What's wrong with pop music?

[Benjamin Briggs]

nothing, that's what

I'm growing increasingly annoyed with this ridiculous group of counter-culture bullshitters spouting about how popular music is "simplistic" and "manufactured" and "not real music"

GO BACK TO YOUR HIPSTER CAVE

[Jimmy Jazz]

In before merge.

[Guy In Rubber Suit]

You're right. Pop music isn't simple, it's damn hard to create a single that will sell millions and generate millions.

I still don't like most of it. Metal > Pop

[Benjamin Briggs]

a lot of people like the way this sounds and are willing to pay good money to listen to it at home

obviously it must be terrible because PEOPLE SUCK

[Fratto]

a lot of people like the way this sounds and are willing to pay good money to listen to it at home

obviously it must be terrible because PEOPLE SUCK

Can't we come to a point where we agree that not all pop music sucks, but that people, in fact, do suck.

[PassivePretentiousness]

power chords are often irritating.

and emo sucks

[Benjamin Briggs]

I'm not saying you can't like specific instances of it

I don't like a lot of pop music, simply because it sucks

but completely discounting all popular music simply because it's popular is completely illogical and annoying as fuck

[PriZm]

I'm not saying you can't like specific instances of it

I don't like a lot of pop music, simply because I don't like it.

but completely discounting all popular music simply because it's popular is completely illogical and annoying as fuck

Fixed and agreed.

[leokef]

I suppose the problem popularity presents is its conflation with value. The heights that single works of art can reach these days are staggering. A CD of lame, trite trash can sell millions worldwide these days--that's the common example. Yet little if anything at all truly deserves to produce so much income, or have so much spent on its mass production and marketing. It's merely a massive population, technological marvel, and simple barriers of scope and choice that place a limited selection of texts (songs included), both remarkable and unremarkable, in the popular domain.

Take heart, chthonic, the problem will be mostly solved when all information eventually becomes free and widely available.

[Benjamin Briggs]

when discussing music, my brain automatically translates "x band sucks" to "I don't like x band"

I thought everyone on the internet does that now

[Fratto]

when discussing music, my brain automatically translates "x band sucks" to "I don't like x band"

I thought everyone had done that since forever.

Fixed.

I also thought this was common knowledge.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

nothing, that's what

I'm growing increasingly annoyed with this ridiculous group of counter-culture bullshitters spouting about how popular music is "simplistic" and "manufactured" and "not real music"

GO BACK TO YOUR HIPSTER CAVE

There is such a thing as good pop music, I won't deny it. But look at some of the crap that has sold millions. Take Kelly Clarkeson's "Since U Been Gone." Everything about that song is so generic a computer program could have written it. The lyrics are simply one disconnected breakup song cliche after another. The writer didn't even bother trying to link them together into something coherent, it sounds like they drew lines out of a hat. And it was a huge hit!

BUt as I said, this is merely the best example of the worst of pop. There are some genuinly good pop songs out there.

[Benjamin Briggs]

what's worse is when kids actually stop listening to a band (or at least stop letting on that they like them) when they get a big break or air time

a good example would be say anything and their single "wow, I can get sexual too"

this band rocks, and they've amassed a pretty huge following in their rise from indie to popular on myspace... anyway, they recently got the video for their single played on mtv's trl, and legions of their so-called fans immediately began whining because trl is for preppy kids who don't listen to real music

first of all, you don't own the bands you listen to, and you probably don't even have any say as a "fan" because I'm guessing you downloaded their album with a torrent because you're a geek-chic hipster cockfag

second of all, good music being broadcast to the masses begets more good music

third of all, are you really that dedicated to your stupid image that you would abandon a band who sells a lot of albums? this isn't the third grade when you stopped wearing your "it's only funny until someone gets hurt... then it's hilarious" t-shirt because billy showed up to school with the same one

fourth of all, dunna nunna NUH nunna NUH NUH dunna nunna

[Benjamin Briggs]

oh yeah, about kelly clarkson

it's even worse because she was made famous by a fucking talent search television show

talk about shallow and manufactured

again, this isn't about whether or not there exists bad pop music... we all agree that there does

[Wacky]

Is this is response to my thread?

Here was my main argument.

For some reason, American songs lost their heart recently, even just a few years ago. Not so long ago Billie Holliday and Don McLean ruled the airwaves... you could get something good from Dusty Springfield- even the most trite of things like a woman saying she likes em shy and innocent- there was, in the music, something that, as Carlos Santana said, "took you to another place."

I think the best song ever made is American Pie- just the lyrics themselves have a depth to them that sings of the American music scene and history.

These are all pop songs. Ten years ago, you could release "You Oughta Know" and expect it to sell millions. And it did- because it was Good.

Even Alanis Morrisette is the last of a dying breed really- who actually sang about something. Pop music nowadays- they sing something reminiscent of something, but they don't sing ABOUT it. It's hard to explain. That's why I say "it has no heart."

