Music News Blog

Whatever you say, Bon Jovi is only getting better with age – both he and his jeans band. Luckily, the days when the success of their music depended entirely on the length of strings of Richie Sambora and on the quality of antidandruff shampoo of John himself has gone forever. Now it’s got clear that Bon Jovi is the classicist of American rock and the nearest relative of Bruce Springsteen. In the new album Have A Nice Day they have jumped over their own heads. Whatever is possible may be traced in the album. Anti-Bush message and other issues of the day are strengthened by musical links and allusions to Bob Dylan, whose immortal hits like Chimes Of Freedom and Like A Rolling Stone are cited all over the Bon Jovi’s new hits Bells of Freedom and Who Says You Cant Go Home correspondingly. Closer to the second part of the disk the band has obviously decided to relive a bit of the hair-metallic past. The liveliest ballad Complicated makes you want fit it into the album like Living On A Prayer, and Novocain just causes the storm of emotions by explicit panmixia of Def Leppard, Soundgarden and Guns N’Roses. As for the hit power, Bon Jovi has got it innate – just count how many times you have wished a dice day to others and yourself the other days.

Philip Wylie has introduced nice and laugh-out-loud essay Science has spoiled my supper. His essay has an informal, very personal tone; his attitude towards his material is obvious. The tone helps him to enlist the reader against the enemy, a coalition of economics and science. He addresses his reader directly by using the pronoun “you” and “we”, for instance:
“…We called them American cheese, or even rat cheese…”;
“… Perhaps you don’t like cheese – so the fact that decent cheese is hardly ever served in America any more, or used in cooking, doesn’t matter to you…”;
“… We are getting some varieties, in fact, that have less flavor than the water off the last weeks’ leeks…”;
“… When things had flavor, we knew that we were eating all the while – and it satisfied us…”;
“How can you feel you’ve eaten if you haven’t tasted, and fully enjoyed tasting?…”
Moreover, the author retorts to the rhetorical question to enlist the reader as well:
“What matter if such peas taste like boiled paper wads?”;
“Yet, the people don’t eat onions because they taste like onions, what in the name of Luther Burbank do they eat them for?”;
“Why… don’t people who want to reduce merely give up eating and get the nourishment they must have in measured doses shot into their arms at hospitals?”;
“How can you feel you’ve eaten if you haven’t tasted, and fully enjoyed tasting?”;
“But who eats with his eyes?”
Wylie also employs imperative sentences, such as
“Take cheese, for instance”;

Rammmstein has recently launched its fifth and absolutely brilliant album called Rosenrot". They couldn't have thought of a better title for their new album, cause this name evokes brightest images associated with magnanimous verses of Goethe and sparkling fairy-stories of Grimm.
The texts of songs sound paradoxical but stylish, as they are full of touching rhymes, exciting metaphors, unimaginable allegories and dubious allusions. The images of the album are almost endless. Non-conventional stories about people widen the borders of emotional abyss, display the absurd of the everyday life and unveil the thoroughly hidden thoughts and feelings. The lyric character of Mann gegen Mann" ( The man against the man"), the gay, explicitly talks about his physical desires for which is being cursed by his family. The characters of Feuer und Wasser" ( Fire and Water") talk about their untamed passion and everlasting need for each other. Zerstoren" ( The Destruction") displays all the devastating power of primitive instincts while Spring" accuses modern patterns of life which cause misunderstandings and grief.
Music adds much to the value of the verse. High guitar riffs and flowing keyboard cascades cast an impression of mystery; and the living rhythm seems animated. The slow bit emphasizes romance and sensuality of melancholic Wo bist du?" ( Where are You?"). The combination of roaring inferno and refined emotions makes the album truly unrivaled. In some words, the work can be described as blood, wounds and tears, emotional strain and light-heartedness.

The other thing I wanted to say about music is that all pieces of it are getting somehow similar to each other, as if being cloned from one certain matrix. Of course I admit there are only seven notes, there are not that many possible chords or variations available, but I still think it is not that impossible to create something new and innovative. All the songs I hear, all the texts I read, and all the singers I see are so much the same. I don’t mean they are stealing ideas or trying to imitate the more successful examples of their kind to get louder fame – nope, at least in most cases. The problem is that nowadays it has become much easier to produces music and singers just like hamburgers are produced – to use the same established standard, the same set of ingredients, the same marketing strategy to make it popular with consumers. Music has turned into business rather than art, and playing music has become a means of merely getting fat profit. I’m not trying to say music shouldn’t earn musician’s life – by all means, you should get money for the job you do. The other thing is that money shouldn’t be the primary reason for that. Music itself is the only thing that really matters. And if you really feel that way when creating or performing a song, it will really tap into souls, influence bodies and minds, give inspiration and make everybody listen to it and live it through. Moreover, if some real feelings and emotions could be added to the faces of the performers instead of the artificial ones, I guess none will ever be able to say that music lacks authenticity nowadays.

On November 3rd MTV will hold a video chat hosted by SKIN. Pretty a long time is left to the event to start, but chat rooms are already full of declarations of love (of course!), vivid expressions of admiration and questions for the host to answer. And not in the last run people display their interest to the newest pieces of music, like the single Alone in My Room and the soundtrack to L’Empire de Lupes Kill Everything You Love.
If the first one is not that well known yet, then the second has already become a reason for saying that Skin’s talent has grown a lot. It’s not that I am trying to say that the previous songs were less worthy, but I guess there’s hardly anyone who will object if I say that exactly Kill Everything You Love has brought Skin lots of new fans.
It is disputable what has given rise to the popularity of this soundtrack – the cast, the movie itself or the lucky juxtaposition of the gists. But I’d rather say that the song is a thing in itself – it was to smash the popularity records anyway, ‘cos everybody it has charmed. Brilliant performance, touching voice, nerve-wrecking metaphors and slightly psychedelic tune produce a charming effect which leaves no possibility to a listener to resent. At first it produces an impression of a very vicious and pessimistic piece of verse, but the more you listen the more you realize how true is everything you hear. Is there a reason to speak if we have only cutting word to say? Is there a reason to survive if it takes us to sweet hells? Is there a reason to crave beauty if it is destroyed ever-so-often? Is there a reason to act if everything we do turns into a truism? Is there a reason to live if we are not able to live for long? Finally, is there a reason to love if we know it will face disdain? There definitely is, because there is no any other way, because the scars somewhere much deeper than on our faces will never let us another chance. Even if we know that love will only pain us; even if we know we love out of revenge; even if we know we will die – so let it be: never loving and never scarring face, never finding peace. And of course, there are even more reasons for Skin stay: at least, the video chat is coming! :)