I have not done this before, but I am hijacking Paula’s blog
for one of my own. This is Dan, and two things occurred this week that require
comment. The first was that we (I) installed the Sonos wireless sound system in
our house, which allows us to stream music everywhere. It is a slick
system—long overdue. The second was that Nickleback was rated in the realms of
lice, Genghis Khan and congress. Having just re-read Bill Bryson’s “A Short
History of Nearly Everything” I have a renewed respect for lice. Congress is
congress—we get the government we deserve. It could be so much worse. We could
be Italy. Or Greece. Or China’s Coal Mine (Australia.) But we are here, and that’s cool. Now,
to Nickelback…
Music is uber-subjective. There are people who think the Red
Hot Chili Peppers or Linkin Park or The Dave Matthews Band are not some
promoter’s joke about “I can pack 560 pounds of crap in a 10 pound bag and get
people to pay to see it.” To me, on the new Sonos system, they get the big
Thumbs Down immediately. But somewhere in the internetosphere they are loved.
As It Should Be. But back to Nickleback…
I love music that tells a story. Whether that is Gil Scott
Heron or Marty Robbins or Warren Zevon or Bruce Cockburn or Poison (Poison just
got a huge bump here) if it’s a good short story, I’m in. Nickelback does that,
and it is now a Sonos favorite (along with Warren and Bruce).
But we as MUSICIANS hate Nickelback! Chill. Those of us with
real jobs are OK with them. I think about a world run by and for musicians…and
smile. It would be a race to see if you died of dysentery or froze to death as
(we in the utility industry like to say) you enjoyed “the splendor of God’s
darkness.” You are the soundtrack for us to keep the wheels on. It’s not the
other way around.
Sure, we have seen the aging, balding and paunchy (I am
reminded to Milwaukee’s Wild Cherry, the great 80’s hair metal cover band, but
there are so many others) who belch out teenage angst with the crowd getting a
contact high from the Rogaine. There is a monstrous chasm between popular and
important, and those who don’t see it are lost in their own fog. Back to
Nickelback. Genghis Kahn had the largest contiguous empire in history and
promoted religious tolerance across all of it. Lice keep us from suffocating in
clouds of our own dead skin cells. Congress is congress. And Nickelback is
just that. Look at this photograph…
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