Lady Gaga at the Oscars

Gary Blanchard said:
It is funny to hear the "music in my day was much better" phrase that my parents always threw at us. Same as it ever was. :hippie:

I may not like much of today's music, but I am not going put it, and those that like it, down.

"People try to put us down, just because we get around.
Things they do look awful cold; I hope I die before I get old."
(Written by now 70 year-old Pete Townshend)
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Actually, I always thought a lot of the music of my youth was crap, too. I was a teenager in the '90s. There was tons of forgettable crap back then that was HUGE at the time. But at least back then there wasn't the technology that makes is so easy to half-ass. There was still some effort, even if that effort was to create forgettable music.

I'm trying to think of examples but I forget. LOL The Macarena? The Fugees? That's all I can come up with. LOL

I like a lot of newer stuff, too. There's a band called I the Mighty that's pretty good. Periphery. Conquering Dystopia. Ellie Goulding. Sia. Imagine Dragons. Florence + The Machine.

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GilmourD said:
Actually, I always thought a lot of the music of my youth was crap, too. I was a teenager in the '90s. There was tons of forgettable crap back then that was HUGE at the time. But at least back then there wasn't the technology that makes is so easy to half-ass. There was still some effort, even if that effort was to create forgettable music.

I'm trying to think of examples but I forget. LOL The Macarena? The Fugees? That's all I can come up with. LOL

I like a lot of newer stuff, too. There's a band called I the Mighty that's pretty good. Periphery. Conquering Dystopia. Ellie Goulding. Sia. Imagine Dragons. Florence + The Machine.

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I see your Macarena and raise you a Yellow Submarine. :grin:
 
GilmourD said:
I actually like Yellow Submarine. It's a crafty tune. Definitely not forgotten, considering it was 10+years old already when I was born. LOL

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And all a matter of taste. I didn't care for the song but was in a minority. It highlights that music isn't about good and bad, it is about personal taste, though Flamencology will disagree.

I find it hilarious that, for all the rejection of the music of my parents' generation, so many artists of my generation have done "Great American Songbook" recordings. :grin:
 
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree
Me and You and a Dog Named Blue
Just a couple of 70s radio hits that always made me cringe.
At least nowadays there's mostly no melody to hook you and a heavily synthesized dance beat to numb you, so it's easier to ignore.
 
There has always been crappy music that made the charts. The big difference now is that all the technology allows you to elevate a totally mediocre singer who has the rest of the marketability thing going (looks, willingness to be the pawn, publicity whore) to superstar status. Prior to this era their had to be a certain talent level because there was only so much you could fix in the analog world.
 
Denverdave said:
There has always been crappy music that made the charts. The big difference now is that all the technology allows you to elevate a totally mediocre singer who has the rest of the marketability thing going (looks, willingness to be the pawn, publicity whore) to superstar status. Prior to this era their had to be a certain talent level because there was only so much you could fix in the analog world.
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Have you seen the movie Singin' in the Rain? It might be relevant to your interests, along with the story of Milli Vanilli. Actually, Bill Halley was a barely adequate singer, and doubts have occasionally been expressed about Bob Dylan's vocal talent.

The Grateful Dead never had a decent singer after Pigpen, but that's marketing for you.
 
vonbladet said:
The greatest trick the 60s ever played was convincing people that that's when time started. The Stones are good pop music, but it's just Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters laundered into an acceptable form of exoticism.

Srsly, if your criticism of pop music is that the relentless beats and bacchanalian cavorting disguise a lack of lyrical and harmonic complexity, are you quite sure you've got the Stones on the right side of the divide?

(I do rather like the idea that Mozart, in particular, would be on the Sensible-Shoe Army's side in the great war against showbusiness.)
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No my criticism of pop music is that it has devolved into "find a pretty face, hire a team of writers, make up an image, support artist for a few years then flush her down the toilet". The Stones were musicians, Katy Perry is a pretty face that has a passable singing voice. This has been going on for a long time but ever since the slow death and consolidation of the music industry it has evolved into a fine art.

Lets not all kid ourselves, it's not like Lady Gaga has a set of pipes that would even put her in the same league as someone like Adele. When everyone is talking about the amount of talent she has, I just don't see it. I could go to a local Church on any given Sunday and find someone who has a better singing voice. To me she is just an auto-tuned shock value sideshow that sings reasonably well. The fact that someone of her caliber is counted among real talent just speaks volume to the lack of quality talent that is out right now. At least when we are talking about the talent that the music industry wants you to see.
 
