The first band to start this craze, Harry and the Potters, are fully fledged rock stars.  With hits like Accio Hagrid,  Hermione Screws Up the Polyjuice Potion, and My Teacher is a Werewolf, this very tongue-in-cheek band has led to the establishment of a genre of alternative music and spawned several other like minded bands.  Check out their performance of Voldemort Can’t Stop the Rock in this YouTube video:

This isn’t the first time that this type of dispute has arisen in the media.  If an artist disagrees with the stance of a particular person, radio station or television network on anything from partisanship to religion, they tend to make their opinion known.  This free speech is one of the founding features of rock and roll that I think any artist would defend vehemently, so to say that they shouldn’t be able to tell particular media channels whether or not they are allowed to play certain songs is just plain wrong.  However, I do believe that the manner in which some artists have brought the issue up has not been in the best interest of the music industry.

If Levine had brought his opinion to light through an official letter to Fox News, he would have gained credibility in the eyes of the reporters, most likely not get the negative backlash that we’re seeing, and he could have further legitimized himself as a professional.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a good public scruple on Twitter, but when it comes to business matters, let the public find out that you were a professional about the issue so if any negativity is spread afterwards, it lies solely on the media.  Let the people that you think are annoying or pretentious be the ones to throw the first stone, it validates your point even further.

The current state of the art is the amalgamation of years of musical evolution, culminating in all the great choices we have in this present day.  Let’s take a look back in time and see how far we’ve come in a relatively short period of time.  The infographic you are about to enlarge should provide an adequate overview of how things were, how they are now, and where they might be heading in the future.  Enjoy!

Panic of Girls is no different, with tracks like “The End The End”, “Girlie Girlie” and “Sunday Smile” echoing early 90′s ska and reggae, and even some latin roots in “Wipe Off My Sweat”. It may not be an industry re-defining or genre breaking album like Parallel Lines was, but any 66 year old who can still speak both Spanish and French on the same album (“Le Bleu” is a stringy dramatic storytelling that makes you want to sway through cobblestone streets and fall in love) and rock hard through the entire album from start to finish has some pretty good reasons for sticking around a little longer. Some of Panic‘s tracks like “D-Day” make you realize that indie bands all over the world are still finding inspiration in Blondie, where “D-Day” very easily could have been a title track on an Arcade Fire album, and all of the ska tracks bring you back to Gwen Stephani and No Doubt. This album is almost an anthem to all of the successful artists who followed in Blondie’s footsteps, showing just how influential Debbie Harry has been on more than a generation of music. And the best part of all- it’s still playing today.

If a Spotify user can play their tunes offline and through their mobile phone, offline playing and portable streaming are two of the largest factors in purchasing and downloading a song, so is Spotify sporting a new kind of ownership? Users may love a service like this, that is, if Spotify is fully integrated into their day to day music experience, being the one and only player someone would utilize (computer at home, cell phone in the car or walking around with headphones). But the bottom line is that the tracks still aren’t owned by anyone streaming them through Spotify or Grooveshark. As a user- if you get to listen to songs around the house, in your car, or use your cell phone as an ipod and run with them- then it definitely feels like ownership, and this feeling can develop in a sentiment of entitlement to the tracks that could be hard to break.

We all know the endless damaging effects of the Internet and what it has done to the music industry. But are these free music streaming services doing more harm than good? Are they developing a certain sense of entitlement for the average consumer when it comes to ownership of songs? The amount of flexibility and maneuverability available with new services may encourage pirating more than we think- which will only put the industry in a worse position.

The latest Disney tribute album is an effort to make the next Muppets on screen rendition more relevant as well, as several of the artists on the album also lend their voices to characters, in addition to Dave Grohl himself lending a musical assist in the movie. With as many big music names involved in not only the new album but also the movie itself, the next Muppets is clearly slated to embody a new style that will attract more than just kids and their parents- or at least make the feature significantly more enjoyable for their parents to endure. Maybe Disney is trying to harness a more psychedelic audience with MMJ’s Our World rendition, hoping the album will gain enough popularity to lure fans of featured rockers into the theaters across the country (harnessing the Cookie Monster’s tendencies from a college angle) to see what the Kermit, Elmo, Big Bird and Gonzo are up to. As if their latest Muppet movie promo Kermit poster doesn’t obviously scream rock concert.

Muppets: The Green Album Tracklist:

01. OK Go – Muppet Show Theme
02. Weezer and Paramore’s Hayley Williams – Rainbow Connection
03. The Fray – Mahna Mahna
04. Alkaline Trio – Moving Right Along
05. My Morning Jacket – Our World
06. Amy Lee – Halfway Down the Stairs
07. Sondre Lerche – Mr. Bassman
08. The Airborne Toxic Event – Wishing Song
09. Atreyu’s Brandon Saller and Good Charlotte’s Billy Martin – Night Life
10. Andrew Bird – Bein’ Green
11. Matt Nathanson – I Hope That Something Better Comes Along
12. Rachael Yamagata – I’m Going to Go Back There Someday

While their latest album title reflects a strong political statement, Hilton and Garza do more to show how to overcome the Culture of Fear they believe the media and government produce in America, believing that we really have nothing to be afraid of, than simply lash out against it. As Mr. Lif raps in their title track, “I’m more afraid of the credit cards than the terror squad… we fearing the weapons from overseas, yet Master Card and VISA won’t allow me to breathe.” Or the vocals on “Take My Soul” asking the listener to “put the love back in your heart, let’s try forgiveness, a little less self-deception.”

The lyrics on the album provide a sharp contrast between the “fear scape” that mass media and government institutions create in society with the relaxed, vibrant tones in their soundscaping techniques that it makes the listener want to embrace the latter. But at the end of the day, Thievery Corporation are still instrumentalists aimed at making extraordinary electronic music that creates a more than ambient atmosphere. And while the album title and lyrics certainly point to a political message sharply against the culture created by mass media with strong overtones of anxiety, fear and destruction, the quality of sound is still what pops out the most.

And this makes sense, considering that Hilton and Garza, when asked about their latest albums political undertones, said that they believe that creating your own art is one of the greatest ways to overcome this unnecessary and imposing fear, which shows how their focus stays on their art and producing some of the best low-fi electronic instrumental music in the industry. Culture of Fear is a step up for Thievery Corporation, as they’re only getting better and better with time and age.

The best, people like:
Chopin – Concertos to inspire emotion.
Beethoven – Commonplace in all things music.
Luigi Boccherini – Well known for many waltz dances.
Erik Satie – Powerful pieces of art on the piano.
Johann Pachelbel – Rhythm perfectionist using harmony in symphony form.

These names are just a few of the brilliant start of music. Everything that we listen to today would not be the same if it were not for these men. Think about it the next time you listen to a truly moving song and why you think it is so moving. Men devoted their lives to finding the right melody to pull at the strings of our hearts and extract the very essence of emotion. Some devoted their time to symphonies that were enjoyed by all while some wanted their audiance to see a dream in their mind as the song was played.

Some music would not exist with out their predecessors.
Bass came from low notes on the piano or cello.
Treble came from high notes on the piano or violin.
Lyrics came from the muse that is instrumental.
Beat stems from perfect rhythm.
Today’s music stems from the past.

The next time you listen to a sad song, pay attention to the melody. That melody has been used before. Maybe with a different instrument or tempo but it has been used millions of times. Sad song don’t sound sad with a happy melody and that also works the other way. My grandma used to make her ADT authorized dealer install sad songs as her house alarm. It was weird, yet fascinating at the same time.  It is fine to like the music of today as it is paving the way for music in the future as well but don’t forget where we came from.