The demise of Pop Music

[mullein]

I want to know what has happened to the great singers and bands of the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I use to really enjoy the diversity of Pop Chart music. I remember the anticipation of wanting to know who the new number 1 was, but now I couldn't care less. Pop music is in it's 'death throes', and I dont think it will ever come back. Can anyone tell me who to blame, for taking they joy of Pop Music away from me.  

[Shipstabber]

I hate to break it to you but the music hasn't changed - you have. It's your youth that will never come back.

[zinfald]

that was harsh baby!

A lot of popular music is dictated to the audience that brings in the most money for it � usually kids aged 9 � 14. They don�t care much about what the music sounds like; they care more about what the whole package looks like. Thus eliminating the need for good popular music.

[Mattk]

wrong !

pop music is just manufactured pap nowadays thanks to simon cowell and nicky chapman to name but 2.they make progs that churn out rubbish and then have the cheek to tell us they know what they are talking about !!!! the only reason their brand of crap sells is because its force-fed to the kids.

my teenage era was in the 80's before manufactured boy bands took over the world.when boy bands played their own instruments,wrote their own songs and actually had personalities.robbie will be the last member of a boy band to make it as a solo artist.

there is excellent music out there,its just the charts are so chock full of the same rubbish that theres no room for it

 

[Mattk]

i was saying 'wrong' to god !

[Shipstabber]

Zinfald - my (slightly less tactful) point exactly. Mullein liked the pop music of the '60s, '70s and '80s because he was young then, and now he's older he doesn't. All young people like crap music. In 20/30 years time the kids who are buying pop music now will be pulling their tartan rugs up over their knee and complaining about whatever crap is passing for pop music then.

[Ouisch]

I disagree that Mullein's taste is dictated by the era in which he grew up, and that he likes those songs because he grew up with them.

 

I've noticed that there's a huge lack of variety in today's pop charts.  The top ten songs are always almost interchangable - they're all either hip-hop or some syrupy ballad yodeled with as much overwrought emotion as a 20-year-old singer with limited life experience can render.

 

Anyway, certainly the pop hits of the 1970 were more diverse in style and content...you had "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "The Night Chicago Died" and "Lady Marmalade" and "Rock and Roll Part 2" and "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fame" and "Benny and the Jets" and "Kung Fu Fighting" and "Smoke on the Water" and "Dueling Banjos."  None of them used samples from other songs, and all were quite different in their style and rhythm. (I didn't say some of them weren't treacle; my point is they were individual.) I think the beginning of the overall "sameness" in pop began with the Disco era, when KC and the Sunshine Band and the Bee Gees started releasing song after song that sounded exactly like their previous hit.

[Ray the DJ]

Money grabbing managers, producers and record companies.
They use kids of the street to make a fast buck then throw them to one side.
In the early years of Rock n Roll, bands served apprenticeships in the clubs and pubs before making it big.
Look at the Stones, Who, Pink Floyd, Quo,Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bee Gees, Eric Clapton to name but a few, who are still filling stadiums after 40 odd years in the business.
Look at todays top 20 and see if you can pick one that will be a superstar in the year 2040 !

[Shipstabber]

Yeah, but we're not talking about rock 'n' roll - we're talking about pop music. Can you really say that the Osmonds, the Monkees, the Bay City Rollers, 5 Star, Rick Astley, etc are any different from the boy/girl bands, pop idols, etc. of today. There has always been crappy, commerically oriented manufactured pop music and there always will be. *** There - gave myself some effing stars.

[BenDToy]

Yes there have always been crappy manufactured bands - but these days that is the majority, rather than the exception. And just look at the number of cover versions. That alone should confirm the complete absence of originality. The music industry used to be about talent and original (musical) ideas. Now it's all about looks and image. The music is irrelevant. That said, I do have some sympathy for GOD's view. Nothing will ever be as good as the music you listened to in your teens, but there is more to it than that.
BTW there are some good acts around, it's just that they don't get airplay on mainstream radio or tv.

[mullein]

first of all mullein is not a he iam a she... and secondly i am not that old and if i am then i am still young in spirit, i also have kellis,nelly.christina aguilera in my cd collection along with old favourites such as aretha franklin and al green, and not all pop idol music is awfull , ruben studdard and fantasia barrino who won the american idol are excellent. we are just lacking in great britain,,,mullein,,

[liisa]

I could not have said it better than BenDTOY. Sex sells, and always has but has been completely blown out of proportion today....never mind all the behind the scenes of who's sleeping with who to get heard ( exactly like Hollywood in many ways is heading). Madonna, if I may say the Queen of Pop, was never a great musician either, however, unlike Spears and many others, is a business woman, a go getter and to this day feeds the public what they want ( yes, so does little Brittney) but not just with sex but by shocking them with ALL issues. She was also always a trend setter, not a copier and today, I only hear remakes after remakes- deja vues!! Gone are the days of reaching out through music....because I guess it just doesn't sell. $$$$ and sex and so the musicians have lost to mass consumption- not just kids, but to everybody. What upsets me is that I've noticed that even singers are fewer and fewer! Fine to have the music, but not the voice. Or to have a great voice, but not that great tunes or lyrics ....but to have NONE and it sells? I might aswell create a CD with just a beat, call it album#1 and just put a model on the cover and make really sexy..soft porn videos and I'm a sucess.

[robbieh]

If you get away from listening to chart music then you'll find brilliant music that simply doesn;t get thousands of pounds thrown at it to advertise it! The charts are just money driven and is music made to sell rather than putting much heart into it. Music scenes are thriving without being exposed to chart releases, and any music in the charts is pop music. Take for example house music, you hardly ever get a proper release of a real song, there nearly allways shorterned for radio play on your local cheesy radio station, and nearly always have a terrible lyric put over the top. Those that are released are designed to be played in your local townie disco. Also you hardly ever get uk hip hop, punk ska, breakbeat or drum n bass in the charts. But then in each of those groups, if you were to get chart hit - you'd probably be called a sell-out. The one genre that this seems to differ in being US hip hip and rnb but a lot of that is drivel. So basically the choice of music is out there if you look for it, with internet, everythings a click away and music needn't find you, if it finds you its because the musics simply being made to sell. The youth of today just aren't interested in pop drivel as much as the youth were in the past, theres a much broader selection of music out there. Older people place muc more empahasis on the charts than younger people, so when it comes to comparing te past with today, older people generally feel they had a superior music and kind f look down on charts, but the fact is not many younger people really care about the charts, though still are forced to listen to it and admittedly get influenced by the pap they listen to on the radio or mtv

[swan04]

I'll tell you who to blame but I might get sued. Formerly known as the Hitman, was a judge on Pop Stars, up his own backside and with two other henchmen churned out endless plastic crud from 1986 onwards. That's who I blame!

[robbieh]

Well i wouldn't just blame the music business people - put some blame on the fools that go and buy this rubbsh too. If there wasn't a market for it they wouldn't make it.