Brad Russell Ministries

I have this recurring thought. When I was younger it never entered my mind. It may be a sign of getting older or it may be a sign of the times. It may just be that I'm in a funky mood, but I think it's more than that. Here it is: With all the music that's out there, with all the songs flooding the airwaves, with all the radio stations and websites and tv stations constantly bombarding us with song after song, what's the point of creating anything new?

I wade through what I think is just mountains and mountains of meaningless music. I switch from station to station trying to find something that seems fresh and meaningful and...nothin. Christian music, pop music, country music, even most praise and worship, it leaves me empty much of the time. I can't remember the last time I heard a new artist and thought, "Wow."

Everybody has a project studio these days. Everybody is working on a cd. It all just gets lost in the mix. So, what's the point? Don't get me wrong. I love to write music. I love to come up with new ideas. I love to sing and record and create. Maybe that's enough reason right there, but sometimes it just seems kind of pointless.

I was talking to a friend the other night who makes his living writing and producing. He said, "What keeps me awake at night is wondering what I'm going to do if the music industry just caves in." CD sales are vanishing. The entire system that the music industry is built upon is crumbling. Is it all illegal downloading that's doing it?

Illegal downloading is definately one of the main reasons for the decline, but I think another part of it is the sheer over saturation of the whole thing. The rock music of the 80s is the country music of today. So, now we've got a new country station, and old country station, and a station that plays the hits from the 80s. We've got 4 categories of Christian radio formats alone, not to mention the AC charts that play Christian music too. With all this music, how much of it stands out? How much of it do you hear and say, "that is really great music"? Not much.

I wonder if that's what it seemed like when rock music came on the scene, or big band, or any other radically new musical forms. It's almost like we're on the verge of a completely different type of music all together, not just darker and edgier stuff (like emo and post modern). No, something completely different should be on the way. We need a new instrument or new technology that creates a completely new pallette of sounds. Something as revolutionary as the introduction of the electric guitar or the piano. Hmmm. Makes me wonder.

Well, there's not much point here except to say that I'm ready to be inspired. I want to find a place where it's fresh and new again, like it was when I spent hours recording song ideas into my little tape player. Where is that thing? It's in the middle of the mundane status quo that truly inspired works of art emerge. Or, at least I hope that's where they emerge, because I'm getting really tired of the same old tired stuff.