Music through the ages

I’ve been playing around with the idea that we are seeing a turn around in what has been an abysmal music scene as of late. I’m talking about the mainstream here, I’ve been thinking that there has been a reinvigoration of talent in mainstream music. I figured a good benchmark would be examining the musical guests on Saturday Night Live. It’s not a perfect measure but it’s a good indication of what is popular at any point in time.

Let’s start with the 1992-1993 season, when I was a 19 year old sophomore in college. I consider this to be the high point of music, partially because I was 19 and that is just naturally when music is coolest. Here are the acts from that season.

Bobby Brown / Sinead O’Connor / Spin Doctors / Arrested Development / 10,000 Maniacs / Morrissey / Sade / Neil Young / Black Crowes / Bon Jovi / Madonna / Mick Jagger / Paul McCartney / Sting / Mary J. Blige / Soul Asylum / Peter Gabriel / Lenny Kravitz / Midnight Oil / Willie Nelson / Paul Simon

Wow, I’m not sure if you could fault any of those selections. The worst band on the list is Spin Doctors who admittedly had three great songs. Sadly that is all they had in them. Bobby Brown has turned into a joke but he did have talent at one point in his life. There’s a couple of older acts but I’d say this is pretty cool. Mainstream hadn’t accepted grunge quite yet but could come to terms with Soul Asylum and Black Crowes. Not bad at all.

Let’s fast forward seven years to 1999-2000, what I consider to be the nadir of modern music. At 26 it was pretty much the nadir of my life as well. Here’s the list

David Bowie / Marc Anthony / Dr. Dre / Snoop Dogg / Eminem / Foo Fighters / Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines) / Sting / Beck / R.E.M. / Blink-182 / Macy Gray / Jennifer Lopez / DMX / Fiona Apple / *NSYNC / AC/DC / Christina Aguilera / Sisqo / Neil Young / Britney Spears / Kid Rock

First off, should we give Sting and Neil Young props for being on the show seven years later? Especially since they were older acts as well, though this is probably due to Lorne Michaels just booking people he knew. But this is a pretty sad list. There are positives in Foo Fighters and Beck along with Dre, Snoop and Eminem. R.E.M. had gotten pretty awful by this point but still had name recognition.

But boy, are there some bad acts on this list. Starting with Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines, which might be the craziest musical decision ever. I’ve been saying all week that the only way I’m seeing Garth is if he plays part of the set as Chris Gaines. Then Blink-182 (pretty much a waste of space), *NSYNC (a definite waste of space), Christina Aguilera (disgusting to all five senses) and Sisqo (did he even have a second song?) Seven years later and I have no interest in hearing any of these acts again, even in a quasi ironic sense. There’s definitely no musical reason to listen to them. And then there’s Britney and we’ve discussed her enough. All in all, not a good time for music.

Is there any hope? Well, let’s see who played last year

The Killers / Corinne Bailey Rae / My Chemical Romance / Beck / Christina Aguilera / Ludacris / Tenacious D / Gwen Stefani / Akon / Justin Timberlake / The Shins / AFI / Lily Allen / Keith Urban / Arcade Fire / Snow Patrol / Carrie Underwood / Avril Lavigne / Bjork / Linkin Park / Maroon 5

It’s another mixed bag. The effect of American Idol is definitely felt as we have a lot less bands and a lot more people who happen to sing (the Justins and Christinas and Carries of the world). There’s also a surprising lack of hip hop and R&B, which might be a sign of the market that SNL attracts. Some acts offend me as a music fan (Linkin Park) and others as a human being (Avril Lavigne). And for some reason there is a lot of emo as apparently the viewers of SNL like to cut themselves.

But here is why I think things might be turning around. The Shins and Arcade Fire were both able to play on Saturday Night Live. That wasn’t possible seven years ago. Neither band is on a major label and they have no video play to speak of. The Shins became known thanks in part to Garden State and Arcade Fire became popular through their own awesomeness. To gain this degree of mainstream exposure is pretty amazing.

Do I think that music will return to what it was in the early 90’s? Of course not. For one thing, I’m not 19 any more. At 34 I’m at the very edge of the demographic and in ten short months marketers will no longer give a damn about me. I expect certain aspects of music today to be outside of my tastes simply because it isn’t written for me. But I find it good to know that the idea of a band and of musicianship is being resurrected. That’s the fear of an American Idol ruled world. It’s a focus entirely on the singer and not the song. But Arcade Fire creates art as opposed to commerce. The fact that they can get General Electric to put them in front of millions of people is a sign that things are going in the right direction.

(Coming Sunday: An anniversary three years in the making! Yes, there will be gifts! And balloons! And dancing girls! And those miniature hot dogs! It will be legen, wait for it…)