I’m hanging out with some friends:  They are all musicians and we’re philosophizing about the future of music.  This may have something to do with the various substances that are being passed around.  They’re all talking about the artists who influenced them and the rock stars they would like to be like when it hits me.  That’s impossible.  We have come to the end of the rock star era.  There will never be one again.

This past summer, when all the celebrities were dying, everyone was writing about the end of the “monoculture.”  The monoculture is the pop culture that everyone has a shared consciousness of, whether or not they are fans of it.  I don’t agree that is necessarily true.  In twenty years, I think everyone is going to remember being obsessed with LOST and their iPhone apps.  I do believe that it’s true about music though.  I think in 20 years, when people are talking about the music they liked now, they are more likely to get blank stares in return.  And you can already see this happening, now.  I have to admit, until this past summer, I had no idea who Lady Gaga was, which was way later than anyone else.  How did this happen, though?

The beginning of the end for rock stars came with the advent of The Real World.  The MTV show was among the type of programming that eventually led to MTV not showing anymore music videos.  While the M in MTV is meaningless now, it used to be where people who enjoyed all types of popular music turned to see what was playing.  For college students in the 90’s, it was constantly on in the background.  And whether you liked Rap or Metal, there was a show for you to watch on MTV, so everyone was constantly aware of what was popular among everyone else.  But that is not there anymore.

Another reason for the death of the rock star is the Internet.  The Internet opened up the world of music in ways that no one could have ever imagined, and the recording industry is still recovering from this.  From Napster to Myspace Music, fans of music have been able to sample more artists than ever before.  So, more diverse types of music are getting a fanbase in more places.  This also means that more people are finding things that they enjoy, but no one else around them does.  This stops being shared with a large group of people.

And the final reason is the rise of the iPod.  Specifically, its the effect the iPod has had on radio.  Everyone knows radio is dying.  It used to be that whether you liked the music or not, at some point during the day you would probably listen to the radio.  Even if you had some CDs in your car, at some point you would get tired of the music in your collection and put on the radio for a little while.  This would give you a taste of what everyone else who was listening to the radio was listening to at the time.  These days, with the library of music that people carry in their iPods, its far less likely that they will get tired of all the music they have available to them.  If someone feels like listening to something they don’t usually listen to, they just queue it up on their iPods.

Because there’s no more channels for everyone to experience what everyone else is listening to, and because there are a lot more different types of music, there is a smaller chance of a nation-wide shared musical culture.  Since there won’t be any more acts that are universally popular, there won’t be anymore rock stars.  So what do musicians have to look forward to?  My drunk friends and I talked about that, too, but I’ll save that for next week’s article.

Here’s the source for the wonderful sunrise above! Don’t agree with Neto? Let him know in the comments!

Image is a huge factor in rock music.  For lack of a more articulate term, I typically observe musicians and performers constantly attempting to appear “cool.”  Why bother?  It seems like being a talented musician and performer should be effortless once the musician is confident in his or her career.  Why are people not just comfortable being themselves?

Rock musicians are only suffering on a bigger scale from what we all face.  When we talk to other people, are we constantly thinking to ourselves, “what does this new person think of me?”  The image we project becomes the part of our personality that will be the first impression.  So we try to perfect this impression, and end up sometimes agonizing over it.  We are control freaks who want absolute control over our image.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing or controlling what others’ impressions of us will be.  So instead of dropping the whole idea, we hyper analyze and obsess.

I was watching a video promoting a certain band’s new live documentary of one show.  The members of the band are fantastic musicians.  And yet, all the editing is clearly geared toward making the band members look as absolutely good and polished as possible.  So the video ended up making me suspicious of what the editing is covering up, and also feeling an urge to see rock musicians stop caring about image.  Of course, anyone who is able to live in the public eye comfortably must have nerves of steel or something; a certain confidence that isn’t born overnight.

