Toronto rocker DANKO JONES recently launched a column at Canada's Huffington Post. Following is an excerpt from his latest article:

"The advent of social media has been both a boon and a blight on the music industry. While bands have been able to easily get their message/songs out to a larger crowd now, their voice just as often lost amongst the hundreds of thousands of other voices clambering for attention. In a way, it's levelled the playing field, but given way to a sea of mediocrity which will inevitably result in complete disinterest.

When it comes to critiquing these entertainers, there's a corresponding surplus of opinions being lobbed through the ether via the world of websites, YouTube channels and blogs. As more self-appointed music critics are able to get their quickly-cobbled thoughts across to a readership/viewership that scrolls and skims more than actually reads, Frank Zappa's famous quote about music journalism becomes ever so appropriate:

'Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read.'

In theory, the idea of a free-thinking, unregulated, ongoing exchange of ideas and opinions sounds like a utopian wet dream. Unfortunately, the reality of the Internet is instead a parade of dimwits impatiently falling over themselves to recite their dick jokes, type their racist comebacks and swing their anonymous gavels of uninformed judgement for all to see. No more is this prevalent than in the world of music journalism now that any sad sap can churn out their formulaic viewpoints filled with errors and lack of practical music knowledge.

Frustration of this new online world stems from the lack of any required music journalistic curriculum vitae that other maven sectors demand. For a lot of these "writers," music didn't start before Nirvana or even Arcade Fire, so shallow is the trough from which they cull. Of course, we can't be born with music history ingrained in our psyche, but a little research would go a long way. Of course this would inevitably cut into their tweeting, texting and Game Of Thrones watching.

For example, a recent stop in our hometown of Toronto on our North American tour opening for VOLBEAT yielded a less-than-lukewarm review of our set by Steve St. Jean. The review was so poorly written I couldn't help but distribute it to friends and colleagues as glaring proof that music journalism has been flushed down the toilet. You'd think St. Jean would've dropped more info to feign awareness of us, a band from his hometown that have been around for 17 years, rather than a slapdash description of the audience in attendance, but such is the state of music journalism in 2013. When I got up onstage with Volbeat later that night to sing 'Angelfuck' by THE MISFITS, it was only referred to as a "cover," twisting the knife of cluelessness even further."

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Danko's new official podcast (#44) is out now. His guests this time out are Ian D'Sa of BILLY TALENT and Cone McCaslin of SUM 41. The pair gang up on Danko to talk about James Hetfield, Kerry King, Billy Gibbons and the term "shy asshole confusion."

Check it out below:

On April 9th, the latest Danko Jones album Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue was reissued via iTunes. The reissue features an exclusive, brand new, unreleased track called ‘Crazy In Bed’. The track was recorded during the Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue sessions.

The band has released the official video for the Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue album track, 'I Believed In God'. Watch the clip below: