I often get asked what I think of this band or that. I almost always say “they suck” if I’ve heard their stuff and “I need to hear their stuff” if I haven’t. The reasons why I almost never like current music is not for the scope of this particular blog post but rather just another variable in the decline of humanity.

Let me explain. I love music. Love it! I’m fully aware of its power and respect it. The biggest thing I miss most in todays music is love songs. Yes, I also miss the talent, the chord structures, the balls, the harmonies, the edge, the instrumentation, the warmth but I think most of all I miss love songs. I’m by no means a “sensitive” guy but I do love to have my heart strings plucked every now and again.

When I was introduced to Motown, in 6th grade, in public school (after I got kicked out of Yeshiva) it changed my whole life. I was now introduced to musicianship that was top shelf. Lyrics that were articulate, that took you somewhere else. Songs that made you feel something. Oh, and the rhythm and grooves! It was like a drug coursing through my veins. And the love songs…The way men had a longing and a yearning for a woman. The way a woman wanted a man. Even little Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 sang I’ll Be There…to comfort you…I’ll be your strength…I’ll keep holdin’ on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku10ze0Yeok Lionel Richie – Truly in love with you girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1xiFRccd88 And zillions more! Poetry! And most definitely not just Motown. These love songs were what made us human. They each spoke to us differently but they spoke to us all the same. They were on every music mix a guy made for a girl. They made every guy connect with something deeper within and made every girl dream about their “knight in shining armor” (Lady-Kenny Rogers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3of2F1QXtKo. The guys played these songs for their girls when it was time to get romantic. These songs burned memories, scenarios, images, smells and faces into our brains and into our hearts.

For me songs like Against All Odds (Phil Collins), Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper), Just Once (James Ingram), I Can’t Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon), Down On Bended Kneee (Boyz II Men), Take Me Home (Phil Collins) What Is Love? (Howard Jones), Faithfully  (Journey), almost anything by Lionel Richie, Lean On Me (Bill Withers), and oh, so many more. I could make a list of awesome love songs from the 50’s to the 90’s, from hundreds of artists, in just about every musical genre. LL Cool J did “I Need Love” and MC Hammer did “Have You Seen Her” (which was a remake/sample of a song of the same name by the Chi-Lites), Hell, even the Scorpions did it (Believe In Love) and so many other rock/metal ballads.

My point, simply is they just don’t have songs that speak about love and relationships anymore. Songs that move you both musically and lyrically. That make you want to be in love, to find love, to fix a broken love, to make love to. Now, if you wanna bang, get ya freak on, get down in da club, bump and grind, bein’ da one, being sexy and knowing it, or just wanna be pounded on, then there is plenty out there for you today.

The lyrics spoke to our humanity, our heart, our souls. But I’m not sure they would have been as powerful and moving without the music. Nothing ever is. Oh the music! The piano, the melodic guitars and that 80’s sax (St. Elmo’s Fire), the harmonies, the build up (I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston). Together they made you want to fall in love. They made you call your girlfriend and tell her you loved her. They took you out of your comfort zone, out of your everyday life, and brought you to your heart. I listened to it all. Black artists. White artists. Instrumentals. Air Supply. I ate it all up.

Then music changed.

Reality and responsibilities set in. I got older, jaded. Disenfranchised with love. With humanity. But these songs take me back. They put me right back in an awesome place. That gift of love songs was given to me and still has the power to transport me to my soul. Todays youth won’t have that. They’re already jaded. And if they’re not, they will be but wont have any music to get them back to their soul, to their hearts. Love is like a lost art now. Music, for the most part, has become soulless. Computerized. Robotic. Rote. Sterile. Stale. It bothers me. I feel I’m missing something special. Something important. Something meaningful.

Here is an awesome article that highlights the general message of what I’m saying. http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/why-harry-connick-jr-couldnt-sit-idle-during-idol No one feels anymore, in general and, especially, in music. I miss feeling.

Now I know some smart ass will chime in with song titles, from those years, that either objectify women or minimize sex, and have nothing to do with love and affection, and vice versa, for todays music (that means the opposite of) but the predominant music of those years was about love and the predominant music of today is lust. And don’t get me wrong, I’m the king of lust and I love some good bumping and grinding myself BUT I would love to hear some music that speaks to my heart and soul and make me feel human again. Everything about todays world, iDevices, computers, constant TV and barrages of things to distract us from our humanity are prevalent. We can’t really fight it. But I miss that ability to feel, to close my eyes and be transported somewhere else. To have music that connects me to humanity on a deeper level. For that I have to listen to music that’s over 20 years old and it makes me sad that kids, that are now my age when I heard this music, will never get that tear, that feeling in their heart, that desire and longing for another human being, from todays music.

…and hooking up with a chick, with some of these tunes in the background, well, theres just nothing like it! Thanks for reading. I’m gonna go pop some tags now. Peace. All love – g

Etan G – The Jewish Rapper still loves to listen to Air Supply and sappy ballads on the awesome beaches of LA