The good news is, there’s probably nowhere to go but up from here. Right?

Please tell me I’m right.

Time to reboot the band.

Trent Reznor understands the modern music audience more than most musicians today. He’s given away songs and albums for free online, created an entire community for people to remix his music, and has fought against the music industry more times than I’ve fought against the urge to run over Lars Ulrich’s smug little greedy douche-goblin head with an adult-sized big wheel.

Trent’s latest addition to this legacy, was to record several of the live shows on Nine Inch Nails’ “Lights In The Sky” tour in HD Video, and upload all of that raw footage to the series of tubes, and allow fans the chance to make the ultimate concert video. From www.nin.com:

Fans have edited thousands of videos from the footage, assembled their own DVDs and live albums, even held theatrical screenings of their creations. And now, the ambitious and well-organized group known as This One Is On Us have released their massive, highly-anticipated creation, Another Version of the Truth: The Gift.

The video is available in a number of formats and sizes. I’m stunned at the amount of work that people have put into this project. I still have videos of my dog from 6 months ago that I haven’t downloaded from my camera.

Now, some people would argue that it’s easy enough for Trent to give so much shit away, because he’s already made enough money via the traditional music system. That may be, but he could have just as easily tried to fight against piracy and the inevitability of the future of music that the internet has created, and sued people and been a self-important greedy prick, ignorrant of the fact that, if it wasn’t for bootlegs and piracy, his music may not have built the core that helped him become the success he is today.

But that’s a discussion for another post. And that post will be called, “Fuck You, Metallica.”

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma MY GOD MAKE IT GO AWAY!"

Welcome to Downloadable Contempt.

My name is Chris, and I am on a mission.

I want to like music again.

When I was a young, pimple-faced, soft-headed adolescent, my parents had a satellite dish, with all of the channels illegally unlocked, including MTV. This was back when MTV actually was about music. So far back, in fact, that it covered more genres than just hip-hop music.

In those halcyon, pre-internet days, I was ahead of the curve musically. I introduced my friends to bands they’d never heard of, and I actually witnessed the world premiere of the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video. (after which my friend and I astutely observed that, while it was an okay song, this band will probably not go anywhere)

The 90′s were when I truly fell in love with music, and artists like Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Live, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Suicidal Tendencies, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Kyuss, Garbage, among many others.

And then, one gray Seattle day, Kurt Cobain’s head exploded, and while it would be hyperbole to say it was “the day the music died (again)”, I think it’s fair to argue that it was the day the music industry began to unapologetically, indiscretely, and insufferably ooze hot, murky shit from almost every orifice.

Most of the music industry is now essentially producing fast food. Quick, disposable, forgettable, tasty in the moment, but nothing substantial, and probably something you regret consuming afterwards. This upsets me, because the music I tend to love, for the most part, is music that I carry with me forever, aside from the odd guilty pleasure. I see the kind of music that people are consuming en masse, and I can’t imagine that any of it will mean anything to anyone once the flavour of the month has been chewed out of it.

Honestly, if you love Lady Gaga right now, do you really think you will feel the same about her music 5 years from now? Or will you feel a bit of shame and embarrassment, and refuse to admit to people that Poker Face was once your ring-tone? You may already feel that shame, and she’s still actively performing. The half-life on success in this industry is getting shorter by the second.

I am the first to admit that I probably take music a bit more seriously than most people, and that my tastes, while somewhat varried, are also very specific, and I have found it increasingly difficult to find a band or even a song on the radio that I really like anymore. I don’t know if this is because I’m not looking hard enough, not giving enough music a chance, or if it’s simply the “good ol’ days” syndrome.

I’m pretty sure somebody’s making decent music out there, I just need to find it.

So that’s where Downloadable Contempt comes in. I’ll be using this site to comment on music news, latest releases, review and highlight albums that I think are important or complete excrement, post whatever other interesting musical stuff I find online, and to, hopefully, chronicle my journey toward learning how to like music again.

I hope you come check it out once in a while. Because I am pretty awesome.