The saying goes, "time heals all wounds" but I beg to differ. Music heals. It is more than just sound, a beat, or lyrics. It tells a story in a way that simple words just can not illustrate. It is relatable, reliable and more importantly, it is art. A composer is an artist, beautifully and carefully creating masterpieces. Music influences people's lives more than the average person would think.
In 2013, a documentary was produced. It was titled Sound City, and it was directed by Dave Grohl, the lead singer of The Foo Fighters and former drummer for Nirvana. This film, officially selected by Sundance Film Festival in 2013, is about the famous record label known as Sound City Studios. Sound City Studios was located in Los Angeles, California and produced real artists: Neil Young, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, and the list goes on. This studio, with shagged carpeted walls, dirty floors, and old furniture, became home for so many artists. Most of them claim recording there never felt like work, but more like a group of close friends just hanging out and playing music.
Music has changed. Technology has changed; it has advanced further which has caused the way music is written, recorded, and produced to be vastly different. Sound City, unfortunately, went out of business because of these changes. Dave Grohl bought the iconic recording console that was used at Sound City and it is now put to excellent use at his recording studio, Studio 606. Dave is very passionate about music and because of his love for the good old days, he is notorious for commenting on the music world and how it has changed.
Below is just a small sample of the some of the things music-genius Dave Grohl has been quoted to say about music nowadays and the music industry. Hopefully this will help the rest of the world to understand where us old school music lovers are coming from. Long live Rock & Roll!
1. "Because you have things like 'American Idol' and you've got radio stations that play music made entirely by computers, it's easy to forget there are bands with actual people playing actual instruments that rock."
2. "When I listen to music these days, and I hear Pro Tools and drums that sound like a machine - it kinda sucks the life out of music."
3. "When I think about kids watching TV show like American Idol or The Voice, then they think 'Oh, okay, that's how you become a musician. You stand in line for eight f*cking hours with 800 people at a convention center and then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you its not f*cking good enough.' Can you imagine?"
4. "I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves. That's what bums me out about those shows where people are judged so harshly by f*cking musicians that hardly even play an instrument on their own f*cking albums. It makes me really mad."
5. Pop music in America right now is so superficial. It is fun to listen to, to turn up in your car when you are in traffic, but there is no substance at all. It is devoid of any meaning. I am not just saying that as a 45 year old rock musician, I am saying that as a human being. If the Number One song is about your butt, that's a problem.
6. "There is no right or wrong. There is only your voice, your voice screaming through an old recording console, singing from a laptop, echoing from a street corner, a cello, a turntable, a guitar. It doesn't matter. What matters most is that it is your voice. Cherish it. Respect it. Nurture it. Challenge it. Stretch it. Scream it until its gone. Because everyone is blessed with at least that. And who knows how long it will last."
7. "It is not about being perfect, it is not about sounding absolutely correct. It is not about what goes on in a computer. Its about what goes on in here *points to his head* and what goes on in here *points to his heart*."
8. "I want people to hear our music. I don't care if you pay $1 or f*cking $20 for it, just listen to the f*cking song."
9. "It is obvious that rock radio has been suffering from some kind of formulaic-playlist syndrome over the past 10 years. The feeling that you had the first time you heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Roxanne" or "Smells like Teen Spirit"- that is what radio is for. Radio should not be warm milk. It should be moonshine."
10. "We've just done what we do for so long that every once in a while we'll stick our heads our of our little hole and think: 'Where did all the rock bands go? And they're using computers?! That's not fair!'"
11. "Every kid deserves the opportunities that I have had. Every kid deserves all the things that I have received though music. When I think about the clean slate and when I think about the kids in school that have that clean slate, I think that we should do as much as we can to give kids the opportunity to discover music because it can change our lives for the better. Forever."
12. "When I meet a young musician and they f*ck themselves up because they've read too many rock n' roll biographies, it makes me a little sad. There is other ways of doing it, you don't have to get strung out on heroin to write a good song."
13. "For the last f*cking time: Rock and Roll doesn't need to be saved. It is alive and well, thank you very much."