Music police time cop
 

Here's the deal. You're from the future, and you have the power to travel back in time to any point in rock history and change it. You just need to justify your trip to your superiors.

Want to save Hendrix? Want to kill Elvis while he was in the army? Stop John Lennon marrying Yoko? Tell us why.

You may have to make some tough decisions -- would destroying your favourite band and stopping the creation of a thousand shit bands they inspired make the world a better place? As much as you might want to stop Britney Spears from getting a record deal, is it worth a trip back in time? Give a good enough reason and you can fire up the time machine. If you can't convince us, you can just carry on sitting in the year 2196 polishing your laser gun, sonny....

OK, that's weird...

change any point in rock history? well, i'd stop whatever it was that made music begin to suck in the late '90s and thus far this millennium. and, unrelated to rock, i'd have aborted all the members of backstreet boys, nsync, and all those other gay little dance-pop groups before they were born.

You make a good case -- but for the first one, we'd need to narrow it down more. I don't think all music has sucked this millennium, Alter Bridge have formed for one thing, not to mention several other bands making some awesome music. Maybe it hasn't been as big or influential yet, but I think there's been some high points.

And for the boybands, could we go back further to stop the boyband concept? But I'm not sure how far we'd need to go...

true true... I'm thinking of the Alt-metal and post-grunge bands that all pretty much sound the same. i think now we're getting to the point where people are getting fed up w/ hearing all the same stuff, as are musicians, who are trying new things (a la AB).

Jackson 5 perhaps? maybe after them...

My history isn't all that -- were Jackson 5 before or after the Monkees? I would venture the Monkees were the first boy band, but since I am a fan of the Monkees I would hesitiate to wipe them out. After all, if they didn't do boyband surely someone else would have, and less well?

And as for the alt-metal/post-grunge you mention, your point is more than taken. Nickelback, Staind, Creed (imho) -- all generic grunge, without the passion. It's bands like AB that are putting the originality back into what bands like Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees started. But what do we do to stop this trend? Stop grunge before it begins? And then what? Stop prog and corporate-rock so there is nothing for them to fight against?

I'm still shining my laser gun until I can work this all out... and here I thought all I needed to do was assassinate John Lennon before he got shit.

I wouldn't change it. The bad, as well as the good, can point music in a different direction. In the 80's we had all that cheesy hair metal and what came after was sort of reaction to that, of wanting to change it up some. So without some of the bad stuff, we wouldn't get the good stuff.

Yeah, that.

I would kill MTV at about the year 2000. (can a channel be a person?)

i think that's a reasonable proposition Dek

Stillwater: are you in OK?

I would go back to 1979 and tell Johnny Cohen to keep playing, because one day he'll be the most famous guitarist the world had even known. I'd then tell Jeff Moss to continue writing and singing, and to make friends with Cohen and create the biggest band of all time.

I didn't, and they didn't, but man they would've rocked!

Good one. It all makes the music diverse, and creates reactions for other things. Taking out one thing or one person could wipe out something completely different.

Well, i would go back in time and stop the british invasion, and all of the british garage rock because i cant stand bands like The Vines, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The anything, they all have very unoriginal names and very bad hearing problems. I would keep the 80's alive for a few more years, which means i would hold kobain back for a while, just to let rock prosper on its own. Then i would let grunge hit the scene, but i would make pearl jam go first. I would then go further back in time and write the lyrics to Imagine by john lennon so that i could make a lot of $$. Then i would come back here, be rich, a musician, and i would be able to make a good life for my son.

Oh, and i would also go find the cure for Lou Gehrigs disease (in the future...it is a time machine) and i would go back and give it to Jason Becker....one of the most phenominal guitarists of all time.

I'd go back to 1996 and insist to myself to keep learning the guitar coz one day I'd meet my true inspiration, Mark Tremonti. This way, I could've been rocking the house for a long time instead of learning the basics now.

