Why Rock Music is DEAD

Hello my friends, today we are going to discuss something that I truly do not understand: why is rock music dead?

From the late 50's to the mid 90's rock music was the quintessential genre of popular music. It was played in bars, clubs, on the radio, in concert and much more. However, as the millennia approached, it became clear that hip-hop/rap was becoming the dominant genre of music. Furthermore, upon the death of grunge icon Kurt Cobain and the subsequent disbanding of Nirvana, the band that defined the 90's musically, rock music began to fade out.

Gone are the days of Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and their contemporaries. Today, we do not truly evaluate musicians on true talent but rather the popularity that ensues from their music. Look at the recent craze with all these DJs whose music all sounds the same. The bass thumps, there is a drop, then a buildup once more and then it just loops over and over again.

Furthermore, today's music has no sustainability. Can you really imagine anyone listening to this Skrillex fellow in 50 years? Absolutely not. However, bands like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, U2, Nirvana and many more will be listened to and revered for decades. Can you seriously imagine how ridiculous it would be if our children listened to today's music and defined it as "classic" similar to how we have defined our parent's music as "classic". Personally, I feel that music from 30 years ago was authentic and had soul whereas today's music is a digital and computer generated mess. 

Let me tell you something faithful reader, I will never succumb to the pressures of the music industry today and accept what is popular to be the absolute best. Rather, I will make it my life's goal to rid the world of these horrid musicians and return the music industry to its former glory. I know I am not alone on this mission. However, it will be no easy task.

Certainly, it would be easy to tell you that one day rock music will deservedly reign as the most popular genre of music once again. However, I am no fortune teller and cannot predict the future, though I wish I could. What I can tell you is that we should enjoy what we once had and be happy about it. Until then, we will have to sit in the shadow of mediocrity that has been cast upon us from popular music today. 

P.S. Not all popular music today is horrid. I love the Arcade Fire, who are probably one of the best bands on the planet right now, among other of their contemporaries that attempt to make good music. 

New City Gas: Gas I'd Like To Pass

Hello my friends, before I begin I would like to ask you all a simple question: why is it that we, young people, enjoy going to clubs?

I often ask myself this question as I exit a club, time and time again. It's not that I don't enjoy dancing and prancing around like Bambi running away from a hunter; I just hate the monotonous and boring music that plays all night long in these establishments. Don't get me wrong here, my musical tastes are varied. However, is it just me, or does all house/electronic music tend to sound the same? The same repetitive bass beat in the background followed by a drop then a buildup over and over and over again.

This is why I don't listen to popular music very often; I find it uninteresting, and trivial. However, this has somewhat alienated me from some of my peers. In fact, I often find myself getting into discussion with others about going to some club only to have no idea what I am talking about.

This is a hypothetical example of a typical conversation with one of my peers:

Dave: Hey man! You going to New City Gas this weekend? 

Me: What's that? Some sort of fueling station? 

Dave: No dude! It's this awesome club where sweaty people go and dance on top of each other! Pretty cool eh? 

Me: No, not really. 

Dave: Come on... Skrillex is playing this weekend! He's so boom! You need to come bro!

Me: I don't know man. In fact,  I don't even know what a Skrillex is.

Dave: Dude, come on. WE HAVE TO GO. It's going to be a crazy time! I promise if you don't like it, I'll never make you go back again.

After thinking about Dave's offer I reluctantly agree to go to this New City Gas with him.

Me: Alright man, if you say so...

My friends and I arrive at New City Gas, it is a cold and dark winter night. To avoid the coat-check I wear only a t-shirt in -11 degree weather. Not only is it extremely cold, but I am in desperate need of a bathroom as my bladder is about to burst. After freezing my bum off in a line for over 30 minutes, my friends and I are admitted to the venue. After passing the first checkpoint, we are put into another line. At this point I cannot take it any longer and proceed to relief myself on the stone facade of New City Gas. (Do not judge me... I really had to go.)

Finally, I make to the end of the second line. I am told to put my belongings into a small, grey plastic bin, like at the airport, and asked to walk forward. Without warning, a large, brutish bouncer begins to vigorously frisk me as if I am hiding weapons of mass destruction somewhere in my jeans. Eventually, I recover my belongings and am permitted entry to this extremely secure place.

I make my way down the large steel staircase in front of me. At the bottom of the stairs I see another line. "Oh no," I say to myself. "Another fucking line! You've got to be kidding me!" Luckily, this was the line for the coat-check, and I was prepared to avoid it.

After going up another flight of stairs I make it to the concert hall. The dank smell of sweat, booze and other bodily fluids fills the air of New City Gas. Thousands of sweaty adolescents fill the room and bounce to the beat of the subwoofer as it pierces my ears with its repetitive beat. Several colored lights flash and blind me as I attempt to navigate this hellhole.



Stealthily making our way through crowds of moist individuals, my friends and I make it close to the front of the stage. Ahead of us, on an elevated podium is a DJ mashing away on his MacBook Pro. After two hours or so I have had enough. The mix of the smell, the people and the horrendous music makes me feel ill. I have to get out of here.


Sur enough, after begging and pleading with my friends and somehow talking over the loud noise of the music, we agree to leave. I look for an exit sign then immediately follow it like a wolf hunting its prey. Finally, I find a door and with every ounce of strength in my body I push it open. I exit triumphantly, like a bat out of hell; free from the torment of this venue.

