The Decade Originality Forgot...

Forget what Seal, Benji Madden or the 12 year old girl next door are saying.... when history judges the past decade in music, we won't be using the words "inspirational", "originality" or "thought-provoking". No, you'll more likely be hearing terms like "global corporatisation", "sell-outs", "legalised plagiarism" and "mind-numbing". True, bigname commercial artists have been recycling covers and stealing basslines since Bob Dylan mastered his 3rd chord, just ask the likes of Bryan Ferry, Mick Jagger and Don Walker. But the noughties has seen ripping off (or is the politically correct term 'borrowing'?) old stuff grow from around 2% in the eighties, to around 20% in 2012.

So what's happened to originality in the 21st century? Simple really... recycling a catchy old song to a GarageBand dance-loop is a commercial no-brainer for the corporate music-world. And let's face it, most 10 year olds with a Mac are more-than-adequately qualified to knock a mutant hit single together... they just lack the $10 mill marketing budget, global sales network and steroid-enhanced physique to make it a commercial success. Maybe that's where YouTube comes in... bypassing the corporate fatcats to bring real musicians to slightly more discerning listeners. Im no Lily Allen fan, but kudos to her and the many others who have bypassed the rigid and often brutal corporate pathway, riding on the back of raw talent (is it legal to use the 't' word on the internet?) alone.

Wally 'Gotye' de Backer- breaking the mould... we got-yer back, Wal'...

Yes, the range of commercial music made available to the punters has always been influenced heavily by the corporate Men In Black (speaking of rip-offs... a flick about 2 dudes sporting cool shades and sharp black suits who make shit happen... Blues Brothers anyone? But I digress...), but this has risen to new levels. There are obvious examples of talented musos who have succeeded in recent years despite the corporate cancer, and none more so than Wally de Backer (aka Gotye), who has cracked the iron nut on a global scale, and kudos to you Wal'. But without taking anything away from him, in the '80s there were 5 new Gotye's cropping up every week. Already you can hear the dubbed Mac version of his mega-hit in a club near you, and no doubt Wally's original masterpiece will continue to be dissected and cloned for decades to come. It's even money that the greatest rip-off merchants of our time, The Black-Eyed Peas, are working on a mutant rap version as we speak.... perhaps entitled "Somebody's Bitch I Used To Know"?

Don't be brainwashed by the multinational music corporate 'Men In Black'...

5 symptoms of a decaying music industry that personally give me the shits, and should strike fear into the hearts of anyone learning a musical instrument:

 1. Synthetic Reality TV Pop-stars.

 2. The rise of the "f/-" single. (eg: Justin Bieber f/- Mariah Carey) (lets be honest, there's a strong case for pedophilia charges there). The "f/-" is corporate music's rising and extremely unsubtle cross-promo marketing strategy... and in most cases has absolutely no bearing on a true collaboration of mutual inspiraton by likeminded artists. At last count, around 25% of current Top 40 content are "f/-" singles.

 3. The rise and rise of recycled '80's hits, or parts there-of...

4. The steep and steady decline of local Australian content in Top 40.

5. The slow death of live music. Or to be more specific... live music performed without a Mac...


Don't be part of the problem and dine exclusively on the narrow menu of Big Mac music served up to you by commercial radio, HMV and the Big 4 Global Music Corporations. Look further afield. There is an untapped goldmine of  talented independent artists out there who need your support to pay the rent.

Go get 'em.