[fiveminuteplan]

I recently bought a car that doesn't have a CD player yet, so I can't listen to discs or my iPod. I've been forced to turn on the radio while I drive around. It's the first time I've done so for about seven years. I can't help but notice how irrelevant popular music is now. At first, I blamed it on getting older, but I don't think that can explain all of it.

I can't lay the criticism on any particular artist (although Ke$ha and Lady Gaga on the pop side strike me as particularly egregious...annoying). In general, it's just as though everyone has forgotten how to write a song that means something. Maybe they're afraid to? Green Day's Know Your Enemy feels like it might like to make a statement, but we're left with not much more than a mind-numbing, repetitive non sequitur in the end. Left to figure it out, I guess. Weezer has somehow managed to get even more irrelevant than they were after the Green Album. Even Muse's new single is a yawn, IMO.

Before, I was really bitter when it came to the music industry. Now I guess I just don't care. It's an industry that destroyed all my favorite bands and one that spurned every talented group that has come up in Orlando for the past decade. Green Day and Weezer were cool when I was 14. Now they seem like tired, old recycled acts that don't have much more to say. Who knows why? Corporatism, I guess. Big companies have captured Congress and tried to stay one step ahead of technology with legislation, all the while strangling anything new and innovative.

At any rate, here are a couple songs. One is Collide, which I just posted. I realized that I made a production mistake which distorted the piano and vocals. I tried to correct it with this new mix. The other one is a new Chasing Memories.

Last month was the best month I've had for traffic to my website (bandwidth was exceeded). China has a new search engine which rivals Google (in Asia) and a bunch of illegal mp3 websites use it to aggregate content. See You Again (which has been downloaded 500 times or more every month for the past year) got over 800 downloads. Most of these were from China and Russia, and the rest from Korea and Indonesia.

[earlessdog]

Originally Posted by fiveminuteplan

I recently bought a car that doesn't have a CD player yet, so I can't listen to discs or my iPod. I've been forced to turn on the radio while I drive around. It's the first time I've done so for about seven years. I can't help but notice how irrelevant popular music is now. At first, I blamed it on getting older, but I don't think that can explain all of it.

I can't lay the criticism on any particular artist (although Ke$ha and Lady Gaga on the pop side strike me as particularly egregious...annoying). In general, it's just as though everyone has forgotten how to write a song that means something. Maybe they're afraid to? Green Day's Know Your Enemy feels like it might like to make a statement, but we're left with not much more than a mind-numbing, repetitive non sequitur in the end. Left to figure it out, I guess. Weezer has somehow managed to get even more irrelevant than they were after the Green Album. Even Muse's new single is a yawn, IMO.

Before, I was really bitter when it came to the music industry. Now I guess I just don't care. It's an industry that destroyed all my favorite bands and one that spurned every talented group that has come up in Orlando for the past decade. Green Day and Weezer were cool when I was 14. Now they seem like tired, old recycled acts that don't have much more to say. Who knows why? Corporatism, I guess. Big companies have captured Congress and tried to stay one step ahead of technology with legislation, all the while strangling anything new and innovative.

I couldn't agree more. I'm often unsure how to word some of these thoughts particularly, but I think you put a nail to it.
This is why I cut myself off from popular music.
Underground and the lesser underground with real passion and honesty. It's why I find most punk rock so pure, though even punk rock messages get repetitive. So when I find a band that doesn't just sing about "F*** the government" but actually sing about why, then it interests me. Informed bands trying to make a difference. Strike Anywhere, Propagandhi.

Good songs by the way.

[fiveminuteplan]

Originally Posted by earlessdog

I couldn't agree more. I'm often unsure how to word some of these thoughts particularly, but I think you put a nail to it.
This is why I cut myself off from popular music.
Underground and the lesser underground with real passion and honesty. It's why I find most punk rock so pure, though even punk rock messages get repetitive. So when I find a band that doesn't just sing about "F*** the government" but actually sing about why, then it interests me. Informed bands trying to make a difference. Strike Anywhere, Propagandhi.

I like punk music too, but I'd like to see the mainstream be at least somewhat relevant today. We're living in an important time; and if mainstream media (music included) is a reflection of our collective consciousness, we're probably in big trouble.

Originally Posted by earlessdog

Good songs by the way.

thxthxthx

[Skeeter]

"Collide" reminds me of Ben Folds. I like it.

[fiveminuteplan]

Originally Posted by Skeeter

"Collide" reminds me of Ben Folds. I like it.

That's funny, my sister was over here when I was working on it and she said the same thing.

[Skeeter]

It's the combination of the piano, the melody, and the tone of your voice. I think this is one of my favorites of yours.

[RubberChipmunk]

Collide is really good. I like it a lot.

[fiveminuteplan]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it.

[fiveminuteplan]

I've been pretty busy lately. I finished new versions of Far From Me, In the End and Eclipse and posted them on my website. I also finished two new songs. The first one is a song we wrote for our last album that was never released. This is one of two songs left that I wrote with former members of the band. I don't know what I think about it. It's kind of long and noodley.

Worth

Say you want to be there again
You want to know it's the end
You want to feel it sink in
Like teeth in your skin
You never let it happen
You had to think about it
And a childish fantasy
Is not at all what I need

Has it been worth all the hurt?
Or was it ever there at all?
Can you tell me what it's worth?
Cause it was worth another song
But I never thought the dream would be gone

I want to say I tried
You keep it all locked up inside
It never kept me up at night
I'd try to make it right
But something in me died

[fiveminuteplan]

This is the other new one that I wrote with my band Revisionist History before we stopped playing because our guitar player got married and had a baby. It's kind of 80s and has a cool bridge.

Pain

Come out, I've seen your face
It's over
What can you say when the time comes to bury you?
You only convince me to give in when I want to

A battle should come to an end
I pierce you and you pretend

But it's not the pain you want the most
From coast to shining coast
It doesn't matter who's right or wrong
I may forget but my heart knew it all along

I guess in the long run we're dead
Until then it's stuck in your head
A battle should come to an end
I pierce you and you pretend

Don't ever think that we'll take you in
You're fighting in something that you can't win

[guitarfan01]

Sweet songs, John.