The Cadenza staff, yours truly in particular, gets a lot of complaints about the obscurity of the music that we write about-the albums we review, the concerts we preview, the genres we discuss. Not all of these complaints come from readers-in fact, most come from within Student Life itself. One might have noticed on the front of this year’s not-so-funny edition of Student Libel that Cadenza would be reviewing albums “you’ve heard of.”
But really, when it comes down to it, what would be the point of writing about albums everyone’s already heard of? We all know what the latest Britney Spears album is all about. You can’t throw a stone in a newsstand without hitting a magazine that’ll talk about what Dave Matthews is up to. If we only wrote about things that everyone on campus knew about, nobody reading the reviews would ever discover anything new. It would be like the front page passing on breaking news because no one’s ever “heard of” it.
The reason I write about what I write about is partially selfish. Of course I don’t want to write about music I don’t like, genres I don’t find interesting, concerts I’d never in a million years consider going to. But I love music, and I love discovering new music I’ve never heard before. The feeling of reading about an album, finding that it seems interesting, and going to the record store to buy it is one of wonderful anticipation for me, and if this discovery is something I truly love, then all the better.
I’ve learned about some great music reading the reviews written by my Cadenza comrades. Just a few weeks ago, one of my new bosses, the esteemed former Movie Editor and current co-captain of the Cadenzstars Matt Simonton, turned me on to “Panda Park,” a neo-psychedelic masterpiece by the 90 Day Men. Had he not, had he just written about the latest Usher single, the latest Beyonc‚ video, I’d have missed out on one of the best shows in recent memory, when the Men played the Rocket Bar last Friday.
I want to serve that same task for those who might happen to read what I write. If I can convince someone that the latest underground Boston hardcore release is worth picking up, or that there are plenty of good down and dirty rock and roll bands in St. Louis to go see on any given night, I feel like I’m sharing something. I love music, and I want people to feel the same way.
Another complaint that I get is that what I write isn’t understandable to a person without a certain amount of musical knowledge already within the certain genres I tend to deal with. This is a more logical complaint, and one I hope to deal with as I continue to write. I really don’t want to shut people off, and I don’t want to come off as a music snob-though it is very possible that I am one. I try to think of myself as more of a record nerd or music geek than a snob.
I have also been blessed with friends and others who have considerably broadened my musical horizons. Without the influence of friends in high school, I’d never have discovered the love of my life, old-school punk rock. Without the influence of my father, I’d never have loved AC/DC or Metallica or Stevie Wonder or even my personal choice for the best band in my collection, the Who. Without the influence of college friends, I’d definitely have missed out on Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and I’d probably never have heard one of my favorite songs of all time, Wilco’s “California Stars” from “Mermaid Ave., Volume One.”
I want to be a friend to Cadenza’s readers. I’ve made some discoveries for myself on my own. I want to tell people why I think Refused’s “Shape of Punk to Come” is the best loud underground music album of the ’90s. I want to let people know to catch the psychedelic garage rock bluesmen Zen Guerrilla if they ever come to town, because they sweat it out for their rock and roll.
Or maybe I should just say that Linkin Park is coming to town this summer and be done with it.