where do you think popular music is headed?

[jimbyjoe]

i don't know if all of you follow pop/rock music that is really current or not. but those of you who do (and don't), where do you think popular music is going? (i know this isn't direcly relating to keyboard music).

 

i've noticed in the last few years that rap & hip-hop have been surging up. music still seems to be getting heavier, starting off with korn and now with wanker-loser bands like slipknot and rammstein, and somewhat decent bands like alien ant farm, limp bizkit (??), blink 182 etc etc, whether it be alternative or rock/punk.

 

as for strict top 40? are keyboards making a grander appearance than before? i've never heard a piano intro like "drops of jupiter" (train) in a song since probably ben folds five (and he has a new album out too). i am relating to the australian charts but remember we get the best of what the US has. i said in another thread that kylie minogue's new album "fever" is really going back to 80's electronic pop (do you guys like her over there - if there's any english forum members they'll most probably love her). it's 80's electronic pop but mixed with modern stuff like heaps of filter sweeps, various fx etc. and robbie williams? a good amount of keys in his music, superbly supplied by guy chambers. (just on the side, for a pop act, he has heaps of acoustic guitar and not heaps of electronic stuff, except for Rock DJ and similar songs).

 

has anyone got any comments? i know music is so wide in genres at the moment, but i'm trying to narrow it down to what you'd hear in the top 10/top 50.

please post your opinions. cheers.

pray for peace,

k

[Intheether]

I don't listen to top 40 radio...but it seems to me 'popular' music goes in 20 year cycles. So it wouldn't suprise me if the 80's sound does come back. Lots of the analog sounds we're hearing are remminiscent of 80's style. It seemed in the 90's bellbottoms and kc and the Sunshine band made a hip little resurgance, and hippy culture was alive and licking in the 80s...

I think there's going to be a huge backlash against 'boybands'. Maybe it's wishful thinking but it's really time for a new sound, not cookie-cutter, record company manipulated pretty faces. I don't think Limp Bizit really counts b/c as far as I'm concerned all those nu-metal bands are doing what Rage against the Machine did years ago, they've just hit a bigger nerve with the kids.

I think because of the internet, the underground 'electronic' scene, mass communcation and fanzines - that top 40 radio is not even an accurate assesment of what people are really listening to. Popular radio and MTV are geared towards the under 18 crowd, not adults. Even the hip hop they play seems so sterile and stereotypical - the gold chains, the booty, and I swear all new rap videos are cadilac escalade commercial in disguise. I hope that radio will open it's doors to new styles, but the prospects are grim as (in America anyway) money dictates the playlists, not taste. ~nel

[Roto]

Originally posted by nelz:

I think there's going to be a huge backlash against 'boybands'.

 

I think it's starting. I was watching Mad TV last weekend and they did this bit called "Kids Love Wigs" They just took a bunch of kids backstage and had them play with the wigs they use on the show. They asked this one little girl (maybe 6 years old)if she liked wigs more than N'Sync, she said "No way!" Then he asked her if she liked wigs more than The Backstreet Boys and she said yes!

So there is hope!

[RABid]

Rap is already starting its decline into old school. Like everything else you have the following stages.

 

1. Someone with lots of talent gives notoriety to a new style.

2. Record companies sign every person they see that plays that style.

3. The style struggles because so much trash is published.

4. The industry matures. As more people develop an ear for the new style the good and bad are separated.

5. The new style flourishes.

6. People look for something new.

 

It happened in country music, rock, soul, rap, most every style I can remember. The same thing happens with playing or singing styles. Hammer style guitar leads were popular for a while, but few solos of this type had any imagination or real talent. When so many decided to sing like a black soul singer we were, and still are, bombarded with people jerking notes around. Some excellent singer can quickly move around in scale and key, but most of what you hear is just random pitch than never stops long enough to register as a bad note.

 

What is next? Well, all styles of music have been pushed to the hard edge. The first hard edge band I heard was Vanilla Fudge oh so long ago. I think the trance/house movement will follow Rap into the popular charts. After that, who knows?

[soapbox]

Whatever comes next, it will be a rejection of what is out now. For example, the grunge and hip hop that was popular in the early and mid-nineties was a rejection of the big, highly produced eighties sound. Then Hanson and the Spice Girls began the current phase with a rejection of the negativity and rawness of the Seattle sound and rap.

 

However, as the popularity of Top 40 radio continues to wane, older styles continue to evolve even when abandoned by airplay. That's why bands like Papa Roach (which clearly have descended from both hip hop and grunge) thrive, even though what we hear on Top 40 radio is Britney Spears. That's why whatever comes next will also coincide with an evolution of what is out now.

