Acoustic Music

ACOUSTIC MUSIC

by Anton Antonio

July 13, 2015

Let’s segue from the usual environmental stuff that I cough-out daily.  Too much of it gets pretty much boring I suppose.  Besides, it would not be fun for people to begin to think that I am a hopeless herd who has nothing better to write about than his environmental passion.  This time, please allow me to write about something I’ve dearly loved since the day I picked up a guitar at the age of 8… music.

Last night, I came across this beautiful acoustic version of the Matchbox Twenty song “If You’re Gone”.  (Please feel free to click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRuk1W-6qQU.)  Depending on your personal preference, acoustic music is, in my mind: (a) clean (because it is devoid of the other instrumentation that often times create too much clutter); (b) challenging (because the artists --- singer and instrumentalist --- will have to be super good since they cannot hide their flaws by introducing other forms of sound); and, expressive (because the artists will only have to depend on a guitar and vocals to put their message across).

Wanting to compare this acoustic version with a full-band rendition of the same song, I did a research for the original-pop version.  I finally found it and I should say it sounds fairly different… it did have some degree of clutter although it sounded exactly like the acoustic version.  (To view the music video, please click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKAdQnwJ7A.) 

What distinguishes modern acoustic music is the distinctive guitar-playing style that is now known as the “acoustic beat”.  The beginnings of acoustic music cannot be identified for certain but it has existed since the common guitar was invented.  However, acoustic music became part of mainstream musical consciousness or mainstream popular music in 1991 when the song “More Than Words” became No. 1 in the US.  I remember vacationing in Los Angeles, California when this song, performed by the heavy metal rock band Extreme, was playing on MTV while most news channels were showing footages of Mount Pinatubo erupting.  (To view the music video, please click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIiLvg58SY.)  In spite of the worries I was under because Mount Pinatubo was wreaking havoc back home, this song impressed me as the trailblazer song of what will later be known as acoustic music.

Just my little thoughts…

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REFERENCES:

Matchbox Twenty. “If You’re Gone (Original Version)”. Retrieved on July 13, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKAdQnwJ7A

Matchbox Twenty. “If You’re Gone (Acoustic Version)”.  Retrieved on July 13, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRuk1W-6qQU

Extreme. “More Than Words (Original Version)”.  Retrieved on July 13, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIiLvg58SY