Music's Lost Decade

[TheDoc9]

The 90's is the lost decade with the exception of rap. The 70's and 80's are already pretty much irrelevant. In fact, one of my old favorite bands; GNR, just didn't withstand the test of time. They're all slowly going out just like all the previous groups before them.

I think music has become much better lyrically and technically. Lady Gaga is a perfect example. Completely manufactured, every lryic and sound specifically placed with the dedication of a scientist. The structure of the songs build in 3-4 parts, then start again, it's basically a wave pattern to create an emotional response that gives just enough and keeps the listener vibing.

Most song writers can never grasp this, they'll never get ahead of the curve and write a hit. It isn't because they're really good and haven't gotten discovered, it's because they don't understand the structure of popular music, and the competition is more fierce now than at anytime in the past.

Take a look at these lryics:

:::The doors - light my fire:::
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
ect.

vs:

:::Kesha - Tik Tok (todays 1 on the top 40 list)::::
Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
(Hey, what up girl?)
Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit this city
(Lets go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
'Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back

I'm talking pedicure on our toes, toes
Trying on all our clothes, clothes
Boys blowing up our phones, phones
Drop-topping, playing our favorite CDs
Pulling up to the parties
Trying to get a little bit tipsy

Don't stop, make it pop
ect.

Notice how many versus it took just to get to the chorus. The lyrics of either song are nothing spectacular, but the kesha song is much more "complex" compared to the doors song. Both describe an action anyone could take and easily understand, the kesha song takes much longer to describe it and build it up. Probably wasn't even written by her. You can do this with any modern song versus an oldie. As time goes on the competition to write music that keeps peoples interests only increases. If anything music has gotten better.

And of course this doesn't even get into the beats and tones themselves which blow away most music before the 90's.

 

[werepossum]

Funny, you think Lady Gaga is a scientific songstress writing artful ditties about getting drunk and partying, and I think she's an ugly pre-op who makes loud annoying noises in public. All music, like all art, is subjective.

 

[Ns1]

text

You had me until "Lady GaGa"

Why don't we try that comparison again, except maybe this time Dream Theater - Dark Eternal Knight

IMHO it's template bullshit designed to appease the masses and make a buck.

That said, I'm only hatin' online. If I had the skills I'd sell out too.

 

[Munky]

I have a theory that a lot of the popular music today isn't meant to be actively "listened to" but rather just blaring in the background at a party or a gym.

 

[nageov3t]

I have a theory that a lot of the popular music today isn't meant to be actively "listened to" but rather just blaring in the background at a party or a gym.

"I make soulless electronic pop. But when you're in a nightclub grinding up against someone and my music comes on, you'll feel soul." -Lady Gaga

 

[nageov3t]

Funny, you think Lady Gaga is a scientific songstress writing artful ditties about getting drunk and partying, and I think she's an ugly pre-op who makes loud annoying noises in public. All music, like all art, is subjective.

Lady Gaga is genius. you just have to look at her as a performance artist more than a musician (though she has music cred too... she's a pretty good singer, was admitted to juilliard, etc)

 

[Infohawk]

Lady Gaga is genius. you just have to look at her as a performance artist more than a musician (though she has music cred too... she's a pretty good singer, was admitted to juilliard, etc)

I don't dispute that she isn't smart or musically capable, but I don't see any of this come out in what she does. Her songs are like annoying radio jingles that get stuck in your head, e.g. poker face. It's catchy but it's really a retarded song if you think about it. But then again some people probably think the same thing about the Beatles.

 

[Ns1]

Lady Gaga is genius. you just have to look at her as a performance artist more than a musician (though she has music cred too... she's a pretty good singer, was admitted to juilliard, etc)

Do you think we'll all be pumping "Poker Face" in 15 years?

 

[LumbergTech]

every generation thinks things are going down the drain
whether it be morality or music...

its subjective..

its just noises that make people feel a certain way

just like words

 

[nageov3t]

Do you think we'll all be pumping "Poker Face" in 15 years?

it wouldn't surprise me at all to see today's pop stars get played on tomorrow's oldies stations.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Do you think we'll all be pumping "Poker Face" in 15 years?

