Please Dare to be Different!

[GregB]

I'm no music expert or a professional, so my views are just a personal take carrying absolutely no weight.

 

Occasionally dipping in and out of Spotify Top 20 Playlists and I'm struck by how much everything sounds the same ... song structures that telegraph the next musical/lyrical phrase, instrumentation, production, volume, etc.  Most music videos are young artists trying to out-sultry or out-kooky their competitors.   Everyone wants to co-write (songs by committee?) and write hits for specific genres.  This can reduce variety, and most TAXI adverts actually say, "needs to sound like artists X, Y and Z"?   

 

For me, the sign of good music is that one could play the same track 10 times in quick succession and it continues to reveal its values or amplify your emotions, and you still deeply enjoy and appreciate it 100 plays later ... rather than just 'like' it for being a bookmark in your nostalgic juke-box of memories.

 

I saw this remarkable relevant quote about the modern music industry from someone I rate as the consistently best-ever singer/songwriter/lyricist/musician ...

 

[GregB]

10 hours ago, Popthree said:

The masses are very stupid and lacking in taste

Hmmmm.

Stupid ... compared to what?  The average Joe receives more schooling and over a longer period of time than 100 years ago.

Taste ... who is the arbiter of 'good'? Instead I think the issue is the increased desire for more pleasure more quickly, thus there is a reduced willingness to cast a wide net and also give new ideas a go. With so much music available one can wallow forever in new releases in just one micro sub-genre.

 

Then again, what do I or any of us know?

[Mahesh]

As much as I resonate with the lack of taste evidenced in mainstream music, I wouldn't go all the way to blame the masses who largely do not have a keen understanding of the 'art'/skill of music & expression.

 

The masses are just highly impressionable while the corporate music industry is very smart, greedy and aware of that; a threatening recipe for the growth of the art form. 

 

Not that I listen to a lot of the mainstream stuff out there, but there is indeed some really good music out there. Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak) are exploring some incredible musical spaces reminiscent of 80/90s while keeping the songwriting fresh & worthy of the musical lineage it represents.  They are flyin' on top at the moment as far as the mainstream charts and record sales are concerned.

 

As evidenced by this, surely the masses are capable of showing good taste when the conditions are right. Then we have beautiful artists like Vulfpeck & Yebba to PJ Morton, Daniel Caesar & H.E.R who may not exactly be mainstream but still hold their ground in that space quite well.

 

Sure, what is called "mainstream" has changed with time but good music has always been around despite the challenges of capitalism & greed.

 

Is it anywhere close to where I'd wish for it to be? NOPE. Would I like for things to be different if it were upto me? Heck yeah! But that's pretty much everything with life & society; it's even an every day affair for each one of our minds. As far as I'm concerned, it seems like a perfect breeding ground for powerful music and words in the spirit of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen or The Beatles.

 

 

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

On 1/1/2022 at 8:53 PM, GregB said:

I'm struck by how much everything sounds the same ... song structures that telegraph the next musical/lyrical phrase, instrumentation, production, volume, etc

 

There were two systemic shifts in the '80s & '90s which reverberate today.

 

        1. Record companies discovered they no longer had to invest in concept albums because there was a new game in town called Rap or Hip Hop. Not only was it dirt cheap to produce but it required no professional musicians. They targeted the ghettos like crack dealers for both performers and audiences. Strut your butt replaced musical talent and creativity. The era of the faux gangsta had arrived.

 

         2. Major American records labels except for Warner Brothers became Japanese owned. The people in the drivers seat were now Japanese accountants who liked to do primarily two things. 

• They homogenized content, witness the rise of the Power Ballad (formerly known as Rock) performed by the corporately underwritten Hair Band.
• They split audiences into multiple niches of genres which could be separately and easily targeted. It became a divided and conquered marketplace.

Both the musicians and audiences of today are the descendants resulting from these two conscious business decisions. 

[Steve Mueske]

I think this is extremely reductionist, but whatever. Concept albums only do well over the course of time. The average listener just wants to be entertained. It's still capitalism, it's still a business. All business desires is to maximize profits on minimal investment.

