Pop music...What happened?!

I'm not saying talent shows don't produce some good singers. In the UK you do get people like Leona Lewis, Susan Boyle and Matt Cardle who have genuine musical talent, and American Idol has produced able and successful performers like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry and (so far) Adam Lambert.

Oh, no, I getcha. I was just raising an example.

Here's the opinion of one artist. I'm not sure whether I agree with him or not, but here it is nonetheless.

I agree. Also, if you notice, the hate towards pop is often one sided. I know plenty of people that like pop that will also listen to alternative music. To me there's almost a double standard. Like if a pop fan were to be constantly talking about how they hate metal people would get mad at them, but talking about pop is okay?

I think he makes some good points, but while I'd say playing clubs and such would make you seasoned, it's not like you can't use other venues for exposure.

And holy cow, I've never heard Billy Joel's speaking voice (Oliver And Company aside). I never expected it to sound like that.

Absolutely. I was actually quite surprised to discover that pop music in general has a small Fan Dumb contingent (I refer you to the comments on the Billboard website) but it doesn't seem to consist of wholesale attacks on other genres; from what I gather they're more about whinging that Katy Perry's relative lack of talent compared to "Lady Flopga" and "Fatdele" doesn't matter because she's had more number one singles than them, so she must be better.

Truth be told, the stereotypical "teenager who hates pop music" seems to dislike music that's popular at the moment. I've seen comments that denigrate Justin Bieber as "gay pop shit" (or something like that) while praising Culture Club and Duran Duran at the same time.

But Culture Club has "culture" right there in its name!!

The ONLY concession I'll made is to say that I'm frustrated at how much rock music has been excluded in contemporary popular music. The radio seems to play club music/rap exclusively except for rare exceptions like Foster the People or Adele. That said, there are definitely a few pop songs each year that I like. Recently, I really like Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" and "We Found Love" by Rihanna.

Okay, um, two things.

1. Foster The People, or at least, their current hit (Pumped Up Kicks) are really not rock.
2. There is plenty of rock in the modern pop charts. Whether or not it's good is an entirely different question and a matter of taste, but it is there.

There's a difference between it being present and prevalent.

Dekunobo said "excluded" which implies "not there" to me.

Apologies if that's wrong.

It's alright, context is interpretative. And I don't think interpretative is a real word, but it should be. Anyhoo, I took it to mean that rock music isn't exactly what's popular in pop music these days. Which it isn't. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but (as a huge fan of rock music) is something I wish wasn't true. Hell, even bad rock music is fun to make fun of while being listened to.

edited 14th Nov '11 12:49:47 AM by 0dd1

The impression I get about modern rock is that what's mainstream at the moment sounds quite close to what's alternative (Coldplay, Nickelback and even Oasis are all bands that I've seen described as alternative, even though they're very mainstream groups).

To some extent, I think the problem (if there is one; I doubt anyone can say whether or not one even exists) started twenty years ago and it's only becoming noticable now. In the 1990s, alternative rock became mainstream, but the actual alternative scene didn't change enough to stay fresh and, crucially, different from the mainstream.

The only reason why Katy Perry has so many Number One hits: payola. Perry is basically a manufactured American version of Lily Allen with a fake image to match Allen's real backstory (Perry is a conservative preacher's daughter, Allen was a drug dealer). Using this created image combined with Perry's wholesome image in real life, the record companies are easily able to get these songs on the air and appeal to twelve year old girls, their moms and dumb teenagers.

That and the boobs.

Also, the record companies killed punk with that Good Charlotte/Fall Out Boy/every other pop-punk group with a Jonas Brothers lookalike at the lead shit.

So people perceive her as being wholesome despite songs like these being in her oevure?

Also, Jonas Brothers lookalike? Who's that?

edited 14th Nov '11 12:16:13 PM by 0dd1

Her real-life image is completely different than her musical image. In real life, she's a goodie two-shoes who's religious and promotes skin cream. In music, she's a sex goddess.

The Jonas Brothers were a flavor of the week pop group from Texas. Most pop-punk artists look like them (instead of say, legends such as Henry Rollins, Glenn Danzig or D. Boon).

That's a bad thing?

Say what you will about pop punk, at least their lead singers can actually sing.

I would call the J. Bros. pop punk, either.

Both of those bands are older than the Jonas Brothers, there's no way they could be ripoffs even if they were at all similar.

As for this "killing punk" nonsense, I'm not even going to touch that. Both because I hate punk, and anyone who says that any genre is "dead" doesn't know how to use Google.

edited 14th Nov '11 2:47:29 PM by BlixtySlycat

To the best of my knowledge, the Jonas Brothers started off as a Christian indie pop group. They have done some covers of pop-punk songs, the most notable of which is probably their defanged version of Busted's "Year 3000" (which is a fun little pop song, but nonetheless kind of toothless itself).

They were subsequently signed to Disney, which has brought them fame. Like a lot of Disney alumni, their albums do sell fairly well, but they've not really had any really big hit singles. Kind of odd, I guess, because the Disney stable mainly appeals to young people who traditionally buy more singles than albums.

...I know who the Jonas Brothers are. I was referring to the pop punk lookalikes of them that Buscemi mentioned.

And say what you will, but I really think that they were pretty good for what they were. Their show sucked though.

edited 14th Nov '11 4:22:41 PM by 0dd1

The thing about most Disney pop stars is that they're not terrible, they're just... I don't know, sort of okay? Just mediocre? I'm not sure.

Disney Channel pop stars are nothing new, of course. Some of the new pop stars who showed up around the turn of the century were former Mouseketeers, if I recall correctly; Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and so on. I understand that Radio Disney plays a lot of teenybopper pop these days. We don't really get the channel here, but I have heard that even non-Disney artists like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber get airplay on Radio Disney.

I think Disney Channel pop stars are a bit frustrating because all their songs are overtly catchy and make no bones about it, something which I love (I just praised "Baby" in the last post, after all), but their 'catchy' songs feels way more manufactured and soulless than a catchy song written by a normal songwriter would be.

But you can't really hate them because, soulless or not, they do hit their mark of being catchy. So I don't know. They're just whatever.

However, Jo Jo's "Too Little Too Late" is an exception. What a great song.

JoJo is Disney?

Anyhoo, I think I kinda getcha. Complaining about Disney pop stars for a lack of depth is like complaining about Commando having too much action or They Might Be Giants for being too weird—basically, what were ya expecting?

Admittedly, this is kinda the "It's Not Supposed to Win Oscars" argument, but context is key.

Blixty, you can declare some things dead as a major genre at a time. Especilly something like punk, whihc is really tied to the punk movement (though with the conditions in Britian, I wouldn't be surprised to another generation of punk music)

Nothing in music dies completely, though.

Funny, I associate that song title with the Barenaked Ladies.

edited 14th Nov '11 7:53:06 PM by Erock

Medieval troubadours, they're at the top of the pops right now, right?

I must say, while a feel pop music has gone down in quality of late, the decline has been minor, and I like the fact that it's primarily electronic.