to Meatloaf's Rock 'n Roll Dreams back in the day when I was young and strong. I felt high and euphoric.
MJ's We Are the World makes me feel like kissing all my brethern in the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of humanity.
These are examples of good to great songs but the problem is that there are very few of them next to all the songs ever created.
Most "music" to me is like generic crap, so what. I forget it as soon I've consumed it. It means nothing.
Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame said in an interview that the music of the past fifteen years is missing something. He's right. It doesn't have the melody, simplicity, soul or craftsmanship of earlier music.
Doo-Wap is much purer as straight music without embellishments than some of that crap they're putting out these days even with all their technology.
The mainstream music biz is not about the music as much as it is about marketing cool looking people to try to give the biggest music consumers, young people under 25, somebody to look up to as a cool person or cool band in order to imitate and identify with these people.
Most young people don't have strong identities. The music industry exploits this by giving them this fake community of so-called cool people so that they can feel like they belong somewhere.
If it was really about the music, older, fiftyish musicians would be having hits in the top ten but most of the older musicians who were hot stuff 20 or 30 years ago can't get a mainstream record contract now because they're too old for the cool image.
If you do any research, you'll find an endless line of musicians who were pop stars ten or more years ago still active in the music biz but they don't have big record contracts. They're making CDs on their own which they can't market in a big way because they don't have the big record deal with a big company to promote them.
It's kind of funny because they're better musicians than the pop stars currently topping the charts but it doesn't matter. It's the image that counts. If you don't believe me, tune into any music video TV network. There are very few people there over 32 years old.
I could name some names of these older musicians who I've seen that are still around kicking it but I won't because it's not my place to say they've come down in stature.
It's just a fact of the music biz. The best musicians don't get top billing. The current trendy ones do. It's a disgrace to true musicians and true music lovers.
Just go on concert or nightclub websites and you'll see plenty of musicians from yesteryear playing nightclubs, college campuses and other small venues while some of the acts filling big stadiums are shameless and talentless.
Nothing much new in the current top 40 jumps out at me as being great. It's all the same generic crap repeated over and over again. They can manufacture anything to be a hit. Just blast it on TV and radio over and over and have the disc jockeys say how cool it is even if it's horrible.
When I saw that skanky video I think was done from the soundtrack of the movie Moulin Rouge, Lady Marmalade or something like that, I thought what a disgrace for people trying to be real musicians. It was shameless self-exploitation. They had no idea how tacky they looked. They were that brainwashed to think they were being cool.
Softcore porn has replaced musical talent as the staple of the music video. If I wanna see naked women, there's plenty of porn around. If I wanna see music that stands on its own away from glitter, where is it?
I don't watch music videos. They detract from the music. Almost every music video ever made looks like it was created by a high school art class with that naïve, adolescent mindset of random images that all added up together mean nothing.
Hip-Hop: Image Over Substance
Where's the melody?
One night I had my TV on in the background as I always do while I work on my computer. Some show came on BET about the history of the hip-hop movement. I wanted to watch it to see what it was all about.
All through this show the major thought I had was The Emperor Has No Clothes. They were parading all these people as advanced, genius hip-hop stars and to me, an outsider looking in, it looked like a bunch of talentless crap next to objective standards of what music is yet millions of brainwashed Blacks and some Whites fall for it because they're so starved to feel like they belong somewhere that they pretend there's a valid form of music called hip-hop which is not really music, just straight, meaningless crap elevated to the artificial status of cool music.
Some of what they say is valid but it's prose. It belongs at a poetry slam, a social protest or in a left-wing magazine article, not called music because it's just text. There's no pleasant-sounding music behind it.
Millions fall for it to try to fill up some emptiness in their lives, to feel like they belong to some community of cool Blacks and funky Whites. Get real. There are objective standards of what music is. It has to have some kind of melody.
It just ain't there despite all the hype about Jay-Zee and Puffy as some kind of genuises. It's all brainwash and poor to middle class Blacks, so starved for an identity, are buying into it.
