Remember when
I was complaining that there is no new rock music?
Well,
Nick Cave has a great answer to that:
"
... Not so
long ago the big idea in the world was freedom of expression. It looks
like the new big idea is moralism.
...
My feeling is that modern rock music, as we know it, has anyway been ailing for some time now. It has become afflicted with a kind of tiredness and confusion and faint-heartedness, and no longer has the stamina to fight the great battles that rock music has always fought. It seems to me there is little new or authentic, as it becomes safer, more nostalgic, more cautious and more corporate.
...
As far as rock music goes, I think
that the new moral zealotry that is descending upon our culture could
actually be a good thing. Maybe, it is exactly what rock ‘n’ roll needs at this moment in time. Contemporary rock music no longer seems to have
the fortitude to contend with these enemies of the imagination, these
enemies of art – and in this present form perhaps rock music isn’t worth
saving. The permafrost of puritanism could be the antidote for the
weariness and nostalgia that grips it. Perhaps a painful reckoning is
needed – a great crushing of creativity that descends and lays its
self-righteous ice across art – so that in
time, a wild, dangerous and radical form of music can tear its way
through the ice, teeth bared, and rock ‘n’ roll can get back to the
business of transgression."
