What will save rock 'n' roll?

In an article on CNN.com Little Steven talks about the sorry state of music these days and how to fix it.

"[Rock 'n' roll] is a craft that has to be learned," he tells CNN. "There are things you learn by listening to great records, copying heroes." He believes that he said some things that people were thinking, but haven't said out loud.

Within that rock 'n' roll world, he worries. Today's bands, he says, look down on performing covers, and as a result many have gotten lost in a musical wilderness. "The result is an extraordinary amount of mediocrity," he says. "There are no standards to live up to."

This brings to mind one of my pet peeves. Not only do people look down on cover songs, they look down on musicians that don't write their own music. That really bugs me.

Division of labor improves productivity. This is one of the drivers of the industrial revolution and one of the pillars of our current economy. The basic concept is that some people are better at some things and if they focus on those things society as a whole will be more productive.

Take me for example - I am good with computers. Someone else is good at farming. If the farmer starts trying to write computer programs and I try to start growing my own food we will both be wasting our time and decreasing overall productivity.

Similarly some people are good at playing instruments, some people are good at singing, and some people are good at writing music. To get the best possible music we have everyone do the thing that they are the best at. Sinatra didn't write his songs. Ella Fitzgerald didn't write her own music.

The whole singer-songwriter thing really just started in the 60s. Up until then the performers didn't write their own music. Since then it has become a requirement to be taken seriously as a performer that you write your own music. This is ridiculous. The people who can sing should sing, the people who can play saxophone should play saxophone, the people who can play piano should play piano. I'm sure Charlie Parker could play the piano but who would want him to when he can play the sax like he did?

Division of labor becomes a bit muddy in the arts because in order to write music you need to understand music and this probably involves playing an instrument. I guess the people who are technically good at playing their instruments start to think they should be writing songs and the people who write the really good songs want to perform them. That's fine with me... It just bugs me when people look down at musicians for not writing their own music. If we want the best music possible let people do what they do best.