That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh)
I like it (uh-huh, uh-huh)
Still on the radio now...

 

[CallMeJoe]

Anyone who says there's no interesting new music isn't looking, or is restricting their boundaries.
Oumou Sangare, Toumani Diabate, Joanna Newsom, Tinariwen, Gogol Bordello...

 

[werepossum]

Lady Gaga is genius. you just have to look at her as a performance artist more than a musician (though she has music cred too... she's a pretty good singer, was admitted to juilliard, etc)

Well, I did briefly once see her dancing (or being electrocuted, it was hard to tell) in what appeared to a dress made of hula hoops strung with fabric. She tried to sit and play the piano only to discover she could not actually sit in that contraption. That was pretty amusing in a 'possum-with-its-head-caught-in-a-beer-can-holder-ring way, although unlike the 'possum I felt no desire to free her after a good laugh. There's a fine line between genius and idiot; perhaps she had been pushed over it right before I tuned in and only escaped back to genius afterward.

 

[Zorba]

That's an unfair comparison. As time passes it gets infinitely harder to be more "original." Everything has been thought up of and tried, whether it's music, movies, or even business ideas.

This is especially true for porn

 

[fleshconsumed]

This is especially true for porn

Uhmmmmm... have you seen 70's/80's porn?

 

[Zorba]

Uhmmmmm... have you seen 70's/80's porn?

Yeah, porn was quite innovating in the 90's, but now it seems they've ran out of ideas

 

[sciwizam]

That's an unfair comparison. As time passes it gets infinitely harder to be more "original." Everything has been thought up of and tried, whether it's music, movies, or even business ideas.

This is especially true for porn

Rule 34 strikes again

 

[sciwizam]

Just to name a few examples:

Within Temptation...
Alchemilla, a local Boston band
To-Mera, from the UK
Echoes of Eternity, a local band from Cali

:thumbsup:

 

[Robor]

Funny, you think Lady Gaga is a scientific songstress writing artful ditties about getting drunk and partying, and I think she's an ugly pre-op who makes loud annoying noises in public. All music, like all art, is subjective.

So true... Lady Gaga is horrible.

 

[StageLeft]

Yeah, porn was quite innovating in the 90's, but now it seems they've ran out of ideas

2g1c?

 

[TheSlamma]

The music industry needs to just about give up on CD sales and stop using it as a measurement. While I think there are some hits produced today a big difference is new artists don't produce albums where you can put the needle down and walk away and enjoy the entire thing unless it's a greatest hits or a soundtrack. This is why I think things like iTunes really is the best distribution for newer music anyway, buy the artists one hit and not get stuck with all their filler crap. I'd love to see a new age artist put 90% hits on a single album like Thriller or Rumors. That is of course if the whole thing doesn't sound like it was made in his living room on a Casio

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

everything is a rip off of everything else... if you think the bands of the 1960's were unique and original, listen to some classic Elvis or Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley. and even those guys just gave jazz a harder edge.

Or Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon, Charlie Christian, Django, Buddy Guy, BB King and if you really want to go all the way back. Robert Johnson.

 

[Borealis7]

Pop songs (Poop songs) come and go.

\m/ METAL IS FOREVER! \m/

you are all so "continental US". you dont see the world outside.
the Scandinavian metal scene has exploded in the past 10 years in an exponential rate and produced many metal legends that will be remembered for many years to come by loyal fans.

unlike pop fans who just go by whatever lady-boy-named-after-a-drink tells them to.

 

[daishi5]

I know you said you aren't on the net that much but I stay give Pandora a try anyway. Go to pandora.com and setup a 'station'. You can input a few of your favorite artists and it will play songs from them and similar bands you may like. Hear a song you like? Give it a thumbs up. Hear a song you don't like? Give it a thumbs down and it will never play again. I found a few artists I like this way.

I did this, found several artists I like. I bought several songs from their links as well. To my shame I discovered I like Brittney Spears new music.

 

[CallMeJoe]

...the Scandinavian metal scene has exploded in the past 10 years in an exponential rate and produced many metal legends that will be remembered for many years to come by loyal fans...

All five of them...