What's going on?

[Kamala]

Am I the only one who absolutely cannot watch the Top 20 countdown on Vh1 anymore, or anything on MTV, or listen to any mainstream radio? I've never been too big on pop music, but I always thought that the stuff from previous decades tended to be a little better than what's being barfed out now ('cept the 80s, bleh).

Everything is starting to sound exactly the same: like bad hip-hop. Half-naked hip-hop girl bands are starting to become a dime a dozen (Danity Kane, Pussycat Dolls, and all the inevitable knock-offs that will follow), and it seems like no one can put out a song these days without collaborating with a rapper.

Perhaps it's the natural progression of the nature of "pop" music. It's never really it's own genre, it usually springs out of whatever genre is most popular. In terms of the last 30 or 40 years, it's been rock, hence pop-rock. Will that label soon change to pop-hip-hop?

Being able to sing is not even a prerequisite anymore, especially with the advent of computer techology that allows producers to digitally modify vocal tracks to "fix" any off-key singing (like Photoshop for the ears). I'm hearing more and more about bands that "sound great on the CD" but are terrible live. It's because they can't really sing in the first place!

It seems that if you have enough money (Paris Hilton) or you have connections to someone with enough fame (Brooke Hogan), you can be pop singer. :areyoucra

Is it only the mutation of music from an art form into a commodity? Or is it a reflection of our culture at large? It's extremely simplistic music: create a short musical phrase (heavy on percussion, simple melody, little to no harmony) and repeat it throughout the duration of the entire song. Write bad lyrics and talk and/or breathily whine over repeated musical phrase. Do people just not want to have to, god forbid, think about what they're listening to? Many people don't seem to want to have to think about anything else.

What is wrong with music today?

 

[Buttercup]

Kamala, you need to join us in the What Are You Listening To thread. Many people post links to YouTube so you can hear new tunes. There's lots of good stuff out there. Come visit!

 

[Kamala]

I posted there once, but neglected that board for a couple days and got way behind. I need to catch up!

 

[ayani]

i totally hear you. i can *not* listen to the radio anymore. it's just so...bad. and i swear it is not my imagination, nor yours.

it's just lousy. shallow, noisy, tinny, and it all sounds kind of alike.

i got some artists and genres i love and i stick with them. mix tapes are also awesome. :yes:

 

[PureX]

What is wrong with music today?

Corporate greed has completely taken over the airwaves, as well as the music video outlets. And they have no interest whatever in quality. They don't even know what it is, and they couldn't care less, anyway. They are all and only about making money, and they have decided that it's easier and cheaper to manufacture crap that pretends to be music and then sell it to idiots than it is to go out and actually look for real quality music (which they can't recognize because they have only concerned themselves with making money their entire lives) and risk being mistaken.

If you want to hear any good music these days, you'll have to find it yourself. Fortunately, this is actually a lot easier than at any time if history, thanks to the internet. But like it or not, you will have to invest some time on line, rooting around and asking questions.

 

[Kamala]

Corporate greed has completely taken over the airwaves, as well as the music video outlets. And they have no interest whatever in quality. They don't even know what it is, and they couldn't care less, anyway. They are all and only about making money, and they have decided that it's easier and cheaper to manufacture crap that pretends to be music and then sell it to idiots than it is to go out and actually look for real quality music (which they can't recognize because they have only concerned themselves with making money their entire lives) and risk being mistaken.

I agree. What I am curious about is how so many people can be falling for and eating up this crap music? I'm looking at the Billboard 100 singles chart right now and Fergie is number 2 right below Beyonce (whom I believe has the potential to do much better music that she is now). How is this possible? Is the Billboard chart based solely on album sales, or also on amount of airplay? If the latter is true, then I can totally understand why such utter crap dominates the charts, because everything is so overplayed.

If you want to hear any good music these days, you'll have to find it yourself. Fortunately, this is actually a lot easier than at any time if history, thanks to the internet. But like it or not, you will have to invest some time on line, rooting around and asking questions.

Oh, I figured that out a long time ago. Internet radio, public FM radio, and XM radio are all a gift from God (the latter making my mom God, because she got one for me ).

 

[Buttons*]

Kamala, you need to join us in the What Are You Listening To thread. Many people post links to YouTube so you can hear new tunes. There's lots of good stuff out there. Come visit!

i agree completely!

 

[PureX]

I agree. What I am curious about is how so many people can be falling for and eating up this crap music? I'm looking at the Billboard 100 singles chart right now and Fergie is number 2 right below Beyonce (whom I believe has the potential to do much better music that she is now). How is this possible? Is the Billboard chart based solely on album sales, or also on amount of airplay? If the latter is true, then I can totally understand why such utter crap dominates the charts, because everything is so overplayed.

I suspect it's mostly lies. Sure, there are some 11 and 12 year olds around who are actually buying these people's CDs, because they don't know any better, but the hype machine makes it look like these canned phonies are all superstars, when they aren't really.

Oh, I figured that out a long time ago. Internet radio, public FM radio, and XM radio are all a gift from God (the latter making my mom God, because she got one for me ).

*smile*

 

[MaddLlama]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I like a number of the groups that have come out in the last few years. Granted I liked the stuff they were playing back in 2003 better, but I do still enjoy the radio.

 

[Kamala]

I suspect it's mostly lies. Sure, there are some 11 and 12 year olds around who are actually buying these people's CDs, because they don't know any better, but the hype machine makes it look like these canned phonies are all superstars, when they aren't really.

