Rock & Roll music has always reflected the times in which it was created. Through careful listening one can even discern which drugs were popular at the time. LSD naturally inspired Acid Rock, the introspection of Folk Rock was grass fueled, Hard Core Metal is cranked up on speed, Grunge was dragged down by Heroin and there are musical sub genres that can be linked to meth use, alcohol and even caffeine.
Listening to today’s sound I don’t hear the drug influence so much as I hear the sound of isolation. The new drug is not mainlined but online. The new brand of singer songwriter, which is a very large segment of the new order of artist, is a very subdued, soft, quiet, individual without any backing vocals, for the most part, and mellow instrument accompaniment. Even with a full band, or at least sounding like a full band, the energy is subdued even when “rockin’”.
I attribute this new sound which follows in the tradition of a John Mayer or Dave Matthews, not on any person, but on technology. This new music sounds like it was recorded by one person, even if a full “band”, on a laptop computer in his or her bedroom with the parents sleeping in the next room. There is no projection but rather a repressed energy as if not wanting to wake up the baby. After all, recording these days is something to be done when all of the day’s work is finished and people are trying to relax, if you’re not getting paid to do it in a professional, sound proof studio.
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