It's G#, you twit
"It's a spider web and it's me in the middle."
What the hell is 'style', anyway? It's just opinion, right? It's as changeable as the weather...
I like to wear sandals. That's just my 'style.' Today, anyway. 10 years ago it was hiking boots and flannel shirts. I was Johnny Outdoors. Now I'm Johnny-has-no-style. Or is that a style in itself?
Either way, it sucks.
It all started with Van Halen. Then I really got my 80s on when I grew long hair and collected all the albums by Halen, Whitesnake, Ratt, Motley Crue, Metallica, Poison, Bon Jovi, and some off-band one-hit-wonder called Tyketto.
Embarrassed after a few years, I abandoned my cargo pants and metalhead youth for...Pearl Jam. That was it. Only Pearl Jam. And Stone Temple Pilots. Everyone else was Nirvana. I hated Nirvana. I can eat a lot of beans and fart out more aesthetic sounds.
Then I got holy, bought religious t-shirts, and sought after Third Day, Caedmon's Call, Jars of Clay, and...wait, that was all that was worth listening to. I made fun of the people who like the gay music of MWS and Amy Grant. Who writes a song called "Old Man's Rubble?" I mean really...
Then I got all folk-rock acoustic independent, and listened to people like David Wilcox, Ed Cash, and Bebo Norman. Ahhh...good, mellow times. Did I even wear clothes back then? Nothing like folk rock, cool weather, and a wine cooler to get your 'cheesy' on.
Today, my CD rack and my .mp3 collection is filled with ALL of this stuff. There's even soundtracks (orchestral scores) from various movies in there. And classical music.
Is post-metalhead-christian-rock-alternative-move-theme-folk-guitar-lover a style statement? How do I merge my love for Coldplay into this? Or Lifehouse? 3 Doors Down? Creed? I guess the former metalhead in me has found a new outlet with Alter Bridge. But how can I explain that I like that Alanis Morisette song called "Uninvited?" Or that Fiona Apple song called, "Criminal." Talk about dissonance. Imagine listening to a random-play playlist that follows "Everything" by Lifehouse with "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith AND Run DMC. I can relive all my styles at once in one hour.
We like what we like, I guess. And I like a little bit of everything. Which is good, I hope. I'd rather appreciate more and hate less.
Except for Amy Grant's music. "Old Man's Rubble????" Just what is old man's 'rubble' anyway?
I can almost guarantee that no one around me will say, "Hey, put in 5150. I need to get me my Halen fix." Amazing what 2 decades will do to conversations about music. Today, maybe someone will say, "Can you burn me the new Coldplay?" I might say, "No."
Ironically, I get up every Sunday morning and play...worship. And in spite of the original recordings, these songs have taken on their own style...because we add to it what they become. Eric's bass lines/modifications, Jeremy/J-mo/Kerry's drum-style, Kyle's...er...Steve-Vai-but-I-don't-know-this-song style, Jack's pseude-70s guitar style, and we have an interesting mosaic of styles merging into one sound...or noise. Maybe it's a toss-up.
Right now I'm listening to "Someone Special" by Poets of the Fall. Altogether different, imported... In a weird way, that band merges all the styles above on once CD...and does it well. Weird.
Oddly enough, I feel like playing guitar now.
"We can't bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..." - Grampa Simpson (The Simpsons)
What the hell is 'style', anyway? It's just opinion, right? It's as changeable as the weather...
I like to wear sandals. That's just my 'style.' Today, anyway. 10 years ago it was hiking boots and flannel shirts. I was Johnny Outdoors. Now I'm Johnny-has-no-style. Or is that a style in itself?
Either way, it sucks.
It all started with Van Halen. Then I really got my 80s on when I grew long hair and collected all the albums by Halen, Whitesnake, Ratt, Motley Crue, Metallica, Poison, Bon Jovi, and some off-band one-hit-wonder called Tyketto.
Embarrassed after a few years, I abandoned my cargo pants and metalhead youth for...Pearl Jam. That was it. Only Pearl Jam. And Stone Temple Pilots. Everyone else was Nirvana. I hated Nirvana. I can eat a lot of beans and fart out more aesthetic sounds.
Then I got holy, bought religious t-shirts, and sought after Third Day, Caedmon's Call, Jars of Clay, and...wait, that was all that was worth listening to. I made fun of the people who like the gay music of MWS and Amy Grant. Who writes a song called "Old Man's Rubble?" I mean really...
Then I got all folk-rock acoustic independent, and listened to people like David Wilcox, Ed Cash, and Bebo Norman. Ahhh...good, mellow times. Did I even wear clothes back then? Nothing like folk rock, cool weather, and a wine cooler to get your 'cheesy' on.
Today, my CD rack and my .mp3 collection is filled with ALL of this stuff. There's even soundtracks (orchestral scores) from various movies in there. And classical music.
Is post-metalhead-christian-rock-alternative-move-theme-folk-guitar-lover a style statement? How do I merge my love for Coldplay into this? Or Lifehouse? 3 Doors Down? Creed? I guess the former metalhead in me has found a new outlet with Alter Bridge. But how can I explain that I like that Alanis Morisette song called "Uninvited?" Or that Fiona Apple song called, "Criminal." Talk about dissonance. Imagine listening to a random-play playlist that follows "Everything" by Lifehouse with "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith AND Run DMC. I can relive all my styles at once in one hour.
We like what we like, I guess. And I like a little bit of everything. Which is good, I hope. I'd rather appreciate more and hate less.
Except for Amy Grant's music. "Old Man's Rubble????" Just what is old man's 'rubble' anyway?
I can almost guarantee that no one around me will say, "Hey, put in 5150. I need to get me my Halen fix." Amazing what 2 decades will do to conversations about music. Today, maybe someone will say, "Can you burn me the new Coldplay?" I might say, "No."
Ironically, I get up every Sunday morning and play...worship. And in spite of the original recordings, these songs have taken on their own style...because we add to it what they become. Eric's bass lines/modifications, Jeremy/J-mo/Kerry's drum-style, Kyle's...er...Steve-Vai-but-I-don't-know-this-song style, Jack's pseude-70s guitar style, and we have an interesting mosaic of styles merging into one sound...or noise. Maybe it's a toss-up.
Right now I'm listening to "Someone Special" by Poets of the Fall. Altogether different, imported... In a weird way, that band merges all the styles above on once CD...and does it well. Weird.
Oddly enough, I feel like playing guitar now.
"We can't bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..." - Grampa Simpson (The Simpsons)
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