The New Music
Every once and a while I like to go to MSN Music just to see what's new out there in videos. Since I don't really listen to top-40 radio and don't have MTV, this is just about the best way I have to check it out. So I sat down for a half hour and went through the lists. The winner of the best new tune?
Marilyn Manson.
It probably says something about the pathetic state of music today that Marilyn Manson wins out, but he's the only one really saying anything of the whole bunch. The problem is though, that his song, "This is the New Shit," isn't really all that great. Good critique (in theory) of modern music, nice fascist imagery -- driving in a Mercedes in his militaristic outfit, but the lyrics are somewhat lacking -- it feels like a half-assed attempt to say something. The music is his usual blend of goth-rock influences, which isn't horrible. The actual title of the censored version though is "This is the New *hit," which he sings in the video. This is one of the more interesting outcomes from censorship since this works to convey basically the same message as the original title, if not better.
Other than him, we have a tune by Mya, who I personally think is pretty cute. The video is somewhat interesting, basically her changing into different outfits (which, given that she’s cute, is all good), but the song is kind of lame. Did I say kind of lame? I meant pretty lame.
Seal is on the list here too, but I found the tune disappointing, which is too bad -- I was always a closet Seal fan. Alien Ant Farm blends a pretty generic (though not horrible) rock tune with an interesting concept video of them crashing the BET awards. Rancid was the biggest disappointment with 'Fall Back Down,' which comes of like a really pathetic attempt to be mainstream.
DMX, ATL, Chingy -- pretty poor stuff. The state of hip-hop these days is really saddening; especially when drivel like this is what's popular. Makes me reach back for Public Enemy when hip-hop was about more than faux-riches and women. (I imagine sometimes the women are faux as well) Maybe The Roots will come out with something soon...
