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

I usually only have the radio on in my car in the morning, and often tune in to a local radio station so I can get decent traffic news. As the local stations mostly play 'pop', I've come to several conclusions:

1. A lot of the tracks that are original aren't to my taste. Sometimes it's the music style. Sometimes the music or the group is just rubbish.
2. Most of the 'good' tracks (i.e., ones that I might have enjoyed once) are cover versions that sounded better in the original version.
3. If I hear a track I *do* like, there's a pretty good chance that the person performing won't be British. (E.g., Shania Twain.) Having said that, I don't think much of Britney Spears, either.

Having seen some of the young 'Britpop' groups on TV, I haven't seen any that really strike me as good. In 'the old days', singers sang. They didn't stomp around to the music at the same time and call it 'dancing'. I certainly haven't seen any recently that can dance. I haven't seen any of the newer groups with members playing instruments. (The likes of Oasis and Blur are no longer 'new groups', even if they are more recent than Status Quo and Queen). I get the impression that modern groups don't write their own songs, either.

I don't know the origins of any modern groups, and I don't want to know. Most of them seem to be talentless groups put together to make money out of impressionable youngsters who don't know any better. If this is the sort of stuff that modern youngsters regard as 'music', then music is dead.

There are still 'youngsters' out there that know what good music is. And there are still bands that make it, and make it themselfs(don't ask me about names, I got trouble remembering them). They might be a bit harder to find, but not all the music made in the 70'ties was good, only today you only tend to hear the good stuf. Music might be dying, but it is not dead yet.

Rod

I think you're missing the issue. And it's one of business, rather than music. The music industry, like all industries, is about making money. Thus, producers have started looking at manufacturing pop groups as a way of lowering their risk and increasing profits. Consider the fact that twenty years ago, bands would tour for years waiting for a break, then they might-or more likely, wouldn't-get a big record deal. The record company puts money into promoting and marketing them, then they are either accepted by the public, or more likely, they aren't. Thus the investment that the producers and labels made was lost.

I don't approve of the way things are done today, but you have to admit it makes sense from a business point of view. Hip, sexy, young 'artists' are put together and given music to sing and moves to dance. They are basically marionettes, selected precisely because they will sell records.

As the music industry concentrates more and more on profits, it is becoming the responsibility of the listener to find music they like, which becomes more difficult as radio and marketing pushes only the most likely to succeed 'music' down our throats. The sad part is that most people, especially younger folks, just accept what's popular and really never get a chance to listen or learn about different music (jazz, blues, bluegrass, traditional latin, classical, classical Indian). And when they hear it, because it's different and there's no consensus opinion from their peer group, they get scared and call it dumb.

Unfortunately for you old people it is indeed you who are missing the point. POP music is not for real musicians or even good ones.
There is lots of music that you are not aware of because the radio blanket that the pop market is run from!
the only way to find the really good music and revolutionary stuff is by getting out to nightclubs . And I mean all kinds of clubs! you might hate techno but if only listened listened to the suff on the radio believe me I would too!

I agree with The Butcher.

The problem is not with "modern music" it's with the music industry. Fortunately the internet and the mp3 explosion looks to be separating the two

CD, Music is not dead by any means. Music has been with man since pre-history don't worry, and turn off your radio . Explore the music scene (on the internet, at clubs, independant radio, whatever) and that little bit of effort will be rewarded.

*Off to buy the new Doves album*,

Ste

By saying the 'only way to find really good music' is to go to nightclubs, you're missing a huge amount of fabulous music that nightclubs would never play.

A mistake many young folks make is forgetting that there was music around years ago that really was quite good; I defy anyone to give me a reason why Billie Holliday isn't worth listening to. People will be listening to Billie Holliday long after Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue are dead and buried.

And I'm not all that old myself; I'm 26. I strongly encourage young folks to listen to diverse types of music and not just what the industry pumps into the airwaves and what the ravers are bobbing to.

I didn't mean just "nightclubs" , I meant the clubs that play live bands aswell and blues clubs and just live music in general. Though I love certain types of dance music, it is not the only thing out there.

Ste

I disagree with the Butcher. Yes it is about bussinnes and making money, but to sum it up in one word: Beatlemania. If you get a good band that manages to break through you can make more money with that one band than with ten bad ones that make one resonable song and are then forgotten. The Beatle are a good example for this. They were/are so popular that not just their music gets sold, but everything they did/do makes money(books, posters etc.). And their music still makes money. More than 30 years after they made it. How many band can you name that had one or two hit's last year and then were never heard of again? And how many of their CD's would you buy today? So please don't say that only produced bands manage to make money.

Rod

I didn't mean that only produced bands make money--I was trying to illustrate that producers are finding less risk with manufactured bands. Risk management is a big topic in business administration; by creating these cookie-cutter groups the production companies are reducing risk. By hedging their bets, they probably are passing up opportunities with genuinely great musicians who would sell even more albums than the manufactured stuff. But given an 80% chance at selling a million records, or a 2% chance at selling 5 million, any business person will take the million with an 80% chance of success.

In a way, the success and longevity of the Beatles is proof positive that manufactured bands are not as good musically--I am quite certain that none of today's bubblegum pop groups will be selling albums 30 years from now. But it is quite likely that legitimate groups with a passion for music and a healthy dollop of talent who might not be so big and profitable now will still be part of the musical landscape in the future.

I think what happens is a big cycle. A band that has been working and playing for years as a part of some underground movement suddenly breaks through into the mainstream. People love it. Other bands in the same movement get recording deals. Fabulous.
So then record companies say, wow, people really like [type] music and that's what they'll buy, so let's just keep trying to replicate the formula that works...and so they do.
And what was once fresh and exciting become horribly stale. Every time I listen to rock radio, all I hear are what seem to be Nirvana and Pearl Jam cover bands because almost 10 years ago, they were popular and the next new thing hasn't arrived yet, so...Creed, Linkin Park, or whatever is the rule.
To fill in the gaps, we also get recreations of other past successful formulae--boy bands, divas, teen princesses. I don't know if there's anything seriously wrong with that--they are "training wheels" in a way. My 11 year old niece likes Destiny's Child (yawn); but listening to DC is also making her more interested in bands like Parliament and artists like Erykah Badu and Angie Stone. That's growing up, I think, and not a bad thing.

Someone's an agist.

Radio is crap.

People are sheep.

Most of the good music is underground. If people are too stupid to look for it, it's their loss.

I think I'm the ageist, but I'm not clear on why. Is it because I think my 11 year old niece's fondness for DC is juvenile? Or because I think DC is juvenile? Or because I'm saying that one's tastes evolve as one grows up?

Well, whatever, I stand by my story, whether it's ageist or not.

BTW "People are sheep"? Someone's a misanthrope.

I"m an old git but luckily can still find music that excites me - Hives, White Stripes, Strokes, Cooper Temple Clause, BMRC etc.... and yes I know that it's all variations on stuff thats been done before but my criteria these days is just for music I like no matter what it is called.

'I think I'm the ageist, but I'm not clear on why.'

No, it was not you to whom I was referring, it was the one who said that "all of you old people don't get it." The fact is, though, yes we do get it, and we're appalled.

'BTW "People are sheep"? Someone's a misanthrope.'

Yeah, probably. I'm a little cranky some days. And this subject touches a nerve.