What is Good music?

I am going to compare 3 music acts here (all of which were in town recently) and try to understand what exactly is 'good music'.

The 1st one is the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  From what little I knew of them from over a year plus ago, was that they kind of had an interesting Alternative sound to them, which I liked. Being the music fan that I am, it is only inevitable that every now and then, I would happen to stumble across cool, relatively unknown bands mostly with the general Alternative Music genre tagged on them (and this includes the fact that they are not played on our local pop-friendly radios at all). So I got the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. What few songs I heard and had liked from them is irrelevant here. The point is, when I heard they were going to be one of the first few bands scheduled to play here in Singapore this year, I was quite psyched to attend their gig. However, being a fresh graduate and prudent about my expenses, I reluctantly thought to pass up on this one just from looking at the front-row ticket price- going at $168 each if I remember correctly . In addition, I had went on Youtube to check out how this music act were live and to see if they were really worth me forking out the bucks. I came across a couple of vids which were their most popular: Gold Lion and Rich. And my verdict?

What the hell is that woman weirdly singing and screaming? hell, you don't actually call that music do you? I just don't get it. If she were anywhere close to Taylor Momsen and actually held a decent tune, I would have put my dollar bills down in a heartbeat.

Needless to say, my verdict plunged straight to a negative figure. I wouldn't pay to attend a screamfest. A screamfest by a female at that.

So the concert came and went. Apparently, the YeahYeahsYeahs got to play to a sold-out venue and people were all gushes about it the next day, especially for the aforementioned female lead singer. It seemed the gig was immensely entertaining what with her crazy antics, costume changes and props for the audience to play with (confetti and giant bouncing eyeballs among those).

Now let's move onto the 2nd one. Who else? but Green Day. Let me just get out what the general verdict was:  

'very hard to top' and 'best concert in Singapore in years'.

Among the pyrotechnics (which the concertgoers totally didn't expect btw), supersoakers, numerous crowd-surfings, t-shirts and toilet rolls being blasted into the audience, the band kept pulling fans onto the stage, one after the other. Not only to singalong but to finish off with stage-diving back down. Tell me you don't get shivers when you hear the massive crowd sing in unison with him in Are We The Waiting (which incidentally, sees a fan crowdsurfing and another being pulled onstage =D) . The highlight of the concert, from this video (of which I stumbled across before reading it in reviews) which I saw, is when another fan was pulled onstage to lead the band and sing one whole song (it almost never happens while the concert is ongoing) by himself! The stage was literally his and he OWNED it. It looked like everyone had so much fun. Since then, I have gone to watch similar vids where Green Day did this in other countries and can I just say that Singapore's the best one?? This is no easy feat, considering how uptight we generally are, and how hoarse and overwhelmed the fan must have been, how he must hold a decent tune nonwithstanding and not scream and mess up the song like what other rowdy drunk fans from all the other videos do. The Singaporean fan must have seemed dorky at first with his pseudo rock-star posturings but he finished off rocking the mic man. Mucho Respect.

In short, the charismatic veteran performer Billy Joe had the Singapore crowd eating right out of the palm of his hand, regardless of all that jazz.

Finally, onto the 3rd music act. Crowd Lu. I went down for his free showcase last Friday, not quite knowing what to expect. I mean, I've only listened to a grand total of ONE of his songs, Oh Yeah. But something about it caught my attention, could be the intricate and unconventional melody, could be his infectious upbeat manner of singing it, or ok i'll admit it, could be I just wanted to see him rock out on his guitar maybe. And that could-be something prompted me to catch him live.

My review? Well, first, Crowd is very unassuming and way ordinary-looking. His appeal definitely lies in him being humble and letting his talents (of singing and playing the guitar) speak for themselves. And his songs are just so darn carefree of which he performed three that night- 1) Oh yeah 2) I no 3) Bye bye go go. They simply have this effect of bringing a silly smile to people's faces and make them want to break out in jiggles. Not adding the fact that he always has to say 'Yeah' before executing and after finishing every song.

