The Music Watchtower

Thanks for all you comments...

Now for a little bit from where I'm coming from.

The real question I asked the question was, 'is there too much music out there?' so it is great that you all feel that there is not, otherwise I would not be doing what I'm doing. (I'm a full time musician, teacher, promoter, producer and recording engineer.)

There is no way that I would ever say that a musician or band should not be able to make a living from their art, but nobody seemed to pick up on the fact that the mass market crap has such a vast scale of influence, as it is shoved down the throats of most young people, who a lot of end up believing that what the commercial radios play is where it is at as they get older. Now most internet users know that the internet is full of alt places hosting great music.

One of you spoke of another music revolution, I think this worldwide recession has to get a lot worse before people start taking a closer look at what the cold hard facts of life are. But, I certainly welcome a change of one kind or another. The one thing that is really bothering me is that music is becoming more and more life fast food restaurants chains, mass produced and tasteless....

4ZZZ

Taking this quote in isolation you give me the impression that you think that "mass market crap" having an "influence" is some new phenomenon. Sorry readers but this type of reaction by the musical elite to what they feel that the masses should listen to is nothing new.

The history of music is littered with those that think that the masses have no idea. Elitism towards the popular was around when Strauss was a boy. And that can be what ever Strauss you want it to be.. When I was a young bloke T Rex where trashed by Led Zap Fans. I heard statements like Slade could not play their instruments. "They are only in it for the money" was, and may still be for all I know, a common mantra against the Top Of the Pops artistes. That one has particularly made me laugh over the years. "They are only in it for the money". There have certainly been some artists in this world who were not interested in making money for their art but the reality is that the vast majority of artists that can make a living out of it would rather do that than have a job on a production line making tin cans for a living for not much an hour. As to top line artists who are popular with the musical elites it never ceases to amaze me that they are defended because of their art with out the defenders getting stuck into them for releasing countless "best of" etc style albums. Want an example? all music list 28 Led Zeppelin compilations to 9 official studio releases. So saying that radio stations "shoved down the throats of most young people" is not much different to me than the fact that record companies such as Zeps can con the dosh out of the pocket of the "elites" that are Zep fans.


I find debates like this a waste of time. Just listen and enjoy. Who cares how much they sell or how much radio time they get. You either like it or you don't. That is what aesthetic values are all about.

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mr dave

10 years ago it was because of bubblegum pop like the backstreet boys and spice girls as to why artistes couldn't make a living. 10 years before that it was grunge. 10 years before that it was new wave. before that was disco, and hard rock, and psychedelia, and rock and roll, etc. etc.

the one thing that bugs me most about this is the idea that so many musicians hold onto that they're somehow 'supposed' to be able to make a living out of strumming a couple of chords and regurgitating high school poetry because they're not doing it for 'superficial' reasons, it's art. as if self-declared 'art' is somehow superior to the tripe on the radio and should be celebrated for altruistic reasons (and not at all egotistical ones).

the masses have every right to suck and have 'bad' taste, for them music is a common background soundtrack to their lives. if you really think there's too much music out there then i strongly suggest taking the time necessary to grow the guts to stand behind your own tastes regardless of what your peers or the mainstream think. i've noticed that online forums have created what seeems to be a new generation of kids who think they 'need' to like everything in order to be 'proper' music fans and that's just wrong.

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Dieselboy

That last part actually made me stop for a second, and honestly think about whether or not I was trying too hard to enjoy as many styles as possible in order to be a 'proper fan' like you say.
I looked through my cd's and picked out quite a few at random of all different sorts of genre's, and thought about each one in particular. Metal, Techno, Classical, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Industrial...I really thought about it and I decided that I honestly enjoy every single one that I looked at. This actually ended up making me pretty happy. /shrug

@ the OP:

I feel the same way about the amount of music being overwhelming sometimes...not necessarily a bad thing though. Nothing is more fun than discovering a new band that you really enjoy. The problem is that then sometimes the site recommends you 'similar sounding bands' which you wanna check out...then you find that some of the band members were in other bands that get rave reviews, which leads you to a new sub-genre, etc, etc. Kinda never ends

333

You know, I felt this way awhile back, before I was on any music forum. From time to time, I weave out an album because my taste in music, like everything about me, changes. I can see the pressured efforts to become a "well-rounded" person and not wanting to be judged. Nothing a couple of vague sentences can't distract, right? So you say, "I listen to everything" in hopes that you won't have to elaborate. Though I try not put myself in this position, I'm sporadically awed and challenged by new music.

edit: Thank you for that by the way. I needed a reminder.

barbarella

Too Much Music? But How Could I Live Without It? I Don't Want To Live In A Silent World.

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Gareth Brown

Music is great and always will be great. The reason people bitch is because there isn't any obvious 'movement' right now (punk, rave, hippie, blah blah) going on.

Janszoon

I think movements tend to be more obvious in retrospect anyway.

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