IamSeaDevil said:
I love a lot of today's music, I just hate the majority of what is played on the radio. I would rather watch you play banjo on a stage than be in the the enormo-dome watching a Katy Perry concert
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I'm the same way. I lost my taste for the big stadium show years ago. I much prefer a more intimate setting. Luckily, most of the artists I'd be interested in seeing these days tend to play smaller venues anyway due to their lack of mass popularity. Pretty much a win-win for me.
 
Alex W said:
No my criticism of pop music is that it has devolved into "find a pretty face, hire a team of writers, make up an image, support artist for a few years then flush her down the toilet". The Stones were musicians, Katy Perry is a pretty face that has a passable singing voice. This has been going on for a long time but ever since the slow death and consolidation of the music industry it has evolved into a fine art.
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Tin Pan Alley was a thing before the 60s. The Stones without Brian Jones or Mick Taylor were (and are) a mediocre pub rock band.
 
There has always been, and will probably always will be, crappy pop music. I grew up in the 60s/70s and it was just as bad then. Name me a song by Bobby Sherman, or David Cassady. Remember the Archies or the Cowsills? Paul Revere and the Riaders had their own TV show. Those are only memorable to me because they were plastered everywhere and I had an older sister that used to read Tiger Beat. There were probably more one-hit-wonders in back then than there are now.

I would have added The Monkees to the list, but they had some talented folks backing them. It wasn't until the end of their run that they guys actually began playing their own instruments and singing (Nesmith excluded).
 
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I think she's gotten a bit more top-heavy these days too. I don't remember her being that busty when she first broke.
 
For a bunch of folks insisting they're above the mainstream rabble, there's a lot of recycling of the most popular arguments against the present day's music. Expressing your separation from the crowd by using the tiredest lines is self-refuting.

As for Gaga's antics, I thought that her Monster schtick was a response to and refusal to participate in the baby-doll, sex-puppet tropes that virtually every other female singer trades in to achieve their fame. A Kermit dress is a refreshing alternative to whipped-cream launching bras.
 
shoeless said:
I'm holding out for Kermit launching bras. Do you have frog protection?
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It puts the lotion on its skin...
bullfrog-sunscreen.jpg
 
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IamSeaDevil said:
Pop music to me is the fast food of music. Full of fillers and preservatives and not the least bit good for you.

McDonald's is the most popular restaurant on earth and I am sure most of us would say it's not very good food.

Pop music is just that popular, but just because it sells a gagillion records, doesn't make it good either.

I think the way radio and our popular culture works is basically programming you to like a mediocre product. With our short attention spans they need to make it simple. That's why the beats and hooks are the way they are. Repeating the same shit over and over. Find some poor singer that has some decent singing talent and auto tune and pro tools out all the flaws. Make sure they are known not just for their music but their tabloid and reality show lifestyle. Play it every hour on the radio so it becomes programmed in your brain. Since all the cool kids listen to it I must confirm to the herd like mentality that this music is good.

After the star gets built up to such a high level, it's time to tear them down, because nothing Popular culture loves more is a falling star. Make sure TMZ and the internet documents every second of their downfall.
Start all over with someone else

Thunder, thunderhorse!
Thunder, thunderhorse!
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Haven't even read passed the first line, but I had to repost for truth.

There are literally tons of amazing musicians in all genres that we never hear and plenty are "beautiful" enough to be marketed using their looks as well. Gaga isn't really anything special, despite the fact that she might actually be able to sing and might right her own stuff. Listen to Larkin Poe, The Vespers, SHEL...all happen to feature at least two absolutely beautiful women, but vastly more important, they are excellent singers, players, and writers. Auto-tune isn't even a consideration. So if I'm being sold a spectacle and eye-candy, please connect it to some remarkable talent, because it's out there.

The star maker machinery ditched talent and ability long ago as we all should know, but for what reason and to what end? Bypass talent to market fame for fame's sake...that's the order of the day. Now special praise is given people that meet the minimum expectation of being competent in their given profession?! That's bullshit, regardless of the field. I think the fact that all business has been viewed as more alike than different, the RIAA has been destroying itself with folks that don't know or care about music, so we get the ghost written system and auto-tuned bimbos.

Put it in a pretty or outrageous package and spoon feed it to the masses of asses. Sadly the masses eat that shit up...mostly sheep and few explorers. The average bar band has more ability than most pop stars as they have to actually play live and usually play a large mixed bag of music (e.g.: many genres) and if they suck they're done. When you do a big multi-costume, choreographed stage show, with vocal guide track and auto-tune (if you don't just lip-sync out of the gate), you have a less likely chance to screw up or have your screw ups be noticed.

Sorry, I'll keep this my last rant.

Near immediate failure...apologies (again).
 
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