In the past month, I have acquired somewhere in the area of a few dozen new albums, an amount of music so daunting that I haven't even tried to listen to most of it yet. My iPod and I are going to have to have a serious reconnection. During this time, I have also gotten my coworkers hooked on the workday addiction that is Yahoo Launchcast, shared my music collection with some other willing participants, and sampled yet another online music service that looks cooler than Launchcast, has none of the annoying commercials of Launchcast, plays way random music, and allows users to create more than one station.
With all this exposure to new music, I must lament the impending end of an era known as No Doubt. In 1996 I went to a Mighty Mighty Bosstones/No Doubt concert at the World Music theater, and I still hold to this day that it was the best concert I have ever been to. Although Gwen Stefani usually gets most of the attention, No Doubt was definitely more than just the strong female vocalist. The drums always carried a stong beat that stood out, complemented by the bass line and guitar riffs. No Doubt was a band that was strong because each of the members was equally strong. But now, dear friends, I feel the time has come. I feared it was nearing with the release of Gwen's independent high-school pop album (which isn't bad, but it's certainly a departure from the band's unique sound and rockin' albums). And now that she's pregnant, she and husband Gavin Rossdale are going to make their pretty little nest and have their pretty little baby and the only music produced by either of these musicians will be the lullabies and preschool songs about baby animals. Two of the other band members have families as well, and so they will probably go their separate ways, then show up on some VH1 reunion show in 10 years. I guess everyone has to grow up sometime, huh?
