My rant on today's pop music

I'm pretty sure Plato didn't like his kids music either. This rant is as old as the hills.
You are correct. Since I'm an old fart I've seen this topic for decades. Every era has music I like and music I don't. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.
Thankfully now that I have XM radio I don't need to listen to "Top 40" or whatever you want to call the stations that spoon feed the masses.
Now, you kids, get off my lawn!
 
You are correct. Since I'm an old fart I've seen this topic for decades. Every era has music I like and music I don't. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.
Thankfully now that I have XM radio I don't need to listen to "Top 40" or whatever you want to call the stations that spoon feed the masses.
Now, you kids, get off my lawn!

LOL - there have been occassional songs that my kids listen to that I have enjoyed along with them. I try to soak in every possible genre of music from disco to hard rock to dance to blues to folk to jazz to classical. I draw the line at rap and opera - NO WAY are you getting me to subject my ears to that!

Believe it or not I enjoyed some of Britney Spears original material, but that sadly went the way of most pop music today. Same goes for Christine Aguilera. Also, I consider Madonna's music during her comeback period to be far inferior to her 80's work. Some of the pop from the 80s was dreadful, but some was original and catchy. Even my kids love to sing along with The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star.

I also enjoy much of Michael Jackson's catalog, although again his latest stuff is not my favorite. I was never into Diva-type music, such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey or Celine Dion. But I loved the lady rockers such as Joan Jett and Pat Benatar.
 
I draw the line at rap and opera - NO WAY are you getting me to subject my ears to that!

While I'm not a fan of opera, I do enjoy classic/mainstream symphonic music (Carmen, the Beethoven et al symphonies, etc.) As for rap, I guess I listen with a different ear. Again, I'm not really paying attention to lyrics... I drum along with songs rather than sing to them. But there's a lot of great production on a lot of rap tracks. People think that anyone can just slap samples on top of a 4-bar drum loop, but it's much more than that. Often, a lot more time and effort goes into making a sequenced drum part than what a live drummer would invest.

That said, I do prefer more mainstream and old-school rap (Puff Daddy, Run DMC, Arrested Development, Eminem, etc.) to the hardcore gangsta rap.

I think if more people would listen to the music before judging by genre, they'd find more to like. I certainly have my likes and dislikes, but I choose every song individually, not based on its genre.

Bermuda
 
Honestly, I don't really listen to lyrics,

I know we've discussed this before, but that still blows my mind.

Lyrics are often what draws me to or turns me off from a band.

I'm not saying every band I like has good lyrics, or that the lyrics are necessarily even in English, but I still find it be an important aspect of listening pleasure.



You guys would flip if you knew what kind of stuff was on my CD shelves. Let's look at the F section... Fad Gadget, Faith No More, Percy Faith, Fatboy Slim, Filter, Fine Young Cannibals, Ella Fitzgerald, Fleetwood Mac, Foghat, Foo Fighters, Four Tops, Samantha Fox, Peter Frampton, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Aretha Franklin, Stan Freberg, Free, Richie Furay... to name a few. And if you go to S you will find Britney Spears and The Spice Girls mixed in with Nancy Sinatra, Siouxsee and the Banshees, School of Fish, Springsteen, Sublime, Santana, Bobby Sherman, and The Shaggs.

And I thought my CD collection was all over the place. Heh.
 
but I choose every song individually, not based on its genre.

Wholeheartedly agree.

I can dislike 99% of a certain genre....hell, I can dislike 99% of a certain artist, but if they come out with a gem that I find enjoyable to listen to then what's not to like?

I heard a quote many years ago and who exactly said it is lost to me now. I think it was either Eddie Van Halen or Gene Simmons but whoever it was said "A good song, is a good song." It spoke volumes to me at the time. No matter the artist, genre or content, if you find one that grabs you, enjoy it for what it is. :)
 
I think if more people would listen to the music before judging by genre, they'd find more to like. I certainly have my likes and dislikes, but I choose every song individually, not based on its genre.

Bermuda

I agree. I used to have rules about what I would and would not listen to.
But then I would find a certain artist or song that would make me want to make an exception.

Then the exceptions kept piling up, to the point I realized it was no longer a rule.

There are styles I tend to not like, but it's never cut and dry.
 
I know we've discussed this before, but that still blows my mind.

Lyrics are often what draws me to or turns me off from a band.

It's the same for me, but with the music. I guess if I wrote lyrics or sang, I would have a broader focus.

Bermuda
 
I actually just wrote a 5 page essay (for school) on how real music is much better than rap and hip hop.

Got the grade back today, and I got an A!
So either I'm good at writing, or my teacher hates rap and hip hop...
 
I'm pretty sure Chad Smith said "There are only two types of music - good and bad."

Chad would have been echoing what either Count Basie or Duke Ellington said decades earlier. But I agree, it's true.
 
I fully agree, it's too bloody commercial.

i don't care if i get flamed for this. pop music is garbage , nuff said.

if you disagree then watch rebecca blacks video called "friday"
 
It's the same for me, but with the music. I guess if I wrote lyrics or sang, I would have a broader focus.

Bermuda

Well, I can't sing to save my life, and until a few years ago, I have never written lyrics for a band before.

I mean, Tommy isn't Tommy without the lyrics that tie it all together. Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia, The Wall, most U2 albums, the list goes on an on of albums that wouldn't be what they are without the lyrics.
 
Well, I can't sing to save my life, and until a few years ago, I have never written lyrics for a band before.

I mean, Tommy isn't Tommy without the lyrics that tie it all together. Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia, The Wall, most U2 albums, the list goes on an on of albums that wouldn't be what they are without the lyrics.

