This documentary is absolutely fantastic! If you are a music teacher, get your hands on a copy of this film and play it for your students. If you are a music fan between the ages of 18 and 30 under the influence of Top 40 radio or American Idol, WATCH THIS DVD and get educated! Hailed by XM radio as "the most important film that a music fan will ever see", Before the music dies is a much-needed, eye opening piece of work that must be seen by EVERYONE with an interest in the current state of American music. As a 36 year old music lover who grows more disgusted every year with a cookie-cutter, corporate music scene where talent and originality are almost as rare as a blizzard in July, I must express my gratitude to everyone who participated in the making of this film that is truly the REAL DEAL!
This movie will take the blindfold off your eyes and show you how mainstream music has been hijacked by money-hungry music executives and record labels who sacrifice musical integrity for profit. Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews, Branford Marsalis {great commentary from this man!}, Nancy Giles, Michael Penn, and other music industry insiders go on camera and TELL IT LIKE IT IS! Their commentary is both eye-opening and fantastic, explaining how modern music fans are only given access to contrived pop stars by radio programmers while REAL artists who stand for originality or true musicianship are shamefully rejected by major record labels today.
Never before has the music industry valued money over music to such a disturbing degree. Today's record companies are looking for pretty boys and prettier girls who appeal to the fickle 18-30 year old demographic---music fans who ignorantly believe that any artist not shoved down their throats by radio or TV is simply not worth listening to. Talent and real musical ability is now secondary to image and sex appeal. Talented artists looking to stand out from the cookie-cutter crowd with their own unique sound or style are not allowed on the radio any longer and go sadly unnoticed by mainstream listeners. Great music and the musicians who create it are tragically becoming a dying breed as a clueless music-buying public is never given access to it.
In what might be the most fascinating segment of the entire film, songwriter Steve Poltz makes up a silly pop song off the top of his head with his guitar which is then recorded by a tone deaf 17 year old fashion model. Using computerized vocal pitch correction, she is instantly transformed into the next "Britney Spears" as they make a sexy music video using her computer-enhanced vocals. Your jaw will drop when you see this and realize just how fake and contrived all those Britney and Bieber CD's really are. Parents, turn off American Idol for one night and show this priceless segment to your pop-loving teenagers at home! We also get the story of blues-rock musician Doyle Bramhall who was kicked off his record label for weak sales despite a level of talent and musicianship that earned the admiration of the legendary Eric Clapton. I personally would have loved a portion of the film to cover the whole American Idol phenomenon and other shows responsible for the current crop of pop and country clones, but the information covered here is more than enough to wake up anyone to the sad reality of music today.
The filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen deserve a big thank you from all of us for creating a hard-hitting film of truth that exposes the ugly corporate take over of the music industry. Both Shapter and Rasmussen lost siblings who were musicians and decided to make this movie as a dedication and tribute to their lost loved ones. This DVD should be required viewing in high school music classes everywhere. If you care about the future of American music, get your hands on this DVD today and play it for every young music fan you know.