 

My two cents.

[coren]

im not to sure but i think pop culture will deviate into two strands...

 

from where i sit and those i surround myself with, the current top 40 is nothing more than premade crap with NOTHING real to say, no heart no soul NO MUSIC

im certain alot of people feel this way about britney/boybands/freddurst, so one strand will completly avoid top 40 and everything publisized....

 

but there are those that love the pop scene, that float in the hazy world of connections between britney backstreet and christina, and im not sure that they'll let go

i think they MAY evolve eventually... to what i dont know

 

until then music will remain sepreated between fake and real

 

ive heard the term "ignorence is bliss"

it seems like a hell to me but for some...

whatever floats their boat

[SFOracle]

I don't know where to start - so I'll just ramble. Video has certainly pushed pretty faces over good music for years. It is pretty sad to thing that Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and many other artists (even if their styles were current) would not be considered pretty or sexy enough to crack the charts if they were just starting out today, but Desitiny's Child, N'Sync and Britteny Spears are stars.

 

Another problem (not that this is new) is the extent to which a few large entities control the broadcast and distribution channels. Radio play lists are so short, that even good tunes get so over played that I end up hating them. I don't watch MTV, but I assume the same problem exists there. The Internet was supposed to be the great dis-intermediary, but at least for music, this has not yet born out. There are no shortage of places to buy or download music from independent artists, but without the broadcast channel to promote unsigned artists, their music just does not sell, regardless of how good it is. Internet radio was supposed to be the next thing but you can't get internet radio in your car, and the sound quality of streaming audio is pretty much crap.

[coren]

then again, perspective is everything

eye of the beholder

[spinichARF]

i hope we get the ass-pumpin grooves of crystal method with the in-your-face, nails-against-the-chalkboard grind of bands like coal chamber, and the anything-goes-as-long-as-its-fucked-up attitude toward recording that the beastie boys have... that would be a neat style of music, but as long as they put it out with intentions on good live performance. ive yet to see that many bands that do anything special at a concert, most of em just play the songs as if they're at rehersal or something...

[coren]

Originally posted by spinichARF:

i hope we get the ass-pumpin grooves of crystal method with the in-your-face, nails-against-the-chalkboard grind of bands like coal chamber, and the anything-goes-as-long-as-its-fucked-up attitude toward recording that the beastie boys have... that would be a neat style of music, but as long as they put it out with intentions on good live performance. ive yet to see that many bands that do anything special at a concert, most of em just play the songs as if they're at rehersal or something...

 

id be stoked

why dont you start it

begin a movement

can hire me as a bassplayer heh heh

[Slowly]

I don`t really listen to none of that crap out there. I either listen to gospel or the old school stations. I do let my kids listen to their stuff when we are together, but every cd sounds as if the same group or person is singing. They can tell them apart, I can`t. So at this point I have to say its headed no where. All the crooners are all tenors and all the girls are alto. All the hip-hoppers sound "DUMB". Thats just my opinion, yours may differ! Casey

[graypencil]

Well ...( ahem ) .. ( gag ) ... uhh ...

 

"pop" music ..as promoted by the accountants and tone deaf suits who run the major labels, the media, and all the high dollar areas ..will go where it's been going for years ..

 

( unprintable response )

 

"real" music ..be it AOR, Jazz , Fusion , "Quiet Storm" R&B, electronica, ambient, experimental ..every real musical idiom in good taste you can think of ..

 

will continue to be disseminated thru insiders with little in the way of economic clout to support it ..

 

I hope eventually the Inet devises a way to help these kind of people WITHOUT ripping off their creative royalties ala Napster and its offshoots ..

 

Music SHOULD NOT be free !!!.. the creators gotta eat too!

[dansouth]

I think there are cycles. The current trend of hyper-produced, super compressed, micro edited, totally Auto-tuned "product" will give way to a more organic, possibly acoustic sound. Then someone will get nostalgic for the 90's sound, and Auto-tune will make a huge comeback. But no one can predict the frequency and duration of these cycles. Demographics, like the aging of the baby boomers may play a role, but boomer taste are so unspecific that you can't predict much more than an occasional flurry of nostalgia.

 

On the other hand, there will always be fresh upstarts with new things to say, and there will always be corporate "manufactured" pop acts. Monkees, Partridge Family, etc. This crap is nothing new. It will always be with us, just as crime and cockroaches will always be with us.

 

The bottom line is that you can't predict where it's going to go. The big sellers of 2006 are people that you've never heard of. The big sellers of 2011 are people that THEY'VE never heard of. Venture a guess? Heck, you might as well call Miss Cleo.