I swear to myself that I will never return to this place. However, only time will tell if I keep this promise. and like every night I ask myself the same question I ask myself each time I exit a club: why do people like these places?

The Facebook Timeline: A Scary Trip Down Memory Lane

Hello friends, the other day while in a trance of post-midterm studying and boredom I stumbled upon something I had never noticed before: you can look at all of your past activity on your Facebook page year by year.

Firstly, I noticed on the bottom right corner of my Facebook Timeline there were options for certain years. I clicked 2008 and suddenly I was transported back to grade 8 and all of the ridiculous posts of that year. Then, I proceeded to see what I did in 2009, 2010 and 2011, then finally making it back to present day.  

What's interesting about doing this is seeing what type of person you used to be through your online interactions with others. It's really an introspective experience, you can really measure how much you've changed your public image and persona through the course of your adolesent and young adult life. 

It's actually quite scary how something as simple as a sentence you wrote when you were 15 can bring back such strong memories. For example, one of my favorite posts that I discovered as a status that said, "is starting to smell better... believe me." This brought me back to one of the most unfortunate stories of my life that I'd rather not expose online.. However, I will tell you it involves myself and a skunk. But more on that later.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that before the Facebook Message existed the primary means of communication was by having full on conversations on someone's wall. Like most people my age I used to do this but the truly hilarious thing is that I totally forgot that we would communicate like that. I cant speak for others but I'm sure there are a few of us that have zero recollection of the "wall to wall" that once existed as our primary mode of communication. 



The last thought that I had was that Facebook can either be viewed as something that will either lead to our downfall or allow us to reach the next level in communication as a global community, hopefully the latter. What truly worries me is how my children will communicate with their friends and peers. I can only imagine their social ineptitude but from what I've been thinking it looks rather gloomy.  

We will either be so enthralled in our online worlds that we won't be able to communicate in person with each other, or social networking will help us reach the next level in global networking and the transmission of ideas and thoughts. However, as cliche as this sounds, only time will tell if we are digging ourselves our very own grave via social networking. So ask yourself, is Facebook ruining your life? If you're unsure, here is a list of signs Facebook is ruining your life. 

Stay thirsty my friends,
-MB 

A Lifetime of Mistakes

"We all make mistakes. After all, we're only human." - some douchy proverb

 This is something I've heard over and over again throughout my life, and yet each time I hear it I want to shoot myself in the foot out of stupidity.

I'll admit it; shit happens. We make mistakes. However, this doesn't mean we can't always learn from these mistakes, but some of us never do.

Sadly, I am one of these people. I have made the same careless mistakes over and over again during my short life of 18 years. In addition, the worst part is many of this mistakes are avoidable. For example, the one dreadful mistake I continue to make throughout my life as a student is leaving completed assignments on my desk.

I've left art assignments, research papers, english essays, business projects and more on my desk the day they are due. It's not like I'm a procrastinator and I don't do the work. In fact, my work is always done in advance. I just always forget that it needs to be handed in on a particular day.

What is worse is that this has been going on since elementary school. You'd think after all this time I'd devise a better system for making sure I have my work in my bag the night before but I always leave it on my desk. In fact, I seem to ALWAYS leave it on my desk. I'm all too familiar with the feeling one gets upon realizing their assignment or project is sitting on their desk at home.

This is a typical situation in which I realize my work is on my desk at home:

I walk into class, confident in myself and my assignment that I believe is in my bag. As per usual, the professor asks everyone to hand in their assignment. I gaze into my bag flabbergasted to see it's not there. Reflexively, I begin to panic, searching frantically through my bag for the absent work. However, it is not anywhere to be seen. Suddenly, my stomach feels heavy, my head overwhelmed and my heart feels as if it is about to burst through my chest.

 Oh no, not again. I fucked up.

Within moments I enter into overdrive, an internal dialogue running through my mind, "Fuck me. You've really done it this time Mason. Do you have your computer? No, of course you don't you moron. Wait, is the file somewhere in your email? No. Why the hell would it be!? WAIT! Can you print it from school? Yes... Hmmmmm ok... But how am I going to get the file? .......OF COURSE! MOM!"

I run out of class and into the bathroom and call my mother:

Me: Hai mommmmmmyyyyy.....

Mom: Hi Mason. Why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be in class!?

Me: Well... I am in class.. Mom can you do me a favor please......?

Mom: Yes..

Me: Can you pretty please email me the file (insert name here) from my computer, I need to print it.

Mom: DID YOU FORGET YOUR WORK ON YOUR DESK AGAIN!?!?!

Me: No.........

Mom: Ok I'll do it.

Me: Thanks mommy!

I sprint to the library, login to a computer and check my email. There it is, what I've worked so hard for. I open the file, print it, stable it then sprint back to class to hand it in. All is well and my heart rate slows down and I can finally relax.

Once again I (and by I, I mean my mother) have saved my ass from immanent destruction. However, will it ever be over? Looking at my past history, no. Hopefully, this habit doesn't translate to my professional career. That would be bad, I won't have my mommy to bail me out.

I think I'll have to send her this card the next time she helps me out after I screw up.