I’m driving to work this morning listening to the CD I made last night (have I mentioned how much I like iTunes?) and I’m struck by how much better diction musicians of today have than when I was a teen. In those days, you never knew what in the heck they were saying – mondegreens were rampant. I could make out every word Pink was singing in Get The Party Started. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to make out half the words Robert Plant has sung (for you youngsters, he’s the guy lamenting how long its been since he rock ‘n’ rolled or did the stroll in the Cadillac ads — at least that’s what I think he’s saying.). My initial thought was that the rock musicians of yesteryear were drunk and/or stoned most of them time, leading to the slurring, while today’s group are high on cocain, leading to the careful annunciation of every syllable.
But upon further reflection, as I enjoyed the cadences of Pink and Seal, I think it’s the influence of Rap that leads to the current clarity of singing. While I’m not a big fan of rap (I like Young MC, but then he’s hardly in the mainstream of rap), I do admire the vocal clarity and rhythm of rap. But then, rap is just poetry set to music — iambic pentameter of the modern age. A quick check of Google, and I discovered to my disappointment but not surprise that this thought was not original.
So that’s just one way my mind occupies itself during my commute.