Onetime you were oppressed by Whites. Now you're oppressed by phony pop culture images of manufactured Black culture in hip-hop "music" videos.
I'm not the first guy to say this. I've seen older Blacks say this is the destruction of the Black race, to promote this culture of violence, high living, drugs, bling, easy money and girls as hoes in these "music" videos.
It's all about makin' money for those few at the top selling you the illusion of a good feeling and a sense of community for a minute or two but at the end of the day they got the bling and you got a stupid, overpriced, hyped-up meaningless CD. You can't even get a buck for it at a pawn shop.
Do you think Snoop gives a damn about you or does he care more about his image as the most motherfuckin' badass rapper and coolest guy around, in other words, a superstar legend in his own mind?
Puff Daddy or P. Diddy says he's out to help people so he introduces just what the world needs, another brand of vodka. That's not exactly helping the community and it's not exactly an original product. All vodka is the same except for the brand and the advertising. There's only one possible motive, more money, as if he doesn't have enough so he'll try to get more alcohol in the hood to get it. That's not uplifting.
What about Ice T? He sold out to the Man, left all his homeys behind for life with Whitey. Take a look at his wife. He was a hard badass onetime then he made some money, got comfortable and now he don't care about all that stuff he preached in his raps about bein' down with his homeys in the hood, sharin' some of that wealth by the code of the brotherhood.
He's lookin' out for number one just like you should look out for your number one and not get sucked in to thinking there's some community of brothas out there in rapland who got your back because they don't. They got their nice houses and they don't want you near them.
That's disrespect to you but it's the way life works, almost everybody sells out to the man for a comfortable life. Once they make their money, they're gone. They don't care about the pleebes back in the hood anymore. That's the true test of community character, who stays to help their friends.
Think about it. Are you a sucker, playin' someone else's game instead of your own, buying into some crap, pretending it's real music when deep down you know it's crap but you wanna be thought of as off-the-hook with your homeys? You know I'm keepin' it real, tellin' it like it is. Know what I'm sayin' dawg?
Be true to yourself not some stupid image you saw on TV about some phony-cool guy acting like he's king of the world, got it goin' on bigtime. It's all show biz. The bottom line is always money. Underneath the glitter, everyone is human. They all age. Most of them get soft and lose whatever they once had except for the few toughest ones. Peace, out, you all.
Music Critic Websites
We need professional music critics to sort through the crap to tell us what's good but some of them are brainwashed too. They'll hype up what they think is spozed to be cool.
The comments on music forums and chat rooms might be the truth but most of them are put up by aimless young people looking to connect with something. I don't read them.
Check the music magazines. If a music journalist’s reviews suck, the fans will get rid f him.
answers.com/topic/music-critic-2
artsjournal.com/critics
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/alex_ross_(music_critic), classical music critic.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/malcolm_macdonald_(music_critic)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanori_ito_(music_critic)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/music_critic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/paul_rapoport_(music_critic)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tim_page_(music_critic)
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music
filmmusiccritics.org, film music critics association
harpers.org/subjects/musiccritics
laweekly.com/authors/l-a-weekly-music-critics
mcana.org, music critics association of north america.
metacritic.com/music
music.monstersandcritics.com
music-critic.ca
music-critic.com
musicemissions.com, alternative music review.
projo.com/music
slate.com
soundtrack.net
therestisnoise.com
wikimedia.org/wiki/category:music_critics
wikipedia.org/wiki/music_critic
Chapter 2. General Music Resources 1
meetup.com Music & Dance
meetup.com is a website where you meet likeminded people in real life.
meetup.com/musicanddance/
latin-music-and-dance.meetup.com chamber.meetup.com
night-life-live-music-dancing-social-networking.meetup.com
folk.meetup.com
live-music-dancing.meetup.com musicians.meetup.com
music.meetup.com
dance-performers.meetup.com
livemusic.meetup.com
General Music Resources
Thanks to the internet, alternative music magazines and other venues, every type of music is out there such that the average music fan can find it if they want without trying too hard and without having to sift through oodles of mainstream crap looking for the few gems.