As a society, we trip ourselves up when we demand perfection from others.  If we all forgave others’ awkwardness and mistakes and didn’t expect a flawless show all the time, we would be easing the pressure on ourselves too.  Part of something appearing cool is that it tries to appeal to others in a certain way.  In this commercial, consumer-oriented society, we want our personality traits to appeal to others, and we want to only see what is appealing in front of us.  This type of vision leaves a lot of important factors about life out.  In my personal, ideal world, individuals would be comfortable and effortlessly be themselves, even when there is an audience.  I think as a society we can demand more:   Not more perfection, but more acceptance of imperfection.

The source for the first image is here. The source for the second image is here!

It seems now I finally understand. Selling out is that one, final crime, isn’t it? Oh, but it never hurts the musician; it only hurts the fans. Countless bands have never sold out. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd claim that they have not. Dylan only recently could be suspected of it. But so many bands have, and they know it. Let’s define selling out as simply as possible:

Selling out: When a musician or band uses their music to gain money or some other item.

There, is that good enough? If this is the definition, then why are we, as fans, concerned about something we didn’t make being used as a product to raise money we don’t deserve?

This only made sense to me recently, when I began to think about the bands and musicians I listen to, and when I thought about the issues I face as creator and editor of this blog. There are times in life where one feels very complete or very comfortable with their schedule. You can feel surrounded by friends, do the same thing every week and know, for the most part, what will happen in the future. But if you take something away, say a best friend, then that castle of comfort has crumbled and, if you aren’t so good at recovery, can stay in shambles.

AM! house show in 2009. Sold out...?

So, I looked back on why it bothered me when Against Me! signed with Fat Wreck and then with Sire, or when Bright Eyes became so popular even though I had already heard five of his albums. It bothered me because it felt like they had left me. These aren’t superstar groups, indeed, I could play the same chords they did and it usually felt like I could come up with the same types of lyrics. And it’s important to note the types of bands or musician who can cause such anger in selling out. It’s an anger stemmed from bands that have been communicating with us for so long, in sharing our same fears and doubts and just spitting it out, mouth frothing in angst, without the help of fancy producers or purchased writers. Against Me!, Green Day and any other band that started out small and were socially conscious will never be able to connect with us, the fans, on the same level that they used to. And that’s what hurts so much when it happens. It’s like they just stood up and walked out. They’ve traded in a shitty Epi acoustic for a shiny Gibson they’ll never have to pay for. They’ve traded us in. They’ve sold out.

But it’s not their fault. It’s just our reaction. And we have to move on.

Because, bands and musicians don’t have a choice. There are only two paths that music leads you onto: die quickly or slowly fade away. Both choices suck, because one means, like Hot Water Music or The Need Machine, I’ll never see them live again. Or like Against Me! and Weezer, they never really connect the same way they used to. But we have to move on, because just as we choose different routes in our life, they have chosen a different route for theirs. But stay calm. They’ve already sacrificed for us. They’ve already created that perfect song or album for us to connect with. They did know, at one time, what it was like to be a common person, struggling through life and government. And deep down, I’m sure they still know what it’s like, it’s just harder for them to write songs about it now that their lives have changed. They’re living life a little differently than us now. But I have a feeling, that when we’re all older, or if you already are older, those artists, Clapton, Dylan, Gabel, Oberst, you and me, we’re all going to be playing those old songs we used to love and connect with. The musician may have sold out, but those songs and those feelings never will.

Which favorite bands of yours do you think have sold out!? Tell me in the comments and we’ll both listen to some of their tunes! Stay tuned tomorrow for a post by Vodes!

Singer/songwriter and musician Jeanna Murphy often mentions how music was a part of her life since childhood even though she had little training until she reached college and changed her major to music.  She stored music she heard from Disney films away in her mind to be able to deconstruct them and use what she learned later in her work.  You can hear these early influences on her debut album Magic which she is self-publishing.  In this interview, I ask about her start in music, her current album, and how her training affects her enjoyment of music.

On your website bio you tell about how you got into music as a child, but had no training in it.  You talk about listening to Disney records, mentally recording the sounds you heard only to use them later when you changed your major to music in 2000.  My question is, what was your major before and what was the inspiration behind switching to music?

