CLUELESS ORIGINALS

Your “Cover Me” piece made me laugh (September
28). Why don’t people come out and see original bands? Because they suck! With
rare exceptions, the young people today have no clue how to write songs or
lyrics. Even the bands that have supposedly “made it” — those that
appear on Letterman, Conan, and Leno — have little talent as songwriters or
musicians. I’m sick of listening to all those whimpering, whining men and
self-absorbed, clueless women who sing about things no one cares about to
boring melodies.

In the Golden Age of rock, exceptional musicianship was the
norm. Bands combined genres and consistently pushed the boundaries, resulting
in fresh sounds and themes: Zeppelin, early Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull,
just to name a very few. The Stones, though not particularly innovative,
produced unforgettable melodies and lyrics and were simply a lot of fun.

Second-generation bands like Green Day (melodic masters),
Pearl Jam (who actually have something to say), and a tentative nod to Nirvana
contributed to the lexicon. Today, only a handful of bands produce only a
handful of songs that have any chance of still being played 30 years from now.

There is one absolutely sure-fire way to get droves of
people to come hear original music. Make
good music!

Mike Buechel, Rochester

GET TO WORK!

So what’ so evil about cover bands? I guess you could call
the RPO a cover band, and there’s nothing boring or unimaginative about them.
Originality in any area is a pretty scarce commodity (to use a poor phrase).
Most of what postures as new isn’t. Putting down the bar-hopping public who
might be looking for a place to shake a leg and forget their troubles for a few
hours isn’t the best way to win an audience. If recognition, concerts, airplay,
stardom, influence, and ultimately having local bands cover your material is
your goal, get busy. No one said it was easy.

Mark Mason, Oxford Street, Rochester

THANKING THE BOARD

I want to congratulate the Rochester School Board, which has
challenged the federal government’s right to know the names of students of
military age. I welcome any effort to keep recruiters away from our youth,
especially since I’ve seen Michael Moore’s exposรฉ on the clever way our
government traps young people.

I also am aware that School Board member Shirley Thompson
went to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina as a representative of the Red
Cross.

Thank you to all these folks who should be praised just that
little bit more than they are.

I am proud of you.

Sweet Grass
Longhouse, Manor
Parkway, Rochester

WRITING TO CITY

We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester 14607.

Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and
we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. We don’t
publish letters that have been sent to other media — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words have a greater chance of
being published. We do edit letters for clarity and brevity. And in general we
don’t publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces) from the same writer more
often than about once every two months.

This article appears in Oct 19-25, 2005.