I used to know everything about everybody musical, when I was a teen... now I know nothing about anyone... I feel like my dad: "You kids and your rock & roll... that ain't music... that's just noise, that's what that is!"
Now I hear stuff that came out when I was in high school on WALY, the local oldies station. Doh!------>JMS
You ain't shittin' there! It is a wierd unexplainable feeling. Except for exactly what you said: I feel like my Dad.
The only "new" stuff I am exposed to is what some of my students bring to me to "finger-out" for them. The look on their faces is priceless when I play it for them on the first pass! Because none of it is really new, a lot of it's just poppy high school stories over typical chord progressions we have all heard before. So guys like us don't care who is playing the new "Rock", but who else is gonna sing songs about shallow high school crap? none of our old asses! Well, maybe except Kenny Chesney!
I don't want to rip on it, though. kids stuff is kids stuff and I enjoy helping youngsters learn from what they like. Some of them will maybe emerge and evolve and rise above the immature poop and blow us away.
As for the heavy heavy headbang stuff, I do feel to have grown out of it, Because if there is no REAL melody, most of it does about give me a headache. Although sometimes you just need to hear something that hammers! rap and hip hop shit at least have some melody, but I am talking about music made by musicians, not fu-king samplers and machines. That's a whole other thread, though!
Really though, I know that there has to be something out there for everyone to relate to, but if it has a less than positive message, in my opinion, they have no business being amplified much less marketed to the masses. There is enough negative shit out there.
If you have to write a song about something bad, which sometimes you do,
tell the story of what you did to triumph and overcome it , and if at all possible to find a positive chord in what effect it had on you. Now i don't want to preach a bunch of shit (like mr. I won't even mention his name) about how everyone should write their songs, by all means, let your art take its own form. It is just a little something that I try to steer towards if the situation applies. Pain does trigger the creation of some of the greatest art. I know this is Rockpage, and there are a lot of good songs about pain out there and I have been a rock player for a long time. I love the times and people, influences, (some bad!)
and experiences it has brought into my life and wouldn't trade it, but lately, give me some fiddles and banjos and happy shit about good times. 
Fu-k being depressed
Excuse me for the life story. I think this is the longest post I have ever put up, (since shit for brains metalrules pissed me off last year) but JMS hit a (good) nerve in me
. He started it! Maybe I'm watching too much Barney with the kids, but
I hope some of ya appreciate what I shared with everyone.
well, I think I'll go smoke one and write a song now
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