The quickest way to do it, in my opinion, is to go to live365.com or shoutcast.com.
I used to get free music at 4shared.com.
At the library, music goes from #780-789.
780. General music.
781. General principles.
782. Dramatic music.
783. Sacred music.
784. Vocals.
785. Instrumental music.
786. Keyboard instruments.
787. String instruments.
788. Wind instruments.
789. Percussion, mechanical, electrical instruments.
Music Resource Websites/ Find Music Knowledge
skdesigns.com/internet/music, music resources on the internet.
acousticmusicresource.com
anglicansonline.org/resources/music.html, provides information and links for live, recorded and online music for choir masters, organists, and listeners.
audiotuts.com/resources
audiotuts.com/resources/240-free-albums-tracks-and-links-for-music-mashup-lovers
bandname.com/links/display_links.asp, worldwide music resources extensive page of listings for music resources around the world.
childrensmusicworkshop.com
colonialmusic.org/resource/resources.htm
allmusicindustrycontacts.com
dotmusicresources.com
dreamstate.to/links.htm
lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/music
flashkit.com, flash tutorials, looping music, sound effects, reviews
funkyfishmusic.com, a variety of music products and services including educational music resources, church music resources, composing, arranging, transcription and copying services.
hanksville.org/naresources/indices/namusic.html, index of native american music resources on the internet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/parents_music_resource_center
inthemusicbusiness.com, music business links music industry resources & directories
isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/staffpages/shirk/k12.music.html, k-12 resources for music educators
kcrw.com/music/music-resources
lib.duke.edu/music/resources/classical_ index.html, a well organized, well maintained index of 1,500 classical music links
library.music.indiana.edu/music_resources
members.tripod.com/~cbear_2/index34.html
southernmusic.com/music_resources
minot.k12.nd.us/music-mock/music.html
musicresourcesite.com
motetmusic.co.uk
music.dartmouth.edu/~wowem, women on the web: electron media resources for women interested in the music and recording industry.
music.indiana.edu/music_resources
musicresourcecenter.org
musicresources.com
musicresources.org
musicresourcesusa.com
music-with-ease.com
nea.gov/resources/disciplines/music/resources.html
ncnatural.com/resources/music
pitt.edu/~poole/eledmusic.html, elementary education resources: music
musicoutfitters.com/resources.htm
mediawebsource.com
primaryresources.co.uk/music/music.htm
lib.washington.edu/subject/music/
schoolmusicresources.com, providing churches with choral music, musicals and collections
siba.fi/kulttuuripalvelut/music.html
musical-resources.com, musical resources of toledo, oh.
skdesigns.com/internet/music
solomonsmusic.net, solomons music theory resources
songstuff.com, music resources and songwriting resource.
soundunwound.com
topcultured.com/music
warren.org.uk/music/joyd.html
webexpert.net/vasilios/grmusic.htm, hellenic music resources collection of links to various resources, from ancient to modern music.
Major Music Websites
afim.org, association for independent music.
altmusic.about.com
music.loc.gov
musicyellowpages.com
musicanet.org
newmusicbox.com, the web magazine from the american music center
music.com
contactmusic.com
music.yahoo.com
thisdayinmusic.com
allmusic.com, all music database
ipl.org, go to music genre.
allmusicguide.com
library.music.indiana.edu/music_resources, worldwide internet music resources.
lii.org, librarians' index to the internet: music.
nowontour.com
grovemusic.com
npr.org, national public radio.
allmusic.com
reverbnation.com
last.fm
amrhome.net, american music resource
smartpages.com/faqs/music
faqs.org
musicanet.org
allmusic.com
artslynx.org/music, artslynx international music resources.
allmusic.com, all music guide
bbc.co.uk/aboutmusic/profiles/genre.shtml
musicyellowpages.com
musicmoz.org
music.indiana.edu/music_resources
wirral-music.com, contains band pages, upcoming
events, a notice board, local music history and links.
top100musicsites.com
andante.com, an extensive online reference for professional musicians and dedicated amateurs.
