Phil Spector — he may be in jail now for dirty deeds but he was the sharpest pop producer ever. King and Gene Pitney — Spector produced them all and more. Steely Dan — the famed team of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker brought a sophistication undreamt before or since — their mid 70s album Aja is the apex of pop complexity. Yes, they brought the jazz of Horace Silver into the pop equation — and it was brilliant! Dusty Springfield — Elton John called her the best white female singer ever.
Confining myself to a Top 10 is really a stretch. Dan, I understand, believe me, that some of this music got overplayed and that anyone under 30 wants his or her own new icons. Music is a coded language and each generation has a genuine need to define itself without reference to the past. And standards, when it comes to pop music, include the use of image, metaphor, poetic allusion and irony — all curiously missing in the one-note writing prevalent today.
This started, I believe, with the rise of rap and hip hop and continues in full strength today. A former record store owner, business executive and business writer, he is devoted to great music, classical guitar, vinyl records and high end audio. Email: bmiller vivascene. I just want to state that I share this article to others on Quora and Facebook because it helps to explain the rationale why others do find the popular music scene lacking.
Great article. It sums up pretty much the discontent and feelings that most people have for the popular music scene. There is a Spanish study that explains the technical reasons for why the music is so bad but I think it is the fact there is more pressure to make money and these techniques like auto tune are what helps to do the selling.
I also think that a lot of people who say that there is good music out there are partly right if they talk about the music that is found on the community or campus radio but when you look at the pop scene it is a wasteland. Dan needs to go on a retreat in the mountains and clear his head and then listen to this music again and ask himself is this really that good?
I think if aliens were to examine this music scene they might ask is this the best that humans can create? How typical. Critique a black pop star, along with taylor swift and multiple white ones, without the mention of race and the racist label comes out.
Hopefully by then, youll have a clue. There is more money in working at mc donalds than playing music. Music was stale for generations. High tech music requires a larger work force. Why the hell would I wander into the forest of new music when I know I might run into that helpless, whining critter? I might have to feed it. But I'd rather feed it to Die Antwoord and see the blood rolling down its chin.
Good God, now that's a newish group that I can get behind. Its presentation is just terrifying — dangerous and riveting and alive — just what music should feel like. It's as if the group's from another planet, an alien prison colony maybe. Now, just because I don't have ears for new music doesn't mean that I don't love the Spotify. I swear I'll never buy another song from iTunes ever again. It's the perfect way for me to listen to some new stuff and forget it immediately. One of my new favorites is Gary Clark Jr.
Full of soul and blues, he sounds just like Stevie Ray mixed with Albert Collins maybe. Why don't I just punch up the originals? I'll set my radio to Gary Clark Jr. It's all so derivative of older music. I can usually name the original band the new band is copying and the song that's being ripped off.
Why wouldn't I just listen to the original? I'm just amazed at how abundant older music is on the Spotify. Can you believe the entire Frank Zappa catalog is there? I can't find two minutes away from that material to discover new stuff Man, I'm strangely attracted to the tiny blond woman in the group — her murderface, her black contacts covering the whites of her eyes, her little mouse voice singing "Yo fuck the system.
My system pumps off its fuckin face," her maniac partner, with some of the worst tattoos imaginable, flailing behind like a sex offender on crack. I have to get away from Die Antwoord. The band scares me, in a very alluring way. As music it's crap, actually, but it certainly is dangerous.
I have some agreement with you if we were to limit it to what is on top 40 radio right now. My wife listens to top 40 radio so I hear plenty of it.
Yes, pretty same-y and uninspired. But go beyond that Naughty Chord likes this. Location: here. Grant and ralphb like this. Location: United States. I'm 23 and I fully admit that the mainstream has run dry, and the underground is not quite as dazzling as it could be. I do hope things look up. Steve Mc , Aug 6, Location: England. As young people's attention spans are so short these days, moving from the latest big thing to the next big thing, there is no incentive for artists to produce music with any substance.
Better for them just to produce something with instant appeal, which means they will follow a formula that seems to work, rather than risk any originality.
Supply and demand - as long as people keep buying lousy music, it will keep being produced. Steve Mc likes this. Location: Boston suburb. I didn't like crap on commercial radio when I was 16 in in the same way, and for the same reasons, that I don't like it now. I was lucky, I guess, to grow up on the assumption that finding music I like takes a little motivated effort. It's an effort I'm still glad to make, and it still pays off.
Ted Dinard , Aug 6, Jmac , mark winstanley , birdstrike and 2 others like this. Location: Klamath Falls Oregon. Lots of amazing music, break out of the pop box.
Location: The Midwest. Premise is false. Ray Blend , Aug 6, Fullbug , michanes , Devin and 2 others like this. Location: Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Great music is still being made, but you wouldn't know it if you relied only on the charts. I mean, there's always been dross in the charts, but mostly side by side with musical pearls.
Not nowadays, sadly. It's unoriginal voices, samey "melodies" and auto-tune all over. Every act has someone "featuring" on it. I still buy lots of current music, but no thanks to hit singles. No chance in this day and age. Sytze , Aug 6, Chris DeVoe likes this.
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