Check out this article, then come right back:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/slipknot_cd_seized_during_search_of_homicide_scene.html

I assume most of you didn’t click on it.  Fine, I’ll just tell you what it said.

Some kid brutally murdered two innocent relatives and burned down his house, among other attrocities.  When the law searched the scene, they siezed a copy of a Slipknot cd that was found near the crime.  The suspect apparently addmited being into metal music at the time of the brutal slayings.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where this is going.

So before it gets there, a word in defense of music, angry or otherwise:

MUSIC CAN NOT KILL PEOPLE.

It isn’t even a tool for killing people (like a gun, a knife, or 20 minutes of the tv show The Jersey Shore.)

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll never catch me downplaying the impact music can have over a human being.  What music can do is awe-inspiring.  It can enrage, impassion, unite, and move even the darkest soul in a real and meaningful way.  But I draw the line at saying it can kill anyone.

I don’t care what music I listen to, or ever did listen to, or will ever listen to for the rest of my natural life - I just don’t have it in me to do what this kid is accused of.  I never had it in me, and I never will.  The actions taken by whoever really did kill those people (there has been no conviction yet so I’m staying away from making any assumptions, no matter how obvious) were the actions of a disturbed human being who is clearly not capable of being a peaceful functioning member of organized society.

Trying to take away metal music to stop violence would be like taking away baseball fields so your kids won’t be born athletic.  Being athletic is a genetic gift (one I do not have and am quite jealous of.)  You can take away the fields, the exercise rooms, and the equipment, and that will certainly stop the kid from being an athlete.  Similarly, you can take away weapons and hopefully prevent this kind of atrocity form happening.  That said, you can’t change the kid’s nature.  An athlete is born with the potential for athleticism, and evil people are born with a potential for violence on a level that the rest of us simply do not have.  Unfortunately for the reputation of metal music, if you’re born the type of person who could want to go kill some people, you will undoubtably be drawn to that which expresses anger, angst, violent tendancies, antisocial behavior, and above all else, rage.  Aka, metal music.

Perhaps seperating that particular person from negative music might not have been a bad idea if anyone had been paying attention, (hint hint…was anyone paying attention?) but I’m far more concerned with where the kid found the stockpile of weapons he was arrested with than the cd they found lying near the weapons.

But that’s it’s own long conversation.  Back on the music topic:

Personally, when I stub my toe on something, or someone tells me I’m wrong when clearly I’m right (I always am right after all) I can get pretty pissed off myself.  Sometimes when I’m nice and angry, I like to rock out to some old-school Metalica or System Of A Down, or even some Dethklok (where my Metalocalypse fans at?)  But I’d never burn down a house, let alone kill anyone.  I literally couldn’t bring myself to concieve doing something like that.

And that’s the difference, isn’t it - everyone has a bit of darkness inside of them, it’s what we do with those feelings that makes us different.  The guys from Slipknot, as far as I know, have never killed anyone.  They choose to channel their anger through music.  Thanks to talented people like Slipknot, who can express those dark emotions we all have through a harmless vehicle like music, I have been granted the ability to choose to channel my darker feelings through the music I listen to.

This kid chose to burn down a house and kill innocent people.  That’s not a music problem, that’s a mental disorder.

One day I’ll have kids.  When I do, if my child has an anger issue, in that very particular circomstance I would absolutely encourage him to seek out the music that will help calm his troubled soul.

But in general, music doesn’t kill people.  People with some serious disorders kill people.

I’m tired of it, I really am.

I’m tired of millionaires complaining about the record industry not being profitable, while working class musicians just go about their business.  I’m tired of people complaining that actual physical records don’t sell anymore when they’re the ones not buying enough of them.  I’m tired of the music industry, which has been essentially an oligopoly for decades, with cheerleaders who are no less annoying than the lobbyists of any other corporate behemoth, preferring to moan and complain until they’re wiped out entirely rather than adapting to what is ultimately a free market for music.

Let’s take it one irritation at a time.

