The Velvet

This Modern World

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing people say that the quality of pop music today is inferior to that of … well … pick a decade. When I hear this, I do try to understand that these are busy people who really don’t pay much attention to the music world and who are easily brainwashed by (a) major-label propaganda bemoaning the state of affairs in music today and (b) the fact that commercial radio sucks.

But I do try, quietly and politely, to inform them that the world of pop music has changed significantly in the last few years and that in fact (deep breath) we now live in a true Golden Age of popular music. Whereupon, of course, they look at me as though I’ve just sprouted a second head.

I mention that to mention this: No matter what you think of Bruce Springsteen, his keynote address at SXSW last weekend (http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/03/15/148693171/bruce-springsteen-on-the-meaning-of-music?ps=cprs ) is worth checking out, in part because part of his speech was devoted to the very same point I’ve been making with misguided friends and acquaintances: There’s never been a time like now.

In the early part of his talk, Bruce waxed nostalgic about his formative years as the teenaged member of a rock band in New Jersey and taking part in a battle of the bands: “So many styles were overlapping at that time that you’d have a doo-wop singing group with full pompadours and matching suits sitting next to our band playing a garage version of Them’s  ‘Mystic Eyes,’ set up next to a full, 13-piece soul show band.”

Then, he continued the thought: “And still, that’s nothing minutely compared to what’s going on in the streets of Austin right now.”

Pop music’s cultural influence has not waned by any means, Springsteen said. It’s only changed. It’s become more disparate and, yes, more Balkanized.

How disparate and Balkanized? According to Springsteen, this much: “Two-tone, acid rock, alternative rock, alternative dance, alternative metal, art punk, art rock, avant-garde metal, black metal, death metal, Christian metal, heavy metal, funk metal, glam metal, medieval metal, indie metal, melodic black metal, melodic death metal, metalcore, hardcore, electronic hardcore, folk rock, folk punk, Britpop, grunge, sadcore, surf music, psychedelic rock, punk rock, hip hop, rap rock, Nintendo core, rock noir, shock rock, skatepunk, noisecore, noisepop, noiserock, pagan rock, paisley underground, indie pop, indie rock, heartland rock, roots rock, samba rock, scream, emo, shoegaze, stoner rock, swamp pop, synth pop, rock against Communism, garage rock, blues rock, death and roll, lo-fi, jangle pop, folk music.”

Will there ever be a time when one group or one individual will ever again have the same impact as Elvis, or the Beatles, or Nirvana?

I doubt it.

Thanks to the Internet, we’re all captains of our own musical universes now if we choose. If you’re a music fan, what could be better than that?

(Moby Tenenbaum spins 7-9 Fridays at The Velvet)