A silly little blog for me to drop the excrement of my mind.
-or- I certainly hope not
Published on February 8, 2004 By BlueDev In Music
Music is often regarded as the universal language (or at least one of the universal languages-don't want to upset those math fans out there!). We find it everywhere we turn: in our homes, in the car, in stores and businesses, the movies, on television. In fact I would go so far as to say that music has now permeated just about every aspect of our lives. It is obvious that it is important to our lives, otherwise it would not be so prominent. So this begs a question:

Why does the popular music suck so bad?

I mean that seriously. If we place such an emphasis on music, if we insist that it have a central role in our lives, why do we glorify such simplistic, mindless music?

Don't get me wrong, there are some fun tunes out there on top 40 radio. Some great music to dance to, to bob your head to, to hum and/or sing along with. But in the end it is empty and unfulfilling. Were that not so there wouldn't be such a high turnover when it comes to the popular songs and the popular artists. After all, how many times do you have to listen to a "pop" song before you pretty much have it memorized? I pretty much knew every note of the song "Bring Me to Life" before I even knew who Evanescence was. And after half a listen to "Hey Ya" by Outkast I could have played out the rhythm and bass line without any problems. Of course this phenomenon is not restricted to "pop" music per say (though I think of pop music as a pretty all encompassing title). We see the same thing happening in country, rap/hip-hop, rock, and even metal.

It seems that, in order to become popular, music these days has to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And while it makes sense that music that is the most simple and accessible will appeal to the largest number of people, I can't help but be saddened at that fact. It seems to me that it is an open acknowledgment that we are stupid, that we like to take the easy road, that a challenge scares us. Certainly the corporate aspect of music is largely to blame in this demise in the quality of music. Labels and the big publishers want to make money. They want to sign artists that will rise to the top of the charts the fastest, that will get the most time on MTV, that will move the most records off the shelf. And so they turn to the artists who have the most catchy hook, the instantly recognizable chorus, and the most marketable image.

Yet, ultimately, the burden of this problem rests squarely on our shoulders as the consumers. We hear these simple songs on the radio, have them memorized by the time we get to the record store, and we still spend our money on this disposable music. Walking out to the car we peel the plastic off our newest purchase, ecstatic to listen to a song on the CD that is probably playing on the radio right now. Oh, but there are other songs on the album you say, right?

Wrong.

We end up with 11 tracks, totaling 35 minutes, that sound the same. Lyrics are mundane, either talking about how much someone wants to "get it on" or how mad they are because their rich, pampered life is such a trial. But the lyrics talk to us, the listeners. We identify with them, right? I hope not. Because if people identify with the lyrics I hear on the radio we have pretty shallow and unimaginative minds. So, in essence, we just forked over $15 for one song that we already know and will be bored with in 8 weeks, once it moves off the top 40.

Now would be an appropriate time for a caveat. I am an admitted "prog snob". My music of choice is progressive rock/metal. So I get a kick out of long songs (20 minutes? Sure! 40? Even better!), crazy time signatures that change multiple times throughout the song, and technical playing/writing. This certainly influences my likes and dislikes. But I still look for good music wherever I can find it. And frankly, I just don't find it on the radio anymore.

So I am left asking music store clerks to look for an album in the computer, because I sure can't find it in the racks. And they never have it. So I turn to the internet to make my purchases and to connect with other like minded musicians/music fans and find small, but thriving communities. And then I champion bands that I find, listening to them with others, telling folks about them, posting random drivel on the internet extolling the virtues of my latest purchase in the hopes that at least one person will shake off the shackles of "pop" music and dig a little deeper.

Does it make a difference?

Probably not. But I do it anyway because they deserve it. They deserve more attention, more recognition, and more album sales. Yep, money makes the world go around, and I wish we would spend more of it on music that lasts. Sure, I bought Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory". And I listened for a while, and enjoyed it. But it hasn't made it's way back into one of my CD players for probably a year. And yet four years since its release, and after hundreds of spins in the player, Fates Warning's "Disconnected" still amazes, moves, entertains, and impresses me. But which one sold the most? I don't think I even need to answer that.