I adore vinyl records.  I really do.  I was a radio dj in college (whrw 90.5 fm Binghamton - free format radio forever!) (shameless plug to my alma-mater over) and NOTHING beats the feeling I got getting lost in “the stacks,” being totally surrounded by vinyl from floor to ceiling.  Nothing beats the quality of the sound, nothing beats the warmth of the sound, nothing beats the sound of the scratch of the pin on the record, and nothing beats holding the larger-than-life album art in your hands.

But to Bon Jovi - who thinks that the music industry is dying, despite being number 2 in earnings last year due to touring and ticket sales - I say stay on your hill and keep your voice down.  The rest of us are grappling with a difficult transition that is emotionally and technologically complicated to parse through.

I much prefer the Jack White model.  He opened a freaking record store.  He’s even rolling around a portable record store at SXSW, presumably as we speak.  You want to support vinyl?  By all means, go support it.  Thank you Mr. White.

Personally, I like digital too.  In fact, it’s cds and tapes I don’t get anymore.  If I want sound quality, warmth, tone, and the true music fanatic’s experience, it’s vinyl all the way.  If I want ease and instant gratification, it’s digital downloads or music streaming services.

My only point is this - if you love vinyl, buy an inexpensive record player and start a collection.  If you think a-la carte music shopping is the wave of the future, it’s there for you to enjoy.

The ONLY thing I have no patience for is the complaining.

Now, what about the whole “music industry collapsing” thing?

Here’s my biggest beef: getting rich as a rockstar or music executive is not a right, it’s a privilege, and one that a huge number of people have enjoyed for a staggeringly long time   You want to tell me teachers should make more money?  The economics may or may not support that ever really happening, but I get it - teachers help mold the future.  Was it really historically imperative that Bon Jovi become richer than God?  Not particularly.  I don’t fault him for his money, I’m truly honestly happy for him.  He earned every last cent.  What I honestly can not believe is that people don’t understand why a multi million dollar ENTERTAINMENT enterprise is suddenly not sustainable now that it’s becoming an open market with no barriers to entry.

Let’s pretend for a second that the music industry was the stationary industry.  Once upon a time, there were four stationary stores.  They owned most of the other stationary stores.  If you wanted to make famous stationary, you had to go through them.  A few stationary designers could be chosen to be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, but everyone else was out of luck.

The music industry is currently becoming more like the real stationary industry: you want to open a stationary store?  You’re more than welcome to!  It will take talent, hard work, and a bit of luck.  In this metaphor, in the brave new music world, your band is your small business.  You can’t rely on winning the lotto by being chosen by the powers that be, you have to stand out of an enormous crowd of ANYONG who wants to try their hand at it.  Go do what every other business does, froom Google to Ghost This (my band, another shameless plug) - try your best to build a successful and profitable model, and get on your grind.

The ONLY people in all of this I feel bad for are the hard working industry professionals who’s positions will get disolved as the industry becomes normalized.  When typewriters were made extinct practically overnight by computers, thousands of working class professionals - from manufacturers to receptionists who couldn’t type on computers - lost their jobs.  It’s a shame, it really is.  But new markets develop, frictional unemployment tends to pass in time, and so shall this.

Am I making my point clearly enough?  Unless you just lost your job because you actually took home a reasonable salary for your work, stop complaining.  The music will live on, I promise.  Music is older than all of us.  It’s the old business model that won’t survive.  And same goes for records - it can never be how it was, we all know that.  But the music world changes all the time, often because of technology (hey, remember mix tapes? Me neither, I was born in 1987.)

But we all have a hand in creating the future.  Personally, I’m going to go buy a record player and start my collection.  And i’m going to start it by buying records made by smaller bands just starting out.  Then i’m going to throw a party, and play only music my friends don’t know yet.  You know, spread the musical love.  Just like back when there were mix tapes.

That’s how I’m going to change the music world.

What have you done lately?

If you haven’t heard Danger Doom (MF Doom + Danger Mouse) you’re doing something wrong.  Every album is an absolute diamond in the rough, featuring some top linguistic talent mixed with the always amazing beats of Danger Mouse.

Album to check: The Mouse And The Mask.