Mainstream rock still has heart. Pop? heh. Even Ms. Morisette is more of a rocker chick than a pop singer.

Edit: Here, I thought about it for a while... consider England and British Pop. Now some of it is absolute trash, but you do get excellent examples like "Rehab" from Amy Winehouse, or the stuff from Basement Jaxx, which I know is more dance but there you have it.

[Benjamin Briggs]

it wasn't a response to your thread

more of a spin-off

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I'd say the worst part of the whole counter-culture thing is not the rejection of popular music just because it's popular, but the acceptance of "indy" music just because it's indy. Look at Modest Mouse. Near as I can tell, there's nobody on the planet who actually likes modest mouse, but everybody pretends to so they can say they listen to indy music. The funny part is, I don't think modest mouse even qualifies as being "underground" anymore, since everybody and their mother has heard of them.

[Benjamin Briggs]

nowadays, 'indie' means 'independent' just as much as it means 'alternative'

[oldskoolraveruk]

everything is wrong with pop.

im sorry to say it and i know its gonna offend alotta people out there, but pop is shit...there u go i said it...shit....

why?

because its all false.fake.manufactured.barbie girl.gi joe.plasticky. pop idol.lets all slit our wrists because it all sounds the same.

qoute from gta lips 106. "we play it, till u like it"

there, thats sums up popular music.

i live it in the uk so things might b a little different, but over here they play the sames 10 songs over and over and over and over again on the radio. untill i know every single god dammed word to theese songs that i dont even like.

it gets to the point where i end up hating the artists.

im a dj and for over 15 ive been into dance music. mainly hardcore, happy hardcore, trance, house, jungle ,drum n bass,rave etc. every now and then some twat will re release a song into the charts after remixing buggering about and pissing all over a really class track and ruining it completly.

[EdgeCrusher]

Selling millions is not greater or equal to good music.

Fact.

[Jimmy Jazz]

everything is wrong with pop.

im sorry to say it and i know its gonna offend alotta people out there, but pop is shit...there u go i said it...shit....

why?

because its all false.fake.manufactured.barbie girl.gi joe.plasticky. pop idol.lets all slit our wrists because it all sounds the same.

qoute from gta lips 106. "we play it, till u like it"

there, thats sums up popular music.

i live it in the uk so things might b a little different, but over here they play the sames 10 songs over and over and over and over again on the radio. untill i know every single god dammed word to theese songs that i dont even like.

it gets to the point where i end up hating the artists.

im a dj and for over 15 ive been into dance music. mainly hardcore, happy hardcore, trance, house, jungle ,drum n bass,rave etc. every now and then some twat will re release a song into the charts after remixing buggering about and pissing all over a really class track and ruining it completly.

We are not talking about pop radio. We are talking about pop music.

And happy hardcore is way worse than pop could ever be. THAT all sounds the same.

[Chavous]

I was going to start a thread like this eventually.

Except my idea was more along the lines of "Why do people like a band, then automatically hate them because they gained popularity?"

That kind of thing pisses me off to no end. If you do that, then you never really liked the band in the first place. If you're gonna support them then FUCKING SUPPORT THEM. Jeez.

Edit: I know what you mean about the "no heart" thing too (sorry, can't remember who said it and I'm too lazy to go look). This is a bit harder for me to pick out though, since I usually listen to the music itself, and mostly block out the lyrics.

[PassivePretentiousness]

wait now I remember something I don't like about pop.

every song is 2:30. it's hard for any song to be that interesting if it's so short. honestly, almost all my favorite songs are 6+ minutes long.

[zircon]

For some reason, American songs lost their heart recently, even just a few years ago. Not so long ago Billie Holliday and Don McLean ruled the airwaves... you could get something good from Dusty Springfield- even the most trite of things like a woman saying she likes em shy and innocent- there was, in the music, something that, as Carlos Santana said, "took you to another place."

Actually, manufactured songs have been a staple of the US music industry since it began. Ever heard of tin pan alley? Dozens, hundreds of composers literally PUMPING out songs on a daliy basis for sale. This was at the turn of the 20th century. Of course, we actually got some of our greatest songs ever through this - but we also got a lot of crap. Then we had manufactured "teen idols" within a few decades. Sound familiar? How about Motown, which was nicknamed the 'hit factory'? Not to mention songwriters and duos that wrote hundreds upon hundreds of tracks for mass sale and consumption, such as Diane Warren, Gerry Goffin, and Carole King.

No, there are really no new or notable trends in pop music today. It's just history repeating itself, with the added twist of more people being able to write, produce, and release music thanks to cheaper gear, faster computers, and the internet. If anything, the music scene is better than it ever has been before.

[tgfoo]

If I could write/produce a "crappy" song that sold millions of copies, I would do it in a heart beat...

One thing about pop music though, you may not like the songs, but a lot of them are catchy, easy to remember, and very well produced. And as long as people keep listening to them, people will keep making them.