unpopular opinion about modern recordings

A band member many moons ago told me something I never forgot when we were arguing over how simple our material sounded (to which I hated).

He told me, 'Simple Sells.'

This is modern 'pop' music. Much of which is just one long chorus over and over and over and over and over again, with voice effects to a point where it sounds like dance pop noise (the kind that gives you a headache - WTH is that noise?!?!?! Turn it OFF!).

I seek out new material under alternative rock. BUT IMHO (I dig jazz, FUNK, R&B and good ole Rock and Roll!) the best music ever recorded has already happened so frankly I don't need to look far. Music streaming services have incredible libraries to choose from.
 
Syncopated_1 said:
A band member many moons ago told me something I never forgot when we were arguing over how simple our material sounded (to which I hated).

He told me, 'Simple Sells.'

This is modern 'pop' music. Much of which is just one long chorus over and over and over and over and over again, with voice effects to a point where it sounds like dance pop noise (the kind that gives you a headache - WTH is that noise?!?!?! Turn it OFF!).

I seek out new material under alternative rock. BUT IMHO (I dig jazz, FUNK, R&B and good ole Rock and Roll!) the best music ever recorded has already happened so frankly I don't need to look far. Music streaming services have incredible libraries to choose from.
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Yep. When my daughter was younger I'd cringe when going into a clothing store at the mall because of the pop music that was blasting from the ceiling. Certainly no odd-meter prog rock or fusion jazz being played. Simple sells indeed.
 
Chris Whitten said:
It's a constant cliche that gets repeated in a thoughtless way. There has never been more greed than the tech industry and its treatment of music. For most of my career in music the industry took it's profits from FleetwoodMac, The Eagles, The Osmonds etc and invested it back into new young artists, or left field artists like Tom Waits and Frank Zappa.
In the 70's many, many drummers put out solo albums. Who is doing that now?
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The industry is only promoting those artist that they know will make them money.
Before, in the 70s 80s and even 90s, a mostly unknown band could play at a club and get discovered by a music label and get a contract. That doesn't happen much anymore if at all. Now bands have to be already going somewhere and have a decent following before even being considered for a contract because the industry is all about making money and could care less about artists and real art.
 
joedrum said:
It seems to me that for the most part in regard to pop music it's the music that sells the song and not the lyrics. In religious music it's often the opposite.
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I still feel like in pop, the music is the least important thing...the subject matter of the lyrics is the most...it is what sells pop. The same old tropes restated in the latest colloquialisms....and sadly, the music even takes 3rd chair to the "dancing" in many forms of pop

but I definitely agree with you about religious music in any form or era....
 
cbphoto said:
And working hard at it. Prolly not as satisfying as making an album with his own band.
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The thing about being a full time "Content Creator" is that, you have to constantly create content, or be forgotten in a day or two. He has enough content to remain relevant for a while, but people are greedy and want more, so imagine having to come up with some new product on a daily basis? What can he do that he hasn't done yet?

1 More original music
2 Interviews with HIS drum idols (of which HE is their idol)
3 Tutorials in short mode, like how to do (insert technique here) Yes I know he is in Drumeo, but he could put some short version of something in his channel.
3 Review Gear (Like every other YouTuber) and give us his honest opinion
4 Show us some of his live gigs
5 Do a blog about "A day in the life" starting with himself and moving on to other drummers.

There are more things but those are the ones I came up with for now.

I declined YouTube partnership over 12 years ago because I just didn't have the time (or desire) to have to constantly upload. I upload when I want to and that is fine with me.
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I still feel like in pop, the music is the least important thing...the subject matter of the lyrics is the most...it is what sells pop. The same old tropes restated in the latest colloquialisms....and sadly, the music even takes 3rd chair to the "dancing" in many forms of pop

but I definitely agree with you about religious music in any form or era....
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True in all counts if we go by the example of Reggaeton.
The "music" is the same (at least the drum beat) on EVERY SINGLE SONG.
People like that because they can dance to it.
The lyrics are definitely more important than the music because they are the only thing that makes one song different from another.
Yes I know there are other instruments being played but in general the music is much the same.
 
It's the way it is that era of Music- with the Cigar smoking record execs finding and signing bands --is just about over. People take their hands off steering wheels these days.
Do young people need a new band to emotionally associate with as it once was anymore and if they do they've already chosen them; there's just no more stones (no pun) to be turned over
(lol)
we're heading for a different emotional future than there was-- sort of reflected in a 69 film 2001 a Space Odyssey
we stay indoors push a button make some clicks and food is delivered- what is it cyber world- car will pick you up to travel no driver - it's not four guys in a band with a B3 anymore.. That's nostalgia. And don't get me wrong Nostalgia probably has maybe a good 75-100 years left...
 
