The fast food consumerism we live in today, everything has less than 15 minutes of shelf life. That includes music. Mindless pop tunes about love lost and love found are all done in 3 minutes of time frame. And you wonder why half of the marriages don't past the 5 years mark.
I believe many people like me still searching for something more meaningful and spiritual in our lives. That's what music, art and literature are for. A form of soulful and creative expression. Not just a commodity fighting for its 15 minutes on the menu or a fame whore screaming for her face time on cable television.
Maybe Ray Manzarek is right about that. Or maybe simply the time has changed, the life style has transformed, and the value system has shifted. Old schoolers may consider the young generation as ruthless punks just like their old pops once thought of them back in the day. Like it or not? It's the way of life.
This whole discussion leads to Crushed. It is about the antagonism in the social, economic and political environments that afflicts the ultimate disappointment. It is simply an angst. An angst that the over-consumed generation feels deep down inside. I dedicate this song to one of the best athletes today, Antti Niemi. He was ditched by Blackhawks after a broken arbitration the week before. This alternative song was mainly cooked up quickly in time to make a tribute for Niemi.
When the Stanley Cup champagne hasn't yet run dry and the parade confetti still floating in the air, Blackhawks didn't waste any time to ditch its best asset, the winning goalie. If you recall the Stanley cup final especially the game 3 and game 4, if not for Niemi guarded the net, Blackhawks would be a complete failure on ice. Last season's Stanley cup was the most watched in recent years and revived the team as well as the entire city of Chicago from being a dead sports town. Everyone including Flyers coach contributed Niemi to be the force that helped Blackhawks won the cup.
But even with a promising rap sheet like that doesn't guaranteed a contract in the hockey business. 2.75 million dollars comparing with some players signed away with 15 million without a blink of an eye was a deep bargain. And Blackhawks still couldn't come to an agreement with that. There were a lot of behind the door negotiations particularly in sports business probably not made known to the public. But it's a sad blow to the heroic goalie that made the forthright defense for the team.
This makes you wonder even an iron-clad hockey hero could not escape the fate of being brutally shunned and what chances do that leave to an average Joe to make it in this plastic world? And what do you have to do when everything is just a fabricated lie?
Crushed?
