h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Asylum Street Spankers are fun. And the other bands SteveK cites are great too. I think that part of the cool thing about the Austin music scene is that there are small radio stations that play and support local acts--and even some of the larger commercial stations play local music in amongst the national charters. So, if you live in Austin, you have constant access to new local stuff. That's not true where I live now. I KNOW that there are good local acts here, but you'd never guess it from the radio.
Hey, SteveK--are the Derailers and the Geezinslaw Brothers still around? (If they are, they almost certainly play Houston...)

why are you all so bitter about "manufactured" music? pop, boy bands, etc.? if you don't like it don't listen to it but apparently lots of people do like it. (myself included... wow, the one good n sync song i know just came on my computer... coincidence? oh well i suppose so. it's called trashn' the camp from tarzan btw)
anyway...
a) popular music = music which is popular. if you don't like music because it is popular that is just as silly as liking music just because it is popular and much less convenient
b) anyone here heard of the monkees? they started off as a manufactured boy band for a tv series and they actually became quite good musicians (IMHO)
c) are you so sure you can tell the difference btw musicians who write their own material and those who don't (or those who play instruments vs. not)? haven't you ever heard a song on the radio or mtv etc. and said, oh that sounds cool, and it ended up that the band who it was 'by' was only singing it? and if not, i bet it is cause of how you find music and the genres you listen to.... try an experiment, and see if you can tell the difference! and if there are genres where most of the music is orginal by the artists, get someone to record covers or karaoke singers and play them for you (double-blind experiment, btw, so the person playing them doesn't know which is which either). if you get good enough musicians in the cover bands or good singers in karaoke i bet you will pick them over the originals.... though that is not to deny the writers credit!
well this was a bit long and rambling i think, just wanted to point out a positive point of view on pop music
oh, and for musical credentials, i'm listening to.... semisonic, alanis morissette, they might be giants, janet jackson, queen, nek (spanish rock band - i was wondering why the spanish hadn't come up yet on random shuffle!)... selena, alabina, happatai, francois hardy, daler mehndi.... lots of random stuff! try it and i bet you will like something!
well i didn't really mean to plug but lots of people do in the music type posts so why not?
ok... i'm REALLY shutting up now...
bye

What?!? I'm old. I most certainly know who The Clash are. I own all of their albums. Even that crappy 'Cut the Crap' album.

I'd love to catch LTJ in London. It's a shame that I'm in New York, though. If I could legally get a job in London, I would move back there in a heartbeat. I loved living there. Well, except for the morning commute. But then, I lived on the Northern Line.

Hawenercook -

I think I've seen the Derailers listed in the Houston Press, a weekly news/entertainment newspaper with the best club listings. Been a while since I've heard of the Geezinslaws, tho.

I think the Gourds are from Austin? I think that's the name, good acoustic sound ... I was watching them at the Satellite Lounge some years ago when the Alcohol cops showed up and shut the bar down, turns out they had missed some paperwork for their liquor license. Kinda put a damper on the show ... but we all got free cigars and tickets to another show ...

And BTW, we now have a bridge in downtown Houston with about 80,000 bats, people gather after sundown to watch them take off

Are we talking "pop" here, or just manufactured bands?

Well, If we're talking manufactured bands and the likes of the really young new one hit wonders, take your Steps, S Club, and your Britney Spears and Will young - All their predicted albums sales must *skyrocket* weeks before its even released!

To be honest - I doubt that anyone over the age of 8 buys (or gets someone to buy) this kind of music - And Whenever you see the likes of Britney spears, Christina Aguileira, or any other new female singers in that sytle on MTV, the box or whathaveyou, I doubt that any male has ever watched the video for anything other than their looks - For instance, if the same song came on the radio, it'd be station-change time...

Well, it would be for me at least.. I can't stand them...

