Music Review: Afuche - Carajo Is Worse Than Hell

I always get miffed at the way people refer to pop musicians as artists. If there is any group of entertainers who are further away from fulfilling the definition of being an artist than they are I've yet to come across it. It's not really their fault of course; it’s just the way the system works.

You see to be an artist means that you are continually attempting to try something new. Experimenting with form and style in search of a new way to represent what you are trying to depict, tell, or explain. That of course is the antithesis of what the pop music business is all about. There the object is to find something that sells and repeat that formula as much as you possibly can until the world moves onto the next thing and leaves you as yesterday's hit.

This isn't just a modern phenomenon; it has been going on since the early days of popular music back in the 1920's. There were whole buildings in lower Manhattan where each office contained a piano, enough cigarette smoke to cause a miniature green house effect, and one or two people churning out song after song in an attempt to either create the next big thing or imitate it.

Those musicians we remember from that time periods, like the Gershwin brothers George and Ira for instance, are the ones who were the artists continually breaking new ground with their music. The same holds true for the contemporary scene as well. Think back over the last ten years about who you remember from pop music and I'll bet they stand out because they were different from what the mainstream was churning out.

Now I'm not saying that just because somebody experiments they are going to be remembered, some experiments are still better left un-tried (Pat Boone doing Heavy Metal springs to mind as does Neil Young's Transformer album) and the sooner forgotten the better. But there are also those attempts that make you sit up and pay attention to the people behind the project.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and The Unofficial Heroes Of Olympus Companion, both published by Ulysses Press. He has had his work published in print and online all over the world including the German edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and www.Qantara.de. …

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