# What lies in the current music frontier? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996 "2005-01-04T05:44:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/61 "2005-01-06T20:59:15Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > Very true. Musicians don’t even have to have met each other to form a band. Someone could listen to an artist’s music on the net, add something of his own, or start up a collaboration with other artists overseas they find intriguing. Crosscultural “virtual” bands could be the next big thing. Well the interesting question that raises is “How does a band like that play out”? I know that with internet/download/Crap-with-RIAA/etc ad nauseum that the world of music is changing, but to me there’s always been a performance component of music linked to any album. As a “consumer” I’d like to be able to see a band play live, and as a performer I’m only interested in doing so much locked in a room with a bunch of recording equipment. To me, recorded music is the blueprint for the actual live performance of the same: an album implies a real-life performing band. So would these bands merely exist in the aether? It’s an intriguing concept, though one I wouldn’t personally embrace. . . ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/62 "2005-01-06T21:03:52Z")
> [@Misery Loves Co.](#): > > To me, recorded music is the blueprint for the actual live performance of the same: an album implies a real-life performing band. There are a fair number of “bands” that are really just one or two people’s studio projects already, so I think you’re out of luck on that implication. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/63 "2005-01-06T21:13:54Z")
I don’t know. I’m not a performer (beyong being REALLY bad on a guitar), but I am a music consumer. I consume A LOT of music, from a huge variety of sources. While I like to see bands perform live, it’s not crucial to my enjoyment of them. My favorite band (Five Eight), I have never seen live, in the over 10 years I’ve been a fan. They just don’t ever make it to my state. I buy their CDs online. As far as I know it could be one guy making CDs in his basement, though I’[m pretty sure that’s not true. 😉 I don’t really have a desire to see many of my favorite electronic artists live, though I like seeing DJs that way. I will probably never see any of the Japanese groups I am a fan of live. Still haven’t seen Maria McKee live. So, I guess it’s nice, but not the end all and be all of enjoying their music. Besides, while pop music gets more and more vapid, I think people are becoming less accustomed to seeing things “live” anyway. I like the odd live, intimate concert a lot, but I think the music world is shifting away from that, especially as people collaborate at a distance. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/64 "2005-01-06T21:30:47Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > There are a fair number of “bands” that are really just one or two people’s studio projects already, so I think you’re out of luck on that implication. Yeah, like mine! 😃 And so, for the record, were Evanescence, but they went and hired on extra musicians to tour. Which is what we’ll be doing. The question is more: what happens when the individual members live in different parts of the world, which is a slightly different scenario. . . > [@Necros](#): > > Besides, while pop music gets more and more vapid, I think people are becoming less accustomed to seeing things “live” anyway. I like the odd live, intimate concert a lot, but I think the music world is shifting away from that, especially as people collaborate at a distance. Yah, that’s what seems like the eventual outcome. When recorded media came out, I understand that there was a cross-section of the public who wondered why anyone would want to listen to the same performance over and over again, when music was meant to be enjoyed “first hand”. What you describe is another step away from _direct_ human contact, which is of course prevalent shift in the “First World”. In the realm of Electronica/DJ/Dance music and that specific genre, I don’t know if the “performer” has ever been a primary focus, and I don’t know enough about the “live” component of Hip-Hop/Rap to even hazard a guess. I guess as a consumer, I _expect_ that I could see a band live (for instance, I’m dying for Rammstein to get their asses over to the states on their current tour). As a performer, I think I’d feel so unsatisfied if I never actually got on stage. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/65 "2005-01-06T21:34:03Z")
> [@Misery Loves Co.](#): > > Yeah, like mine! 😃 And so, for the record, were Evanescence, but they went and hired on extra musicians to tour. Which is what we’ll be doing. The question is more: what happens when the individual members live in different parts of the world, which is a slightly different scenario. . . I was responding specifically to this: > [@](#): > > an album implies a real-life performing band. to demonstrate that it isn’t true in general. I don’t see much difference between a one-man band that can’t perform and a worldwide band that can’t perform. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/66 "2005-01-06T22:10:23Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I still maintain that there are no revolutions; that music (and art in general) move forward only a little bit at a time. It’s public tastes that change quickly. Wow. That made me stop and think for a second. