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Entry: The Death of Music by the Spirit of Government Subsidies Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_death_of_music_from_the_spirit_of_government_subsidies#15315 Post contents: I won't contest the importance of classical music throughout history and the inestimable service it provided humanity. However music must evolve. Classical music fit in with the political and social endeavors of the day. Explorers in great and far off lands sailing the high seas, revolution, enlightenment. But the themes that inspired classical music are no more. Can you imagine a piece called the "September Eleventh Overture"? Classical music cannot possibly give justice to the overwhelming sense of universal catastrophe and impending doom that much of the younger generations feel. A requiem mass just won't cut it. On the other hand take the exploding guitar sounds of Hendrix's 12 minute anti-war epic "Machine Gun" (I can count three key changes - and all spontaneous mind you, nothing written down.) The rise of Jazz in the 30s brought to light the wonders of improvisational music: Louis Armstrong's hot five and hot seven recordings. Bop Jazz of the 40s, 50s raised that style to incredible new heights. Take for example Art Blakey's 1954 performance at Birdland, or the Miles Davis Quintet album "Relaxin". The listener will notice a more spiritual and bluesy tone to Jazz artists of the 60s. For example, take John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", Charlie Mingus' "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" or my personal favorite: Cannonball Adderley Quintet "Country Preacher" (The trumpet solo on "Hummin" is supreme.) As everyone knows, around this same time period was the San Fransisco acid wave of the upper sixties. Which gave rise to artists like The Grateful Dead. Now before you go denouncing me as some nutball acid freak can you count the key changes in the longest versions of "Dark Star"? Jerry Garcia was not just the leader of the dead heads. He was an extremely talented bluegrass musician, having played early on with Bill Monroe and David Grisman. Phil Lesh was a classically trained trumpet player. The complexity of some Dead tunes might even make Mozart blush. Nonetheless MTV, VH1, BET and other members of the alphabet soup group have ruined music of all genres. It's not longer an art, it's a capitalist endeavor for the vein and shallow. I agree that Classical, Jazz, and true Blues Rock have been strangled by commercialism. Sent at: 2008 07 09