Style over substance? (metal, great songs, The Cure, covers, shows)

[COBHCNick]

I noticed that with a lot of music nowadays, be it metal, rap, pop, or anything of that nature a lot of the time the bands dress or act in a pacific way to fit in and be marketable within a crowd. Sometimes I'll listen to a band I know nothing of, and the music sounds decent but when I check them out they are dressing straight out of a hot topic ad.

It just seems like bands these days feel the NEED to fit into the crowd so that they can become more marketable. Avril Lavinge for example, was told by the record labels to wear band shirts to make her more marketable. If someone like Bob Dylan came out today, he wouldnt even have a shot at being successful because theres not much of an image to him.

A result of too much MTV perhaps?

[right-track]

For me there are two kinds of band when a particular fashion/style of music surfaces.
Those bands that embrace the style to fit the movement in a bid to be more marketable and the kind of bands, usually the minority, that somehow get lumped in and go along for the ride.
Almost without exception the bands that become the movement find themselves high and dry along with fad when it runs it's course.
The others use it as a springboard and progress to become great bands.

Examples;
Talking Heads, Joy Division, The Cure etc.

[Piss Me Off]

It's not a new thing to be fair, it's been happening ever since the birth of popular music.
And of course they don't need to follow the crowd at all, but it helps if you want to get somewhere.
The truly great bands either start the fads themselves or, like RT said, work their way out of it and progress further by their own means.

[WaspStar]

Originally Posted by COBHCNick

If someone like Bob Dylan came out today, he wouldnt even have a shot at being successful because theres not much of an image to him.

I don't agree with that; the only reason Dylan got his contract in the first place was because of his image. In 1961 he hadn't written any of his truly great songs, and Hammond only signed him (and people were primarily drawn to his shows) because of his unique vocal style, his informed choice of covers, and appearance.

But yeah, there are always people who are all style. There are also some great acts who also put a great emphasis on style. It's easy to mix the two up.

[mr dave]

it's not so much an issue of too much MTV so much as an issue where the general listening public doesn't care to look for anything past MTV / top 40 radio. like PMO says, it's hardly new.