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/67 "2005-01-06T22:31:09Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I was responding specifically to this […] to demonstrate that it isn’t true in general. I don’t see much difference between a one-man band that can’t perform and a worldwide band that can’t perform. Well just to be pedantic: 😉 I would wager that the number of “real” (meaning: capable-of-performing) bands massively outnumbers the number of “virtual” bands, so _generally_ speaking, an album _implies_ a performing band. . . **to date**. I did not intend to say that the existance of an album implies that _it was recorded_ by a performing band, but rather that the existence implies at least a willingness to perform it, if not outright desire to do so. That under the right circumstances you could go and see a bunch of people bashing on their instruments and reproducing what you heard on the CD. I feel I also need to qualify myself further: I’m excluding all examples of music that are _typically_ one-man oriented, such as Electronica, DJ, Hip-Hop, where the genre is based on a solo musician who might or might not have hired-hands behind him/her. I’m primarily speaking about Rock/Metal (which does not exclude the world-influenced collaboration postulated by **Necro** mind you), hence my mention of Evanescence (NIN also pops to mind). I still submit that most “studio bands” (again restricted to mean: rock/metal or otherwise classically “group oriented” genre) do what they do with at least some desire or intention to perform live. And that does reveal a difference between the intention of a one-man virtual band (who isn’t performing yet, but wants to) and a worldwide v-band (who couldn’t perform live without some overcoming some serious obstacles). (On preview) **Bruce\_Daddy** it is also fun to remember that none of this is remotely important in the long term. The “big wave” of the 19xx’s may be no more than an obscure footnote in a . . . well, ridiculously large opto-laser storage crystal . . . 200 years from now. Or it might be _the_ thing that is still defining music/performing arts. Bach (1604-1673) was virtually unknown until Mendelssohn (1809-1847) “discovered” him. Cut to 200 more years to today (roughly) and I’ll bet that everyone reading this thread has heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/68 "2005-01-06T22:37:59Z")
erp - I do not mean to imply that Bach is still shaping music today (unless, of course, you’re Nigel Tufnel). The fact that someone was only moderately noteworthy during their day, yet is a household name 400 years later _is_ a good indicator that the short-term trend is worth f$^%-all in the long term. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/69 "2005-01-07T00:29:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, all the bands I mentioned had their start in the very early 80s, so I would hardly call them bands of today. I was just using the generic “today” as the sound currently referred to as “industrial” has grown out of the sounds that these bands produced. I wasn’t necessarily saying that those bands are around today (I know that Nitzer Ebb is long history, but I think the others are still working in some way or another). ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/70 "2005-01-07T02:47:44Z")
> [@Misery Loves Co.](#): > > **Bruce\_Daddy** it is also fun to remember that none of this is remotely important in the long term. The “big wave” of the 19xx’s may be no more than an obscure footnote in a . . . well, ridiculously large opto-laser storage crystal . . . 200 years from now. Or it might be _the_ thing that is still defining music/performing arts. Bach (1604-1673) was virtually unknown until Mendelssohn (1809-1847) “discovered” him. Cut to 200 more years to today (roughly) and I’ll bet that everyone reading this thread has heard of him. This may be true, but I am not interested in the “big picture” as much as I am the next few years, all for purely selfish reasons of course. 😉 I would like for public interest to swing my way, and quickly at that. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/71 "2005-01-07T14:11:27Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > I would like for public interest to swing my way, and quickly at that. Amen brother! ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/72 "2005-01-07T23:21:37Z")
> [@Misery Loves Co.](#): > > As a “consumer” I’d like to be able to see a band play live, and as a performer I’m only interested in doing so much locked in a room with a bunch of recording equipment. To me, recorded music is the blueprint for the actual live performance of the same: an album implies a real-life performing band. So would these bands merely exist in the aether? It’s an intriguing concept, though one I wouldn’t personally embrace. . . Hmmmm, how about charging an exorbitant amount of money to have people go to a big venue, with a big screen for each bandmember and the video/audio feed pumped in from their location? A live cyber concert or something. For my project, I’d have live dancers wearing giant hotdog suits and doing interpretive dance to the music. Or we could just all get on planes and meet each other somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/73 "2005-01-07T23:27:20Z")
> [@Misery Loves Co.](#): > > In the realm of Electronica/DJ/Dance music and that specific genre, I don’t know if the “performer” has ever been a primary focus, and I don’t know enough about the “live” component of Hip-Hop/Rap to even hazard a guess. As someone that has performed live hip-hop (or a style of music that incorporated elements of it), I’ll tell you how we did it. First when we composed the music, we kept in mind not to do any serious studio tricks we couldn’t replicate live. Although we used electronic beats, we had a drummer with enough talent to replicate them. Finally we had a keyboard guy who would play the samples and things. As electronics have evolved, the gear has become far more advanced. Playing hip-hop live these days is as simple as a mike and an ipod. (would be aboring ass show though). ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996/74 "2005-01-10T15:16:10Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Or we could just all get on planes and meet each other somewhere. Now, just what are the Air Travel prices from, say, South Africa, France, Japan, Brazil, and Spokane, Washington? The scenario I thought we were discussing was: > [@Necros](#): > > a collaboration with other artists overseas they find intriguing. Crosscultural “virtual” bands could be the next big thing. So maybe it _would_ be more cost effective to invest in those hot-dog suits. > [@World Eater](#): > > Although we used electronic beats, we had a drummer with enough talent to replicate them. Finally we had a keyboard guy who would play the samples and things. I suspected that was the case. I listed my non-qualifications in this genre, but what seems to be predominant is a mix of Electronic/Live drums, and a whole lotta synth work; not too many live musicians, unless it’s for some big MTV awards show or something. Which is fine, because Hip-Hop/Rap is about the singer/singers, not about those wierdos playing instruments 😉 . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lies-in-the-current-music-frontier/282996.md?page=3)