The Retro Bandwagon

The way music press has been reading for the past two years or so, you'd think we were back in the Sixties again.

I mean, seriously. Does every other article have to touch on how some band is pushing aside their tight rock compositions in favor of "spaced-out psychedelic jams?" How many psychedelic records do we really need? How about "Seventies rock explorations?" Maybe we need a few more of those.

I guess this is the new bandwagon of choice. And really, can you blame artists? Too many years of this are bound to make people want to mix things up a little. By going back to something old. Because, you know, old was better than new, right?

To make things worse, it's usually a short hop from "old-school jams" to "more honest music." And by that, I mean "digital is bad - let's break out the analog gear." And before you can say "Moog," everyone is throwing their digital gear out the window and dropping huge stacks of cash on whatever vintage equipment they can get their hands on. Because, you know, playing on vintage analog gear is somehow more authentic than playing the same shit on new gear.

Honestly, that's an argument I don't even want to get into. It's just too damn complicated. And heated.

And besides, it's one of those things.

But you know what? I'm going to get my hands dirty anyway:

Good musicians use whatever equipment they have access to realize the sounds they're envisioning. Maybe all of it is modern. Maybe it's a mix of modern and vintage. And yes, there's even a chance it might ALL be vintage. After all, this little debate is still ongoing.

But the point is, the MUSICIAN makes the music. Not the gear. If you want to record a Seventies-style rock record, you don't need to buy Seventies-era guitars, amps, and effects in order to pull it off. Intelligent production decisions and a keen ear for the sonic fingerprint of the era will go a very long way towards getting you the sound you're looking for.

You also don't need to ape the lifestyle of an era to approximate its music. There's nothing in writing stating that you must flirt with death like Steven Tyler in order to make an Aerosmith-style blues-rock record. In fact, it's probably better that you don't. But I'll be damned if I don't read at least a few articles a month about some band that decides to get completely stoned to make some "truly spaced-out jams." Because it's impossible to make that sort of record while sober.

You know what? I'm tired of fucking around. Let's see some recording artists REALLY go back to their roots. I'm talking all the way, here: wax cylinders recorded through the bullhorn of a hand-cranked player. All the musicians crowded around the horn to make sure they're heard. No multi-tracking. No splicing takes. If you want to make more than one copy of the record, you'll need to run a different recording machine for each cylinder. And every time you play those suckers, they'll sound a little worse than the time before.

As musicians in the 21st century, we have an incredible set of tools available to us. We can use any of them. Whenever we want. And there's incredible power in that ability to choose. When you throw away half of your options right out of the gate, you're sacrificing potential.

Plus, you're wasting your money.