The Pop of Today Vs Pop Of Yesterday

duga · 01-30-2014, 02:32 PM

I think what people aren't realizing is ever since the rise of pop radio, it's been one giant study by the record companies to see which kinds of songs pull in the most listeners. It's been decades and they've successfully honed in on the perfect formula. To people with discerning ears, it is clearly repetitive. Most people just want something to play while they are doing other things...they are not active listeners. So most people don't mind.

I think you can't deny the rise and fall of the album as well. I'm going to use the Beatles as the point in time when albums started to gain credibility as an art form. Pre-Beatles, most pop music was very formulaic. Post-Beatles, the album started to gain popularity and more craft had to go into the music to ensure people bought them. While a single that sounds like 1,000 other singles is fine, an album of the same 4/4 vcv starts to get repetitive. Now we are seeing the rise of the single again. Albums are all but a niche interest. Repetitive sounds are taking over again.

That's not to say I don't think there are some pop songs that will stand the test of time out there. As most people have pointed out, there was crap music in all decades. I'm simply talking about a general trend.

01-30-2014, 02:32 PM	#11 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	I think what people aren't realizing is ever since the rise of pop radio, it's been one giant study by the record companies to see which kinds of songs pull in the most listeners. It's been decades and they've successfully honed in on the perfect formula. To people with discerning ears, it is clearly repetitive. Most people just want something to play while they are doing other things...they are not active listeners. So most people don't mind. I think you can't deny the rise and fall of the album as well. I'm going to use the Beatles as the point in time when albums started to gain credibility as an art form. Pre-Beatles, most pop music was very formulaic. Post-Beatles, the album started to gain popularity and more craft had to go into the music to ensure people bought them. While a single that sounds like 1,000 other singles is fine, an album of the same 4/4 vcv starts to get repetitive. Now we are seeing the rise of the single again. Albums are all but a niche interest. Repetitive sounds are taking over again. That's not to say I don't think there are some pop songs that will stand the test of time out there. As most people have pointed out, there was crap music in all decades. I'm simply talking about a general trend. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...