[Bucktunes]

Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com:

I think there are cycles. The current trend of hyper-produced, super compressed, micro edited, totally Auto-tuned "product" will give way to a more organic, possibly acoustic sound.

 

Well, that's happened at least once so far, as recently as `90. Audiences were getting bored with "power ballads" and overproduced dance pop. Then the Milli Vanilli thing happened, and all of a sudden everyone was going "unplugged". Now it's come full circle again with alternative rock starting to sound more generic, and made-to-order pop stars lip-synching.

 

Another thing I've noticed in the last 20 years or so is that when pop starts getting stale, country music surges in popularity, at least for a few years. We should be due for the next Garth Brooks any day now!

 

Peace all,

Steve

[Felix_dup1]

1. Someone with lots of talent gives notoriety to a new style.

2. Record companies sign every person they see that plays that style.

3. The style struggles because so much trash is published.

4. The industry matures. As more people develop an ear for the new style the good and bad are separated.

5. The new style flourishes.

6. People look for something new.

 

hmmm... I always kinda thought of it like this:

1. Someone with lots of talent gives notoriety to a new style.

2. Record companies sign every person they see that plays that style.

3. As the style matures, the market becomes saturated with sound-alike artists.

4. The various artists material becomes indistinguishable from each other.

5. The new style implodes and the public abandons it in favor of a new fresh style.

 

Examples: Big Hair Metal in the late 80's, Grunge in the 90's, the current Boy Band scene.

 

Seems like as the pop scene implodes, the singer-songwriter scene is enjoying a resurgence (e.g. David Gray, Train). But the Hip Hop/Rap scene looks unstoppable right now. There has been enough evolution musically to keep the audience's interest.

 

Personally, I'd like to think that elements of electronica will continue to make their way into the mainstream, but I don't know if it's ever going to be the "next big thing."

[Bobro]

Klaus Nomi, Lene Lovich and Nina Hagen revival coming soon.

 

The world is waiting for a cool jazz (not Fuzak) virtuoso with an unusual instrument such as bass clarinet, baritone horn or viola. Just listen to some "electronica" stuff along the lines of TripHop and you'll hear what I mean.

 

Were Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat the most beautiful, stylish and "simpatico" lead couple since B+W movies or what? Kickass soundtrack, right? If the pop music industry doesn't capitalize somehow on the fire stoked by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, that's just pitiful.

 

There will be some kind of "Middle Eastern" hit or trend in the US, with both tokenistic and genuine aspects. Some upper-middle-class college boys will sell their campfire chords by talking about their Sufi influences, while some musicians will be honestly intrigued and discover whole worlds of different musics in the Middle East.

 

Record companies will figure out "that top 40 radio is not even an accurate assesment of what people are really listening to" as Nelz says, and respond by using "anti-terrorist" and "anti-pornography" laws as an excuse to try to eliminate Internet competition, giving rise to the biggest anti-establishment music scene in history.

 

Visions seen in the crystal ball or paranoia from an 8-ball of crystal meth? Time will tell.

 

-CB

 

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: Bobro ]

[jimbyjoe]

thank you to all of you's for comments.

quote from felix:

 

"But the Hip Hop/Rap scene looks unstoppable right now."

 

i agree with the rap scene - it's not a style of music, it's a literal way of life. i have a friend who has lived, breathed, worn, eaten, listened to, played and become rap/hip-hop for the last 10 YEARS. and now that it's more mainstream he's loving it.

 

i'm reading a book on songwriting at the moment by a well-known songwriter/composer. he encourages song writers to not stick to one genre, but to go to different ones. of course that's correct, but i believe it differs when it comes to rap. rap is not just stringing a whole lot of skillfully crafted rhymes together. i can't imagine a songwriter, no matter how successful they are, writing a song with the passion (if that's the word) of eminem's "stan" (no i don't like the song, but it's got passion - of a bad type). i think rap is going to always be around for years and years to come, because it is a culture. sure it evolves, but it is a culture.

 

quote by felix: "Seems like as the pop scene implodes, the singer-songwriter scene is enjoying a resurgence (e.g. David Gray, Train)." kewl!!!! maybe i'll be the next piano-playing rock star to come out of australia (have we had any??....)

 

pray for peace,

k

[RobT]

Very good thread. Here's my .02 cents.

 

I think those you control the means of distribution (broadcast, internet, etc) often have too much control of that the masses seem to hear.

