Transition

This blog has been inspired by the video above. See me and my girlfriend, Alex were just chilling tonight while she reads her books and I browse on youtube looking for the song that’s been stuck in my head for some time now. See if you are like me who loves listening and jamming to the radio whenever you are on the road, you probably heard a lot of songs that you like but have no clue who sang it because either it’s a part of a multiple song rotation or the DJ talks really fast and unclear that you can barely understand what he’s saying when he intros songs.

So in my case, I’ve always ran into this song when it’s a part of a multiple song rotation so I cant catch who sang it. But I love this song. It’s a really great song, really catchy and the melody and the manner of singing is really done well. So that’s what I’m doing tonight. I was just browsing on youtube trying my best to find out who sang this song and what’s the exact title of the song. I have a little hint though since the line “I Was Born Free” was constantly repeated in the chorus part but I wasnt really sure if it’s the full title or the title is not part of the actual chorus or the title was not mentioned in the song itself (hey there are a lot of songs like that nowadays).

So I’ve listened to a bunch of songs that has the words “Born Free” in any way possible in its title and that’s when I finally found the above video. And to be honest, I was caught off guard when I saw that Kid Rock sang this song. Kid Rock is my LEAST expected guy to sing this. I mean I know, Kid Rock had sang some songs like this before (“All Summer Long”? “Pictures”? Come on guys! He performed those too!) but I wasnt really expecting this coming from him. When I first heard it, I was actually thinking maybe John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen or maybe even Bryan Adams but there he was, singing it and doing a damn great job at it.

So I showed it and made the girly listen to it. She liked it. I dont know if she liked it as much as I did but she liked it enough for us to have a little discussion regarding artists who re-invented themselves from an unsuccessful (or successful in Bon Jovi’s case) run in their previous genre of rock into a more traditional rock and roll music.

The three names I’ve mentioned to her and used as an example are Kid Rock, the above-mentioned Bon Jovi and Uncle Kracker. These three artists became relevant to people via another genre with Kid Rock being synonymous (and somewhat part of the revolution that is) Rap/Nu Metal, Uncle Kracker with his Southern Rock/Rap style and Bon Jovi with their Glam Rock/Hard Rock/Rock Ballads that made quite a successful transition into a more traditional Rock and Roll/Southern Rock/Country style of music without alienating their older fans (now I know you’d tell me this because the girl did, I know Bon Jovi has been doing the Country/Southern Rock style of music since the beginning but they HAVENT made a full on Southern Rock/Country music album until 2008’s “Lost Highway”).

So what’s the point of this blog post, you ask? The point is I’m just giving props to those artists who followed their heart and made music that they want. I’m giving them props for having the balls to tell those greedy record companies (who funds their musical careers and distributes their music to the people) “screw you, I’m doing the music I love and not what you like me to do!”. It’s such a shame that these artists are being pushed aside for artists like Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Maybe the music industry wouldnt be in the state it’s in right now if they let this free-thinking artists on the forefront rather than the Disney, Nickelodeon or Youtube manufactured ones. At least these artists are doing it for the art’s sake, for the love of music and not just the fame, money, the glitz and the glamour that comes with it.