I'm looking forward to purchasing and playing his whole album of songs. I'm sure it will light up any of my days considerably. And the backstory of how he started playing music makes it all the more poignant. He was in a freak car accident while still studying in university and both his legs were badly injured. As a result, he picked up the guitar to while away his time and started to take it seriously. Little wonder then why his songs have such a consistent running theme of Positivity even for mundane topics like eating your breakfast in his song Rock n Roll Style. Regardless whether his record label capitalizes on his story as a marketing gimmick, Crowd's music is real and tangible. He's not just a one-hit wonder, having just won the taiwan Golden Melody awards (Chinese version of the Grammys) for best new artiste and best composer. And I do know that the Taiwanese take their awards seriously, awarding people whom they genuinely think are worthy of recognition. So big props to Crowd being the real deal, a talented musician.:D

Speaking of Crowd, so what is good music?...


...It's when you know you've got the crowds movin'.

No matter how screechy, short and ordinary-sounding, or nerdy the musician is, when you have the power and appeal to gather the masses in the form of kindred spirits who appreciate some quality about you, and when you give them a hellavu good time which hopefully they can take away for a long time to come, then they'll appreciate the goods you give. In this case, we'll call it Good Music.

Hence, the makers of Good Music darn well deserve the receivers' love and adoration. No matter how 'bad' the music is, who is to say it's not Good when you're having a good time? Then again, if you're so good technical and performance-wise but the audience is not lapping it up, who is to say it's Good?

If you could get the crowds pumping in such a place as the Esplanade like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs did, or unite the young and old folks for one night while giving fans multiple chances to come up onstage and experience a rocking time with their favourite band as Green Day did; or if you could spread the message of good cheer and attempt to change the world at large through your music as Crowd Lu does, then I very well consider their works Good Music baby!

Don't ya agree?


PS: I leave you with this visual video as an example of the raw effects Good music produces.

Bring on the next American Idol y'all!

ok, I wanted to give a follow-up to the Singapore Idol results, so Imma do it in the next post. Anways, yesterday our local TV aired (less than 24 hours after the US broadcast) the first episode for American Idol 2010. My whole family settled comfortably in their usual positions as we waited for the show to start. I actually felt a tingling sensation in anticipation. It's pretty much tradition for us to follow every season at some point. And the fact that last year's finale contestants attracted so much attention and that 'Glambert' (aka runner-up Adam Lambert) is doing so good in album sales with all that publicity, you can say that we're still in the heat and rush of AI fever you know? In addition, I had this friend whom I got acquainted with last year who blasts only American Idol music. She did this for a roadtrip we went on together and I must say, when you keep playing Idol songs one after the other for hours, it rubs off you slowly, surely and positively. Not only do you get all feel-goody, but you also can't help being impressed with the polished-ness and talent of the Idols alumni. I recommend doing the same sometime if you haven't, having just AI songs (doesn't matter if it's a mish-mash from various seasons) in your playlist and playing them all in one shot, and you'll know what I mean. The American Idol series is such a strong franchise, and is still going strong. AI means serious business. Because eventually, the winner can and will be, not only America's next sweetheart, but a world superstar.

When you look at the production value from yesterday's debut episode, there were so many human stories in the foreground of the contestants. It seemed a bit like a human-interest documentary, cuz if you notice, there were many scenes when Ryan Seacrest was hosting where he was all alone, standing at a quiet scenic place and commentating on the contestants. I highly commend the producers for really getting the essence of these ordinary people dreaming to achieve something extraordinary from their audition experiences. Not only Music, but Storytelling with heart, inspires and empowers people, and changes life. I'm ripping off the slogan of Brand's+ Wang Lee Hom's current talent search and campaign. Music is life, life is music. In this way, it's my belief that both are intrinsic. Another thing I really enjoyed about last night's debut episode, was the palpable and comfortable chemistry among the judges. They really know what they're talking about, bouncing off each other, and they are oozing with good intentions for all the wannabe contestants. After all this time, I have really come to see that Simon is a good guy after all. Maybe he has mellowed, I don't know. But he seems almost grand-fatherly in his demeanor and assessments. As one contestant commented last night, 'he's just keepin' it real. I like it.'

For diving more into the hooplah and hoo-hah of what American Idol means, 1)  imma (and you should too) check out this book which goes for lent at our local libraries:

2) and imma keep looking forward to the next episode. And to the next one and the next. Speaking of which, I'm running late into keeping this entry to the 10.30pm timeframe as the second episode is airing now as I type.

Gotta scoot. Miz Cowell, out~ ;)