Have you lost hope in mainstream music?

**Janszoon** · 04-18-2011, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herocon

Do you think pop will always be the ****ty auto-tuned, computer-generated crap we often hear on the radio?

No, I think pop music will continue to evolve, just as it always has. It will probably continue to be somewhat lowest common denominator though, just as it always has been.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra · 04-18-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

No, I think pop music will continue to evolve, just as it always has. It will probably continue to be somewhat lowest common denominator though, just as it always has been.

Led Zeppelin? I'd like to know what modern equivalent there is in terms of songwriting sophistication in the mainstream.

Rage Against the Machine · 04-18-2011, 08:32 PM

I never had any hope in it to begin with.

**Janszoon** · 04-18-2011, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skaligojurah

Led Zeppelin? I'd like to know what modern equivalent there is in terms of songwriting sophistication in the mainstream.

I'm not all that wild about Led Zeppelin and I am not sure how to measure "songwriting sophistication" so I have no idea how to answer that. To me Led Zeppelin are just an okay band and I have no doubt that there a currently other okay bands that are popular. But that's beside the point. The bigger point is that then, just as now, a lot of what charted was lame, lowest common denominator music. I mean, look at what the number one song was the year I was born (1977):

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra · 04-18-2011, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I'm not all that wild about Led Zeppelin and I am not sure how to measure "songwriting sophistication" so I have no idea how to answer that. To me Led Zeppelin are just an okay band and I have no doubt that there a currently other okay bands that are popular. But that's beside the point. The bigger point is that then, just as now, a lot of what charted was lame, lowest common denominator music. I mean, look at what the number one song was the year I was born (1977):

Regardless, there was still somewhat of an alternative. Led Zeppelin definitely had moments that proved they were sophisticated song writers. I think "In my time of dying" showcases quite a lot of instrumental prowess, and legit adherence to gradual progression through the course of a song.

What's the likelyness you'll ever hear anything this patient coming from a mainstream band(or 'act' since bands are going the way of the dodo entirely) in this day and age?

I mean, even the clip you showed showcased a little more songwriting effort than "turn on the drum machine... repeat a vaguely sexual sentence 50 times". I mean, honestly, put the total melodic content of a common pop song in a line, excluding vocals, and you'd be shocked to find more than ten seconds of prewritten melody/drums.

**Janszoon** · 04-18-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skaligojurah

Regardless, there was still somewhat of an alternative. Led Zeppelin definitely had moments that proved they were sophisticated song writers. I think "In my time of dying" showcases quite a lot of instrumental prowess, and legit adherence to gradual progression through the course of a song.

What's the likelyness you'll ever hear anything this patient coming from a mainstream band(or 'act' since bands are going the way of the dodo entirely) in this day and age?

Sigur Ros is a platinum-selling band who write nothing but "patient" music. That's just the first example that came to mind, I'm sure there are others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skaligojurah

I mean, even the clip you showed showcased a little more songwriting effort than "turn on the drum machine... repeat a vaguely sexual sentence 50 times". I mean, honestly, put the total melodic content of a common pop song in a line, excluding vocals, and you'd be shocked to find more than ten seconds of prewritten melody/drums.

Well this was the number one single in 2010:

Insipid, yes, but I don't think it's any more so than "You Light Up My Life". In fact, I'd even go as far as saying I prefer it. At least it's sort of fun, as opposed to shoot-yourself-in-the-head boring.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra · 04-18-2011, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Sigur Ros is a platinum-selling band who write nothing but "patient" music. That's just the first example that came to mind, I'm sure there are others

by modern terms, platinum isn't that mainstream. I mean, firstly, their last platinum selling album seemed to be in the 90s according to wiki, and selling one million albums in 10 years compared to Enimen's recovery which sold 5 million within one year, it's hardly a blip on the 'upper crust'.

Then again, mainstream is so difficult to define. In my eyes, it simply means things that are subject to massive media exposure, and radioplay. Thanks to the Internet, obviously things that aren't sold through traditional mainstream means can sell well but it doesn't mean they're mainstream, or their existence is realized as such. It's still not nearly as well as the select few superacts which are hogging all television exposure.

Musicians aren't getting worse, and pop is not getting worse. However, the marketing machine is doing a **** of a lot to promote safer, more controllable predictable cult of personality based acts, promoting decreasing variety through centralization, and trying to weed out the concept of promoting acts on their musical merit.

To me, that's an undeniable.

Phantom Limb · 04-18-2011, 10:06 PM

I was just having an argument the other day with a friend who said that pop music today is as good as pop music has ever been. i personally think this is false. i tried to argue that big band jazz (just one example) was the popular music of its time and that it is far more complex than anything in the top 40 now-a-days. For some reason, he also seemed to think that music played with instruments is not anymore legit than **** created on a computer. I just think that popular music has devolved a lot. It started with Classical music (infinitely more complex) and we are now at Ke$ha.

**Janszoon** · 04-18-2011, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abearmauledme

I was just having an argument the other day with a friend who said that pop music today is as good as pop music has ever been. i personally think this is false. i tried to argue that big band jazz (just one example) was the popular music of its time and that it is far more complex than anything in the top 40 now-a-days. For some reason, he also seemed to think that music played with instruments is not anymore legit than **** created on a computer. I just think that popular music has devolved a lot. It started with Classical music (infinitely more complex) and we are now at Ke$ha.

Classical music wasn't the popular music of its day, it was the art music of its day. Stuff like "Yankee Doodle" was the pop music.

Phantom Limb · 04-18-2011, 10:21 PM

ok, well **** me. it was the popular music of the elite.

04-18-2011, 08:32 PM	#13 (permalink)
Rage Against the Machine Jewish Cowboy Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Franklin, TN Posts: 632	I never had any hope in it to begin with. __________________

04-18-2011, 10:06 PM	#18 (permalink)
Phantom Limb Chocolate Homunculus Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 1,293	I was just having an argument the other day with a friend who said that pop music today is as good as pop music has ever been. i personally think this is false. i tried to argue that big band jazz (just one example) was the popular music of its time and that it is far more complex than anything in the top 40 now-a-days. For some reason, he also seemed to think that music played with instruments is not anymore legit than **** created on a computer. I just think that popular music has devolved a lot. It started with Classical music (infinitely more complex) and we are now at Ke$ha.

04-18-2011, 10:21 PM	#20 (permalink)
Phantom Limb Chocolate Homunculus Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 1,293	ok, well **** me. it was the popular music of the elite.