Super-producer Bob Ezrin Slams State of Music Today

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Bob Ezrin, best known for his work as a producer with Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd and Kiss, has taken a hard look at the current state of music – and he’s horrified.

“Where are the anthems, the protest songs, the songs to march to or the ideas to fight for, the truths to believe in?” he says, in a letter to Bob Lefsetz of the Lefsetz Letter. “Instead, it’s all about ‘me.’” Ezrin notes a few glimmers of hope, but not many. “‘Glory’ from the film Selma is the great current exception – as is Kendrick Lamar‘s work. And – yes – let’s not forget the valiant Dixie Chicks. But mostly there’s little more than a bit of catchy ear candy and nice beats.”

Ezrin produced Alice Cooper’s School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome to My Nightmare, among others. He collaborated with Kiss on Destroyer and Revenge, and served as co-producer on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell. He also worked on Deep Purple‘s Now What?!; Lou Reed‘s Berlin; and on both Peter Gabriel‘s debut and 2010′s Scratch My Back.

That lenthy period around the industry has given Bob Ezrin a unique perspective on just when things went wrong, too: The ’80s. “All that talk about the ‘me generation’ turns out to be true,” he says. “We lost ‘us’ in the ’80s, and since then we only care about ourselves and our personal gain. We only want the money.”

And so ends a dramatic musical journey, he laments. “In just the last few generations, we have witnessed the complete devolution of the mainstream of music from the intricacies and demands of jazz, swing and modern ‘classical’; the subtleties and finesse of the best of popular song writing; the mastery of “folk” instruments and vocal performance in the best of folk and rock; the singular high-mindedness of the greatest singer songwriters; and the hard-won craft of playing and writing and creating meaningful work,” Ezrin says.

We’re left now, he adds, with “four-bar grids of ‘cut and paste’ monotony over which someone writes shallow nursery rhymes about partying, trucks and beer or bitches and bling, or whines in hardly rhyming verse about their sad little white boy or girl life.”


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AboutAGirl

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Oh, the irony. Ah yes, I remember Kiss's protest anthems and the many "truths" of Alice Cooper's shock-rock. Kiss never sang about partying, beer, or bitches, and their four-bar songs indeed had all the majesty of modern classical.

Just another guy who can't stomach change. Have to agree with him that the 80s were a misstep, but we've gone back up since then.
 

JimJam

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Ezrin produced some excellent music but is hardly the guy to complain about the lack of protest music in today's scene. The "us" that turned to "me" happened in the '70s - not the '80s - when Ezrin was at his peak of power as a producer. The only song of overt social commentary he produced that i can think of was Alice's "Eighteen."

If Ezrin wanted to be part of a social/political movement, he could've done something with the punks in the '70s or some of the alternative bands of the '80s. But his production style was too polished to fit in with those rawer sounds.
 

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Oh, the irony. Ah yes, I remember Kiss's protest anthems and the many "truths" of Alice Cooper's shock-rock. Kiss never sang about partying, beer, or bitches, and their four-bar songs indeed had all the majesty of modern classical.

Just another guy who can't stomach change. Have to agree with him that the 80s were a misstep, but we've gone back up since then.

Sure Kiss wrote songs about partying, beer (alcohol) and bitches..

Rock n roll all nite was a party song, Cold Gin was about alcohol and Put the "X" in sex, Nothing To Loose, Plaster Caster was about bitches.. just to name a few. Now if your talking about "bitches" as in woman referred to as hoes, well, that sort of different.. but they never called them "bitches" like they do today.. and all you have to look at a lot of todays "music" for that phrase and meaning and you certain DONT have to look hard for it neither..

As far as the 80s was concerned, that was all technology based songs with the birth of synthesizers, midis, rack processors etc.. and who really cares about substance IN a song.? They certainly didnt care, did they, just wanted to make the coolests songs with the coolest noises they could find. And the majority of songs in the 80s were generic rock songs anyway..

Then came the grunge/emo wave.. PASS!!!! THIS is where the "ME... ME... ME" shit came from..