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Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I still feel like in pop, the music is the least important thing...the subject matter of the lyrics is the most...it is what sells pop. The same old tropes restated in the latest colloquialisms....and sadly, the music even takes 3rd chair to the "dancing" in many forms of pop

but I definitely agree with you about religious music in any form or era....
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I get what you're saying but what about a song like Sugar Sugar? To me it's the simple upbeat melody and hooks that drove that song to number one in 69. The words could have been anything so long as the vocals were sung in the same manner. But of course there are a million songs we could each point to. It's a good conversation. And then we get into the whole genre thing also. I can't keep up with the number of genres there are now when looking at my digital library.
 
I think part of it is market research. Yeah, sure, give people what they want. But, the thing is, if you asked people what they wanted in 1962, noone would have described the Beatles. And if you asked people what they wanted in 1965, they might have said 'more Beatles' but they wouldn't have described The White Album, Sgt Pepper, etc.
There is a formula today. And people stick with it.
There are so many Netflix shows that are great for season one. And then they get audience feedback and it just goes downhill.
But, there might be hope. My kids are singing Earth Wind and Fire and Fleetwood Mac songs that they hear on TikTok.
 
One of my spawn loves rap, and he thinks Kendrick Lamar is one of the best at it. Long before Kendrick's Super Bowl show, I watched a video of one of his concerts in Scotland, with a crowd of 200,000+. All the music was pre-recorded. He rapped and "danced'. There were dancers who danced and pranced. There were lights changing colors. It was "enhanced karaoke", aided by dancing and a stage show.

It baffles me that people flock to a fancy karaoke show. Yet, Kendrick is popular and a millionaire. I'm not.

I've challenged my spawn over this for years. He's into words, I'm not. He doesn't care if the "percussion" is computer generated. I prefer acoustic percussion. I send him a video showing Larnell Lewis with Snarky Puppy, claiming this is what talent looks and sounds like. He sends me this ⬇️ (Daru Jones on the SPD-SX). No doubt this is a band. The lyrics are memorized. The rappers are clearly synched. The synth/keyboard players are playing the sounds. I wish all rap concerts had—at minimum—this kind of live sound production.

 
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joedrum said:
I get what you're saying but what about a song like Sugar Sugar? To me it's the simple upbeat melody and hooks that drove that song to number one in 69. The words could have been anything so long as the vocals were sung in the same manner. But of course there are a million songs we could each point to. It's a good conversation. And then we get into the whole genre thing also. I can't keep up with the number of genres there are now when looking at my digital library.
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oh I don't disagree either...maybe I am more meaning the vocal cadence?

but as @doggyd69b mentioned, the only thing that really changes in pop music is the lyrics...or more specifically, modern pop music, so that is more of what I am referencing
 
Trickroll said:
How sad. And ridiculous.
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True, after 50 years of seriously listening to music I am still discovering bands that are doing things that were never done before. Yes electric guitar has been played for over 60 years yet I still find people doing things differently, and it doesn't need to be someone inventing a whole new genre, a simple bend (or a series of bends in the example band's case) are what made them unique, of course now there are others doing those things and perhaps there were others doing it before them but I didn't hear that type of playing before so I attribute it to them.

The first example is a hard riff but what makes it unique are... you guessed it, the guitar bends. And the subtle scrapes that now everyone is doing.

The second example song has the bend too but blends a more pop sound to it so it's not just all about the heaviness

The third song of course has the bends but it is way more pop oriented.

This is only one example of recent bands doing things differently, there are many others.

Closing yourself from new music is indeed sad.



 
cbphoto said:
One of my spawn loves rap, and he thinks Kendrick Lamar is one of the best at it. Long before Kendrick's Super Bowl show, I watched a video of one of his concerts in Scotland, with a crowd of 200,000+. All the music was pre-recorded. He rapped and "danced'. There were dancers who danced and pranced. There were lights changing colors. It was "enhanced karaoke", aided by dancing and a stage show.

It baffles me that people flock to a fancy karaoke show. Yet, Kendrick is popular and a millionaire. I'm not.

I've challenged my spawn over this for years. He's into words, I'm not. He doesn't care if the "percussion" is computer generated. I prefer acoustic percussion. I send him a video showing Larnell Lewis with Snarky Puppy, claiming this is what talent looks and sounds like. He sends me this ⬇️ (Daru Jones on the SPD-SX). No doubt this is a band. The lyrics are memorized. The rappers are clearly synched. The synth/keyboard players are playing the sounds. I wish all rap concerts had—at minimum—this kind of live sound production.

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Back in the day when LL COOL J did concerts he had a full band that literally rocked, I would have gone to one of those concerts because of the band.... the rap was just part of the whole thing.
Of course as we know he didn't make much of a career as a rapper but that was just what he needed to launch into an acting career that he continues to this day.

 
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