Wednesday, 17 December 2008

• Currently Skinny Legs and All By Tom Robbins see related

  Viva La Vigne

  If there was ever a CD that you must have in your car, it is Viva La Vida by the British band Coldplay.  I consciously bought this CD at Best Buy a few months ago, and although I have never fully listened to it, I know that it is the best CD that will be released in 2008.  Just to be clear, I don’t consider myself to be a Coldplay “fan” in any meaningful capacity.  I enjoy their music (I suppose) whenever I hear it, but I am far from being a Coldplay “enthusiast.”  Coldplay makes music which is fairly listenable, and their contributions to the piano-rock renaissance cannot be denied.  No one can rock the piano like Chris Martin (except for maybe Tim Rice-Oxley from the British band Keane, but they might be the same person.  It’s very possible that the band “Keaneplay” might be a singular entity masquerading as two separate bands.  How the hell should I know?  I’m not a Briton.), and I’m sure I’ll appreciate Coldplay more when I’m 50 years old.  I suppose my official stance on them today is that I’m indifferent.  I will listen to them if they’re on the radio, but I will not actively search for their CD if Nicole Alvarez doesn’t play Violet Hill on the Furious 5 @ 9 on KROQ.  If all music was banished from the world, and if Chris Martin and I were standing right next to each other, I suppose my position would be slightly more “pro-Coldplay."  But, as of right now, I really don’t care, although they are undeniably the greatest band in the world.  That is exactly why I own their CD.  But, there is a specific reason as to why I keep this CD exclusively in my car.  The type of music you play in your car is a reflection of who you are, and no one cares more about who you are than the person who is sitting in your passenger seat.  Everybody loves Coldplay, which is why they must be in rotation in your car when you have a passenger.  Coldplay is rock music that is not overbearing.  It’s pop music that’s not overproduced.  It’s also hiphop, though without the hiphop (they allegedly did a song with Kanye West).  No one will ever judge you for playing Coldplay in your car.  This type of behavior might be considered mindless, superficial, and unambitious, and it absolutely is!  But so what?  You never get a second chance to make a first impression.  For every one person who thinks Coldplay is lame, there are 50 other people who think Coldplay is greater than Jesus.  I don’t have any strong feelings for or against Coldplay, but having Coldplay around is always a good decision.

  My car audio system is equipped to hold six compact discs.  Right now Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and two rock/pop music compilations occupy three of these slots.  These CDs are ripped and ready to go should I need their services to entertain any passengers that travel in my car.  The other three slots are occupied by all three albums by Avril Lavigne, and these CDs never get played if someone else besides me is in the car.  This is because these songs largely appeal to 12-year old girls, and I’m fully aware that if I, a male “grown-up,” am seen blasting Sk8er Boi through the 8-speaker system, I would probably have tomatoes thrown at my windshield.

  Ostensibly, I am an Avril Lavigne fan.  I have all of her albums and B-side singles, and I know the lyrics to upwards of 80% of her songs.  But, I’m also conscious to the fact that people despise her.  I like her music, but I’ll be the first to admit that she might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier.  When her first album, Let Go, hit the charts in 2002, she was a 17-year old tomboy punk trying to make a fashion statement with wifebeaters and neckties.   When her second album, Under My Skin, was released two years later, she re-characterized herself as being dark and Gothic, and she sang about more serious topics such as sex, depression, and suicide.  In 2007 she transformed herself again with her third album, The Best Damn Thing.  She put on a skirt, colored her hair striking blonde, and started dancing like Britney Spears in her videos.  Her music became blatantly pop, and many of her fans felt betrayed by her new sound.  When asked in numerous interviews about it, she said that she wasn’t seventeen anymore, and her new sound is just a reflection of her growing up.  And therein lies the Avril paradox.  She is six years older from when she debuted, but if you’ve ever heard the boneheaded lyrics to Girlfriend, you would think that it was written by a 12-year old on the verge of puberty.  Her entire third album is the epitome of girly bubblegum-pop, and she’s kind of delusional if she thinks her music is more “grown-up.”  Based on her music, Avril is not getting older; in fact, she may be the only person in the world who is actually going backwards in time and getting younger.  I love Avril Lavigne, but she’s kind of a dumbass. 
  