Without going too far back, Real music is still alive! And I'm not talking about Queen's music living on through their fans after Freddie Mercury's untimely demise, or Jimi Hendrix`s living on through his solos or what-have-you... I refer you to the likes of U2, Paul Weller, Embrace, Toploader, Catatonia, Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Moby, Dave Matthews Band, James... and, moving on to some that I'm not a *great* fan of but will listen to them if they're on - Alanis Morisette, Sheryl Crow, Space (The female of the species is more deadlier than the male... dlililioo, do doo doo do doo... )

I don't think Manufactured bands are killing pop music - As long as this is just a musica phase - remember a few years back when not many people you met were "Goths"? When that first arrived and I found out who Marilyn Manson was, It had an impact on me and I made a mental note to stay well away of it - scary man... But now I just see it as being "there"

I hope the same happens soon with all this manufactured bands business... I mean, I wouldn't mind if they actually could sing/dance/write/play properly/at all - It's just they annoy me with their cheapness - In the 70's (I was born in '86 so feel free to rubbish me on this ) The likes of Steps would be bankrupt and forgotten about the next day maybe! How has it survived now?

Perhaps if we ignore it, it will go away... I hope so

unfortunately a few good bands are slightly drifting over to pop... take weezer for example... they're still pretty cool though... Some rock bands are on the most played list but still aren't going pop, and i respect that... And i despise bands that use canned music, and don't really have any of their own talent... oh and has anyone seen that simpsons episode where bart and the guys become pop icons? hehe...

SteveK--

I'm glad to hear the Derailers are still around. I used to see them a lot when I lived in Austin (I moved 5 years ago and everytime I go back something has always changed--glad some of the same bands are going strong! And the liquor license thing, Ah! that hasn't changed. A Texas ritual continues...) I'm not familiar with the Gourds tho'. Must be after my time.

So Houston DOES have bats! I thought it must be a central Texas thing and I'm glad to hear it's more widespread. Watching bats is a delightful way of spending a summer evening.

Is the music scene in Austin (and Houston, and San Antonio, and Dallas) unique? (Could it be the bats?) When I lived in Texas, I would wonder why there were so many people upset that underground music was hard to find. I thought "for heaven's sake, just go out to the clubs, have a beer and listen!" But where I live now, it's much more of a production to get out and see new bands--so my attitude in Texas may have just been the result of special circumstances. Any thoughts?

Yup, the bats are a fairly new addition to Houston's downtown scene, but they are definitely there ... I sat for about two hours recently waiting for the little guys to decide to fly. It was more like a bee swarm than anything else. My wife is a serious birder who goes to Concan, TX occasionally (motto, "Its NOT Cancun"), which I think is the place with a gazillion bats in a huge cave, takes them hours to all get flying at night.

I think Austin is a unique musical spot, but not the other Texas cities. In the case of Houston, there is a big gap between small, accessible clubs (Satellite Lounge, Mucky Duck, Anderson Fair) and the bigger venues (The Summit, Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion, Aerial Theater, the Astrodome . So an act like Todd Snider (a favorite of mine) has to try to do a couple of shows at Mucky Duck (always sold out), but can't move into a LITTLE bigger spot.

You make a good point, though, about "just go". I find myself saying, "I've never heard of this band." So what, just go. I had never heard of Asylum Street Spankers when I asked the door guy, "What kind of music do they play?" He said, "I can't describe it." So I went. For those not familiar with the band, they don't use microphones or electric anything, not even the musical saw . We ended up asking the club to turn off the ventilation fan, it was drowning out the music -- THAT is rare in a rock club.

Here's an interesting fact:- roughly 86% of singles (in GB) are bought by 8-16 year old girls.
hum, now is anyone wondering why cheesy-pop bands do so well?

Seems strange really though that on the rare occasions that a band who's been around a while release a single it sells well. The one in question here is Oasis, ot doing anything for ages, then back in with a bang. Personally I think that they're pretty talentless and would love to see them do a song that wasn't new lyrics over a Beatles melody, but that is purely personal opinion.
As for manufactured music, I'd like to know why the people writing the songs for manufactured bands/artists aren't singing them themselves? Is it because they don't have the right look? Are they not considered fashionable? Maybe it's because the popular music industry has become another extension of the fashion industry?

I think the answer to all your questions is yes.

