Last night on the Grammy’s Dave Grohl talked about how and why they made their current album the old fashioned way

…rather than use all the fanciest computers you can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine…

The human element of making music is what’s most important.  Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.

I love that he used the word “craft” to describe making music.  This is truly one of the last remaining widespread crafts that people do.  Glassblowers, smithies, weavers –  there are still people practicing these crafts, but they’re not nearly as widespread a practice as they used to be, because it isn’t as necessary with the technology that now exists.

Technology is now a huge part of the music industry, and it’s not all bad.  The problem is when the technology becomes a crutch.  As more music is created electronically, and more vocal performances are processed to the edge of recognition, the true musical performance becomes less important, and the spectacle takes over.

This is always brought starkly to the forefront when a band or performer is caught lip-syncing on SNL or some other show.  I guarantee that Frank Zappa played everything live when he performed on SNL.

Not that I’m opposed to spectacle (Roger Waters’ The Wall is quite the spectacle, as are most U2 shows), but I expect some substance and craftsmanship when I see an “artist” perform.