Little Steven
SXSW panels
Reviewed by Daniel Mee, Fri., March 20, 2009
SXSW Featured Speaker: Little Steven
Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 20
"It's an interesting time in our business, is it not?" Steven Van Zandt began wryly. And yet, having raised the specter of the industry's ongoing implosion, Van Zandt glossed over business mechanics in order to focus on aesthetics, mincing no words in his colorful assessment of the state of rock: "It sucks major moose cock." Elaborating, Van Zandt argued that rock's in the midst of a "crisis of craft" – in performance, record-making, and songwriting. Once upon a time, rock was dance music, and groups began their careers by serving as bar bands on a do-or-die mission to entertain. "The analysis you must do in learning other people's songs is how you learn to write," he explains. After the 1960s, songwriting became exalted over performance, and now bands go straight from the garage to the studio. In order to "save" rock & roll, Van Zandt argued, "we have to reintroduce a dedication to the craft." One can't argue with a call for craft, but from a whippersnapper's perspective, Van Zandt's bleak assessment of the aesthetic landscape looks myopic. Not only is the music world larger and more diverse, both stylistically and demographically, even Van Zandt seems to have less trouble finding bands he likes: 17 of them played his party and showcase Friday.