So let's open our minds. Let's open our ears. Let's do more than scratch the surface. Instead, let us seek the music that challenges us, that makes us think, that is multidimensional. Let's tell the labels that we are sick and tired of being spoon fed this mindless sonic milk. We can tell them we want more. We can tell them we want, even demand, substance that has long been lacking from the airwaves. We can turn to the real artists, those who push not only themselves, but us as their fans, to reach farther. And we can come away fulfilled and satisfied.
Comments (Page 1)
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on Feb 08, 2004
Some just enjoy the simplicity of it---I'm guilty of that myself sometimes. Our mind needs a break, and sometimes music can just be about fun. Ponder that, friend.

Trinitie
on Feb 09, 2004
I agree completely. My lament is that in the current market/atmosphere simplicity is all we hear. Our minds seem to be on one big break, while some real genius gets neglected in favor of disposable, cookie cutter music. There is a place for all types of music, but current trends seem to forget this.

BlueDev
on Feb 09, 2004
DUDE! as a fellow writer and Blogger, let me start by saying that this is one of the best Blogs that i've read since joining this site. So thanks for that.

As a fellow lover and a fellow connoisseur of music, i have to say that i feel your pain. And i have felt it for quite some time. But i've found a way around it. Or at least one that works for me.

Zeppelin, Queen, Rush, Dream Theater, The Eagles. I know i'm naming mostly pretty well known bands, but these are the ones that I feel like were/are more than just of the "Top 40" variety. Am i on the same 'sheet of music' at all? I know the ones you're talking about are true artists, ones that spend more time composing truly great music than they do worrying about what "image" they're presenting to the masses.

This is how i've learned to deal with it. i can't listen to the radio very much. If i do, it's Oldies for a day or two, then country, then hard rock, then classic rock, then easy listening, and then just channel surfin' thru em all... the way i avoid getting sick of the worn out airplay is by always changing the station. Since i'm a fan of all genres of music, this works quite well. But like i said, i can't listen to the radio much. That's why i have over 500 CDs...

here are some of the best of the best. I'm not talking one hit wonders here, i'm talking about bands that took the time to make an album. not ones that wrote or came across 2 or 3 great songs and then used "filler" songs to make the rest of the CD.

Alright Guy - Gary Allan**
Wave on Wave - Pat Green**
Zeppelin's box set (a must have)****
Candlebox (the very first one)**
Ten - Pearl Jam**
The next voice you'll hear - Jackson Browne****
Hell freezes over - The Eagles **
If i could only fly - Merle Haggard **
Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan *
Waylon and The Waymore Blues band - Live!****
Mettalica - S&M *** (and garage days revisited)
Willie Nelson - The Great Divide**
Queensryche - Empire **
Norah Jones - Come away with me *
Darryl Worley - Hard Rain Don't Last **

That's a start... i could go on and on, but i'll stop there. you get the idea. I know those are relatively well known artists, and aren't on the same plane with the ones that you're trying to get out to us, but believe me, i feel your frustration.

What i really wanted to say though is this... you are a 'connoisseur' of music. I gathered that much from your article. you know more about it than most people, and you can speak intelligently about it in most any company. This makes you somewhat of a "subject matter expert" on this topic. In a way this is good... in a way it's bad. you're in the top 10 percent. the other 90 percent of people don't have the same standards for what's good and what's not. Do you see where i'm going with this?

the average wine drinking American can go to the grocery store and buy a bottle of 8 dollar wine, take it home and drink it, and be happy as hell with it. Cheap wine is sold in every grocery store, and revenues are more than a million dollars a year for the companies that bottle it. Just try n get a wine connoisseur to drink a bottle of Boone's farm. It ain't gonna happen... you and i both know it. Do you see the correlation here?

it's the same thing with damn near everything. "Real" cowboys can't stand the imitation ones. People that are really heavy into computers generally can't stand Microsoft! You won't see someone that's heavy into racing radio control cars buying one at KayBee toys, cause they build their own!

It's all about knowing the genuine article when you see it. you recognize the genuine article when it comes along, which means you can spot a fake a mile away. It's not a bad thing, but take heed my friend, if you want the public to see things from your point of view, you're going to have to teach 'em one by one. And unfortunately, most of 'em don't even want to learn.

in the meantime, let's hold the flag high for the little guy... post some good links on here, and i'll check 'em out...
on Feb 09, 2004
Music shouldn't be a competition and complex doesn't equal good. People like music because it evokes feelings in them, so it's value should be based on the strength of the feelings it evokes. Different music pulls different strings in people. Heck even a stupid repetetive song can be nostaligic - Steal My Sunshine - reminds me of a certain summer. Stupid song. There you go.

