MuchMore.ca

As soon as the business of music became such an important part of getting it to people’s ears, music started to get lost under the shadow of cool, scenes, cliques and the people who possess the influence of it getting heard. On the flip, for just as long, there have been people trying to find ways for music to get it’s proper due despite all of those things. I think for the average unaffected music lover, those things don’t really matter and they are in a fortunate position where they can just love what hits their ears if it connects with them. For some of us however (at least in my opinion), knowing the garbage truck of events that often carry’s music to it’s ultimate destination….it’s hard to know which way to look, as much as music means to us.

Even excellent events like the UK’s Mercury Prize and our own Polaris Music Prize can sometimes run the risk of becoming their own scenes with a slight air of elitism in their righteous goal of rewarding music on the merit or art and song rather than sales or popularity, it’s hard to avoid. That being said, we all need to find something we can relate to or find someplace we feel as though we belong; that’s what music is. Maybe I just feel like I belong to the group who has to question everything….which I’m kinda ok with. I think because I’m so overly skeptical of that garbage truck which delivers music to us, that when I do find something that connects with me that also has found a place on the biggest of popularity contests like an industry award show, I get really happy. I get really happy because I’m either feeling like the underdog is getting a shot or that for a brief moment all that matters is how the music makes me feel and I’m just digging what I’m hearing with no thought of the back-story. It’s also possible that maybe I’m not happy at all and I’m just reacting to the “outside the garbage truck” riding shotgun in the garbage truck. Either way, the garbage truck is hard to avoid and sometimes it carries something beautiful ……enter Laura Marling and Janelle Monea.

Rambling Man-Laura Marling (2010)

The years 2 big music award shows have already come and gone if you can believe it: The Grammy’s and the Brit Awards, popularity contests at best lets be honest….but I can’t ignore the appearance of Mumford and Sons, Janelle Monae and Arcade Fire. I mentioned Laura Marling last week in Matt Tracks as originally a back up singer for UK band Noah the Whale but this week she joins us after winning best female solo artist at the Brits. In a time when the UK is blowing our minds with amazing female voices……she is your next favorite.

Cold War-Janelle Monae (2010)

Janelle Monae performed in the middle of the Grammy awards and was introduced by Bruno Mars who sat in as her drummer. Most people at home were wondering who the hell she was and the near perfect performance she gave not only proved why Big Boy of Outkast put her on the “Idlewild” soundtrack as an unknown artist in 2006 but also why she was signed to P Diddy’s Bad Boy records in 2008. In a time when we long for spit, guts and heart to take us through a live performance that can use lights and production as an accomplice rather than a disguise…..she is here to make it so.

Maybellene-Chuck Berry (1955)

Chuck Berry’s importance to the history and evolution of Rock and Roll is best kept simple as not to write something that feels full of all the reasons necessary to do him justice, just to end up probably not doing him justice at all. Basically his influence and pioneering set the stage for The Beatles and Elvis, without Chuck Berry it’s very likely that music’s path over the past 60’s years would have been completely different. Here’s an interesting fact about his first hit Maybellene: Back in the day influential radio DJ Alan Freed was credited as one of the writers of this song which had nothing to do with any creative input, it was a form of payola in hopes of getting the song played on Freed’s radio show. At one time Alan Freed was the most influential figure in music who could single handedly turn a song into a hit, and his appearance at the stage shows he put together caused as much of a reaction from screaming teenagers as did the sight of the musicians on the bill. Freed was at the forefront of a musical revolution that saw black Rhythm & Blues music find the ears of a white audience and despite the payola scandal that has become attached to his legend, Alan Freed is another person who helped shape the path of Rock and Roll.

It’s easy to talk circles around what was happening with payola in the 50’s; on one hand it was a dirty extension to the gate-keeping that has plagued music and has never really gone away and on the other hand it helped expose a lot of the artists who are now our legends of music. Was it wrong for Leonard Chess of Chess Records to slip Freed and every other DJ cash in exchange for pushing a record? Yes, it was wrong but it did expose Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly and Etta James (and every other music legend you can think of) so you can almost (ALMOST) justify it with some sort of hindsight formula, but what cannot be justified was the loss of royalties the musicians faced as a result. Granted, without a DeLorean and Dr. Emmet Brown to bring us back into the middle of the1950’s music industry it is hard to pass judgment, but the fact that Alan Freed along with a guy who was an investor in Chess Records were both listed next to Chuck Berry as songwriters for this song, resulting in Chuck losing an enormous amount of money is hard to comprehend. The worse detail about this common practice in the early days of rock and roll and roll is the fact that very often the artist had no idea it was happening.

Daniel Lanois –The Maker (1989)

Daniel Lanois is best known for his renowned work as a producer with artist like U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Neil Young and Willie Nelson…not bad right? However, you need to learn about him as a songwriter; his own albums over the years-even though they have lived under the shadow of the famous people he has produced, are easily just as good, if not better. Form one of the greatest Canadian albums of all time, 1989’s Acadie, check out The Maker by Daniel Lanois which has been covered by Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia.

The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret-Queens of the Stone Age (2000)

Josh Homme has quietly become one of the most important figures in Rock and Roll over the past 20 years. In the late 80’s it began with the band “Kyuss” who are still one of the best stoner rock bands who have ever lived, most recently of course he is part of the epic band “Them Crooked Vultures” with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones but his best contribution to ze rock in my opinion has been with “Queens of the Stone Age” in particular their 2000 album “R”. On this album Homme takes the heavy and mixes it with the catchy in a way that mothers and their kids with tattooed knuckles can still find common musical ground when the Johnny Cash records are all over.

thanks for listening,
=m