Where No Bands Have Gone Before

I wish to expand on my last blog.

I think some people may have gotten the wrong message.
My main point was that this generation has lacked a transcendent act or single musical movement which has been willing to protest and sing out against the problems of the decade. Politics wise was my main gist, which I didn't make clear enough, sorry!

However, in no contradiction to my previous statements, music this decade has been a mind blowingly, eye burstingly, eargasmingly diverse sprawling wonderland of sounds, ideas, directions, colours, textures, instrumentation, arrangements and genres. There have been more sub genres and genre splicing musicians than anyone would previously have thought possible. Brilliant pop classics, dubstep has reared its peculiar head in a wonderfully majestic manner, indie has dominated the decade spawning more sub-genres than you could care to shake a stick at- nu-rave, nu-folk, electroclash, garage rock revival, post punk revival. All of that down to The Strokes, the near undoubted godfather's of indie music this decade. Althought the decade has generally been a disappointment hip-hop wise (and it could scarcely be anything less after the 90s), us here in the British Isles got grime. Love it or loathe it, emo and scene rose and fell (thankfully), the internet redefined music and destroyed the physical single.

Whilst this decade has lost the uniting movements and artists of previous ones, it has also managed to lose the musical cliques and divides of other generations. Somehow, in some strange should-be-but-isn't-contradiction. My itunes collection is insanely diverse, I scarcely know a single person who listens solely to one type of music. Obvious and audacious genre splicing is a norm nowadays, and isn't such a gimmick or a shock as it was.

The messages of previous decades may be absent, but music in itself has been awesome. Which perhaps is a necessary step. Music has been celebrating itself this decade, going to incredible new places, busting down sonic barriers and taste barriers and making a euphoric noise. Maybe this decade's been all about having fun and just enjoying music for itself. Which is a wonderfully valid thing to strive for, and the extent to which it's been acheived in the past ten years does actually make the gaping loss of poltical protest seem less appalling now that I think about it.

This decade, musically, was definitely necessary. Music has leapt to new places, partied, celebrated, gloried in itself. And maybe now it's claimed and discovered new sounds, it will use those wonderful gifts to sing about and play about the state in which the rest of the world is heading into the next decade.

Here's to Klaxons/Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Dizzee Rascal/Radiohead/Beck/LCD Soundsystem/Battles/Porcupine Tree/MGMT/Gorillaz penning a massive anthem that defines the next decade!