That said - My God what is up with "manufactured music"?? I don't think only one genre is succeptable to it - it's been Britney Spears for the last couple years but I see it happening with the neo-emo groups. Every band sounds the same.

For kicks I just sorted my 2000 song MP3 collection by play count...

Stanley Climbfall. AMAZING disc - Every song except one is perfection.
Pink - My Vietnam. Nice words. music. beat. Underrated. Maybe too serious for mainstream
Phish - Heavy Things. Hey it's Phish, what can you say. Thousands of stinky kids can't be wrong. So uplifting.

I've got Jack Johnson on heavy rotation. Every weekend - pop it on, make some coffee, cook up the waffles. C H I L L
Clarity - Jimmy Eat World. Emotion pouring thru the microphone like a firehose.

I always come back to Incubus.
on Feb 09, 2004
Oh yeah another thing I wanted to say but I don't have the patience to blog it on my own..

Do you think the "album format" that has come about in the last 30 years is going to die as an art form ? Will we go back to singles like the 50s ? Maybe four song EPs? Something entirely different ?
on Feb 09, 2004


Originally posted by PoetPhilosopher
Music shouldn't be a competition and complex doesn't equal good. People like music because it evokes feelings in them


I think that is a valid and wonderfully appropriate comment. And I feel it gets to the very heart of what I was originally trying to say (and I hope wasn't lost in my ramblings). And that is as follows:

We need more music that has substance.

There is a lot of fantastic music that isn't complex in song structure. But it has that intangible element to it, that feeling that there is some heart and soul burried beneath the power chords or programmed sequences. There is more to the song than meets the eye. And I believe it is because the songwriter put a little bit of themselves in the song. That is what I see lacking in much of the manufactured music that comes out today. There are gems to be found everywhere, but folks have to look for them a bit, and be astute enough to recognize them in the few choice encounters they may have with sonic light.

It will always be there, but will we be in tune to hear it? I certainly hope so.

Concerning the art of the album. It is waning, but not dying in my estimation. There are still those who see the power behind not just one, but a unit of songs that move from one to another, carrying the listener along for the ride. Hit radio loves the singles, and will continue to live on its plentiful (yet malnourished) diet of #1 tunes. But those who respect their art and themselves will continue to tell stories that build from track one to the end. The advent of the single sided compact disc certainly changed the way artists attack an album, but those true survivors have perservered and used that fact to their advantage to create masterful albums, not just songs.

I will offer some examples of masterful "albums" from my personal collection:

Rush-"Vapor Trails" and "Moving Pictures" (a choice one that manages to transcend the movement from 2 sides to 1)
Fates Warning-"A Pleasant Shade of Gray" and "Disconnected"
Opeth-"Blackwater Park" and "Still Life"
Dream Theater-"Scenes From a Memory"
A Perfect Circle-"Thirteenth Step"
Savatage-"Dead Winter Dead" and "The Wake of Magellan"

Just to name a few.

Thanks for the comments folks!

BlueDev
on Feb 09, 2004
Great Article...

You can write and inspire Bloggers like us all you want, but the simple fact remains, we are not the biggest spenders in the music industry.

The Genre barrier is something that holds good music back - you say you like progressive rock/metal... i do as well, and so do alot of people, but it just doesn't appeal to the masses.

Like someone else likes Tupac or Biggy... whilst popular, its hardly pop. It appeals to a sub-culture of the commuinity.

You have to remember the pop princesses... the 15 year old girls who see Britney singing her songs in nice outfits with handsome boys. Unfortunately, this consumer is the stupidest of them all, and they decide for other people to tell them what is cool or not. Whoever is coolest at the time, will make the most money.

The Pop music of today is a succesful hybrid of all the genres.... hence its success in being crap. You can always bop along, because there will be elements ot the genre you like, but it will never appeal to you so much that you will buy a T-Shirt, or every CD that group produces... I dont know, a good example is Offspring... i used to love them, but in my opinion, they changed their songs to appeal to the poppy audience, to make more money, and since ixnay, they have released nothing but utter tripe... yet it is still boppable because it is still Offspring, and they had some fukn wicked songs.

