Lazy as they wanna be

One of the things that really irritates me about the music industry is the lack of prolific artists. In the 60s and 70s, bands and solo artists alike used to hunker down in the recording studio, producing record after record. The Beatles were only together less than seven years and they released 13 studio albums, made 3 movies and toured constantly for the first four of those years. Led Zeppelin: nine albums in eleven years. During a ridiculously prolific start to his career, Stevie Wonder released 20 albums in 15 years.

Nowadays, artists act like they're doing the world a huge favor by hitting the recording studio. While there are some hardworking acts in music today (Busta Rhymes, Eminem and Dave Grohl come to mind), the industry is plagued by laziness and complacency. Most rock bands put out a record every two or three years and then milk each record to death by releasing three or four singles, stretching an album out to almost two years. Even though it seems like No Doubt is everywhere these days, the band has only released three album since their debut record in 1992. U2 has put out two original albums in the past nine years. And it's not just rock: The Beastie Boys, Method Man, Dr. Dre and Fiona Apple all have not released albums this century. What is it gonna take for artists to get off their asses and write some songs? I know the creative process takes time but if it's your job, you owe it to fans to quit "taking time to reflect" and get to work.