Wednesday 14 November 2012

EPIC AMERICAN ANTHEMS

This week, the topic is American Anthems. Yes I know that as soon as you see those words, your mind automatically time travels back to the 80's when America ruled the rock anthem roost and it was all about those slick guitar riffs and powerhouse vocals and songs that seemed to have a life of their own. 
Yeah I get that, because trust me, I am exactly the same.

This is the exact scene I see in my mind (just imagine me in that car...)
If I close my eyes, I can see skies the colour of the Caribbean sea and I am driving a monster of a car down a highway that takes me through desert, towns, landscapes with those epic American Anthems blasting out of the car and my screeching voice accompanying them. 
That's what these Anthems do to you, they transport you to a place better than the reality you're living in.
Even as a teenager in today's day and age, I can fully appreciate the sheer brilliance and magic of these American Anthems. These songs are everything that is and was good about music and they have the power to ignite a spark within you, making you feel alive and invigorating that desire to go out and live.
Now who could say that about a Nikki Minaj song?

I know I wasn't even around to witness the era itself, but with my parents being very much into this genre, I have grown up with these songs and being a guitar player myself, I'm almost hypnotised by those guitar riffs that are almost compulsory in an American Rock Anthem.
I want to be able to whack out my guitar and spin those riffs and licks in the same ferocious and arrogant manner that those American Guitar Gods possess. I want to wow people in the same way they do, I want to put on one of those electrifying shows too, I basically want to be a rock star playing before a humongous 10,000 crowd like all the American greats.
And when I play just one of those anthems, I can imagine that, if only for a minute or two.
For the duration of those songs, I am on top of the world and I love it.


When I think of American Anthems and who was at the forefront, spearheading the songs that championed the era, I think of ACDC, Bon Jovi, Guns'N'Roses, Meat Loaf, Boston, Journey, Aerosmith, Poison, Alice Cooper as well as many more legends to whom I will always be grateful to. I've seen videos of those performances and these bands, they were masters of their art; they knew how to convey that power, they knew how to put on a show and they had the whole world eating out of their hands.


The artists who produced those American Anthems we still adore today possessed a type of talent that artists today rarely know how to access. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but lets face it, you don't see many bands who have the capability to make an anthem, not just a song. 
We hear booming bass beats instead of spectacular guitar riffs, we hear auto tune instead of the majestic power of a well attuned and magical voice, we hear lyrics that make us want to live for the weekend and not for a lifetime. 
I'm not saying all artists are like this, gosh no, but the majority are, and it makes me sad to see that the magic of decades past just gets glossed over and packed into boxes to be stored in the depths of an attic, destined to be forgotten forever more. It's as if people have forgotten how to make music like this. 

 So I'm dedicating this article to the music of a time long gone.
This is for all those artists who made music that could only ever be described as EPIC in every sense and way possible
 These bands and artists, they make me believe that music was once something indescribable, it had an ingredient that you don't tend to see so much these days and it had the ability to create goosebumps and ignite sparks of life.

Those Epic American Anthems, they are like a lifeline to someone like me, growing up in this day and  age. Of course I adore some of the artists around today and I appreciate that the direction of music had to change and will continue to change for ever more, but I wish I had been able to witness these American Anthems for myself. I wish I had been around to be a part of the era, the moment, when these songs were dominating the radio airwaves, when they were released on vinyl, not CD's or downloads, when these artists were the ones with tour dates and crazy fans. 
If only I could go back and witness this epic moment of music history....
Oh well, at least music lives on forever.








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