Oy, there's another beef I have. Sometimes when I'm watching TV, I'll see a commercial for a band that neither I nor anyone I know has ever heard of, but the commercial claims they have a "smash hit" song or are international superstars or something.

 

[Kamala]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I like a number of the groups that have come out in the last few years. Granted I liked the stuff they were playing back in 2003 better, but I do still enjoy the radio.

Sure, I don't deny that some good stuff is managing to get through. But even that stuff is the victim of overplaying, like The Fray. I'd probably like them if both the radio and my girlfriend didn't constantly drill them into my head.

 

[Booko]

Am I the only one who absolutely cannot watch the Top 20 countdown on Vh1 anymore, or anything on MTV, or listen to any mainstream radio?

Nope. I pretty much gave up on "commercial" music in the 70s.

Disco sucks.

Being able to sing is not even a prerequisite anymore, especially with the advent of computer techology that allows producers to digitally modify vocal tracks to "fix" any off-key singing (like Photoshop for the ears).

Well, it never really was. Ever hear Bob Dylan? I think my Mom once described him as sounding like a "sick cow." But hey, he can write a lyric at least.

You have a point about how technology is allowing the untalented to rise to the top, though. It's not like there's a shortage of real voices out there. So what do the music companies use to decide to sign? Whoever they can manipulate to produce their pablum, I guess.

Is it only the mutation of music from an art form into a commodity? Or is it a reflection of our culture at large?

Yeah, it's a reflection of our instant gratification, price not quality culture. The same thing that's amiss in pop music is amiss in food. Ever eat at those cookie cutter middle-range restaurants where they overcharge you for bland chemically treated "food"? Disgusting stuff.

What is wrong with music today?

Well, when it comes to pop music, it's not like it was always so deep, you know. Ever hear "Three Little FIshys"? "Mares Eat Oats"? "When the Bird Goes Away"? Oh, there are plenty of examples from past "pop" music genres.

Remember Theodore Sturgeon's Law "90% of everything is crud."

Pop music is no different than anything else.

 

[Tigress]

I hear you, Kamala. Although I occasionally find a new tune that I like, I'm turned off by a lot of what passes for music (and talent) today. Especially in the mainstream. It seems like everybody and their mother has a recording contract. Originality appears largely dead.

 

[Kamala]

Nope. I pretty much gave up on "commercial" music in the 70s.

Disco sucks.

Watch it. I like disco. Well, some of it. It's the predecessor to modern dance music, which I love.

Ever hear Bob Dylan? I think my Mom once described him as sounding like a "sick cow." But hey, he can write a lyric at least.

Never really listened to him sing, but I've heard him talk, and I believe it.

You have a point about how technology is allowing the untalented to rise to the top, though. It's not like there's a shortage of real voices out there.

No kidding. It's why I listen to Broadway. But even the stage is being tainted by the awfulness of current music. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth are the Broadway equivalent of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, at least in terms of their popularity with 13-year-old girls (Kristin, like Christina, can actually sing, but still...). Stunt casting is leading to third-rate pop star wannabes being cast in shows (Drew Lachey, Nick's brother, was a lead in Rent for time... I heard he was terrible).

Well, when it comes to pop music, it's not like it was always so deep, you know. Ever hear "Three Little FIshys"? "Mares Eat Oats"? "When the Bird Goes Away"? Oh, there are plenty of examples from past "pop" music genres.

Oh, I don't think pop music was necessarily any great innovation before today. I personally think some 90s music was better than most other decades' music. I absolutely despise 80s music in general. 60s pop kind of bugs me too ('cept the Beatles, and I still prefer their later stuff).

 

[Kamala]

I hear you, Kamala. Although I occasionally find a new tune that I like, I'm turned off by a lot of what passes for music (and talent) today. Especially in the mainstream. It seems like everybody and their mother has a recording contract. Originality appears largely dead.

I once asked my mom if disco during the 70s had pretty much saturated every part of this culture, and she said yes. Which makes me wonder if the same kind of backlash that happened to disco just might happen to hip-hop (because it's absolutely everywhere too).

 

[Tigress]

One can only hope. lol Kidding, kidding.

As Kermit the Frog once said on the break-up of the Beatles: "Without the Beatles, there'll be no stopping disco."

 

[Kamala]

One can only hope. lol Kidding, kidding.

I'm not.

 

[sojourner]

I swore I'd never say this, but I can't stand popular music these days. (And I'm an old rocker). It's just a wash of distorted sound. These people are tuning their guitars down so far that the strings are basically flopping, and the sound driven by way overdriven amps, instead of producing sound with any semblance of overtone that give the instruments their definitive timbres. The guitar and bass parts do way too much mirroring of the drum's rhythmic pattern, instead of finding something contrasting and interesting. Too much yelling -- not enough singing.

Either that, or it's silly, commercial "pop" crap sung (badly) by some gyrating, almost-dressed bimbo with big, plastic hooters.

here's my issue: I'd pit any of today's "smash bands" against someone like Paul Simon, for example, whose songs are thoughtful, artistic and well-done. I'd pit any of today's "band whores" against someone like Bonnie Raitt, for example, who can actually sing without taking her clothes off.

More and more I find myself listening to old stuff from the 70's, and to stuff from about 10-12 years ago, if I can find it, like Live, Collective Soul, and Pearl Jam.