Articles written by Ian Wise

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About me - Ian Wise

I'm Ian. I live a little Southwest of Chicago. I have a music blog called Going Through the Motions.

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Entertainment > TV News & Commentary American Idol: What are they searching for?: 2 of 32
American Idol, as with everything else on TV, boils down to money. There's no money in people that can't sing, and there's no money in people that can sing but no one wants to support through buying records or going to see live. The Idol judges know this, and they know what they're looking for in a person. You have to rememb... More..
Entertainment > Music Business From CBGB to MTV: The evolution of alternative music in the US: 1 of 4
Punk rock is an evolutionary subculture. What was originally just kids with guitars has turned into a world-wide phenomenon, and it begs the question, asked over and over again, is punk dead? In the words of the legendary New York punk pioneers Kraut, you gotta' look backwards to go onwards, so let's start. The original wave... More..
Entertainment > Music Genres, Trends & Scenes The evolution of hardcore: 1 of 3
A very, very brief and incomplete history of hardcore. Hardcore music came about in the early 1980s from the American punk rock scene. West coast punk bands like FEAR, Black Flag, The Germs, and Agent Orange all started speeding up their sound and becoming more and more aggressive with their music. In the words of Black Flag... More..
Entertainment > Album Reviews Album reviews: Touch and Go, by The Peacocks: 1 of 1
I don't even know why I'm bothering to attempt to review this because if you've ever heard the Peacocks from Zurich you already know that they're incapable of writing a bad record. They're the only band I can think of that's been around well over a decade (I think closer to two) and manage to make every album better than the... More..
Entertainment > Music Business The case against digital rights management (DRM): 5 of 9
In the 1950s the Soviet government was able to stop most of the distribution of Western Jazz and Rock n Roll music coming in from the West into the USSR. The few records that were brought into the USSR were brought in from Eastern Europe and only in very small quantities. Younger people, hoping to spread the music, pulled th... More..
Entertainment > Music Business Tips for booking bands: 4 of 7
You see articles all the time that tell you how to get booked at bars and clubs, and it's mostly the same thing over and over again. "Make a few calls, learn some covers, and completely compromise everything you ever wanted to create." There are ways to get around doing what other people think will sell and doing what you wa... More..
Entertainment > Music Genres, Trends & Scenes A brief history of punk music: 8 of 9
There are people who will tell you that punk was birthed and killed in the 1970s in urban New York. Others will tell you that punk was a flash-in-the-pan British working class subculture. But the roots of the genre began growing in the 1950s, when American music took a turn for the worst. Elvis Presley made black music acces... More..
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Growing up with a skateboard: 5 of 5
I got my first real skateboard when I was 11 years old. I got allowance for doing chores around the house, and I saved up for almost a year to get the set-up; a World Industries deck on Destroyer trucks with Ghetto Child wheels. I skated almost every day and the highlight of every week was throwing on a pair of Vans where th... More..
Entertainment > Music Genres, Trends & Scenes The evolution of the hardcore music scene: 4 of 4
A lot has been said comparing today's hardcore scene to the scene of 20-25 years ago. It seems that those involved with the scene today are passed off by the "originals" as losers who can't come up with their own sounds or ideas. We're also told that the bands today just aren't as good as the bands of yesteryear. It seems li... More..