We have to remember, as the concept of music get older, and the way we enjoy it, its a lot harder for groups to come up with something new and refreshing... no matter what it is... 'they never make it like they used to in the old days'

As a side note... POET... you have awesome taste in music. JJ is also on constant rotation in my car as well... but i ALWAYS revert to s.c.i.e.n.c.e in the end Ben Harper is also great, and if anyone here hasn't heard of Deftones, go listen to them. Tool are great as well... but i didn't need to tell you that.
on Feb 10, 2004
I guess my response must have been too long or somethin'...

BlueDev, do you see what i'm saying at all about being a top 10%er in your field?

great choices of music by all, but don't count out country!
on Feb 10, 2004
Heh, imajinit, no, it wasn't too long. I thought it was quite insightful, I just wasn't too comfortable with declaring myself to be in the "top 10%". But, yes, I agree that there are few folks who really appreciate a broad variety of inspiring music (in whatever genre). And I think it is, in large part, due to our inherent desire to take the path of least resistance, which means the music that is most accessible.

As far as country, I admit that there is some good country music, but, well, I just can't get into it.

BlueDev
on Feb 10, 2004
Hehehe... when describing my music tastes to anyone, i say ABC.

anything but country
on Feb 10, 2004
I myself don't listen to the radio a hell of a lot, either. Probably 90 percent of the CDs and songs I have downloaded on my computer are old or fairly unknown. I dance to Outkast, and hip hop, and stuff... For me, music is all about poetry, the lyrics, something touching me somewhere deep down inside. I really enjoy Pink Floyd, all those old rock bands, the Eagles, Jimi, Janis, Dylan. Songs with messages.
Of course, I'm also a sucker for good piano. Something Corporate may be cheesy, but damn it, Konstantine is an amazing song, and I don't care what anyone says.
But I love Weezer, a good "indie" band, and please don't mention the song Buddy Holly in front of me, because honestly it is probably one of the worst, and most played, of Weezer's songs. But really, they are great.
I want to know what the hell happened to bands that write their own music? I want to know where the talented artists are, that can make an album that DOESN'T sound the like the same song being repeated for forty five minutes? I want to know why people love Creed and Nickelback so much?
Why isn't anyone creative enough to come out and write something that is DIFFERENT from Puddle of Mudd, Incubus, Linkin Park, or Dashboard Confessionals?
And why do people actually ENJOY listening to songs by different bands that can be mistaken for each other?
Man, what happened to the good music of the sixties and seventies? Do we have to blame it on the eighties? Was Robert Smith not creative enough?
Should musicians be doing more hallucinogenics? Meeting yogis and spiritual advisors? It worked for the Beatles. Maybe we should require all musicians out there to trip on shrooms, and try to enjo their own music. Hah.
Maybe then we'd lose Britney, Puddle of Mudd, all thos shit bands. Seriously.
on Feb 10, 2004
PS. Sorry that was so long. This is my favorite subject to bitch about.
DOWN WITH CLAY AITKEN AND KELLY CLARKSON!
on Feb 10, 2004
Oh, I failed to mention another couple great albums that live up the the axiom that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Pain of Salvation-"One Hour by the Concrete Lake" and "The Perfect Element Pt. 1" and "Remedy Lane"

For those not familiar with Pain of Salvation I would recommend them without hesitation. Yes, they have some heavier parts (though nothing really heavy, more melodic), but there is plenty of just simply gorgeous, heartfelt music throughout. In fact, I wasn't a big fan of the songs on the album "The Perfect Element Pt. 1" that I had heard, until I listened to the album from start to finish and fell in love with it.

BlueDev
on Mar 05, 2004
You Know? I was thinking just the same thing myself only yesterday. Seems like if it isn't something controversial or sexual or off the deep end, no one will sign or promote you. The record companies are always looking for someone who can up-the-ante. I often hear songs played on radio stations that are way old... and I will think to myself, geez that song must be 20 years old and it still sounds fresh. Example, Stevie Wonder's "Songs From The Key of Life" album. I could listen to it anythime it never grows old.
I look forward to the day when the new sounds start sounding more like the old sounds.
Today's music ain't got the same soul, I like dat ole time rock-n-roll! GCJ
on Mar 05, 2004
Anyone ever hear of Quarterflash? They had like one great album. Has a Pat Benetar sound to it. Great album! GCJ
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