Part 1- meat vs. milk;
LSD= *Lead Singer Disease:
*Any condition that causes an otherwise talented singer, to forget she/he is a musician, and act like a clown. *Any condition that blocks said same singer from remembering they are musicians, whilst 'stinking up the place', by missing their musical cue, or singing off key, because they were "entertaining" [themselves]. *Any condition that causes the singer to inflate his own ego to the point that they feel the band is not relevant. *Any condition, brought on by puffing and fame, that leads the now former artist, to becoming addicted to "suck pills"... ad nauseam.
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"The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly"
Melody*
*It's what the band 'secretly' writes, for the singer to find.
So few can hear it, not many can tell... singing "pretty good", to the radio does not make you a good singer. Any player who ever had to sit through bad auditions, can shout "AMEN"??
Let's assume the best of the lot {hic}, gets the gig...
It is now more then important that the lyrics be sharp and thought provoking, the vocals honed, the melody in place, it must be sung with surgical precision... furthermore, one must not sound like another one.
Yes... it takes a talent of abundance, to front a band.
Obviously, vocal prowess is not enough. One must be able to handle ones affairs off the stage, and out of the studio... Even the best singer, must maintain a regiment of self love, and care.
Distractions like hard drugs, burning libido, and general mischief, must be kept at arms length, and mastered with guru like strength...
Alcohol has killed more vocal careers then stylistic and popularity changes...
Sinatra is quoted as saying "I never met a singer worth his salt that didn't smoke 3 packs a day..." and he may have been right... but without proper technique, cigarettes will surely take a toll on vox performance. Not to mention air in-take, and physical stamina...
Add alcohol, heroine, groupie abuse, or any number of "coffin nails", and the singer will be a walking corpse, dragging themselves from gig to gig, being both literally and figuratively "dead weight", to the rest of the band...
"Coooool VOCalzzMan"
Style...
IS style enough?
Let's say you are the most original sounding singer to ever grace a microphone... But you, night after night, sacrifice good technique for "cool" effects... then, you are among the myriad of vocalists who destroyed their instruments permanently... Like Joplin(above), Rose, Steve Walsh, David Gilmour, [add favorite here]... Problems like nodules, tearing, burning, and permanent laryngitis... have caused many "legends", to start from scratch... and try to rebuild vocal strength... an impossible task, if any or more of the causes for instrument neglect aren't eradicated from the life style of the singer...
Repair takes time... windows close... Sometimes the band is a little harsh in expectation, perhaps...
Pete Townsend never tried to play an axe that he smashed the night before... it would be more ridiculous then the smashing of the guitar...
Yet, singers, are expected to, night after night, sound like the album... we know that a singer can't go down to the guitar shop, and buy a new larynx, with processors
and pick ups... If while in the 'Motor City', a "shreddin" front man, shreds his vox, by Montreal, he better sound good again, or there is stress in the band... bad reviews in the press, AND a "buzz" 'round town, of the imminent demise of the once great "leader"... the radio will play an old studio cut, and the jock make a smug comment, "...sounded better in '72, what can I say???"
How much should a band put up with? At what point has a "hiatus" gone into a break up? Is there such a thing as too much patience?
It's a tough gig, singer.
So few masters.
The ones that are touted as such, are considered gods...But gods don't get worse with age... gods don't blow the show... gods don't become fodder for late night monologue "comedy"...
Gods deliver.
To be a "god" of "Rock 'n' Roll", it takes more then 'great vocals'... many who are considered great, had showmanship, had style, looks, verve, energy, and could work a crowd... but beyond the bands originals, and selected cover tunes, singing was not their strength... they are remembered for the show... but a "show" by definition is phony... luck and talent are not the same thing... Skill, makes the great, great. Craftsmanship...
A good singer can do creative things within the iron barred barricade that is a song. Things that a guitarist can only dream of...
But the best singers in rocks history, have not been "Front men"... They could/(can) stand on stage, hit the vocal parts perfectly, and that is impressive... but if one leaves an audience wanting sooo much more, then you leave your band wanting so much more... Steve Perry was good(mmmmmm, does he still front that band?). Mike Reno(Loverboy... who?) had an amazing vocal range, but live it was like watching CSPAN on TV... Don Dokken is sleepy on stage, (but who can argue with that powerhouse singing voice? Bored rock fans, that's who)...
