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I disagree on the model looks. People don't care what singers look like when they are listening to the radio in their cars. Think about all of those one hit wonders by ugly people in the past.
What I've noticed in a lot of replies is the variety of music out there. There has always been a variety of music. The complaint is you have to look HARD to find anything, otherwise there is little variety. Every place you stop for a quick bite to eat is playing hip-hop, or some close derivative. There is very little in the way of real rock. The closest thing is really metal that sounds like hash and screaming. Dance music doesn't have a punch or beat to it in most cases. The pop stations are dominated with female vocalists with what sounds like someone moving their fingers over guitar strings with a clicking sound for the beat, or maybe it is tempo. The rest of the stuff sounds like a duplicate of Coldplay. To make things worse, the record companies are really into compressing audio (leveling) to make it sound louder, so there is really no point in listening to it if you are an audiophile since every instrument is as loud as everything else. It makes listening to music annoying.
And since I mention the audiophile end of things, I haven't heard anything I would consider an excellent recording. Good headphone music. There were recordings in the past by artists I didn't care for, but I still loved to listen to their ability to turn audio production into a form of art. The Doors, Pink Floyd, and even Michael Jackson's Thriller are excellent examples. The spatial quality of these recordings fill the room with music. Now just about everything has the same spacial depth you would find on a $10 mp3 player.
I don't buy the generational thing either, as some people insist. There are a few people who will insist the music that was popular when they were in high school was the best. However, most people aren't living in the past and would enjoy good music if they are exposed to it.
The record companies and the broadcasting industry are the cause of the problem. They have managed to take over popular music entirely. No more one hit wonders. That requires either a local station to give an unknown artist airtime, or that a record company actually give someone a chance.
I disagree on the model looks. People don't care what singers look like when they are listening to the radio in their cars. Think about all of those one hit wonders by ugly people in the past.
But there are many who care, more than how it sounds. You have to be cool, stylish, or good-looking in some way. It is at least a large barrier to "mainstream success" to not have one of these elements.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC6ZLV
What I've noticed in a lot of replies is the variety of music out there. There has always been a variety of music. The complaint is you have to look HARD to find anything, otherwise there is little variety.
I don't really think it's THAT hard. I get underground music sent to me in the mail, I check Stereogum and a few music forums each day, and I use Amazon's reviews and recommendations. Not too hard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC6ZLV
Every place you stop for a quick bite to eat is playing hip-hop, or some close derivative. There is very little in the way of real rock. The closest thing is really metal that sounds like hash and screaming. Dance music doesn't have a punch or beat to it in most cases. The pop stations are dominated with female vocalists with what sounds like someone moving their fingers over guitar strings with a clicking sound for the beat, or maybe it is tempo. The rest of the stuff sounds like a duplicate of Coldplay.
Well, yah, that's mainstream for ya. Nobody said it didn't suck. You can't expect anything good to come from a restaurant or pop station. It's mass media and since when has that ever been good?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC6ZLV
To make things worse, the record companies are really into compressing audio (leveling) to make it sound louder, so there is really no point in listening to it if you are an audiophile since every instrument is as loud as everything else. It makes listening to music annoying.
And since I mention the audiophile end of things, I haven't heard anything I would consider an excellent recording. Good headphone music. There were recordings in the past by artists I didn't care for, but I still loved to listen to their ability to turn audio production into a form of art.
The Loudness War. Taking the 96dBs of potential dynamic range in redbook audio and sticking music on there that uses about 3.5 dBs of dynamic range. I'm with you. This is very much a radio music phenomenon. Independent music (which will never touch a radio) is not immune, of course, but you are far more likely to find well mastered, dynamic music coming out of an independent label than a major label. I've heard some excellent recordings in the past few years. The folks at the Head-Fi Music forum often discuss the ins and outs of modern and classic recordings: Music - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio
I'm a huge headphone fan -- I've owned a couple thousand dollars in headphones and always use my headphone amp when listening to the cans, although since I bought my house I spend more at home time listening through my speaker system. I will say that the original CD pressing of Pink Floyd The Wall is the best recording I own, but there's still so much worthwhile stuff coming out from a pure sound quality standpoint.
Two more points:
1. I was reviewing some acts who played on Letterman in 2009 and was surprised to see that MOST of the time, while introducing the band, Dave held up an LP rather than a CD. So I did some checking, and it turns out that well over half of Stereogum's top 40 albums of 2009 are available as high quality 180g or 200g vinyl. You're simply not going to find the radio band du jour releasing vinyl versions of anything.
2. Compression doesn't always ruin all enjoyment (as long as it's not ridiculous like Californication or Death Magnetic). Here's a review I wrote of one of my favorite albums where I mention the mastering: Amazon.com: Kevin White's review of Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC6ZLV
However, most people aren't living in the past and would enjoy good music if they are exposed to it.
I would disagree with this and substitute the word "some" for "most." The majority just doesn't care. What's out there is "good enough."