 

I mainly listen to gospel, jazz, an old school station if I can find one or some classical. I have two daughters one is eight and the other is 15 mos. The eight year old is into the current boy band thing that her school mates are into. I personally think it is silly mindless crap. But I guess the stuff I listened to growing up my parents thought was crap too. I really don't allow her to listen to most rap. We have cable with MTV, BET, VH1 etc. I don't think that it is appropriate for young ears or eyes. There are a few that I think are saying something or may have production qualities that catch my ears. Jill Scott, The Roots, D'Angelo, Alicia Keyes, Lucy Pearl and Black Eyed Peas come to mind. You rarely hear any of them on the radio. When was the last time you heard Lenny Kravitz on an 'Urban' station. If it weren't for some older cousins really being into guitar and music I may not have known about Hendrix until quite later. Most of the newer R n B stuff nowadays is just not happening. Maybe I am getting older or maybe a lot of this stuff is just crap. Rapcore, current metal and alternative is not me anymore.

 

Seems like the pop-music scene is a lot like our current mircowave culture. In that a lot of artists come out before they are ready, do not hone their craft or appear to pay any dues and seem a little undone. With the current recording technology and the ability to put nearly twice as much music on the current medium as you could twenty to twenty-five years ago currently allows for a lot of so-so music.

 

I have always been into soundtracks and theme music since the first time I heard the theme from the old Ironsides tv show as a little kid. The current state of affairs in this medium I think is great. There is a lot of beautiful music being put out in this genre. I like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon stuff. The title theme from American Beauty is great. There are a lot of independent films and videography that have music that is simply breathtaking. Some of this stuff is on the net some of it is not.

 

I agree that World Music influences may have the potential to influence the current state of popular music. Fareed Haque and Birelli Lagrene are both amazing guitarists. Middle Eastern sounds, Afro, Brazilian and Indian pop have some interesting things going on. So there is a lot of variety out there. Will the means of distribution (broadcast, internet, etc) be available to some of them? Only time and big $$ will tell. Me, I'll stick to what I like and add the some of the NPR programming into the mix and keep my ears and ideas open.

 

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: RobT ]

[coren]

it sounds like there should be only one solution to our problem;

 

we should ship the current pop scene out onto a deserted island of the coast of Cuba and genetically manufacture some dinosaurs

[Felix_dup1]

we should ship the current pop scene out onto a deserted island of the coast of Cuba

But then what would everyone here complain about?

[coren]

computer crashes!

Pro tools demo is the devil!!

[jimbyjoe]

robT, good point about alicia keys grabbing your attention. i don't personally like her style (it's either because i don't like beethoven meets r&b, or i'm jealous that she's making it - probably the latter), but she obviously has something new happening - and she's a pianist!!!!

 

 

quote (robt): "Seems like the pop-music scene is a lot like our current mircowave culture. In that a lot of artists come out before they are ready, do not hone their craft or appear to pay any dues and seem a little undone."

 

i've thought this for a while and i may be wrong, but i personally believe the wallflowers were a little before their time. they were great - very musically creative. the keyboardist was pretty kewl.

 

pray for peace,

k

[Cowfingers]

Have people not noticed that the current top 40 (UK in particular) is just riddled with covers and sampled songs (with some punk kid droning on over it)?

True original music is dead in the main stream methinks!

-starfucker

[RobT]

Originally posted by jimbyjoe:

 

i've thought this for a while and i may be wrong, but i personally believe the wallflowers were a little before their time. they were great - very musically creative. the keyboardist was pretty kewl.

 

[/QB]

 

Yeah, I agree about the Wallflowers they were pretty happening. I didn't want to come off like NOBODY was doing anything interesting. Its just that pop-music like radio and the video channels seem so 'controlled' and 'marketed' and 'control studied' that it is ridiculous. Create by demographic and committee seems to be the norm.

[tenthplanet]

Not only is top 40 not an accurate measure of what people are listening to, but in any large (and not so large) American city there is quite a lot to listen to on the radio that is not top 40 music. What about club dance music ( I won't list all the styles ) most of it will never be heard on the radio and yet it survives. With mult-disc changers in the car who needs the radio. Mp-3 portables..who needs the radio.

Make the music that inspires you; moves others; and go find your audience.

Sooo. Where is popular music going? We don't know and maybe now we don't even have to care. Record companies are worried and so possibly broadcasters. Let them worry....

 

Michael

[erpeewee]

Originally posted by coren5555:

im certain alot of people feel this way about britney/boybands/freddurst, so one strand will completly avoid top 40 and everything publisized....

 

 

well, britney is ok as long as she doesn't sing....

 

i stopped hoping for any good new songs a long time ago. Once in a while something nice comes out, but that usually doesn't make the charts.

 

Ronald