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-Balance-
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Singer vs Shaman
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The Sacred Dance...
Since Dawns creation, the striking of skins stretched across a log, has caused human feet to move to the rhythm of the drum beat... Drums can signify Prayer, petition, communication, and war declaration...
The singer raises their voice...
And with words directed skyward, or inward, or outward... Have communicated with the music... within the music.
Does G-d take singers seriously?
one must conclude, "Yes".
The Sacred Dance Continues...
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So many great singers make themselves a joke.
So many talented vocalists write sophomoric, and sexually charged lyrics. So few have much, if anything to say... they write tripe, and act the fool...
Modern Rock...
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Some claim the advent of Disco was the death of rock and roll... The end of the 1970's, awash in designer jeans, and designer drugs... the population embraced the drum machine, en mass... Lyrics, thought provoking lyrics had all but gone... it became all about the dance now... not a sacred dance, heralding petition and praise to the Creator... but a cocaine induced gyration, a hypnosis, that bred the disco nightclub lifestyle of Party, Party, Party... "[We] love[d] the night life, [we] love[d] to boogie..."
Dead by the early 1980's, disco can hardly be blamed for rocks gasping last breath...Lyrics, thought provoking lyrics had all but gone... this is true... but we could not always find the best lyrics in the best songs. In the 70's true perfection in rock, was found in a style they called "Progressive". Bands made concept albums, and concept was keen. It was not the most lucrative brand of rock, and by the early 1980's Progressive rockers like Genesis, Rush, and Alan Parsons Project, had abandoned the 16 minute deep concept, rock symphony, and were creating disco-esque pop/rock... flying in the face of earlier work like "Spirit Of Radio", "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", and "Tales Of Mystery And Imagination"...
So, there we were... hungry for rock. The bands who labored endlessly thru the 70's, playing what someone dubbed "Heavy Metal", suddenly were en vogue. They were everywhere... Lesser versions of Van Halen and Led Zeppelin... with golden boy "front men" on mic to drive the "80's Ladies" screaming mad with wiggles, kicks, and screams... most could sing well (enough)... most put a lot into the stage show, there were some great "rock acts" in the 1980's... unfortunately, most of the "hair bands" of the 80's wrote lyrics almost identical to the lascivious, and mindlessly misogynistic rhyming disco... Sex, drugs, and "rock 'n' Roll"...
Gone was the great uprising promised by 60's Rock Bands...
Now... we had leather clad rockers, "fuck[ing] like a Beast"...
Even from those singers considered "the Best", we had bacchanalia, misogyny, and praise to the penis...
Role models, who modeled a Junior High locker room mentality, when it came to words...
fashion rock...
Few of those bands are even remembered...
Enter 1990, enter "Grunge"...
Now... rock is off balance again...
we still have great rock songs.
Most even have great lyrics, finally.
Not many of the bands have what we can call "great singing voices"... Most of the so-called great lyrics, are lost, because we can not understand the words... style, over substance, with a punk attitude... BassAckwards...
Also, in rebellion to the plastic rock arena extravaganza, we have artists who are not interested in 'performing"...
with little to no show, left in the showmanship...
Shoegaze rock was born... (some of those "slackers" even had the audacity to use a drum machine...)
Soulless. Lifeless. (???)
More of the same with a brand new name...
Rock... is fucking dead...
Has the world been changed by music?
I would say, yes, but not for the better...
Musicians have proven to be less then powerful influencer's for good...
After Scantron machines were installed in Christian Bookstores, and Major Labels saw the money to be made from "Positive Rock", they scooped up artists and labels by the truckload throughout Christendom... Churning out more of the same crap with 'Jesus lyrics'... Watered down of course... and to what end?
Seems year after year, the same thing is happening in the "industry"... formula...
Baby Boomers make big bucks...
So, Led Zeppelin now sells Cadillacs.
Freddy Mercury's thought provoking and pain filled lyrics are turned into a "Broadway" style Las Vegas smegma fest...
I can't listen to classic rock radio, with out relating near every "hit" still in rotation to products, goods, and services...
It has indeed, "been a long time since I rock and rolled"...
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To Be Continued...
La 'ive' Boheme
with a peck to grow on...
2 comments:
You write very well.
Thanks!!!
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