From there.. "IT" got worse.. not to mention the sheer tidal wave in Indie labels and artist that flooded the landscape and who in the hell could listen to all of them, I cant, and I dont really want to neither.. which is good AND bad, if you think about it..

Bob Ezrin has to look it another way, from the 50s and to do-wops, to the 60s drug induced hippy physco music and so on.. there isnt really any transition in-between music styles and each generation is going to put out music that reflection that generation..

But you know.. itll come full circle in one form or another. perhaps what he talking about is when something drastic will happen, like the FORCE collapse of the petro dollar and nobody has any money and people will start writing protest and other songs that a generation could associate with again.. who knows..
 

stepcousin

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Originally Posted by AboutAGirl

Oh, the irony. Ah yes, I remember Kiss's protest anthems and the many "truths" of Alice Cooper's shock-rock. Kiss never sang about partying, beer, or bitches, and their four-bar songs indeed had all the majesty of modern classical.

Sure Kiss wrote songs about partying, beer (alcohol) and bitches..

Rock n roll all nite was a party song, Cold Gin was about alcohol and Put the "X" in sex, Nothing To Loose, Plaster Caster was about bitches.. just to name a few.

I think AboutAGirl was being sarcastic.
 

coltrane2

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Oh, the irony. Ah yes, I remember Kiss's protest anthems and the many "truths" of Alice Cooper's shock-rock. Kiss never sang about partying, beer, or bitches, and their four-bar songs indeed had all the majesty of modern classical.

Just another guy who can't stomach change. Have to agree with him that the 80s were a misstep, but we've gone back up since then.

Leaving aside Ezrin's personal credentials, the undeniable truth is that we are way, way (way) past the golden age of rock and for that matter pop. That has bugger all to do with entrenched nostalgia, it's beyond opinion. The 60's had The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Motown, Stax, The Stooges, The Kinks, James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, Hendrix, Bob Dylan at his most arch and talented.

The 70's? Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Deep Purple, Steely Dan, Bowie at his peak, Stevie Wonder at his peak, Roxy Music, the Punk movement, The Sound of Philadelphia, Television, The Ramones, the first Van Halen album, Kraftwerk.

Sorry but we're at the shitty tail end and scraps of a truly great era of music and history will recall just that. Unless someone really does, without tongue planted in cheek, wish to conclude that Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and The Killers are musical legends.
 

Johnny-Too-Good

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Leaving aside Ezrin's personal credentials, the undeniable truth is that we are way, way (way) past the golden age of rock and for that matter pop. That has bugger all to do with entrenched nostalgia, it's beyond opinion. The 60's had The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Motown, Stax, The Stooges, The Kinks, James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, Hendrix, Bob Dylan at his most arch and talented.

The 70's? Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Deep Purple, Steely Dan, Bowie at his peak, Stevie Wonder at his peak, Roxy Music, the Punk movement, The Sound of Philadelphia, Television, The Ramones, the first Van Halen album, Kraftwerk.

Sorry but we're at the shitty tail end and scraps of a truly great era of music and history will recall just that. Unless someone really does, without tongue planted in cheek, wish to conclude that Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and The Killers are musical legends.

While I would agree to a certain point with what you are saying I would make the point that, in the mid '60s , we had no idea that The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, Dylan etc, would end up being 'Legends'. Same goes for Led Zep, Floyd etc in the '70s. The internet has changed the whole business from what we know it for sure. The bands are still out there - Rival Sons, Blackberry Smoke, Blackstone Cherry. And if you want a big stadium filler - Muse (love 'em or hate 'em). Who's to say who the 'Legends ' will be in 10 or 20 years?
 

AboutAGirl

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Leaving aside Ezrin's personal credentials, the undeniable truth is that we are way, way (way) past the golden age of rock and for that matter pop. That has bugger all to do with entrenched nostalgia, it's beyond opinion. The 60's had The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Motown, Stax, The Stooges, The Kinks, James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, Hendrix, Bob Dylan at his most arch and talented.

