Hello, this is going to be a particularly rage fueled post, so please read at your discretion. 

I’ll just start by going right into it— what the fuck Perry Ferrell. I’m not even questioning, I’m stating, what the fuck. Honestly I cannot say I’m surprised at all at the Lollapalooza 2012 lineup. It turned out to be exactly what I could have guessed; a lineup full of mediocre musicians who are the poster children for this pseudo rock movement that has been plaguing airwaves, iTunes, and all other mainstream fountains for music for the past several years now, and I am so beyond sick of it.

To start with a more positive outlook (if you want to call it that), seeing Jack White and RHCP on the lineup was mildly spirit lifting, but I can’t say I respect what RHCP has become since last summers release of I’m With You, and I could have easily guessed Mr. White would be performing since his first solo album Blunderbuss is dropping this summer (which I cannot deny, I am quite excited for). Nonetheless they’ve both been around since before the turn of the century, which is why I’m not as angry about them performing, but be aware that that doesn’t mean I’m not upset about it.

But to see the Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, At The Drive In, and Bassnectar as headlining acts makes me cringe more than anything. Perry Ferrell, you are only attributing to every teenager’s fantasy of bad indie music, wannabe blues rock, and now age old, substandard dubstep. I feel like being an musician aficionado of Ferrell’s caliber, the man who helped to bring 90’s alternative to a level it hadn’t ever even dreamed of reaching, he could at least try to speak to a crowd different than just the general masses of today. I appreciate Ferrell’s efforts every year to put on a festival bigger and better than any other one going on in the country, but to be honest, how many fucking festivals have the Black Keys headlined in the past two years? [It’s more than sickening that people actually give them the time of day— the day the Black Keys release an album that doesn’t sound exactly like the past two they’ve put out, maybe I won’t hate them as much. Until then I have zero tolerance and almost no respect for their strange cult following of boat wearing shoe boys and floral dress wearing girls who think they’re listening to rock and roll. Pish posh.]

To continue on the topic of Perry Ferrell and whatever fucking committee he put together to create this joke of a lineup, I need people to understand and be educated on the bands he has in the past line up his festival. The Smashing Pumpkins, George Clinton & Parliament, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Hole, Pavement, Rage Against the Machine, I mean I could go on literally for an hour explaining why it makes legitamately no sense that Lolla has stooped so low. Since the revival of the concert in 2003, it just seems to have gotten worse and worse each year with who is asked to perform.

And at the same time as me heavily criticizing Perry Ferrell, I also want to say it’s not his fault. What has music become, really, that the so called “best festival line up of this year” is made up of such bad music. I wrote a post several months ago actually addressing this topic so I won’t digress into it any further, but all I can say is that it breaks my heart to see how dilapidated the music industry is these days. 

In regards to the smaller acts on the line up, such as Toro y Moi, Die Antwoord, Sigur Rios and Tame Impala, I will not surprised if their crowds of fans are significantly smaller and their sets are overshadowed by the bellowing of bands who don’t deserve the respect they will most likely be given. The fact that this will most likely be a reality is also absolutely horrendous to have to think about. 

And the one final thing about the Lolla lineup that left me shell shocked was that Black Sabbath is on it. I’m sorry— did I read that right?

Sabbath has so much going on with them as of right now (as most people attending Lolla wouldn’t know), from lineup changes to lawsuits, I have no clue why they’d sign up to participate at a festival that seemingly goes against all that they cherish with being one of the founding Shock Rock metal bands of the 20th century. Why isn’t Sabbath playing at Orion Fest, a place they will be much more appreciated? It makes no sense to me, and ultimately their decision to play at Lolla makes me think that they’re revitalization to them is about attracting a younger and hipper audience than it is about gaining the liking of a smaller group of metal fans who still exist, young and old. 

Once again, to see such shitty acts on a lineup for such a legendary festival is just proof of how deplorable the music industry is right now. It makes me so angry to have no sort of liking for any current band, and that I’ve had to resort to the bands of past generations in order to hear some real music. 

I don’t even really want to discuss the assortment of rap and hip hop Lolla has on it’s lineup this year because I don’t really feel like it’s my place to. Even so, it’s not really my place to say any of this… but just know this rant is coming from the place of a frustrated rock fan. 

Thank you for listening.