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There was this great documentary about the music industry and how it is all homoginized and one company (Clear Channel) controlling the airwaves and deciding what does and does not get played.
Well, one of the musicians they interview said it best, "people who listen to Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears are not fans of music, they're fans of pop culture."
BINGO! That hit the nail right on the head. I mean, crap like that is not music and not meant to be. It is just sonic pop culture that comes from some marketing firm and not from a musician. The makers of the film even show how easy it is to make a cookie cutter pop star by following the recipe.
Said part is, I think less people are actually into music now than ever before. When I was in highschool, "way back" in '96-2000, the cool kids were the ones who listened to music no one ever heard of. The kid who found the best band first was "in the know" and everyone it seemed frowned on the crap that was on the radio (this is when that nu-metal crap was huge and the Backstreet Boys nominated the airwaves) I remember one kid, a friend of mine, putting a CD on the player in freshmen art class (our art teacher was cool as hell and let us play CDs during class, as long as it wasn't full of curses and about killing people) he said "dude, this band has been around for awhile, but I just heard them today. This song is the $****!"
The song in question was "Dominion" by The Sisters of Mercy.
Still one of my favorites. This, I remind you, was back in the mid '90s, before the internet and easy access to all kinds of music.
Today? Kids only listen to what everyone else is listening to, and anyone with anything new that no one has ever heard of is not met with interest and curiosity, but rather with raised eyebrows and dirty looks. Kids just say "never heard of them" and go back to listening to their pop-culture-set-to-a-back-up-band in the guise of "music" and never seek to expand their horizons.
"Underground" and "independent", two words which, in today's world of push-up bra divas and talentless psuedo-musicians, are the last strongholds of real music, are two words that no longer mean "cool", but rather they mean "weird" and "abnormal". Kids no longer want to listen to anything that every single solitary person in their age group will be 100% familiar with. This generation of kids coming up no longer seeks out music, but are content to listen to pop culture, unlike the generations before and leading up to the one immediately before their's (mine) who understood that the radio sucked and real music was discovered, not spood fed by the mass media.
Worst yet, this generation at least has the internet. We didn't! All one has to do is go to live365.com and hear all kinds of music, from classics like the Psychedelic Furs, Bad Brains and Buddy Holly to new artists like The Birthday Massacre, After Forever and The Dresden Dolls. But NOOOOO, instead, they only use the internet, which my generation would have killed to of had, to download crap like Beyonce, Jessica Simpson and Kenya East or whatever the heck his name is (purposely called the wrong name to show how little respect I have for him)
With the internet, there is less of an excuse for not listening to real music and yet today, fewer young people listen to real music than every before.
The fact that fewer young people than ever before prefer pop culture to music is a sad affair indeed. Just look at these girls in the preview of the movie: they don't even know who the heck Bob Dylan is and are listening to Jessica Simpson because "she has great hair!"
What some people don't understand is that the search for obscure/independent/ music is really just the search for *authentic* music.
Exactly. I never liked "obscure" music just to be different and because I was trying to be hip or something, but rather because it is the only bastion of actuall music left. I mean, bands like the Beetles and Depeche Mode were huge and great, but that was in a time when a band could be huge and still make great music. Now, if you want to make real music, you really have no choice but to go indie and hope that people will seek you out.
I don't think young people are all that bad. Many of my nephews listen to Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and obscure Finnish hard-rock bands. However my family is odd. I think the people who do listen to independent music now likely are odd too.
Also I think you're being too hard on pop-music. There is great appeal in doing your own thing, but as I've gotten older I see some merit in shared experiences. At its best pop music I think is able to speak well to fairly simple and universal themes. Love, Friendship, Heroism, Joy, Sadness, stuff like that. I don't think Britney Spears is exactly dealing in Jungian archetypes or anything, but there is better pop music out there than her.
I would add that that is true regardless of the type of music you prefer. There is some very good Alt- and Psychobilly country music out there. You will never hear it on mainstream radio. Doesn't make Nashville any money. Same is true for rock, classical, jazz, etc. The stuff they call jazz nowadays makes me want to go to sleep. Forever.
Vpunk, your high school sounds a lot like mine was in the early eighties. Except then it was punk and New Wave.
I completely agree with this. Back when I was in high school (mid 90's) the only place I could go to find new music was 120 minutes. And that was it. I lived in a total hick town, so nobody, and I mean nobody listened to stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Pavement or Lush.
Anyway...I think we came from a decade (especially the early to mid 90's) where music was much more "down to earth". Even pop music had a tinge of genuineness....it was more about the music than the look of the artists. I mean, look at what was popular back then in the pop world (Lisa Loeb, Alanis, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, Hottie and the Blowfish, gangster rap, grunge, hell...even Pantera had a #1 album if I remember correctly). Definitely not the prettiest artists in the world to look at...
