Music-Loving Students No Longer Have Reason to Leave Campus

When Vampire Weekend debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts, I was admittedly shocked. The band that had put out the self-recorded EP I listened to all summer was now a Billboard topper? I met them at WBAR as a freshman, and now they were receiving glowing notices in the New York Times?

While Columbia student musicians are nothing new—Art Garfunkel! Cole Porter!—it seems that media conflation of Ivy League credentials and musical talent is rapidly rising. For example, Reni Lane’s matriculation is never unmentioned in her interviews and articles, and journalists always write that the members of Bishop Allen (see the story in The Eye last month) attended Harvard. Does being an Ivy League student really make you a better musician?

Looking at some of the greatest songwriters in American pop history—Carole King, James Brown, Phil Spector, Robbie Robertson, for instance—it seems that the Ivy League does not necessarily spawn the greatest hits. If it did, Bo Diddley may have asked, “Whom do you love?” and Dylan may have asked his lady to “lie” across his big brass bed.

That being said, it seems that Columbia students have been doing inordinately well branching out from Morningside Heights. The niche appeal of smart kids playing instruments has not yet worn off, and booking agents are more than happy to accommodate.

Besides Lane, campus bands and musical artists including Wizards of the Coast, the Kitchen Cabinet, and Sarah Dooley all play gigs outside the immediate area and have gained fan bases that reach well beyond the gates. These bands, which play frequently on or around campus, have succeeded in creating an on-campus community centered around their music. Few students are willing to trek to Brooklyn to see an up-and-coming band, and why should they when they have something just as good at their doorstep?

This small-show atmosphere is generally more indicative of rural liberal arts colleges than large, urban universities, but getting out to hear new music in New York City proves daunting and overly expensive for many students. Also, to see a friend or acquaintance on stage provides a kind of intimacy not usually provided by New York City performances.

Perhaps this proliferation of new campus bands can partially be attributed to the way music is shared. While sharing a new band once consisted of physically copying a CD or tape and giving it to a friend, now it is easy to direct anyone (Mom, Dad, Grandma) to a MySpace or Facebook page. When a new campus band pops up, a quick Google search will generally yield results, at least in the form of a MySpace, and recordings sound amazingly professional. With GarageBand, who needs a studio?

This technological sea change is met with mixed results—for me, at least. For example, I knew the Kitchen Cabinet’s music before I saw them play for the first time because of MySpace, before any of my friends had their album. The physicality of the action, of making copies, of raving about an unknown band was lost because of an online community.

Though mainstream media opines about how the music industry as we know it is dying, it seems like the major labels are doing just fine. When Vampire Weekend signed, based largely on blog hype and not without a few mentions of its members’ recent Columbia graduations, it seemed like the stage was set for a new generation of hopefully madras-free musicians to take over in their wake, in the halls of ADP and in Roone Arledge. They have successfully done so and provide new music to which the overworked, under-rested collegiate masses can dance. Whether you like Vampire Weekend or not, they have certainly sparked a different kind of campus arts dialogue, centered on fame and future. Everyone wants to say, “I knew them when,” so tune into the new pop on campus or pick up a guitar. Who knows? You may see your face on the cover of Rolling Stone.