Many of you may, or may not, be fans of today's "Pop" culture "Music". But all of you know what Mainstream Rap sounds like. Ya, it's border line crap. Take Justin Bieber for example. Lets go get some preteen junior high student who can sing like a girl and put him in a video with Usher and throw in some girls too. wow, change my facebook status to dead inside.
But seriously. It really frustrates me to even talk about how Music is being stripped of its originality and verbally raped from all these wanna be stars. Give some black guy who can hit a high note an auto tune and a synthesizer, he'll make millions. Just take a bass line, toss a bunch of chicks singing about sex or something, you have a "music video"?! WTF is that??? *sigh... F@#! you America. f@#! you.
Because of Auto-Tune you don't NEED talent to make millions of dollars. Back then, you needed talent to make music/money, whichever you were interested in.
I particularly don't like what 'mainstream' pop media has become, but I also can't say I listen to metal and I hope that doesn't make me some kind of wuss. Everyone should know that you're never going to find good music without looking. The underground artists are the best. That being said, I'm more of a house/electronica person.
Anyway, I have a feeling that a good majority of teenagers don't even know anything different than what's being shoveled through pop radio and TV nowadays. Good music is good music no matter what genre you prefer.
There are some new bands like white wizard and merciless death that are helping to keep to old school alive underground and I have a lot of respect for them, but it will never be like the 80's. The entire metal scene at that time was just mind blowing and innovative. It was all new and original back then.
Personally I think Pop Mainstream 'music' isn't there for being good music, but is purely and simply entertainment. You can keep a party going for hours playing it, it doesn't have to be good. Just make it sound melodious or sad or give a good rhythm to it. Fortunately there will always be people who make/like real good music, the best of every genre will always keep on going and so I don't care what music the masses listen to, I know where to get my own^^
That is so true especially with modern death metal. There are a couple old school death metal bands I love like Death and Massacre. I would say Possessed is my favorite, but they lean more toward thrash.
I'm kind of confused by this thread. Are we assuming that Pop Music hasn't expanded on the formulas that have been successful for decades, or are we saying that Pop Music has hit an all-time low?
As far as Justin Beiber is concerned, he's part of a tradition that's been going on since as least as early as Michael Jackson and his siblings were on the scene, where young talented kids get their name out early and are given the opportunity to become pop legends. I'm sure not everyone cared for the Jackson 5 when they first became a household name, but look at Michael Jackson now. Pop Music may not have deviated far from the formula that made it so profitable when it first started out, but that's kind of the idea, as far as I can tell. They take catchy lyrics and simple beats and weave them together, then rake in the cash. It might not be the most meaningful way of earning a buck, but you have to recognize how much time and effort these companies have put into trying to create a sound that has universal appeal. If we are to say that Music as a whole is at an all-time low, I may have to disagree as well. Every decade has had its fair share of terrible bands and one-hit wonders, and we are no exception. The concept is the same, the appeal is the same, and therefore the market has no reason to change itself. In any case, without Pop Music, those underground artists and bizarre genres wouldn't be quite as inviting. If Radiohead's entire discography got the kind of air time that Justin Beiber's 3-4 tunes have had, I can guarantee we'd all have a different perspective of THAT band, for better or worse