Nowadays it is ALL about the look of the artists rather than the quality of the music. And, like you said "music fans nowadays are not music fans, but fans of pop culture". 100 percent true.
I mean...would people nowadays pay attention to Lady Gagaga or Britney Spears if they were dressed like this and singing their pop songs???....
I don't think young people are all that bad. Many of my nephews listen to Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and obscure Finnish hard-rock bands. However my family is odd. I think the people who do listen to independent music now likely are odd too.
Not odd, just "original" and "rare".
Quote:
Also I think you're being too hard on pop-music. There is great appeal in doing your own thing, but as I've gotten older I see some merit in shared experiences. At its best pop music I think is able to speak well to fairly simple and universal themes. Love, Friendship, Heroism, Joy, Sadness, stuff like that. I don't think Britney Spears is exactly dealing in Jungian archetypes or anything, but there is better pop music out there than her.
I have nothing against pop music, it's just the bubblegum crap that I can't stand. Britney Spears can never hold a candle to the great pop of the 80s and even 90s. Thing is, back than, THEY DIDN'T LIE TO THEMSELVES THAT THEY COULD SING. I mean, Britney sings pop but instead of just going for cetchyness and fun, she tries to sing like a serious R&B singer...tries, and fails miserably I might add.
Did Duran Duran try to sound like Marvin Gaye? No. Instead, they just had fun and will be remembered long after Britney is forgotten. "Hungry like the Wolf" is still legendary in it's cheesy fun and people have it stuck in their heads to this day:
Not only that, but there is GOOD pop music out there too, it's just that it, like all real music nowadays, has to be saught out and is not on the radio. Goldfrapp could kick Britney's sorry butt, as well as Lady Gaga who, btw, stold her act!
Now, I can imagine Britney and Jessica Simpson fans saying "that video is like, so stupid because like, ohh my gawd! Like, she lives in a trailer and stuff and like, her shoes are like, so ugly."
Anyway...I think we came from a decade (especially the early to mid 90's) where music was much more "down to earth". Even pop music had a tinge of genuineness....it was more about the music than the look of the artists. I mean, look at what was popular back then in the pop world (Lisa Loeb, Alanis, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, Hottie and the Blowfish, gangster rap, grunge, hell...even Pantera had a #1 album if I remember correctly). Definitely not the prettiest artists in the world to look at...
Nowadays it is ALL about the look of the artists rather than the quality of the music. And, like you said "music fans nowadays are not music fans, but fans of pop culture". 100 percent true.
I mean...would people nowadays pay attention to Lady Gagaga or Britney Spears if they were dressed like this and singing their pop songs???....
Exactly. It is no longer about what someone sings like but all about what they LOOK like. Aretha Franklin would stand no chance today, and neither would Devo.
I mean, crap like that is not music and not meant to be. It is just sonic pop culture that comes from some marketing firm and not from a musician. .... the cool kids were the ones who listened to music no one ever heard of. The kid who found the best band first was "in the know"
Today? Kids only listen to what everyone else is listening to, and anyone with anything new that no one has ever heard of is not met with interest and curiosity, but rather with raised eyebrows and dirty looks. Kids just say "never heard of them" and go back to listening to their pop-culture-set-to-a-back-up-band in the guise of "music" and never seek to expand their horizons.
"Underground" and "independent", two words which, in today's world of push-up bra divas and talentless psuedo-musicians, are the last strongholds of real music, are two words that no longer mean "cool", but rather they mean "weird" and "abnormal".
With the internet, there is less of an excuse for not listening to real music and yet today, fewer young people listen to real music than every before.
Maybe I should move to Switzerland...
If *do* you move to Europe, I'm not sure Switzerland would be the place to go to find the best new music. I'd go to Glasgow.
I do agree that some young people today stick with what's familiar or "safe," but then so does my husband. Every time we take a long car trip, we have to compromise on NPR because he hates my music and I hate listening to "Sweet Home Alabama" for the umpteenth time.
Some people, no matter what their age, simply do not want to be sonically challenged. Others do.
Pop always been packaged and marketed and gimmicky, with looks and style playing a big part. The Monkees did not exactly form in Mike Nesmith's garage.
But I agree that there was more singing talent then than there is now.
I suppose as technology advanced, it has been easier for pop singers to cheat--until they get caught.
Indeed there is a big difference between music and mainstream music.
It's fun to "be in the know" and to share your passion for good new music.
But IMHO exclusivity does not always = authenticity.
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Maybe I should move to Switzerland...