 

Rap and hip hop have very little to do with the "downfall" of music. It's a form of expression, one you may not care for, but unique and legitimate. It gives a voice to underrepresented segments of society. The problem, like anything else in business, is looking for a cheap formula for success (which quite often involves mimicry), and finding role players who fit the desired criteria.

 

I'm too heartsick and exhausted to argue about this. Nor do I particularly care. I just couldn't let this slide without a comment.

 

Watch the documentary on NAS's seminal influence on hip hop. It will help. Netflix, I think.

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

4 hours ago, Steve Mueske said:

Rap and hip hop have very little to do with the "downfall" of music. It's a form of expression, one you may not care for, but unique and legitimate. It gives a voice to underrepresented segments of society.

 

Maybe this is just my perspective because i am old or at least older. The downfall predominately was of the Black culture which arose as a result of the civil rights movement and legitimate Black Pride.

 

I cut my teeth musically being a White kid paying with Black musicians on the Chitlin' Circuit in the South Eastern US, the Deep South. The people I played with had dignity and honor about their art and their lives. They wanted to be shining examples of accomplishment being hard working people who were a model for others. They looked the part wearing nice clothes and acted it with generous humility.  I never played a club where there was violence or open drug use.

 

They were the exact opposites of the theatrical pseudo-criminals rapping about cops, bitches, and being tough or their semi-pornographic depictions of their lifestyles. They didn't choose misspelled stage names which made them look like idiots and clowns to the average White person. They didn't do performances which made them look like a modern updating of the dancing darkie stereotypes of the pre- World War II era. The Black people I knew professionally acted like mature men and women not some punk poseur.

 

For a good example of the Black music scene I grew up listening to watch the documentary Summer of Soul https://www.hulu.com/movie/summer-of-soul-6f2160ed-eaa2-462a-b495-f61f4f31714d

If you don't have a Hulu membership there will be a free trial offer.

 

These people exhibit dignity, professionalism, talent, and much more than you ever see today. They didn't require pyrotechnics to appear larger than life because they were larger in life because they were giant in spirit.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Clay Anderson Johnson

[Everett colbert]

It's sad that most Rock music since the early 2000s just sounds the same. Where's the distinction you would hear in the 70s between ACDC, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Zep? Time for some new energy!

[Tonedead]

You could always just stop expecting popular music to be more than it is. I find that sometimes people get themselves in a box. I can't really complain about what Amazon unlimited throws at me because I think my choices for favorite artists has Alexa a little confused. What do you play next for a guy in his 50's that likes Pink Floyd,Be Bop Deluxe,Dua Lipa,Eno,Ahmed Saad,Caron Wheeler,Bent,Roy Ayers,Sonic Youth,The Residents,Tito Puente,Cocteau Twins,Yes,Japan,Masters At Work....

[Tatlock Holmes]

On 5/24/2022 at 3:28 AM, Tonedead said:

You could always just stop expecting popular music to be more than it is. I find that sometimes people get themselves in a box. I can't really complain about what Amazon unlimited throws at me because I think my choices for favorite artists has Alexa a little confused. What do you play next for a guy in his 50's that likes Pink Floyd,Be Bop Deluxe,Dua Lipa,Eno,Ahmed Saad,Caron Wheeler,Bent,Roy Ayers,Sonic Youth,The Residents,Tito Puente,Cocteau Twins,Yes,Japan,Masters At Work....

True. Also, if you're not of the generation that contemporary music is aimed at, it's probably not for you.

 

I don't subscribe to the theory that modern music is inferior to the stuff I was listening to when I was growing up - the older generation were saying exactly the same thing about that too.

 

I do think Internet recommendations could be improved a lot though. YouTube in particular (which is what I use most) has come up with some great acts I'd never heard of before - both new and old. It's like pulling teeth though - despite there being billions of uploads, the algorithm keeps coming up with the same suggestions over and over again. I suspect it favours those where there is greater monetisation(which as a pure search/recommendation system would make it highly flawed) - most of which are for the kind of establishment dad-rock acts it must know i have absolutely no interest in at all!