  This is not to say that I don’t like The Best Damn Thing.  In fact, I think it’s her best damn album.  There is no doubt that Avril is a talented singer and songwriter, so it interests me why she seems to piss people off as much as she does.  The average American citizen doesn’t seem to like her very much.  Right now I’m sitting at an average Starbucks store on an average Thursday evening and I just asked a random Starbucks employee what she thinks about Avril Lavigne.  I asked, “Do you have any strong feelings, positive or negative, about Avril Lavigne?”  Although she may have been slightly annoyed by the randomness of the question, she replied, “Not really, but she’s kind of a poseur.”  Considering Avril’s intentional metamorphosis from a punk-rock grrrrl to a high school cheerleader, this response seemed warranted. 

  I suppose I can understand why people feel this way.  The Best Damn Thing is a far departure from what her older songs sounded like.  Avril’s numerous transformations have unfortunately classified her as “hateable.”  However, this phenomenon is nothing new to music.  At some point in many artists’ career (this is usually their third album), they try new things and explore their creativity, which often leaves their fans confused and befuddled.  This happened to Liz Phair in 1998 when she released her third album, whitechocolatespaceegg.  This album was panned by critics as it was clearly not the rock-n-roll album that her previous two albums were, and many fans felt betrayed.  We all expect our favorite artists to produce a certain type of music, and that’s why music fans are kind of unreasonable.  I can understand not liking a product that’s put out by a musician, but I can’t understand the concept of feeling betrayed by this.  Avril Lavigne and Liz Phair are free-thinking human beings who can make any type of music they want, and they’re under no obligation to make the type of music we feel we’re entitled to.

  Here’s the stupid (and transcendent) thing about pop music fans (me included).  We’re not fans of the artist inasmuch as we’re fans of the way that their music makes us feel.  More specifically, we’re fans of how music reminds us of particular moments in our lives.  Music is nothing more than the sonic manifestation of our emotions, and musicians are nothing more than the mere chroniclers of them.  Have you ever been dumped by a significant other?  Have you ever had your heart shattered into a million pieces?  I suspect that you have, and I suspect that every song that was popular at that time seemed as if it was describing your exact situation.  For example, while I love Eternal Flame by The Bangles (yeah!) because it was the right song at the right time (urgh), I pretty much detest The Bangles for their post-Eternal Flame work.  We listen to musicians as if it’s our first time hearing them.  I listen to The Bangles with the ears of a love-lost middle-school dork, and it pisses me off that their new music doesn’t make me feel like I’m in a cheesy middle school romance again.  By that same token, this is the reason why artists such as the Beastie Boys and Coldplay never have this problem.  Every Beastie Boys song has sounded the same since Licensed to Ill was released in 1985 (which is why they appeal to exclusively old school hiphop fanatics and rock music headbangers with bad taste).  Also, every Coldplay single since 2005 has sounded like a tepid remix of Speed of Sound (which is why they appeal to lovestruck teenage girls and male residents of West Hollywood).  Their music hasn’t changed and neither have their fans.  This isn’t necessarily right or wrong; it’s a formula that works for them.  Avril Lavigne might be an idiot (this is true), but we shouldn’t fault her for reinventing herself every 2.5 years.  We should fault ourselves for not reinventing ourselves with her.

  I don’t know if I necessarily believe everything I just said, but it makes sense to me at this time right now.  Why’d I have to go and make things so complicated?   Listening to Coldplay in my car might be pretentious, and listening to Avril with my windows rolled up might make ME a poseur.  But, I promise you you’re never gonna find me fakin’  it.  No.  No.  No.
  

  • 12:00 AM
  • 318 Views
  • 26 eProps
  • 14 Comments