Reading through a recent BP magazine while in the "library" today, along with a thread on here today angered me yet again. a lot. they had an interview with Rascal Flatts' bassist, who said he wasn't allowed to play on their album until he offered to pay for the sessions if they didn't go well. what's wrong with this picture? the bassist of rascal flatts is the leader of the band, and if anyone should have been allowed to play on it, it should have been him.
This is a major reason why nashville can't make any compelling music anymore. besides all the record companies being run by idiots who know nothing except how to read profit-loss statements, they have developed a system where only a select few musicians are deemed good enough to record, and they and only they are allowed to record while the road musicians are treated like nimrods who will ruin everything if even allowed in the studio to watch.
i have seen a few arguments on here in favor of that system, but honestly, they're lame. like the one about studio time being too expensive to allow road musicians the opportunity to waste money by not knowing how to play for the studio. i have yet to hear a popular country tune that's difficult for any good bassist or drummer. for that matter, i don't hear a whole hell of a lot on other instruments that any competent musician couldn't play.
but the morons who run country music cling to this outdated system of having 4 or 5 musicians on each instrument who play on everything at the exclusion of all others, regardless of their competence level. and everything all sounds the same, and it's all watered down and ultra-safe because everyone is afraid to try anything different lest they never get called again.
what a shameful turn of events. pretty much every other type of music allows musicians who may not have recorded before but have something on the ball in their live performances in the studio. yeah, it may result in a few blown takes, and it may result in some experimentation that doesn't work. so what? you never hear anyone say all jazz music sounds the same, or all rock music sounds the same, but you damn sure hear a lot of people complain about how all country music sounds the same. and that is why. the idiots who run nashville have nickel and dimed all the goodness out of the music and replaced it with technically perfect but soulless performances designed to not waste time in the studio. occasionally an original artist comes along with a fresh new sound, but they almost always had to go out of nashville to accomplish it.
i don't get it. are the road musicians in nashville that bad where they couldn't hang in the studio? they sure seem pretty competent to me. someone who's a part of that scene please explain it to me because i don't get it. and if you are part of that scene, please understand i'm not blaming the musicians for doing their jobs. if i had one of those jobs, i'd go in and do the exact same thing i'm complaining about because i have to eat. but since i'm not, it completely bewilders me why it's this way in nashville and has been for a couple decades. it's stupid, and the producers and record company heads who insist on it are morons.
This is a major reason why nashville can't make any compelling music anymore. besides all the record companies being run by idiots who know nothing except how to read profit-loss statements, they have developed a system where only a select few musicians are deemed good enough to record, and they and only they are allowed to record while the road musicians are treated like nimrods who will ruin everything if even allowed in the studio to watch.
i have seen a few arguments on here in favor of that system, but honestly, they're lame. like the one about studio time being too expensive to allow road musicians the opportunity to waste money by not knowing how to play for the studio. i have yet to hear a popular country tune that's difficult for any good bassist or drummer. for that matter, i don't hear a whole hell of a lot on other instruments that any competent musician couldn't play.
but the morons who run country music cling to this outdated system of having 4 or 5 musicians on each instrument who play on everything at the exclusion of all others, regardless of their competence level. and everything all sounds the same, and it's all watered down and ultra-safe because everyone is afraid to try anything different lest they never get called again.
what a shameful turn of events. pretty much every other type of music allows musicians who may not have recorded before but have something on the ball in their live performances in the studio. yeah, it may result in a few blown takes, and it may result in some experimentation that doesn't work. so what? you never hear anyone say all jazz music sounds the same, or all rock music sounds the same, but you damn sure hear a lot of people complain about how all country music sounds the same. and that is why. the idiots who run nashville have nickel and dimed all the goodness out of the music and replaced it with technically perfect but soulless performances designed to not waste time in the studio. occasionally an original artist comes along with a fresh new sound, but they almost always had to go out of nashville to accomplish it.
i don't get it. are the road musicians in nashville that bad where they couldn't hang in the studio? they sure seem pretty competent to me. someone who's a part of that scene please explain it to me because i don't get it. and if you are part of that scene, please understand i'm not blaming the musicians for doing their jobs. if i had one of those jobs, i'd go in and do the exact same thing i'm complaining about because i have to eat. but since i'm not, it completely bewilders me why it's this way in nashville and has been for a couple decades. it's stupid, and the producers and record company heads who insist on it are morons.
