Thursday 25 December 2008

Jack Johnson and the end of music.

25 December 2008
"Now, before the accusations of hypocrisy start flying in I will start by saying that yes I have listened to and chilled my beans to our man Jack on many occasions, however, the cause of this small thought for Christmas Day is that I had my iPod on shuffle and on he came; hence this observation. I was once told, and I recognise the logic, that because there is only a finite number of notes that exist in music there is also a finite number of combinations those notes can be placed in to form a melody. This struck me at first as a rather depressing thought, especially as we find ourselves in a popular rut whereby rather than making new songs, old ones are simply revamped or at worst resung in an exact replica. Then I realised that the finality of music is one of the things that makes music such a pleasure to follow and explore, because finality leads to innovation and experimentation on the road to the discovery of something new and exciting.

So 'where is Jack Johnson in all this?' I hear you asking. Let me e-lu-ci-date-cha (Aristocats ref, not Pussycat Dolls). When this song of Jack Johnson's started its assault on my senses I found that never in my life had the absolute finality of music, as I have described here, appeared so stark, so deflating, and so utterly hopeless as it did then. If I ever hear the generic strumming of an acoustic guitar accompanied by the insipid yowlings of this Hawaiian crooner I think I might just crack a hole in the ice and drop my iPod in a Muscovite waterway. A swift ruthless purging is about to take place.

I hope I am not causing the onset of panic in the impressionable mind of the reader at the apparent destruction of the musical artform you most likely hold very dear. I also do not wish to offend any doobie-smoking fans of our Jack out there - as I said, I have enjoyed his music at times in the past - all I will say is that if you continue listening to what this has to say, you will be single-handedly dismantling the thing that makes music such an ever-increasing pleasure. Music is dead otherwise, do the right thing."
GM