When is it time to throw in the towel as a musician? That’s a pretty darn good question isn’t it? Being a guitarist, I have an affinity for old school metal and hard rock. Duh, there’s lots of obvious reasons for it. The primary reason is the fact it’s guitar oriented. Everything about it is how cool is the guitar playing. ‘Nuff said.
Styles come and go and metal certainly didn’t survive the Nirvana movement. Things change – as they should. Doesn’t stop the good/great musicians from digging through back catalogs. One thing that I think defines how a style becomes dated more than anything is the content of the lyrics. Some types of lyrics end up becoming irrelevant. This is definitely the case of a vast majority of Whitesnakes lyrics. It’s actually not the meaning behind them but rather the way they’re written. Coverdale knows sex. There’s no doubt that his subject matter is love, penis, pussy, and boobs. What do you think a whitesnake is? Think about it.
As I said a vast majority, not all. Some of David’s lyrics are actually timeless. That is going to give Whitesnake some sense of longevity. Which they actually have. David’s been around a long ass time. His voice is still sounding surprisingly good and as I mentioned yesterday, the tunes I’ve heard really have a quality of sound to them that I’ve not heard on a lot of the metal comeback albums. That’s a major plus for the ‘snake.
If you’re a long time reader you know that I’m looking at being around to hit 150 in age. I’ve got a long way to go. Because of that, and the fact I want to have a really long career in music, I’ve taken it upon myself to work on lyrics. Lyrics that can hold up for a long time from now. Does it mean I’ll do it all the time? Heck no, but I can certainly work on the craft end of it. For instance, yesterday I had a writing session in the middle of producing a new version of a song finished last week. During that writing session I actually got goosebumps from the things the co-writer started throwing out while singing over the music I came up with. It was freaky. It was fucking good! No, it was great. You’ll get to hear it sometime in the future when it’s finished.
To that end, as much as I appreciate metal, I think it’s time Whitesnake started branching out on the lyrics. It’s strange to hear a pushing 60 year old rocker sing about some things. I will say David does look well preserved. I don’t want to hear about colostomy bags, or depends, but I think the concept of slide it in is a little dated. However Reb and Doug are producing some top notch riffage and for that I will raise a fist and shout right on!
p.s. – what do you define as the best years?
(** Disclaimer: If Whitesnake’s label decides that it isn’t in my best interest to promote the new release, I’ll have to scratch the audio off the server like a bad cat in heat. The post will remain to show that I love me the metal from years past. **)