I haven’t liked modern music since about 1992. I hated grunge, and then I hated its cousin, alternative. The whiny voices, the incessant attempt to sound like Nirvana, the lack of a real chorus, and various other things bugged me about modern music. I know, I know. Music is subjective and people generally dislike modern music as they get older. Fair enough. I’m just two months shy of my 40th birthday, so I’m probably not supposed to like modern music.
I’ve already told you that I was a headbanger in the late 80’s and early 90’s—and I admit, some of it wasn’t that great either—especially lyrically speaking, but I always loved the passion behind the lyrics of bands like Tesla, Dokken, Banshee, and many others. And their sound totally rocked—I say in my best 80’s voice.
Recently, just when I was about to give up on modern music, I started hearing a new (to me) sound. It includes artists like; Gavin DeGraw, Over the Rhine, Anna Nalick, Teddy Geiger, Rachael Yamagata, Howie Day, Daniel Powter, Mieka Pauley, and KT Tunstall. They’re all sort of a mix between soul, rock, and folk. They all have a stripped down sound. And they all have the same passion for their message that was so attractive to me during my headbanger days.
I’ve already written about Over the Rhine here. I suspect I’ll write about some of these other artists in the months to come, depending upon what I think about their music as I dig deeper into it. But more than anything, I just want to offer those of you who are like me—rather set in our ways with no real desire to embrace new things—a little encouragement. Stay open to the possibility of change.