I could change the world's history! LOL

PS: If it weren't for the boybands, Creed wouldn't have been so huge... coz it was the only rock band when Backstreet Boys and alikes were ruling the charts...

if it wasen't for the success of rage against the machine we probably wouldn't have being lumped with acts like korn and limp bizkit or linkin park for that matter. the question is would i be willing to forsake ratm so a few bands i don't really like would have never made the airwaves? if there is not ratm then no audioslave either. i think the answer is no......

:hammerlol :hammerlol :hammerlol

I think i would Stop all the Pop Punk bands from getting popular... i dunno how... guess Greenday would be a Major Target...

I'm just sick of this whole trend...

but green day are a good band IMO. the bands that start the trends for the most part are good. its the second and third generation bands that suck........

No... don't like Green day... buncha Anti-Patriot whiners...

*sigh*
anti-government is anti-patriot? that is bullcrap.......
anyhow who cares AI is one of the best albums of the year......

Bullcrap for sure.

One of the most patriotic things you can do is question your government when they are wrong. Or at the very least you think they are unjust and wrong.

thank you smilinskullring a voice of reason! :) this could turn into another political discussion (probably too late) but this is too important to let go for the sake of being nice. if you don't question them then that is an unpatriotic thing to do. corruption is the end result and you simply become a sheep. democracy is a great system if everyone is involved and not simply voting for the same party you always have on election day every 3 or 4 years and otherwise not care. i am no leftie by any stretch of the imagination but this unpatriotic nonsense is just bullcrap.

think of all the great people who have stood up the establishment over the years and what wouldn't have happened if they kept quiet;

martin luther
martin luther king jnr.
the list goes on......

Exactly. You said it. And it's good to see someone who doesn't consider themselves liberal/progressive saying this. :) I have a hard time finding people that will say this unless they are considered liberal/progressive.

High Enuff~~Damn Yankes

You know... I think it's also Patriotic to Question other people's Questioning... BIllie Joe Is A Douche who's just trying to follow the "Bush Sucks America Sucks" Trend... If you lived in a Punk Town like St. Louis you'd know it's nothing but a way to attract an audience... It's not Patriotism... it's greed.

if you ever visit the "moving train" at synergy you would know i'm no leftie! ;)

wylde bands like green day just didn't discover a political conscience for this album. its more out there because they feel the need to spread a message. a perfect circle (great band) is another example. maynard's political views have always being well known but his music generally kept it veiled somewhat and a bit below the surface. even someone like bruce springsteen got political and this is the man who sang "born in the usa" which btw is a very different song to what most people think when they hear the chorus.

i am a major pearl jam fan but i disagree with ed's political views almost entirely. that doesn't mean i think he's unpatriotic or that his views don't count for something. he is just another voice and his opinion isn't anymore valid than anyone else who has bothered to educate themselves. what i don't respect is people on both sides of the ideological fence just blindly following the party lines.

I don't know that. He could have easily thought this was an important time to let his voice be heard loud and clear.

:smokin:

Maybe... but that's not how i see it... but that's just from my personal experience... in my High School it seems to be kool to be anti-bush... people how have no idea about anything political... I don't pretend to be wise in the ways of Politics... I don't really follow them. I just don't think it's kool to use Music as a Propoganda machine... which is what so many punk bands seem to be doing...

Where I live in southeast Missouri it seems to be cool to follow Bush without any knowledge of what is going on. They just accept propaganda and don't find out anything. It drives me nuts.

The Ppl here do the same thing... except against Bush

we're way off track here but you are right in that many simply follow the left and are not educated. its common on both the right and left and certainly isn't only rednecks living in alabamba (apologies to any rednecks living in alabamba lol). there are very few punk bands that espouse conserative politics.

And it's not good for either side.

Exactly!... if you don't know your facts... STFU! I Don't Know the facts... so i stay out of political debates (when possible)
Politics just don't interest me...

I dont vote because it just encourages them.