An article wondering what happened to today's music

[Ernest Buckley]

I think we are just at the beginning of a grand battle between record companies and artists vs. The General Public. We will look like the bad guys in all of this but I think we are going to see some serious steps taken to encode the music data so that it cannot be duplicated or downloaded illegally.... or at least I hope.

 

Just from a pure business perspective, anytime a product is given away for free or is treated cheaply, the consumer thinks less of it. I for one would rather buy a $100 iron than those $15 jammies you see in those .99 stores.

[Lee Knight]

I was in LA when punk hit. It changed my life. Up till then ZZ Top or Deep Purple were my refuge from the top 40. But secretly, unbeknownst to my music buddies, I LOVED THE TOP 40.

I always have. I'm 47 now and don't give a crap if someone misinterprets my enjoyment of the maudlin. Don't care.

So now I produce records locally in San Diego as my "night gig". I think a lot about what makes music cool, enjoyable, hip, and commercial.

I miss that time so much. That list of Top 40 Kasey Kasem stuff. When I was watching the Angry Samoans or or digging Stiff Little Fingers... I was also digging The Bee Gees doing disco. In the closet of course.

The Top 40 today makes me weep. Just yesterday I turned to my 10 year old daughter as she asked me if I dug the new Avril video she just watched. Up till now I've been her co-conspirator. Keeping my opinions to myself to let her be her. I couldn't... I just said, "Honey, you've been gypped. Your generation has been gypped".

[Cry Logic]

Here in Adelaide ZZ top and Deep Purple were on the top 40!
It was punk that took a long time to be accepted by the mainstream.

I don't know what people are going on about here.
I'm 53 years old and I hear many good tunes on commercial radio.
Just recently I've been grooving to :

• 
  
  Just to name a few.....

[UstadKhanAli]

So in your opinion, are these songs as strong as ZZ Top, Parliament, The Eagles, bla bla bla?

 

Remember, I *love* a lot of current music....not necessarily what's in the Top 40, so I'm not arguing about whether there's worthwhile music or not. I am, however, interested in comparing "yesterday's" Top 40 to today's and hearing about people's preferences.

[sventvkg]

Here in Adelaide ZZ top and Deep Purple were on the top 40!
It was punk that took a long time to be accepted by the mainstream.

I don't know what people are going on about here.
I'm 53 years old and I hear many good tunes on commercial radio.
Just recently I've been grooving to :

OMG Bro!! :eek: EVERY One of those songs is HORRENDOUS POP Garbage!!! Maybe you were joking, so if you were I apologize.

[Cry Logic]

I actually like pop music.
And those songs I quoted
above are great IMHO.
I was deadly serious man!
But I accept your apology
anyway....

[Cry Logic]

 

So in your opinion, are these songs as strong as ZZ Top, Parliament, The Eagles, bla bla bla?

 

 

ZZ Top are so old and worn out I can hardly listen to them any more,

that old boogie/blues shtick just doesn't do it for me any more....

 

Parliament was never my cup of tea... I never grokked that groove man.

 

The Eagles are a timeless classic band and I would put them a class

above most of the acts I mention above. But they are old and dated

now and more or less irrelevant to current trends.

 

The acts I mentioned are where it's at today.

 

The only full album I'm digging out of the acts I mention above

is Nelly Furtados "Loose".... Timbalands production on that one is

amazing.

 

I just love "This Ain't a Scene it's a Goddamned Arms Race".

Plain and simple loved it 1st time I heard it.

 

And Timberlakes "What goes around Comes Around" is a very interesting

production IMHO, mixing a loop of what sounds like some kind of middle

eastern stringed instrument with a string arrangement playing the same

motif... and not one cymbal in the entire tune....Brilliant!

Interestingly another Timbaland production.... I didn't know that when I

1st heard it so I guess I'm a fan of Timbaland... he just seems to get it

so right to me.

 

The Pink tune ...well it just rocks and I love her "Stick it to 'em" attitude.

I really like her "Nobody Knows" tune as well ... there's a moment in that

one where she reaches a Janis Joplin like intensity that just sends me...

 

And the Good Charlotte song is just so different it stands out like dogs balls.

The dead pan white boy rap over the riffing guitar is a great idea and it works

for me....

 

What can I say?

I like pop music.

I like modern pop music.

It's not the only music I like.

I like Django Reinhardt, Gustav Holsts' Planet Suite,

and the occasional Psytrance tune as well.

 

I like lot's of different music.

 

But in this thread we're talking about top 40 pop and

those above are some of the ones I like.

 

It's too early to tell whether they'll be stayers or not.

[Lee Knight]

Fretwizz, I'm with you. I'm open to all music including current pop music. I'm one of the few people on the planet actually buying CDs from the current roster on a regular basis. As opposed to stealing it or just "watching it".

Still...

The current team is no where near the caliber of legends gone by. Of Top 40 gone by. I respect your opinion and agree to a certain extent. But I'll have to side with the older as being the more accomplished and of having a staying power that the new guard does not possess.

[UstadKhanAli]

I've purchased somewhere around 10-12 CDs in the last month. I know I'm supposed to be downloading stuff now... Seriously, the stuff I purchase is typically not available as downloads.

[Cry Logic]

The current team is no where near the caliber of legends gone by. Of Top 40 gone by.

My parents were saying very similar things when I was 14/15 years old
and listening to Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream etc etc
I remember playing John Lennons ColdTurkey and Mum just freaking out.

I respect your opinion and agree to a certain extent. But I'll have to side with the older as being the more accomplished and of having a staying power that the new guard does not possess.

I respect your opinion as well but I'm not so sure about the level of
accomplishment required now as opposed to then, being more or less.
Things are different now and the requirements are different.
I give todays music just as much credibility as yesteryears.
I genuinely like those songs I mentioned above.
I only ever listen to commercial radio when I'm in a car and ,
as far as top 40 goes, those songs are cool.

[Cry Logic]

I've purchased somewhere around 10-12 CDs in the last month. I know I'm supposed to be downloading stuff now... Seriously, the stuff I purchase is typically not available as downloads.

The other day, one of the young fellers I work with gave me 14 DVDs with
60 Gb of MP3s his mate downloaded from the net.
More or less the entire history of Pop/Rock from the Beach Boys
and the Beatles to Pink and Christina Aguilera.

Am I wrong to listen to that music?