all very true - and the "polish" to today's bands is even more overdone thanks to pro tools and the like. so, even "grungy music" sounds polished.
what i dig about the black keys is at least their earlier albums were a throwback to the raw visceral quality that you hear in early CCR albums. just intense...
and casey james is an example of how the music industry has been stuck with their notion of what "marketability" means to them. casey would still be playing bars in austin if not for american idol. and he would NEVER have been signed to sony if he wasn't "pretty".
point being the industry is still looking for looks and are too lazy to find talent themselves - they won't sign an unproven artist. they have to have some sort of following for them to even look at a musician. which is why the industry is eating shit nowadays - talented bands can get a following and sell records(mainly mp3s) and advertise tour dates on their own through the web.
TheHokes - 8 hours ago »
my mayer comparison with said idolist, was nothing to do with them both being "derivative" which everyone seems to be using to sound a lot more mature than they obviously are... it was to do with the cleanliness to music in general. thats what i'm not a big fan of anymore, don't get me wrong i used to. but i much prefer the swampier, dirtier blues. Of course all blues bands, rock n roll bands, psychedelic bands, fuck knows nearly every band going is at least partly derivative of an earlier incarnation. in fact i'm interested to see if there are any bands that come across as totally original... can't think of many british bands that are in the mainstream at least, no point naming fuckin joe bloggs round the corner who plays a teaspoon with his tongue.
