By Zachary Olsavicky
Opinion Editor
Though it may only be the third week of classes, spring has been on the minds of Rosebuds for weeks now—specifically, Rose Rock. The music festival provides students one last opportunity to unwind and have a good time before 24/7 quiet hours and the rush to complete final projects. But the talk hasn’t been positive—students have been mocking the final list of artists for being dated and poor in quality.
A look at the four remaining artists makes it easy to understand why students are upset. It seems like the list was taken from an iPod that hasn’t been updated since George Bush’s presidency. This isn’t to knock old music for the sake of being old, but it’s hard for students to get positive about the show when it’s not current.
While 1985 was a fun ditty back in middle school, it’s hard to imagine what else Bowling for Soup would play in its set. Hellogoodbye sounds like it wouldn’t be a terrible choice, but it’s hard to trust a band that takes its name from one of the most overrated songs by one of the most overrated bands of all time.
Tonight doesn’t seem to be the night that students will fall for Secondhand Serenade—I sure can’t imagine anyone changing their mind. The only other choice for students is the dulcet tones of Ying Yang Twins, whose romantic ballad Wait (The Whisper Song) seems fit for a performance in the Neil Hellman Library—provided we want the library quarantined during finals week.
To be fair, it’s hard to draw a good selection of finalists from a shallow pool of talent. The preliminary list of artists had some major head-scratchers. Aaron Carter, Vanilla Ice, Chamillionaire—I was surprised Ginuwine wasn’t mentioned. There were a number of strong choices, like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Pusha T, and even Frank Turner. But when a small number of good artists are outnumbered by bad artists, it shouldn’t be a surprise when more bad artists are chosen.
(Of course, that last sentence suggests that one person’s subjective tastes might be better than those of another. I should pause and mention that I do believe we are all entitled to our opinions and tastes. With that said, some opinions are just better than others, and I can’t pretend that the Ying Yang Twins sound as good as Frank Turner. Or Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Or a dial-up modem. Or Fox News on mute.)
Part of the problem, too, is the budget for the event. Not to knock Saint Rose, but it’s a small college, and resources are limited. A quick search of some of the artists mentioned in the process suggests a budget between $10,000-$20,000 for the headline act. I hate to break it to everyone, but we can’t afford the Zac Brown Band ($300,000), Fun ($200,000), Paramore ($100,000), Skrillex (‘call for pricing,’ so let’s assume he costs $Texas), or even Carly Rae Jepsen ($50,000). We might be able to swing Sara Bareilles ($35,000) if we raised money for Rose Rock instead of Relay for Life, but if you don’t see what’s wrong with that idea, seriously, how did you get into college?
So what’s the solution? First of all, don’t send out a list of artists filled with one-hit wonders and also-rans. Start off with a list of 20 good artists and narrow it from that point. It might seem like ironically voting for Aaron Carter is a good idea, but ask Toronto residents how ironically voting for Rob Ford turned out.
Next, look at some promising young artists. Everyone has a musician or group that’s not on everyone’s radar, and that’s where the best acts are found. Some students might dismiss the artists because they don’t know them, but music fans can appreciate a good show no matter who the artist is.
Finally, don’t be afraid to be snobby about who chooses the list. Some musical tastes are just better than others, and think about letting music majors—or just strong music fans—decide on artists. Though I’m sure the organizing committee had good intentions, the lists we’ve seen have all been uninspired. If we aren’t going to build excitement for the show among students, we may as well go into finals week without one day of fun.