music.com
art.com
sing365.com
dmoz.org/arts/music
music.msn.com
musicmessage.com library.questia.com/library/music-and-performing-arts musicstrands.com
listen.com
musicdirectoryonline.com
musicmoz.org
secondhandsongs.com, cover songs database, find out who performed the original version of
a particular song or who covered that song.
worldmusiccentral.org
addict.com
addict.com.au
allmusic.com
altmusic.about.com
archive.com
art.net/links/musicref.html
artistsdirect.com
bandname.com
beat.com
billboard.biz
billboardonline.com
bluesandsoul.co.uk
clubs.yahoo.com/music
contactmusic.com
dir.yahoo.com/entertainment/music
dir.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/artists/by_genre/
dirtynelson.com/linen/special.html, links.
discogs.com
dmoz.org/arts/music
dotmusic.com
ez-tracks.com
filmtracks.com, soundtracks.
freemusic-downloads.us
geminiweb.net/bandnames
glidemagazine.com
harmonycentral.com
home.about.com/arts
iuma.com, internet underground music archives.
entertainment.lycos.com/music
last.fm/music
launch.com
listenningroom.lycos.com
liszt.com/select/music
looksmartmusic.com
metacritic.com/music
mtv.com/news
music.aol.com
music.excite.com
music.indiana.edu
music.lycos.com
music.yahoo.com
music3w.com
musicdoc.com
musicfanclubs.org
musicians.about.com
musiciansfriend.com
musicmessage.com
musicstack.com
musicyellowpages.com
realguide.real.com/music
rock.yahoo.com
rockweb.com
rollingstone.com
roughguides.com/music
showandtellmusic.com
sonicnet.com
spies.com
spin.com
textfiles.com
thesource.com
ubl.com, ubl.net, ultimate band list.
vibe.com
worldmusic.miningco.com
allcharts.org/music yahoo.com/entertainment/music
yahoo.com/entertainment/music/artists
Music Websites Master List
Try #780-#789 at the library.
These sites are a hybrid of retailers, music business and general music knowledge sites. They're a dumping ground for all the miscellaneous music websites I came across.
1001tunes.com
1212.com, music recording industry.
123posters.com
1800usaband.com
20thcentmusic.blogspot.com
2look4.com
360hiphop.com
411mania.com/music
411mania.com/music/columns
411mania.com/music/news
4yeo.com/animations/music/l.htm
500records.com
50yearsrocknroll.com
5min.com/video/how-to-discover-new-music-the-easy-way-with-lastfm-71871270
78records.com.au
80music.about.com
80s.com
80smusiclyrics.com
8notes.com
8notes.com
90srockers.com
911tabs.com
99newsongs.com
99wmyx.com/mixmusicnews.asp
a2zhot.com/hot-music/
abcds.com
abclearnguitar.com
aboutmusic.org
academickids.com
acadiau.ca/~rob/blues/blues.html
accent-records.be
acguitar.com, acoustic guitar central.
acousticsounds.com
acses.com, compares book, cd and video prices for the lowest price.
activemusician.com
activemusician.com
ada-music.com, alternative distribution alliance
addict.com, addicted to noise
addict.com/atn, addicted to noise.
admusiconline.com, electronic music.
advantagemp3players.com
affinitymusic.com
afghanhits.com
afim.org, assn. for independent music.
africasounds.com
afterdawn.com/topics/online_music_services
agents-inc.com
allaboutjazz.com
allaboutjazz.com
allaboutjazz.com
allaboutmusicarts.com
allclassical.com
allegro-c.de
allhiphop.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com
allmusic.com, all music guide.
allmusic.com, allmusic.com.
allmuzzic.com
alloffmp3.org
allofmp3.com
allpop.com
allrecordlabels.com
all-reviews.com/music-songs/current.htm
allthelyrics.com
almostcool.org
alomusic.com
aloud.com
alternatemusicpress.com
altnet.com
altnet.com
altrockworld.com
amazon.com/music
american.recordings.com
american.recordings.com/wwwofmusic
americanmusical.com
americanpianists.org
amoeba.com, the world's largest independent record store
amoebamusic.com
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