Save the Music… For What?
Last night VH1 aired its Save the Music concert. I didn’t see it, but it got me thinking: what exactly are they saving the music for? When we turn on the popular radio stations these days, we’re bombarded by rap artists who string together words about killing and such as fast as they can to music that’s basically stolen from older artists or created on a computer. On the alternative stations we’ve got singers who benefit greatly from advances in studio editing. If you don’t believe me on that one, I suggest you catch an episode of Ashlee Simpson’s reality show. And do I even need to mention the increase in incidents of lip-synching?
VH1 and MTV have a huge amount of control over the course of popular music. I’ve heard well-known artists on shows like Howard Stern begging for a chance to have their music heard because they just didn’t have enough influence to have their music played on MTV. And these two conglomerates further exacerbate the problem by only playing music in clips during TRL and during the hours of midnight at 5am.
Now before you jump on me for being hypocritical, I’ll gladly admit to owning CDs by Eminem and Outkast because the music is often fun to listen to, but that’s not the point I’m making here. VH1 professes to have a charity which “purchases new musical instruments to restore music education programs that have been cut due to budget reductions in the past or to save programs at risk of elimination due to lack of instruments. The Foundation also conducts awareness campaigns, musical instrument drives and fundraising events.” But I ask you, what happens to the kids who do reap the benefits of this program? Do you think they’ll be playing backup for the likes of Britney and Jessica? Do you think you’ll ever hear a sax solo in the middle of an Everclear song? Do you think they’ll use music theory to write original sounding music?
So I say if VH1 really wants to ‘Save the Music’, then they need to make opportunities for people with these extraordinary talents to perform and earn a decent living. They are the reason, ultimately, for the decline of music and shame on them for pretending that they’re the ones trying to save it.
