Something Magical is happening

As a Washington Wizards fan, you already know that I gave up on the NBA after the first two months of the season. You also know that I hate LeBron James. With good reason, he's knocked my team out of the postseason in its last 3 appearances. Now I do have respect for LeBron, he is a great player, one of the top 3 in the game, but not the best. I don't like some of the things he does, like complain when he gets "Fouled" to the refs. For a guy that takes more free throws than three pointers, he shouldn't be complaining. So around this time of the year when the Wizards are long out of it, I find a second favorite team: Anyone playing LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Maybe i've found something more than that, maybe even the eventual Champions, the Orlando Magic. They beat the Cavaliers 4-2 in a seven game series in the Eastern Conference Finals to meet the Lakers in the finals. I rarely watched the Magic play the whole regular season, I saw when they beat the Hornets on Christmas and probably whenever they smacked the Wizards. I didn't watch there series vs. the 76ers, nor did I watch the series against the defending champion Celtics. I started watching Game 3 of the series vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, and the NBA's best regular season record. And I tell you, I've pretty much fallen in love with this team. They have a GREAT coach in Stan Van Gundy, ever time I here the guy talk I agree with him more and more. Now that's the kind of guy that can get you a championship ring. They have a very well-rounded team too, with the perfect balance of inside-out. They have one of the most dominating big men in the league in Dwight Howard, who can draw a lot of attention down low. But they also have the number one three point shooting team in the league, so you can't focus on just Howard or Rafer Alston, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu will kill you from long distance. I also like the resiliency of this team. They came back from a 16 point defecit in game one to beat the Cavs, a 23 point defecit in Game 2 in which the "King" won it with a lucky buzzer beater, and Game 5 they came back from a 22 point defecit to take the lead, only to surrender it to a hungry Cavaliers team. If It weren't for James's lucky, incredible, amazing, whatever your take is on it, shot, this series would have been a sweep. Ever since I've started watching this team since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals and they seem to show no signs of stopping or slowing down. There's something magical happening down in Orlando, and it's not done yet.

Music

So this weekend on my usual car ride to Virginia, I decided to listen to a CD i hadn't in a while: Green Day's "American Idiot". It was so overplayed that I never really had given it much attention since everyone else hopped on it many years ago. Then I got an idea for a good article: Artists that change their style and how their fans react. Green Day is a perfect example of this. They started out as a punk rock band in Berkeley, California. After much success from 1994 album "Dookie" which is clearly punk rock at its best, Green Day seemed on their way. Many other albums were relased afterward trying to live up to the precedent set by "Dookie." Then in 2004, Green Day completely broke away from their roots and released a punk rock opera in "American Idiot". They An album with two 9 minute songs, developing characters such as "Jesus of Suburbia", "st. Jimmy" and "Whatsername", and really having nothing that relates to "Dookie", one could say Green Day was completely a different band. But they were still good. Name another band that can make a nine minute rock opera and get radio play from it. Simply put, Green Day is one of a kind.

Many other bands have changed styles and found success, such as Papa Roach. They started out as a rap metal band in the late 90s and now continue to make rocking music but have also implemented some ballads, such as "Scars" and "Forever". This was a successful transformation, as much as I love the song "Last Resort," I wouldn't want to hear them make 30 more songs sounding exactly like it. Incubus, one of my personally favorite bands, has also foregone a transformation that makes them a truly amazing band. They grew from a psychedelic funk metal band that could jazz, rock, and pop all at the same time and blend it perfectly. Now, the band still can change styles like clothes and sound awesome, but they are basically an established alternative rock band. One can see the band's growth from the songs "A Certain Shade of Green" (1999) to "Anna Molly" and "Dig"(2007)

However, some bands, such as Linkin Park, have not seen as much success while switching styles. The bands first two albums, "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora" really could relate to the teenage angst of their fan base. Behind Chester Bennington's screams and Mike Shinoda's hard core raps, LP made it to the top. But then they released Minutes to Midnight. The first hit, "What I've Done" is sort of a wimpy ballad in the eyes of previous LP fans, and other songs like "Bleed It Out" and "Given Up" are just too whiny and not like the good songs of old. Many fans wish they would just go back to the days of "One Step Closer" and "Faint".

Why do bands change? Why do fans criticize when their favorite band does not release the music they've used to know and love? The answer is: People grow and change. A musician spends about 2-3 years between albums, and in that time they may have a life changing experience, or a premonition that will affect their outlook on music. One cannot expect that bands will produce the same music over and over year after year until they break up. Eventually it will get bland and grow old with fans and they will lose them anyways. The answer is musicians are creative, which is why they are professionals and the best at what they do, and it stunts his/her creativity to be making the same music over and over again. SO think twice before you criticize an artist that changes and maybe you can learn to change too.