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staying relevant - why it works for some and not for others?


samal50

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What if all the hair metal bands was told by their A&R people that grunge is "in" and metal was "out", would they still be as successful in the 90's as they were in the 80's? Two bands was an exception in the 90's were Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi. Those 2 were really crossovers in the 90's and were household names. Jon Bon Jovi almost went country rock with "Blaze of Glory". Bon Jovi's "Keep The Faith" did step out of the hair metal sound. Is there some kind of "forecast" as to where the music industry is headed and could there be a clue by looking at what's on the Billboard charts?

 

Does the A&R people at the record companies usually have a say as to how to sound like to be on the radio or TV? I would guess yes. Just look at a lot of rap artists now. They seem to be aiming for a dance record with autotune vocals (Cypress Hill, etc.), even Dr. Dre mentioned about producing a dance album.

 

Goo Goo Dolls and Foo Fighters sound like "Top 40" now. Metallica is trying to be metal again ever since "Headbanger's Ball" came back on the air.

 

I thought the last Linkin Park album was too much electronica to be a rock record. Maybe it was done as a distraction so the fans would continue to think about them. But their latest one seem to be a rock record again. I forgot the name of their song on the last record but to me it sounded like an attempt to sound like Black Eyed Peas meets Fergie.

 

Will the record companies not push the albums if it does not sound like the way they want it to sound since they are the boss and usually know the ins and outs of the business? It may be a formula that works but I think it kills creativity.

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'Music' and 'relevance'...two terms rarely heard together anymore, unless the word 'lacking' is inserted in there... ;)

 

A&R people are as clueless, maybe moreso, than anyone else. They no longer look for the 'next big thing', they look for "hey that sounds just like what is selling now". This is why urban/rap/hip-hop continues to dominate the trends, despite the fact that it has been at a dead end for over a decade.

 

The heyday of Rock music is gone...the heyday of the major pop idol is gone, we are back to one hit wonders, flashes in the pan, disposable fluff and tripe.

 

The music industry, particularly the recording and distribution part of it is still making money in spite of its own inability to render itself viable...hard to believe, but true. The money is in ringtone sales and licensing to advertisers.

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What if all the hair metal bands was told by their A&R people that grunge is "in" and metal was "out", would they still be as successful in the 90's as they were in the 80's?

 

 

A lot of those bands tried to make the crossover. Both with look and sound. Didn't work for most of them, but a lot of hair metal bands released "grungy" sounding albums in the 90s. It's an impossible transition to make, if you think about it. Def Leppard's fan base doesn't even like grunge, let alone want to hear THEM do it, and the younger grunge fans had no interest in a band like that regardless of what they look or sound like 10 years later.

 

The realization for those multi-platinum acts is that their actual hardcore fan base was never anywhere near that big. There's really only a small handful of people who love them enough to follow them down any path. The majority of those albums sold were to people who liked a particular song(s) and a particular fashion at a particular time.

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