Its always hard to figure out how to start something like this. Should I say something about me? About this blog and what I hope it will be? About why I'm doing it? Something pithy and clever? All of the above? Hard to decide, but I'm going to give it a shot, and here it is: It should not be surprising to anyone to hear that we live in a golden age of music, thanks to the digital revolution. Thanks to the near-instantaneous accessibility of nearly all forms of music thanks to the internet, there's almost nothing you can't download or at least read about.
And this is clearly a good, nay, a wonderful thing. I'm not that old (43), but I spent enough of my life pre-internet to remember what it was like, and it was terrible, ESPECIALLY if you wanted to learn more about music off the beaten path of popularity. Back in those days you really only have two choices if you wanted to find something strange and underground: (1) find out about it, and hopefully listen to it, through a cool, usually older, friend, friend of a friend, or friend's older brother; (2) wander into an alternative record store (if your community was lucky enough to have one), find some album from some weird band you'd heard something about or which had an interesting cover, and roll the dice that it was actually worth the 11 bucks or so it usually cost on import. The media certainly wasn't much help; there was a pretty big gap (which fit almost exactly across the span of my own teenage years) between the heyday of Creem and Crawdaddy and the rise of Spin magazine (which for all its faults has always tried to cover alternative music). Sure, there were 'zines, but these were usually only sporadically available. It wasn't a lot of fun.
But now, thanks to the internet, anyone anywhere of any age can find out TONS of stuff about even the most obscure song, band, musical movement, etc. Between the large outlets (Wikipedia, All Music Guide, iTunes, Amazon.com, etc.) and the individual band pages, tribute pages, and yes other blogs, there is a plethora of information available to one and all.
So then, why start this blog? Isn't there already enough information out there, possibly even too much information (or at least too many choices of where to get it)? Possibly. And yet . . . And yet, I still have hope that this might become a legitimate additional outlet for the discussion of interesting and obscure music. Why? Well, partly because I'm an optimist who hopes/thinks that other folks with similar interests might end up here and add their thoughts to whatever I write. And partly because even with all these other options, there will always be the need for COMMUNITY, for places for like-minded individuals to "gather" (if only electronically) and share their thoughts, beliefs, agreements, disagreements, and passions.
So that's as close to a manifesto as I am going to come. I should also set a few ground rules, if only for myself. First, I intend to share my thoughts on the music I love, which very often happens to be stuff you don't find on the Billboard top 100 too often. This music comes from all genres and eras and artists and is not limited to any specific type of music. Second, it is not the intent of this blog to proselytize, though I admit it will often be hard to restrain my passion for many of these songs and artists. Thirdly and related, I REALLY do not want this to become a forum for a "this music rules so THAT music must SUCK" mindset. If I've learned anything at all about music (or life) in my 43 years its that nothing is "either/or" in this world, where in order for one thing to be good another thing has to be BAD. Fourthly, I want to make it clear up front that I do NOT work for a record company, radio station, or other media outlet, I am not under contract by any of the bands I will talk about here, and I have absolutely nothing to gain financially from any of my ramblings printed herein. I am not trying to get you to buy these albums for any monetary gain on my part, I'm just trying to share the music I love with people who might also like it too.
In addition, here are some things you might expect from me. First, I get most of my information from the big, traditional sources (Wikipedia, AMG, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) but will try to add what I can beyond what can be found in these usual sources. That also means that not everything is going to be 100% accurate. If I'm wrong, PLEASE TELL ME. Its the only way I'll learn. Second, like all blogs, this one will be semi-autobiographical. It is impossible (and pointless) to try to do something like this without divulging information about who you are, where you come from, what you're like, etc. I'm going to try not to make this into some "all about me" page but I think some background information is always important for setting the context.
So I think that's everything for now. Bear with me, my hope is that this WILL get better, more interesting, more exciting, and more relevant. Baby steps first.
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