Interesting people, effective music.

Recently, music has started to affect me in a big way. I've always been a music lover, yes, but I've always zoomed on one thing or another and have forgotten about everything else. The other day I stumbled upon an index called "500 greatest songs by Luca" which is probably amazingly illegal, but had a lot of great songs on it. Upon listening to some of them, I realized that the music we have now is nowhere near as thoughtful nor as well organized and beautiful as some of the music from previous decades is that has stood the test of time. I don't really understand the whole emo movement that's going on right now where every song sounds the same, using almost the same three power chords each time. Is music, as is all other things, moving toward a purely commercial direction? Where are the deep thinkers with the beautiful ideas and amazing musical composition skills? Was it only the drugs they were taking talking?

I've been reading up on some popular artists that I've kind of overlooked due to my own prejudices or simply for the fact that I tend to shy away from what's popular to the mainstream simply because the mainstream lets a lot of really horrible things succeed. Some of the music everybody and their mother obsesses over I've found difficult to get interested in, for example, and I'm going to get beat down for saying this, but I've never really been interested in the Beatles. Sure, they have some good songs, but I've always felt like I've missed the point.

That all being said, I've been reading up on Eric Clapton. Mostly, just things on wikipedia. But, I never knew a lot of the background of his music before because I was never really interested. To be honest, the only reason I wondered why he was such a phenomenon is because of Ryuichi Ogata's (緒方龍一) deep interest in him. Being that Ryuichi Ogata is a member of a Japanese boyband, it kind of contradicts my claim that I can't get into things that are in the mainstream. Let me specify by saying that I only meant EXTREMELY current American mainstream emo-punk-rock. That's specific enough.

Anyway, I never knew that Clapton lived such an intense life, nor that he had such close ties to the Beatles. The song "Layla" was in fact written about George Harrison's wife with whom Clapton had fallen in love. Knowing that and going back to listen to the song, you can hear the emotion and the tension behind it. THAT, is my point. People claim to have these emotions and feelings and thoughts, but nothing stands out. NOTHING is captivating. It all sounds the same. It's all marketable. Clapton was also on drugs during that time, so maybe that's key, but I doubt it. He was also in a ton of bands, and is an all over impressive guy know that I know more about him.

I'm not saying that there is no good music out there now, it's just so hard to find. If you happen to stumble upon this entry, give me your recommendations for what you think is really good, contemporary music. Even if it's months from the entry date.