Rock and Roll is Dead?

Alright...

As many of my friends know, my taste in music is anything but easily categorized. I listen to anything from rap, techno, heavy metal, alternative, etc. constantly, as evident from any playlist that can be associated with me. Of course, I tend to enjoy the harder stuff, mixed in with the occasional classic rock seasoning that makes me wish I remembered more of the 80's and proud that my dad was somewhat of a mexican hippie (or, as I like to call it, a Mippie).

However, as we enter the second half of 2005, it has occurred to me that my love of everything Rock simply is not strong enough to butt heads with the American musical society any longer.

Every time I turn on the television, I am forced to skip over my once beloved MTV because I simply do not wish to see another 50 Cent, Britney Spears, or Destiny's Child video any longer... and that is even IF MTV plays videos anymore (not to get off on another rant, but the "music" in "Music Television" has become nothing more than background noise for some reality show, or for a show that employs washed-up artists as hosts that are, more than likely, rappers). Additionally, I have to change the channel from commercials even quicker now because of the LAYERS of pop or hip-hop music that coporations have chosen to help sell their products (and what does Classic Rock get? Car commercials. For old people.)

However, perhaps the single most aggrivating thing that I have noticed about the slow death of Rock and Roll as we know it is simply the fact that almost ZERO rock artists get any sort of recognition for their talent.

Think about it. When was the last time you watched a music awards show and Country and Hip-Hop/Rap/Pop didn't steal the show? Hell, search the internet for the results of all the awards shows from the last 5 years and I can almost guarentee you that Country and Pop artists won more than 75% of the major awards.

So, this means one of two things is probably true: 1) either Rock artists have just flat-out sucked for the past 5 years (which obviously isn't true, since many of the same bands from 5 years ago when rock was popular are still playing today); or 2) America is idolizing mediocrity in lifestyles.

WARNING: RACISM/INSENSITIVITY FOLLOWS:

Actually, probably not a whole lot of this will be offensive, but I figured why not put up some capital letters to at least warn all you politically correct assholes that some sort of common sense is about to be written.

Let's think about the two most popular forms of music today: Country and Pop (which I will define as urban Pop, Hip-Hop, and Rap). I'm sure most of my readers will agree that not only do these two genres carry along a strong fanbase, but most of the artists also write about their own life stories. And, in turn, songs are produced in the likes of drug enounters, theft, violence, death, cheating on lovers, and any other sin that you can think of that most of us have probably commited ourselves.

Believe me, I KNOW that this is not always true. I am sure there are some very good songs out there about love, puppies, and all sorts of nice things that some of these same artists who sing about bar fights and smoking weed have also written... and goes a little deeper than fucking a phat azz.

But maybe this is why these genres of music are so damned popular: the very fact that, as stated above, Americans who buy this shit can relate. Additionally, and hopefully not to get too off-track, a lot of these fans live in your farmlands and ghettos that consist of people who fuck like rabbits and have 39 kids to a family thus raising the populations in the already big states, thus providing more people per capita the opprotunity to buy thousands of these artist's records, ultimately raising popularity and sales.... which then leads to awards and recognition.

And then again, maybe it simply means that unless you can shake your ass to it, the songs is otherwise shitty and will not amount to anything.

Well I say bullshit. I say we Rock and Roll fans need to make a push to bring back our beloved music and support the likes of Green Day, Foo Fighters, and any of the other few bands who have made it this far admist the tyranny of Puff Daddy, Jessica Simpson, and Brad Paisley.

Hell, I would just like to be able to drive an hour south in my state without having to listen to nothing but country stations in the AM and hip-hop at night. I guess it's a start.

Classic Work Anger Rant

Ok, first of all, whenever did I sign on to become the bitch of my job?

For the past couple of weeks, times have been a little FUBAR at work, and all sorts of things are getting even worse as the days go by. For one, employees are constantly being either sent home for bullshit reasons or are calling in for mysterious medical maladies (credit to you know who on that word choice) that do not remain consistent in either case.

Now don't get me wrong. My job is probably one of the easiest things in the world to do, just as long as you have somewhat of an interest in the field and you have taken one or two anatomy classes. Quite frankly, half of the day I sit at a desk and either send text messages to various people I know or play Free Cell on the computer (that doesn't have internet, because if it did, I'm sure I would abuse it). The point is, however, that no matter who is sick/dying/out-of-town/just trying to piss Adam off, *I'M* the one that always gets stuck working their hours.

Fine, the extra cash is good. Fine, it looks good to be a dependable employee. And yeah, sometimes I get lucky and am able to have one of the other employees work my late hours on Friday, which allows me to come home, masturbate, drink profusely, drive out on the town, come home, masturbate, chase my cat around the basement, then fall asleep a happy little drunken boy.

But who wants to always have to cover everyone else's ass? WITHOUT getting a raise?

The ironic thing about this post is that I have just heard about a few people getting canned for blogging about their jobs and how much they hate them (via People Magazine). While this may be exactly what I am doing, let me make one thing clear: I don't hate my job. In fact, I love my job. It gives me money, it helps me buy food and pay bills, and the people are nice when it boils right down to it. Frustration is just boiling over at this point, and is getting even worse seeing as though one of my fellow employees is leaving in 11 days. Which means more work for me, and less cat-chasing.