where's the music?

I watched a bit of the Grammys the other night. Not the whole show (naturally, since I was actually playing music part of the evening) but I did catch a few glimpses. Brilliant staging, lighting, direction. Slicker than an Exxon Valdez oil spill. And the dancing, wow! The choreography and the moves are clearly built on the best Broadway and Hollywood musical tradition - nothing short of perfection. So far - so good. A fine show. But a nagging thought kept creeping back into my head: where the heck is the music? Where are the nice melodies? The clever lyrics? The catchy hooks? Is anyone able to hum a few bars of Gwen Stefani or Usher in the shower the way that I do with Rogers & Hart, or Gershwin or Lennon/McCartney? Perhaps some people do...I'd like to talk to them. I can't see how it's possible because what I saw on the Grammys was all about the visuals and not at all about the actual reason for the award itself: music! Sure, Jamie Foxx's work in RAY was phenomenal and Brother Ray did pick up an oodle of awards posthumously but that's Ray Charles!! "You Don't Know Me", to take just one example, was written in 1956 and was a hit in 1962. That is well over 40 years ago!

Then another thought occured to me as I was watching the tail end of the music industry extravaganza: the last "current" music that I really liked was being made in 1967 when I was 14 years old! In other words, already as a teenager and a young adult I did not like what was being written and performed at the time. The last tune that I absolutely, unreservedly thought was a genius piece of songwriting was McCartney's "Here, There and Everywhere" (off the album "Revolver", released in 1966) Sure, there were other Beatle tunes a bit later on that were great but - to my mind - this was the last true masterpiece of popular songwriting.

The following decades had some bright moments - but they were few and far between. I hated heavy metal and to this date the huge popularity of Led Zeppelin is a total mystery to me. Elton John wrote some nice ditties in the 1970 and I bought a few of his albums but nothing has stayed with me, musically speaking. I recall buying his double album "Blue Moves" not because of its big hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" but because of a great little tune, called "Idol" which really sounds like Bill Evans lite with vocals. Very jazzy and very well crafted, with some intricate harmonies and unexpected chord changes. Check it out!

Later on in the 1970's I liked Elvis Costello's tunes. Of course, "Allison" is a stand-out (has great lyrics and approaches shower hummability) Here again, as far as I'm concerned, Costello's best tune is the very jazzy "Almost Blue" from the album "Imperial Bedroom" - a tune covered with painful poignancy by Chet Baker in the movie "Let's Get Lost".

The one standout of the 1970's for me was Stevie Wonder - a profound musical genius who turned me onto jazz. I challenge anyone to suppress the shivers down the spine when listening to "All In Love Is Fair" or "Lately". Stevie's singing, multi-instrument mastery and flawless songwriting is simply amazing.

The 80's are a write-off except a couple of Prince tracks (the ballad "Sometimes it Snows In April" from the album "Parade" immediately springs to mind). The 90's are pure garbage, led fearlesly by the paragons of bad taste and useless music, Nirvana. Oy vey!

And so the question for me remains: what has happened to the music? Where are the Berlins, the Gershwins, the Porters, the Rogers and Harts, the Wallers - even the McCartneys and the Wonders today? Where are the people that can provide more than a slick dance and a blinding light show? Sure, it would be easy to dismiss my rant as the grumbling of an old fart. But why did I not like current music when I was 17, or 25 or 30? I was already studying the music of Ellington (and Stevie Wonder) when I was in my twenties because I saw something real in it, something lasting and something rewarding. Something that was painfully lacking in Stairway to Heaven and which is just as painfully lacking in someone like Gwen Stefani: something that would connect with the soul and outlast the most recent fad.