A couple of years ago, I was talking to an A.R. Man from
Polygram and he said that when demo tapes were sent to him,
if the band biography mentioned anyones age being over 25 years, it instantly got thrown in the bin!!

With that sort of mentality from a person whose job it is to find and cultivate new talent, is it any wonder that 14 year old girls
that have moderate lip synching skills and can dance are in the charts.......

and what is worse, people are buying it!!

Maybe we get what we deserve.

All the Oasis song sound the same to me.
The pop industry is so cruel.
Take the Lightning Seeds for example, they were very successful in the 1990's and then they released an 'experimental' album called "Tilt", it was a lot more dancy than their previous albums, they're sales were minimal, so they were dropped from their record label.

and did you hear that the winner of pop idol... (this will really make you laugh)... is not allowed to have a girlfriend for 5 years! The paranoid record label thinks that if he has a girlfriend that female fans will stop buying his albums!!!
(goes away from the computer for a minute to laugh hysterically at the idiots..)

That shouldn't be too hard. Will Young, the winner of Pop Idol, is an "out" homosexual.

Ooo, the sneaky bugger (no pun intended). I bet he was laughing when he signed that contract...

Ste

The future of 'Pop' music? 'Pop' music (perhaps that should be 'music') will always have a future as long the record companies have the back catalogues of people to plunder! the people who DO write their own songs/music; the people to whom the companies originaly paid a pittance, so the artists WILL allow their stuff to be used.
And here's a thing. How many of these super-duper, best-band-in-the-world artistes will still be around in 10/20/30 years time, still singing others peoples songs? Not many. To quote a survivor, '...and most of these one hit wonders will be just that and, two years down the line couldn't arrested when it comes to playing at .'
There's nothing new under the sun, but there's usually a new way of interpreting it...and making a bob or two while you're at it.

But is that really such a bad thing?
The last truly innovative band in western rock was probably Kraftwerk, and it's thirty years since they released their seminal work, 'Autobahn'. Even they are now boxed in by their own narrowmindedness and the quality of the competition in their chosen field.
Rock'n'roll has never really been about originality, it's nearly always been about making a fast buck.

But why have this cheesiness to it?
Why not go down the route of I hate to say it, but New or even "nu" metal bands now - They've become popular in the last few years, just as much as kids pop (It is, really.. just for 9 year olds...) but there's something, especially with LINKIN PARK - (damn this stupid keyboard can't do backward letters!), that isn't cheesy and so s - club - seven about it..

May I take this opportunity to say

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT THE HOLY ZARQUON DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!!!!!!!!! FOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

at Claire Sweeney, an failed actress / failed action show host (Like that thing Davina McCall did) / failed singer to be?

Because Last month (or is it this month?) A new version of "Too Much love will kill you" by Queen is being released by her...

GIBBON!!

You can visit here: A607033 to read about it if you like

Anyway...

That's it..

Music is dying - soon it will become overun by one hit wonders, will youngs and anyone under the age of 20 - then there'll come another ROCK sensation like there is now with the likes of *shudder* Marilyn manson and .. Linkin park - and not forgetting the fantastic Nickelback! and then in 30 years after that people will be saying how they wished they were born to see the last nickelback concert - OF course it'll be nowhere near the scale of missing the last Queen concert or, the wall (floyd - not a fan myself... but showing my immense bank of knowledge )

As another thread here said, It's all a cycle..

aka (",)

Manson-Alice Cooper's visuals with Trent Reznor's dynamics.
Linkin Park-Rap meets metal for a sound the white boys will love.

You'll forgive me if I don't see either of them as the coming rock revolution-in fact, Manson is presently chalking up his biggest UK hit with a cover of a Soft Cell song, which was itself, a cover. How daring! I ran out screaming just at the thought of it.
Linkin park's ability to sell to nine year olds just about says everything you need to know about their future as the gods of rock.

I have no idea where the next really revolutionary idea is coming from, though I'd lay odds that like the rest of rock it's a white man stealing a black man's idea and watering it down for the masses.

North Africa is producing some excellent music right now, so who knows.
Maybe the next big revolution in music will be cous-cous rock?