In high school I was really into drama and choir.  I got into assistant directing and all that backstage stuff for a ton of our drama productions.  So, because I had no other ideas, I became a TV Production Technology major when I entered college in the fall of ‘99.  I thought it was going to be a bunch of directing and stage blocking…it was not.  It was a whole lot of info on cables and wires and lighting…it was very technical and not at all what I was interested in. 

So during spring break I did some soul searching.  I was terrified of never going anywhere or being anything in life.  I’d never felt passionate or driven towards anything and a life lacking importance was not what I wanted for myself at all.  So somewhere in the mess of my confusion and prayers I re-discovered my love for music that I’d taken for granted all those years.

I’ve been writing poems since I was 6 (I actually found one that was dated as such so that age is not an exaggeration).  Sometime in high school I started humming a tune to one of my poems randomly and all of a sudden I had a melody.  I thought “Hey that’s cool, I just wrote a song” and then completely forgot about it.  By the time I started my soul searching I had 3 of these “accidental songs”.

Music had always been a huge part of my life but up until freshman year it had been something that I had deeply taken for granted.  I had always loved listening to music but I hadn’t realized its profound effects on me.  With music I would escape to the words or the music and float away for the 2 or 3 minutes that the song would last.  It was beautiful, ugly, real, whatever it needed to be and it took me over.  I’m actually pretty surprised that it took me as long as it did to choose music as my career.

Ever since that decision I’ve never looked back.  There really was no other option but what my life turned into.  It’s either music or bust!
What is your creative process like? Are you the type of writer to sit yourself down for however many hours during the day producing material?  Or do you go about your day doing other things only sitting down once you have been inspired?

I used to have to be in the perfect mood before I could write.  If the song took longer than a half hour to create then I’d get antsy and set it aside, sometimes for years, until the perfect mood presented itself again.

In 2005 I started to realize that that would never cut it if I really wanted music as more than just a hobby.  I was going to have to figure out how to concentrate and really perfect my craft.  You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wakes up one day and says, “I’m gonna be an amazing musician” and then actually become that!  It takes a lot of practice as well as a lot of bad songs before you get that “ah ha” moment where the pieces all just fall into place.  So I slowly perfected my work regime giving up a lot of free time in the process.  I learned that my most efficient creative time was between 7 and 9am and began training my brain to roll out of bed and just do it. (Not an easy thing when you work swing shift)

Since January 2009 (the release of my album and the beginning of my production company Dreamr Productions) my creative process has changed.  I approach it as a business rather than a hobby and I have disciplined myself to sit down at my computer or piano for at least 2 hours a day and write.  Maybe I come up with something, maybe I don’t, but at least I try.  And more times than not it’s worked.  Now it’s got to the point where if I can’t be creative musically that day then I advertise or market my tunes.  I find something related to my business to accomplish.

It wasn’t easy and it takes up pretty much all of my free time but I love what I’m doing and I wouldn’t give it up for the world.  I know that eventually all of my time and effort will pay off so I’ll just keep going.

Tell me about putting Magic together. From looking at your myspace one can tell that you’re coming up with songs all the time so how did you choose the songs that you would include in Magic?

Magic has been a work in progress for years and years.  Somewhere along the line, I got it in my head that I had to finish everything before I could release a CD.  We’re talking everything; every song, every song idea, every lyric line, everything!  In mid 2008 I finally said “Jeanna you’re being ridiculous”.  I would never be finished with everything, or at least I would hope not, so I just needed to get over myself and finish an album.

So I looked at all my songs and decided which ones were “done” by my standards and the 9 tracks on Magic were what I came up with.  I’m very methodical about the arrangement of songs in albums and I was worried that those songs wouldn’t all fit together.  They all are very different from the next.  But after stepping back from the project I realized they were a perfect collage of my progression from singer/songwriter into composer.  Magic, in my opinion, documents my journey in a wonderful way that I’m very proud of.

The album really shows off your range with very complex compositions at the beginning to these simple songs at the end where its just you, a guitar, and someone playing the bongos. Was there a reason behind the almost linear progression permeating your album from those complex compositions to the more simple, acoustic songs?