The 70's? Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Deep Purple, Steely Dan, Bowie at his peak, Stevie Wonder at his peak, Roxy Music, the Punk movement, The Sound of Philadelphia, Television, The Ramones, the first Van Halen album, Kraftwerk.

Sorry but we're at the shitty tail end and scraps of a truly great era of music and history will recall just that. Unless someone really does, without tongue planted in cheek, wish to conclude that Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and The Killers are musical legends.

My issue is that they said the exact. same. thing. in 1967 about all the "crap" music like Hendrix, Stones, Beatles, and Dylan. It'll never compare to the "real" legends like Sinatra, Coltrane, Hank Williams. Let alone Beethoven, Mozart, Bach. Heck, ever hear Don Mclean's American Pie? Such a haunting, beautiful song.... about the fact that The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Stones are immoral crap and it'll never compare to the Big Bopper.

They said the exact same thing in the 90s. This crap will never compare to the "real" legends. Hmmm... strange. Is Nirvana not legendary? Garth Brooks? Tupac? Pantera? Doesn't matter if you like them or not, no one can objectively deny the legacy of an act like Tupac or Garth Brooks, period.

I like what I like. But it doesn't matter what I like. If you divorce yourself from your conditional, personal opinion, and look at music from a sociological viewpoint, you'll see that every decade has legends of equal stature. There's no logical reason to think this generation will be any different.
 

coltrane2

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My issue is that they said the exact. same. thing. in 1967 about all the "crap" music like Hendrix, Stones, Beatles, and Dylan. It'll never compare to the "real" legends like Sinatra, Coltrane, Hank Williams. Let alone Beethoven, Mozart, Bach. Heck, ever hear Don Mclean's American Pie? Such a haunting, beautiful song.... about the fact that The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Stones are immoral crap and it'll never compare to the Big Bopper.

They said the exact same thing in the 90s. This crap will never compare to the "real" legends. Hmmm... strange. Is Nirvana not legendary? Garth Brooks? Tupac? Pantera? Doesn't matter if you like them or not, no one can objectively deny the legacy of an act like Tupac or Garth Brooks, period.

I like what I like. But it doesn't matter what I like. If you divorce yourself from your conditional, personal opinion, and look at music from a sociological viewpoint, you'll see that every decade has legends of equal stature. There's no logical reason to think this generation will be any different.

Well, it's an impossible point to prove until at least 20 - 30 year's time I guess but for me it's the law of diminishing returns - how many times can rock be truly ground breaking before it repeats itself? I share an opinion with many that said event happened circa 1992- 1994. And yes if you define "legend" as most popular at a given time then every decade will produce those. Certainly music album sales are at an all time low if that's any barometer. And there will always be talented people.

It's not for me to dis someone else's perspective so I'll shut up now.
 
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coltrane2

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While I would agree to a certain point with what you are saying I would make the point that, in the mid '60s , we had no idea that The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, Dylan etc, would end up being 'Legends'. Same goes for Led Zep, Floyd etc in the '70s. The internet has changed the whole business from what we know it for sure. The bands are still out there - Rival Sons, Blackberry Smoke, Blackstone Cherry. And if you want a big stadium filler - Muse (love 'em or hate 'em). Who's to say who the 'Legends ' will be in 10 or 20 years?

I agree that it takes years, decades even, to gain proper perspective on anything that is lasting (classic). An interesting choice of bands there - I really like all three especially Rival Sons but each of them is to these ears very derivative of a classic band - Rival Sons (The Doors, Zeppelin); Blackberry Smoke (Skynyrd) and Blackstone Cherry (again Skynyrd, Blackfoot, bit of Zeppelin in there again).

Your tag photo is Ronnie Van Zant: rather see Skynyrd in their hay day or Blackberry Smoke? I suppose that's my point. It's terrifically hard for anyone to do anything mind blowing that hasn't already been done.

Btw I was disappointed by Holding All The Roses. I thought Whipporwill was far stronger.
 

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