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RSS FeedThe blues: A doomed music genre?
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| No | 84% | 511 votes | Total: 611 votes | |
| Yes | 16% | 100 votes |
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Add to FavoritesThe blues gave birth to all types of music except gospel music; Gospel created and repeats itself forever because of just what it is. Gospel music is a special prayer to God so enjoyed by church goers and just plain fans. But the Blues, this music gave birth to everything else; jazz; soul; pop; rock & roll; zydeco; tempestuous love songs; on and on forever.
The Blues will never die as long as people get the blues (a state of mind) because listening to it, singing it, makes a person feel less alone. I have listened to the blues and every single artist that I can and bands that sing and play cover for the greatest artists contemporary and elder, I have ADHD so their names escape me, but their voices and music haunt my mind. Janis Joplin learned from hearing Billy Holliday-how different the two styles are and yet the audience knows exactly who and what the music is-blues.
My brother played the blues before he ever attempted to play anything else, he graduated to pop of the '60's, jazz; and zydeco because we lived in Houston, such a close cousin to New Orleans when it comes to music. There, in New Orleans you'll find the best of the best, seldom do they (the bands) come to SXSW, a wonderful venue for musicians, in Austin. This is where the artist scouts hang out for a week, where Nashville collides with Texas, always looking for a new Stevie Ray Vaughn, or another Willie Nelson.
I lived there in Austin for 17 years; now I hear the city council wants to ban the playing of music concerts in out door venues because it DISTURBS the neighbors.... Something Austin has always enjoyed was the ability to play music anywhere... now Austin will just be any town, American. Thanks to the growing Republican Right politicians who will do anything to gain back what they have always been denied there. What they don't know is that the mucic industry, which stays out of the lime light and mostly underground, will rise up with the people and fight to keep Austin's tradition with music alive.
In Town Park, where the river Guadelupe flows, a beatiful place centered in the town there is a great bronze statue. It is not a founding father of Texas, it is not a tribute to freedom from a revelutionery of the Alamo. it is Stevie Ray Vaughn. This is the magnitude of the love the people of Austin feel about their music! No one will remove that sentiment. There will be a bill presented to city council that requires a long standing venue called "Shady Grove" and it' popular unplugged series of music concerts to cease its Wednesday night concerts because it is disturbing the neoighbors. That bill will be tossed out properly, if there is still backbone left in city hall.
Learn more about this author, Leah Davidson.
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Yes
Like Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil to learn to be the greatest most influential blues musician of all time the blues are doomed, doomed I say!
The whole genre is so dang doomed that it makes me depressed to even think about it. In fact I wrote a little sad song here about how depressed I am.
Baby, baby, I'm so low down
'Cause you say my blues are doomed
They're so doomed, I'm so doomed,
Would you care for some tasty mushrooms?
Or would you like to come up to my room,
Only with you in my arms would my blues truly be doomed.
What was I talking about again? Oh yes, the blues. DOOMED! The whole bloomin' genre! It makes me feel so low down, so sad, so dad gum miserable.
What will become of the sorry, sorry bunch of low down musicians with all of their cheating no good lady friends and sorrowful wretched hearts? It makes me want to go to, "Sweet Home Chicago," with, "Corrina," and then "Cakewalk," into town.
Ok, for my next trick I will incorporate other classic blues song titles into a sentence that will show just how doomed the blues really are.
Here it is:
"Mary Don't You Weep,""You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond," when you're packing your, "Leavin' Trunk," after all of these, "Born Under a Bad Sign," blues musicians, "Hear My Train a Comin,'" and head over to the, "Red House," over yonder.
Ok, ok, so it was cryptic and truly didn't capture the plight of a genre in deep peril of influencing everybody until it's no longer a distinguishable form of music but like Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion says, "Please, please feel good. And break it down. DAMAGE!"
What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the Blues. DOOMED! DOOMED I say!
I'm so distraught about this doomed blues business that I'm going to have to write another sad, sad song, or maybe just another sad, sad, paragraph.
The Roots of Rock and Roll are blue,
The tip of my sock stick out of my shoe,
Mr. T says, I pity the foo who don't eat my cereal,
And I'd eat his cereal if I was you.
Think about it. What Mr. T says is very true about the blues. Of course the parallels are complete and utterly metaphorical and near overwhelming in their dadaistic profundity.
Riddle me this.
Mr. T's cereal was a sweat golden Cap'n Crunch clone that was in the shape of outlandish jewelery and little T's and if you didn't partake of the unique deliciousness of Mr. T's cereal while it was on a special limited run in the eighties you are in fact a fool.
I think you can see where I'm heading with this.
The blues as a musical genre is something to be savored, sought out, obsessed over, read about and listened to. Like Mr. T's cereal I'd take the opportunity to partake in tasty blues riffs and support your local Blues scene like it was going out of style because if the blues disappear then what the heck are musicians supposed to sing about besides their broken hearts?
Now if you'll excuse me this whole thing has made me so blue it put my face in a permanent frown but now I feel so good I could cakewalk into town.
Learn more about this author, Jacob Robertson.
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