Not really.  Like I said before, they just worked themselves out that way.  I never know what kind of song I’m going to write before it’s written.  Songs have a mind of their own and mine definitely have a sense of humor!

Personally, my favorite track on Magic is “A Wrinkle In Time.” I’ve read that your inspiration behind it was the cover to the children’s book A Wrinkle In Time, and it’s this great piece of music that is both electronic but also classical.  What, if anything, else can you tell me about what inspired that track?

Really that’s about it.  I started writing it and these pictures popped into my head that I knew I’d seen before but couldn’t place.  They fueled along the rest of the song and it wasn’t until it was complete that I realized the origin of those images were from that children’s book by Madeline L’Engle.  After that it was a no-brainer what the tracks’ name would be.

As an independent artist, after recording your album you were largely responsible for getting it out there.  What has that experience been like?  What have you learned that you would impart on other artists?

One word comes to mind- exhausting.  I am the whole thing.  I recorded, engineered, produced, wrote, played, and sang on the album.  I found my album artwork designer, I shipped out the CD’s to the duplicators, I set up my account at CDBaby and I put the album in consignment CD stores in my area.  I continue to post ads on craigslist, message boards, websites, blogs.  Wherever I can get my hands on free advertising through the internet I’m there.  All of this while working a full time job!

What I would say to anyone out there that wants to do everything on their own like I’ve done is go for it!  It’s exciting and I’m proud of myself for being able to take credit for all of the work that I’ve done on my own.  Just know that it’s more work then you can possibly think of until it’s all around you.  I’m pretty much totally obsessed with trying to find the next great way to market my songs or what great inspiration I will draw from next for my next song.  My brain does not slow down.  My last thought at night and my first thought in the morning is what should I do next to get my music further.  It’s exhausting and exciting all in one.
As an artist who also has a Bachelor’s in Music, when you listen to other music are you just constantly deconstructing what you are hearing to see how it could inspire your own work?  If so, is there any music that you listen to simply for pleasure where you can just turn that part of your brain off?

Absolutely!  There are plenty of songs that I listened to just to listen to.  It’s the ones that throw me over the top either one way or another that I start picking apart.  If I hear something that I absolutely abhor I have to figure out what it is that makes me hate it so much.  I don’t want to be that person that hates a song “just because”.  If I listen to something that is perfect to my ears I have to know why; what did they do different that shook me so much more than the song before?  And how can I incorporate that great new method into my music?

And then, just like everybody, I have my guilty pleasure songs like Apple Bottom Jeans. I just love that song!

What are your top 5 (or 4 or 6 or whatever) favorite musical artists at the moment?

Any musician will tell you that this is a really tough one.  Really my favs change daily because there is just some really good stuff out there.  Especially since the bubblegum pop era is over and the “real” musicians have returned.  But the ones that I’ve stuck with for a good amount of time would be Tori Amos, Paul Simon, Jude, Ray Lamontagne, Sarah Slean, Sarah Mclachlin and Imogene Heap.

Is there a certain band or musician or singer/songwriter that you feel is underrated or ignored that you would like to give a shout out to now?

Sarah Slean and Jude!  I love both of them but they seem to be my little secret.

Sarah Slean is this beautiful lyricist from Canada that just has this wonderful way of combining her words to the melody.  It’s amazing how I’ll love one song for years because of the words and then one day just tune into the music and my outlook changes.  Her song “My Invitation” gets to me every time.

Jude I’ve seen live a couple times when he’s come to Portland and I just love him!  His song “Indian Lover” is one of the sexiest songs out there in my opinion!  He’s such a good show and plays forever!  The first time I saw him he got about 3 encores and just kept coming back again and again.  I swear he played for at least 2 and half hours.  I don’t know how his fingers weren’t bleeding from playing his guitar for so long!

Thanks for your time, Jeanna!

Jeanna is currently enjoying the artsy life in Portland, Oregon. You can find out more about her on her website or her Myspace page and pick up her debut album Magic on CDBaby and itunes. Go, listen! Thanks for the tunes!