Opinion Article / Bands Maturing

PHOTO BY JACOB CORNELL

WORDS BY ZACH BRENNAN

As we start to get older, a lot of changes occur. Our style matures, our friend groups broaden or diminish, we develop different food tastes, and the music that we listen to may begin to develop.  Though, there are plenty of bands that we will continue to listen to, even from when we heard our first song on the radio, some of those bands even may still be around today. I’m 23 and bands like Paramore, Fall Out Boy, A Day To Remember, are all still around, and the list can go on. There are a few differences in all of these though. These bands don’t exactly sound the same from when we first heard of them. Just as we grew older and matured, so did they, along with their music.  

All of these bands, have now been around for 10+ years. Any of these bands that probably started out just for fun, or as a joke, has now turned into a full-time job and the main course for their lives. As people, we don’t want to be stuck in a routine, doing the same thing over and over again for the rest of our lives; so why would a band, making music for millions of people to hear, write the same album over and over for a specific group of people that only liked their first album?  

I’m sure we could all look back and say that we are not the same person that we were 10 years ago. Most of us would laugh at that image or memory. These band members, these creatives, go through everyday lives just like we do, and they mature. So what they create, what they do, will not be the same as it was when they first started making music. That inspiration behind what they write, their mindset could very well change, and you’d hear a different sound from them.  

Another thing to take into consideration are producing for mass markets. Bring Me The Horizon, being a great example, recently put out a fantastic new pop record. Where they’re from the U.K., to get more of a following, they realized that pop is a rather popular music genre, it’s played on the radio, which in turn means a wider audience. Yes, they have been around for quite some time and many people do know them, but most people either know them from only their deathcore days, or aren’t familiar with this music scene and don’t know of them. They slowly progressed into a lighter sound, which braced everyone for what’s to come and I believe encouraged their fans to stay with them on this journey and continue listening to them, while also gaining a broader fan base.

Bring Me The Horizon’s fans may be upset with this change, but when this has become your life, you have to make business decisions. Many people don’t understand that a band is in fact a business, and you have to go into a direction that will help your business flourish. They need to keep in mind that no one is the same person that they were 10 years ago, just like a band you listened to will not be the same band they were. If that band were to stay the same, their fans would be probably get bored of them and stop listening either way. Broaden your horizon, and listen to new music for a change, with an open mind. Holding on to the fact they released a different genre of music will only hurt your thoughts on it.