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What's wrong with pop music?


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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.

OMG ZIRCON DEFNDS POP MUSIK. I HATE ZIRCON NOW!!

But anyway, I'm no big fan or Mowtown or Tin Pan Alley for the same reasons. My oldies station bores me with the same song structures, whereas the pop station simply pisses me off in a people-actually-like-this? sort of way. I guess like pop music today, there's a few quality gems and the other 90% is crap. :\

Also, I think we need a clarification between disliking a band because they become popular and disliking a band due to a stylistic/musical shift that may come with it. AFI or Metallica might be an example of this.

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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're not worthy

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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

I dont know where this whole topic is coming from...

I do agree with this however...

It seems there are alot of "territorial" fans who only want there band exclusive to them.

There is a problem with this... how is a band saposed to grow and expand when there fans are trying to keep a tight restricting grip around them?

My only problem with seeing a band grow and gain popularity and so on is HOW they go about it. If they totally have to change there style, sound, approach and what they are about... then are they really something you want to listen to?

Not saying that becasue of this they arn't worth listening to... but prehaps its just not your style anymore.

There is a band who I totally support and I really want to see them rise.

The band is called Tub Ring.

They tottally rock hard. I would love to see these guys really make it big with there music... there life is music. The group has a side project band called 3-2-1 Activate! which is a different genre of music then Tub Ring and also the music's direction and lyric focus is different. The vocalist (Kevin Gibson) and keyboardist (Rob Kleiner) from these groups are in another side project called Super 8-Bit Brothers where the two program 8-bit game music (played live over an iPod) and totally geek out over video games (I got to play these two at Super Smash Bros Melee while waiting for Tub Ring to preform at this concert). The the keyboardist, Rob Kleiner, also has a solo gig where he has already put out two CDs out. (all of these groups are on MySpace for anyone curious :))

The band competed in the TRL room for MTV2s "Dew Curcuit Breakout" contest thing.

Tub Ring placed 2nd in this compitation. There music is also featured in Amp Snow Boarder 3 for the Xbox360.

There new album was just released, The Great Filter.

It is distinctivly different from there previous albums to the point that it discourged fans... at the same time it is still a really good album just a different sound.

I'm the type of guy who is excited to see music and bands I enjoy get a larger audence.

I have stopped listening to bands becasue they became too differnet, sure.

I had a friend who was wearing this overshirt that I own. I pointed it out to him and he ripped it off his body and threw it away. I am not this guy.

I dont care about how much my music taste effects my image... I like what I enjoy.

I just had some ICP fan girl try to guess what bands I like.

I didnt like any of them.

She then tried to guess what bands I liked baised off bands she didnt like

I didnt like any of them.

She then had me check out this band that she was SURE I'd like becasue they sound like this other band I like, Mindless Self Indulgence.

I didnlt like them.

She got pissed at how I couldnt like them and then she claimed the only reasson I said that was to spite her.

People are really weird about there materistic positions nowadays... what is your image?

People trying so hard to define themselfs that no one is relaxing and letting there true selfs and style and image flow out of them...

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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

Most of it sucks. It sounds fake and most of the people in it aren't really putting their heart in it. It often lacks originality, spontaniety, and it usually just sucks ass.

Yes, I am too hip to hear another blonde bimbo sing a song I've heard 10,000 fucking times or another guy with a deep voice rip off Creed (who already sucked too) and sing about "pain" and "suffering".

So every once in a while, there will be a good pop song (in the 80's, it happened all of the time), but now... No. Most of the songs on the pop radio borrow from four or five different chord progressions.

Be annoyed. Pop music sucks ass.

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Are we judging pop music's quality just on our own enjoyment of it, or on some perceived "objective" standard? Because if it's the latter, western classical music wins. It's far more complex and well thought out than most other forms of music--if there's a music more complex, tell me about it. I'd love to hear it.

However, that's not how I judge it. I'd rather listen to a good song than worry about what genre it's in. Pop music, like all music, has its good examples and its many bad examples.

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complexity != better.

there are two ways of looking at it.

1. whatever floats your boat, as long as you keep an open mind

2. music as art, with whatever definition of art as your objective standard. If you think everything is art, see 1. Most definitions of arts consist of attempting to portray an idea and to communicate something that can only be communicated through that medium. There is no reason why pop music cannot approach this level, although it may be hindered by trying to reach a broad audience. I don't see how Bach and Beethoven were any different in this regard (outside of being more talented), since, just as Kelly Clarksen follows the arbitrary rules of today's culture, classical dudes were similarly constrained. Probably even more so.

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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

i'm wit u on this. but don't ever argue with anybody like that.. it's a waste of time. actually i could say don't ever argue about art with anybody.. it's useless because nobody is gonna change their views based on an argument. everybody thinks they're right.. and everybody IS right, since art is subjective

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complexity != better.

I could have better phrased what I said. First off, I agree with you. I listen to a lot more rock and jazz than classical music. I'm trying to get into some Shostakovitch at the moment, but that's really it. However, I think that saying that art is totally subjective depreciates the effort and intelligence it takes to write a good piece of classical music as opposed the effort and intelligence it takes to write a good three-chord Ramones song. Of course, lots of luck has to be thrown into the equation as well. And effort varies...Mozart could dust off sonatas in a day or so, while some rock writers aren't very prolific at all.

Sorry for waffling.

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I dont know where this whole topic is coming from...

I do but it's certainly not a response to anything. It's just chthonic waving his holier-than-thou musical penis around in our collective face.

Toxic is one of the top five songs of the last 30 years.

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I do but it's certainly not a response to anything. It's just chthonic waving his holier-than-thou musical penis around in our collective face.

Toxic is one of the top five songs of the last 30 years.

No it's not.

I think he's just annoyed at elitist faggots who say pop music is shit because its mainstream. Writing a good catchy melody and structuring your song so that it becomes a hit is as hard as for any other genre, not to mention many pop artists are excellent performers and the production is top notch. Anybody can look at a chords chart or use the Pitch Axis to write a 267 chords song in 23/16. It's making it sound good that is hard. In that respect, pop music isn't different from anything else.

Also, as far as complexity goes, I'd say jazz tops classical music.

And I liked Toxic.

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