American Idol and Current Events

So a couple random notes:

First of all, lemme explain my random post last night. See, I really do appreciate good music, and I can understand why American Idol is popular, especially at the early stages (where its funny) and at the later stages (where its awesome). I think the show is really silly, after a fashion, and I find it interesting that despite have so many seasons only a few of the winners are actually really, really famous. What’s most interesting is how the show really proves that a good voice is a dime-a-dozen. Every finalist has lots of talent in terms of vocals.

But, see, the thing is, I think I feel really strongly that vocals, while important, really won’t sell your music 100%. Sure, in pop vocals are the most important thing and you really need a good vocalist, but there are other things to consider as well. I watched a Adam Lambert performance today (linked to me by an American Idol fan) and while Mr. Lambert himself may be a bit of a weirdo, he really is one of the best vocalists I’ve ever heard and he wipes the floor of most people, even the good vocalists. But here’s the thing… the music he had to back up was weak at best. The drums were nice, but boring, the bass was just… there… I mean it was the very definition of how to not do bass: play a boring beat and don’t even appear on stage. The coolest bassists in the world did amazing things on their bassists just like guitarists do amazing things on their guitars. Even mediocre bassists can make this up by writing cool lyrics or an awesome stage presence. Drums… I understand why drums tend to be really boring and basic, because really, the drums are just there to keep the beat. If the band is good, and they have lots of other rhythm instruments (guitar, bass, even the piano/keyboard) then the drummer can mix it up, and I’ve seen bands do a good job of combining “keep the beat” with tasteful drumming. I think Nightwish is a good example of this, listen to Planet Hell or Ghost Love Score. The drums in those songs (at least the intros) are awesome. Listen to Eva or While Her Lips are Still Red (technically not a Nightwish song, but whatever) and the drums in those… they just work perfectly. Basic, but perfect.

I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. The reason Pop bothers me isn’t because its mostly garbage, I mean, it is, usually, but I’m okay with that. 90% of everything is crap. There is plenty of bad metal out there, I admit it. What bothers me about Pop is that so much of it just relies on the vocalist, but to such an extent that the other musicians don’t get any credit. Amon Amarth is amazing both because Johann Hegg has an awesome voice and because the other four guys in the band help him to create really good music. Dio is a great vocalist, but he needed a good band to support him. I don’t think Dio would have done what he did without the help of the other musicians who supported him.

Other stuff…

Thailand is still a mess, but it looks like it could be getting better. Let’s hope that the two parties can actually sit down and honestly try to work out their differences.

Zia called a Strike on the 27th of June here. I’ll be gone, but I really hope that this doesn’t start the “Hartal Culture” up again. Hartals help no one and are just an excuse for the thugs of Dhaka to go around and smash things up. Oh, and for the police to smash the thugs… ya! -_-

And, its official, North Korea did blow up the South Korean ship that sank a while back. Great… you know, it’d be nice if South Korea would just go ahead and invade, but they can’t do that, there are too many risks. First of all, North Korea has nukes, and even if they only have one rather weak one, its still a freaking nuke. One bomb = one city. That’s a lot of dead civilians. In theory, I suppose a combined task force of UN commandos could disable the nukes before they were launched, but that would take UN backing and the UN won’t do that because China is part of the UN and China doesn’t want a war. That’s another problem, actually, because China… is a factor. I’d like to think that should South Korea go ahead and invade, China won’t actually respond with direct military action, because China isn’t really that stupid. But that doesn’t mean they could still do a lot… and the US really isn’t in a position to fight China right now, Afghanistan and Iraq are already a mess. Oh well, I guess we’re just gonna have to hope that things can settle down.

In other news: I completed Physics today. No more Highschool Science Ever. :D