Then you have a wealth of music where lyrics fall somewhere between the sublime and the ridiculous. I'm a huge RHCP fan, but I've gotta be honest, the fact that I have no idea what half the nonsensical babblings spouted by A Keidis are, is of little consequence and certainly doesn't detract from the listening experience.

Obviously it's not an absolute, as there is plenty of music out there where I'm captured by what's being said lyrically. But I also find often times, listening to the melody, harmonies, phrasing or vocal inflections is all I need. Hearing the vocals as another instrument as opposed to a vehicle to get a 'message' across, works for me too.
 
You guys really have me wanting to get with my parents and asking them what they thought of the stuff I was listening to in the 80s.

But oddly enough, I have this feeling it won't be such an argument because lo and behold, the music I listened to was sort of like theirs, in that there were chord changes, notes sung, all that 'music stuff' going on. Something along the way happened after the first punk revolution, because instead of folks who couldn't play (but were trying to) being mad about it and going out and doing so, now there's this whole generation of people who, while trying to create something new, created a whole genre of music that doesn't rely on notes, or chord structure or singing....weird.

I went back and listened to Nina Hagen's first album released in the States and I remember the "shock and the noise" of it all (the one that had "White Punks on Dope" in German). Now it sounds so tame and hard to believe, there was music on it! The musicianship was pretty high when you compare it to, say, the Jonas Brothers, or Aly & AJ....

There's always these people who "produce" these semi-prodigal child performers and part of me thinks they're engaging in this sick musical joke (not unlike Frank Zappa) where they're actually really good musicians, but they know nobody cares about that, so they produce this "stuff" we all hate, but the kids love it. Takes really good musicians to do that and know who the jokes' on, eh?
 
I have to think it happens with all generation gaps with music, I can still vividly remember my dad driving us to a Led Zeppelin concert one time and him asking a million times, who are you going to see, Led Zipper.. Obviously joking around but I can remember it like it was yesterday. But also like my parents did for me, some of the music they listened to when I was young actually influenced me to become a drummer, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich big band era stuff etc...I also have two older children 22 and 19 and I have music going on around our house all the time, no matter what I am doing. Now they love the current stuff out there but they also like alot of the music I listen to. I actually took them to a Porcupine Tree concert this past summer and believe it or not my son and I hung out with John Wesley, the hired gun second guitarist/vocals for PT and Ian Bond, the front of house sound engineer for PT at a BBQ the night before the show, and we got to watch the show from the sound booth with Ian. They are both totally in love with PT, and I am taking them to the Jeff Beck/Imelda May show this April 19th. They love a ton of the music I listen to but I have a very hard time listening to their stuff, although at times they will come to me and say hey dad you gotta listen to this new CD by whoever it's great. I would never tell them that I did not like it, maybe a comment like yeah thats pretty interesting. Gotta give them there music freedom like most of our parents did for us, I will however tell my son when he is listening to some of his gangster rap stuff and they are getting overly vulger to turn it off. Everything now a days is very techno for the most part, voice over efx and to me just not music.
 
I like pop, old and new. Duke Special is a very good artist around now that I was listening to before I saw this thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPKEIZ7wm2o

I probably don't like most of the top 50 charting albums or singles right now but a lot of the best music now is hovering just under the most mainstream stuff nowadays - and here I think hip hop and rock and metal and modern soul and so on are very healthy - and it's all so easily accessible and explorable thanks to the net.
 
Polly, I think you're not really making pop to pop comparisons.

Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Jo Jackson, those were NOT really pop artists. Yes, their music crossed over to pop, but they still attempted to have artistic and rebellious credibility.

When I think generic pop to compare the Rebecca Black song too, compare it to the Rebecca Black's of the past:

Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, New Kids on the Block, Menudo, The Partridge Family, Andy Gibb, Sonny and Cher. All that stuff was just as "manufactured" as today's pop music, involving fake instruments, or sessions guys hired to record stiff performances, with the idea to appeal to as many non-musicians as possible for the quick buck.

Fair point, DED, but Rebecca and her ilk represent the lowest common denominator. I don't think we can judge today's pop by that standard. I'm not fan of today's pop but that song of hers posted here was the pits.

Actually, I quite like those old Bee Gees tracks so go easy on the Gibbs :)

Bermuda ... of your collection, I have stuff by Faith No More, Fatboy Slim, Ella Fitzgerald, Fleetwood Mac, Four Tops, Peter Frampton, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Aretha Franklin, Free (not pop), Springsteen, Santana ...

Some of the pop in my collection includes Anastacia, Macy Gray, Supertramp (love 'em), The Cure, 10CC, Bryan Ferry, Chris Isaac, Coldplay, Frente, The Go Gos, The Carpenters, Kate Bush, Nellie Furtado, Pointer Sisters, Sade, Simply Red, The Killers and Wham!

Just cos I'm into King Crimson, Uncle Frank, Henry Cow, Mahavishnu, Weather Report, The Who and Led Zep doesn't disqualify me from also being crazy about good pop.

All I ask is that artists write and play music from the heart and go easy on the formulas, samey-ness and machines! Hopefully all this mechanised pap will go away, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon. We'll have to wait for Gen Z's kids to rebel and p1ss off their parents with "horrible" acoustic-sounding music :)
 
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In my band, we play (and I sing lead on) Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. When we play out at restaurants where younger kids can see us, they recognize the song despite it being from 1967, because it was on one of the Guitar Hero video games.

Can you imagine one of the current horrid pop songs being on a video game 43 years from now, and their kids/grandkids recognizing it? It certainly wouldn't be Guitar Hero or Rock Band, since there is no guitar or rock going on in most of these songs.

My teenage daughters and their friends also recognize a lot of the music from the 1970's and 1980's, because those songs are used over and over again in TV commercials and movie soundtracks. Whenever I hear them singing along, my natural tendency is to ask them how they know that song, and then they give me that look like "duh"....
 
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