Please change the channel in the waiting room, I'm here to relieve anxiety and not have more caused by it.

"An' I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation
Never said I wanted to improve my station
An' I'm only doin' good
When I'm havin' fun
An' I don't have to please no one
An' I don't give a damn
'Bout my bad reputation"

Joan Jett-"Bad Reputation"

I'm only 42, but I'm about ready to drop a "get off my lawn" rant that would be fit for an octogenarian.

Kurt Cobain (courtesy of The Daily Beast)

I have always enjoyed rock music and pop music. I was dancing to it as a toddler. It's in my heart, my blood, my soul. While I feel lots of the rock or pop music you hear on the current airwaves is not as good as the classics, there is still a lot of talent out there that gives me hope that pure rock and roll will live on forever. I also hear many pop songs that pleasantly surprise me that I really enjoy. Yes, current pop songs. Thank the bumper music of the Armstrong and Getty radio show for introducing me to new stuff.

Then, I go to the waiting room before my therapy appointments at Mazzitti and Sullivan, and what wafts out of the radio on WINK 104's airwaves (local pop station) turns me from someone with optimism for the future of music to someone who weeps at the demise of music. In other words, it's perfect for putting me in the right mood for talking about depression with my therapist, because I am thoroughly depressed and ready to jab a fork in my eye after all of that.

Rock and roll used to be about pissing off the elites and giving the middle finger to authority. It used to be all about leading a revolution and leading a charge against the establishment. It used to be counterculture. It once was used to give a voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless.

Punch the leaders in the face and kick 'em in the balls.

Now, it has become kiss authority on the face and pleasure them while you are at it.

Katy Perry (courtesy of Billboard)

This rant has been brewing in me for a long time and I cannot hold it in any longer. As someone who has planted his flag in the ground for rock and roll I cannot sit idly by and continue to watch the genre I love be turned into a farce and a shell of what it once was.

Yet, many of my friends and people who love me think I am out of my mind for saying these things. Well, I am sorry. I have a God given right not to like everything I hear.

Is it because I hate popular music? No. Goodness, no. Far from it. I grew up listening to popular music. I got my sense of what is catchy and what isn't from growing up with popular music. So, no. I haven't a beef with popular music. My gripe is with how popular music is being executed these days.

In the 1970's, 1980's, and even the early 1990's, you had popular music that would make you want to get up out of your seat. The popular music of those times had energy. There was "umph", as many hard rock and heavy metal acts crossed over into the pop charts. There was diversity. You could listen to an entire episode of American Top 40 and not hear two songs that sounded the same. Many artists spoke with their own voice instead of trying to copy the sound of others.

There was also rebellion.While Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer made political statements in their music with the shyness of a rifle butt to the back of the head, more mainstream groups were also making powerful political/social statements. "Shout" by Tears for Fears expressed concern over nuclear war. "Don't Close Your Eyes" by hair metallers Kix tackled the topic of teen suicide. "It's A Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys grappled with Neil Tennant's homosexuality and the challenges of living with it at that time.  Pop/rock artists of the era were very politically and socially aware...even good time tunes like "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats was an anti-war song. In the early 90's, bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the West Coast distributors of socially aware, and they knew how to make noise. In my day, we wore leather jackets, flannel shirts, Doc Martens, and we rocked the vote! Gen X was the original socially aware generation and our music proved it. We had sit ins by day and mosh pits by night at the local rock club.

Nowadays, not only has the bite gone out of the commentary from pop artists, the bounce and the hook has gone as well. Sure, Lizzy Hale from Halestorm can kick ass seven ways til Sunday, and Lady Gaga is a walking commentary with her meat dresses and her wild look and her retro sound, but most pop artists seemed to have lost their edge and mellowed. I swear, many of the songs I hear on WINK 104 today make 70s soft rockers Bread look like Mayhem in comparison.

Take John Legend for example. Very talented individual, though his stage name is far from earned yet. His appearance on the televised version of Jesus Christ Superstar is proof of his incredible talent. Yet, in his mega hit ballad "All of Me", he sounds like he is crying before and after sex. I hear this song a lot in the waiting room, and believe me, it gets me ready to vent like crazy because the song drives me to some vile thoughts with its sappy delivery and flaccid sound.

Then there is another song, who I have no idea who does it, who sings "Hey Mr. DJ, play that song all night long". Um, no. If you are at a club and the DJ plays that song, fire his ass. I hear that song a lot in the waiting room as well, and it also makes me ready to vent because it annoys me so.

Another example is John Mayer. All I hear is how amazing of a blues guitarist he is, yet his biggest hit is the schmaltzy "Your Body is a Wonderland". OK, to be fair...that's not his fault. Radio stations choose the hits and not the artists. Maybe if they played his stuff where he shows off some licks and riffs and bluesy fire ala Stevie Ray Vaughn or Joe Bonamassa, maybe I would not have been turned off to discovering more of his work. In fact, I do need to check out more of his work because I am sure much of it outshines that ballad.

For the most part, pop music today seems too happy. Nothing wrong with happy, but when every song you hear on the area's top pop station while sitting in the waiting room sounds almost indistinguishable from the next song, you start to wonder what happened to the rebellion, what happened to the commentary, what happened to the angst? Do teenagers get angry anymore? Do they want to pick up a guitar and rock or play a beat that will make you move? Do they want to write something that sticks it to the man? If this is the most "socially aware" generation in history, where is the music that reflects it? Look who is in the White House! Look who could have been in the White House! Either way, anger should have found its expression in the audio arts. This should be a ripe age for extreme rock and pop to tear up the airwaves with a message of freedom. Yet, I am not hearing it.

In the waiting room, I just hear the same limp drivel, driving me to madness and making me weep for the state of music.

We need more Lizzy Hales and less Katy Perrys. We need more Dr. Dre and less John Legend. We need more Nirvana and less Maroon 5. We need angst. We need a message.

We need sonic rebellion.