Some young people fall prey to the Pitchforkian oneupsmanship of enjoying their exclusive-secret-cool obscure band. I remember how I felt when the general public became aware of Bruce Springsteen (yes this was many years ago.) Those listeners, in their pretentious way, are just as sheeply as anyone who buys mainstream stuff.
Ah, that brings me to something else I posted to my Facebook a while back. I'll repost it here:
Quote:
Class C Hipster -- likes things that he perceives to be different or cool, but still finds the majority of the things he likes through the radio and TV. These sorts are usually nice kids. They love Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spoon and Feist. They dislike popular mainstream acts. Many of their peers like Pussycat Dolls and such. They feel superior to these kids.
Class B Hipster -- likes things that "belong to him." No longer trusts the radio or TV to recommend things. Instead, he digs deeper into the internet, goes to a lot of small shows and gets plenty of advice from other cool people to find new things to enjoy. These kids still have respect for "elder statesmen" bands who got them into this whole mess. Class B hipsters don't dislike anything too strongly. It's at this point that they are still actually willing to go back and appreciate Little Wayne or give Justin Timberlake a fair shake.
Class A Hipster -- doesn't like anything. The search for new music has him scraping the bottom of the barrel. He clings to anything new and different with little regard for whether or not he really enjoys it in order to keep his reputation as "hip" amongst friends. These kids treat mainstream indie bands like "dad music" or "passe" or "frat music" in order to elevate themselves above all other hipsters. They often feel compelled to like extremely trite mainstream music just to shock friends and so that they can prove they actually aren't hipsters in a pinch. They go to concerts to be seen and probably spend most of it talking or looking around at who else is there. They probably do coke. They are probably almost ready to backlash against Animal Collective or whoever is starting to get too much attention.
If you add Douche to the end of any of these, it just means they also dress/talk like an a$shole.
Ah, that brings me to something else I posted to my Facebook a while back. I'll repost it here:
I can admit to trending towards a Class B Hipster. I'll to to a small club show but I have an unironic love for ELO and Merle Haggard. And I like Pabst. Lots and lots of Pabst.
I can admit to trending towards a Class B Hipster. I'll to to a small club show but I have an unironic love for ELO and Merle Haggard. And I like Pabst. Lots and lots of Pabst.
hah
How times can change yet stay the same--and come full circle.
Back when we were in our little hippie crowd (70's) we drank Pabst un-ironically.
It's hard not to love Merle Haggard, but I can only take ELO in small doses.
I and my sons could probably fit into the Class B slot.
hah
How times can change yet stay the same--and come full circle.
Back when we were in our little hippie crowd (70's) we drank Pabst un-ironically.
It's the best cheap beer I can find since we don't get Hamms returnables here. Coincidentally, it was the best cheap beer we could find in high school 15 years ago too. I'm a huge fan of the PBR resurgance because it means I can get it when I want it.
Please don't confuse us indies with hipsters. We may sorta dress alike, but ideologically...there is a BIG difference.
Hipsters like to hate on other hipsters, twas ever thus. We did it too.
A certain look is cultivated, and the profiling ensues.
The skinny-black-jeans hipsters of 2010 are the bell-bottomed trustifarians of 1973, both with beards.
There are pretentious, terminally self-important poseurs in every generation, dripping with ironic detachment--and on top of them, there are those (wannabes, scenesters and opportunists) who co-opt the aesthetics, but don't much appreciate (let alone care) what is going on.
To me, authentic independent music (and for that matter, cinema) is self-expression with backbone and *authority* to it. Maybe the term "indie" (artists not signed to a major label or production company) has become a style, a scene, and rather a safe one at that, with its hipster followers.
But there are still some real indie bands out there (along with filmmakers) who are developing their own vision and taking chances along the way.
They may or may not achieve financial success and critical recognition, but they are more about making art than making money.
IMHO Radiohead does a nice job with both, so does TV On the Radio.
I do not see music or the music scene as rotting, cut-and-dried or static.
To me it's like one big fluid amoeba, everchanging, dividing cells.
Every band, no matter how independent, has its influences, and wannabes can become true aficionados.
i miss these kinds of performances so much !
musicians NOT trying to be like someone else, many of them NOT even doing this to make a name for themselves. not having to be spurious to gain people's acceptance and attention. not having to be FOOLISH to put on a show that people will talk about.
people taking great lyrics and making them famous on their own.
"where does my heart beat now" dion
"the woman in me" shania
"hero" mariah
"against all odds" collins
where's the creativity in this generation ? why can't they write new songs that are gentle, strong, uplifting like many of those ? songs which involve the 'high notes' and other qualitites of the singer's voice that can't just be yelled out as much as they do the guitars, violins, harps, flutes in the band.
there's one thing though that I'm sure most people will agree with me. unless someone leaves their vanity, pride, ego at the door they are going to have a very tough time producing anything that EVERYONE will like.
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You can't expect anything good to come from a restaurant or pop station. It's mass media and since when has that ever been good?
