h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I posted this in despute of a conversation that took place in the old ska entry...so I'm just gonna paste it here. Basically, I'm arguing over someone's comment about punk and funk "ruining" the ska sound...So, here goes:

Personally, I'm a music freak. Concerning ska, I listen to everything from Desmond Dekkar to Voo Doo Glow Skulls...from Dave Hillyard and the Rockstead 7 to Goldfinger. So, I know a bit about all the different "waves" of ska.

I also play the saxophone in a band...JerkWaterJive. We're not quite "old skool" ska, and not exactly "hardcore" punk, and quite unlike the "velvety" funk. We like to use styles as we see fit when we write songs. I feel when you are pinned down by "roots" and such, it leaves you with no room to grow. Why be held down by a single style? We play such diverse music, that we don't even know WHAT to call it but "energetic ska-punk-emo-oi-irishcore...with horns". Whatever we call it, people still enjoy it and dance and sing and drink at our shows.

As MTV, radio, and other popular forms of music promotion has shown, you can see alot of genre-bending groups emerging. Take Limp Bizkit, for a probably horrible example...but it'll do. They took the hardcore metal sound from bands like Metallica and Korn, but added the flowing rap lyrics to it to create the rap-core genre. Many other genres have busted out of their walls to leak into other genres keeping the proverbial creative juices flowing.

Now, to completely shatter the boundaries of the topic...there is a new revolution in music. With the creation and accessability of the internet, bands are sprouting up by the millions. The ability to reach fans across the world instantly over this new medium, as well as the controversial Napster, the infamous "alleged-music-thieving" program, has got the music industry teetering on the edge of demise. However, for lesser musicians and fans alike, this is a wonderful thing! No longer will there be a need for a "middleman" record label. However, this also creates a market-flooding effect, where thousands of bands who sound alike drown below the 5 or 10 that get noticed first.

So, to sum up...music today is very similar to an out-of-control vacuum...unpredictable, mostly exciting, and a large percentage of it sucks.