Creativity Discouraged in Today's Popular Music?

I think a lot of creativity is lost due to so much music just being machines these days.

So much of pop radio is not made with top session players, but with a mix of drum machines and sequencers. Creativity is limited to what new filter you can put on a synth line.

On the flip side, as noted by Wavelength, time has a way of letting the good bands stand out while the bad stuff sinks.

We can look back with nostalgia at the 80s for bands that actually played, but we forget in the 80s pop radio was stuffed full of Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Rick Ashley, New Kids on the Block.

The 70's may be remembered for Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, et all, but don't forget, the Pop world was full of Disco and cookie cutter dance songs.

We remember the 50s and 60's for Elvis, Beatles and the Who, but history shows pop music was also full of pop singers like Pat Boone, Anita Baker, Barbara, and others who dominated the radio for short periods with bland songs that have been forgotten by most people.

The bright side of today, is it's easy to turn off the radio and look elsewhere. Most new bands I listen to these days I found online; they're big in Europe while not well known here. The 'net makes it easy to find smaller quality bands. Internet radio exposes lots of different music that would not have any found any exposure before.

Still, sometimes I wish I had been around in the late 60's so I could have seen The Who, Jefferson Airplane, etc, live at their primes, or maybe if I had been older in the 80's so I could have played in bands that actually wanted drummers, rather than so many bands only wanting machines. On the other hand, it kills me how easy it is these days for a band to record quality material on a home system, put it up on myspace/youtube/etc. If I could combine all the new technology with the sheer amount of work I put into my career in the 90's, I'd have to think I'd have a bit more of a career than I did now.

So, overall, it cuts both ways. :)
 
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Not a fair judgment. A lot of mass-produced hiphop/rap out there is like this, but not all of it is.


Sorry if I was not clear with what I'm trying to say. It's the mass-produced stuff I'm talking about. I don't hear anything other than the mass-produced variety on pop radio. I'm actually a fan of hip hop. The soulja boy (sp?) movement made me sick to my stomach. If I ever hear a crank dat [insert random noun here] song again, I will probably puke. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of stuff like the Roots, Cut Chemist, Jurassic Five, Gorillaz (props to them for getting radio play with a different sound), some Nas (props to him as well for getting radio play), and a lot of the RJD2 stuff.



And I just want to say again, I'm not complaining about trying to find music or that there is no good music. There is A LOT of great stuff going on right now. . . I just wish pop radio would pick up on some of it.
 
It's happending in live groups too. The band I was recently "fired" from (an all volunteer position), the leader was one of these egotistical anal cats who was too damn scared to try anything new, other than having a 2 bar drum fill of just a basic 4/4 rock beat. We had a very good rhythm guitarist / Djembe player, several good singers, keyboards, etc. But this jerk refused to experiment or explore. Rather it was just a rehash of what was on the CD. After he assumed leadership in January, things got REALLY boring.

Isn't it our jobs as musicians to push the envolope, experiment, explore, etc?
 
Isn't it our jobs as musicians to push the envolope, experiment, explore, etc?

That's what's up. People seem to be forgetting this in a lot of genres. It's also one of the reasons that Les Claypool is one of my favorite living musicians. I think anyone with music so different that it can't be classified deserves mad respect.
That's why it's so sad to me that the majority of the population seems to be forgetting that music is art. This is a pretty generous parallel for pop music, but If I repaint the Mona Lisa am I a real artist? I may have the technical proficiency to paint it, but what's the point if someone already did it?
 
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IT'S FUNNY CUZ ITS TRUEELOL11!!!!1!!111!





I'm not kidding, but I listen to the radio so that I'm not completely isolated to the time period that is my High School career. I can listen to practically anything.
 
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The only pop band of today I like is the Jonas Brothers. I have some Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana and High School Musical but I don't really like it. I babysit and teach the first graders at my church so I kind of need to be familiar with "kiddie pop". However, I LOVE the Jonas Brothers and I'm not afraid to admit it. I think there is still some creativity in today's pop music, but it's very scarce.
 
To make my life a little better, the majority of my listening time is devoted to music that was recorded in the days before click-tracks. Bands that kept there own time. It was organic, it breathed. From the Big-Bands to Motown, it had a certain swing or groove that made it musical.
I now listen to internet radio on the road and at home. This is free, they have a good variety of music... http://www.pandora.com
 
I didn't read all the posts before me, so I apologize if I'm repeating something someone said. I agree very much with what you (the original poster) are saying. I used to be completely down on the radio and still think most of it is (insert negative adjective of choice here). However, my sister likes pop music for its dance factor (I can't dance to save my life, so it doesn't appeal to me for that) so I listen to it with her a lot. One thing that I like to do with all the pop music I hear is to try to find one redeeming quality in each of the songs that I hear. Be it an interesting sample, lick, or what have you. It's kind of interesting to try to do this. Sometimes you can't though. Just a thought, it's a fun challenge sometimes.
 
There is a LOT of music out there. Some is creative, some is not. Personally I feel this is a great time for music. The internet has made it possible for even this guy http://www.that1guy.com/ to be heard.

When I hear the music younger drummers are listening to I feel inspired and see a great deal of creativity going on. Just listen to Thomas Haake or Chris Pennie. Music is at the best point it's been in years. IMO
 
To make my life a little better, the majority of my listening time is devoted to music that was recorded in the days before click-tracks. Bands that kept there own time. It was organic, it breathed. From the Big-Bands to Motown, it had a certain swing or groove that made it musical.
I now listen to internet radio on the road and at home. This is free, they have a good variety of music... http://www.pandora.com

OMG Thanks for that link! this is AWSOME!
 
I was just thinking about this today, especially in terms of dynamics it seems alot of songs are all one volume, it bothers me
 
I think a lot of creativity is lost due to so much music just being machines these days.
So much of pop radio is not made with top session players, but with a mix of drum machines and sequencers. Creativity is limited to what new filter you can put on a synth line.
Agreed. But even more subtly, it's not just machines, it's the fact that one person with a machine can do everything now. One person can be a whole band. And you're a lot less likely to get something truly creative and inspired out of a single person. It's always a lot more interesting to have a group of people working together, inspiring each other, to come up with stuff that goes beyond what just one of them will do alone.

Another important factor, I think, is mass-production. I'll use an analogy to explain:
Back in the early days of television, there was just a handful of shows, and so only a handful of writers who wrote the scripts. So the writers that got the jobs were the best of the best, and you could argue that some of those shows were much better than a lot of what's on the tube today. But in this information- and product-hungry society we have today, there is a constant need for mass-produced product, so now there are literally thousands of people writing for tv, cable, film. Sure there will always be a few geniuses among that number, but the huge majority will be mediocre or worse and a huge amount of scripts are going to be uninspired or plain old crap.

The same principle applies to music, thanks to machines. Anyone with the barest talent or inspiration that can afford a computer can sample someone else's work to create "music". When you level the playing field completely, throw open the door for anyone to come in, you're going to find a few wonderful new gems, but the majority can only be crap.

And that's exactly what we have in modern music. There will always be a few great artists making music out there, and the rest will be crap. At least it's easier to find the gems these days, what with online downloads and internet radio. If you ask me what has killed the music industry, it's not just their greed: it's their focus on product instead of art.
 
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