Do you listen to mainstream music?
Feb 4, 2007 at 3:07 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 49

miTunes75

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I enjoy all different types of music. From the greats to the "lucky you got a contract" artist (mainstream). Most head-fiers discuss the greats. I was just wondering if anyone here listens to mainstream music at all.

I enjoy listening to music that is popular in the era that we're in (excluding hip/hop). I guess it could be classified as teenage music a little bit - heh.

I also enjoy the mainstream music from 90s and 80s also. This comes from a guy growin up in the parachute pants era
smily_headphones1.gif


So, do you listen to any mainstream at all?

Let's discuss.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 3:43 AM Post #4 of 49
I do enjoy some mainstream music. I have equal amounts of popular artist (mostly from the mid 90s) as I do the more obscure artist. I really don't enjoy the new mainstream produced in the last 8 years though. Seems like the year 2000 put the final nail in the coffin that is mainstream.

It seems way to over produced. Music from back when I used to listen to mainstream was just "catchy" and simple. Not as marketed as it is today. Also todays mainstream shows very little creativity. It's all just bad rip offs of older music
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 3:47 AM Post #5 of 49
When all of the alternative stations started playing lots of grunge, they kind of lost me. I love Nirvana, but not all of the copy cat bands that followed. And it was the same 10 songs over and over by bands that sounded the same to me. But, I really liked some of the songs included in a lot of the video games I played. So I guess that's considered mainstream. Now, I do a lot of research using allmusic.com, iTunes, and a few forums.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 4:10 AM Post #7 of 49
Quote:

Originally Posted by miTunes75 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I enjoy all different types of music. From the greats to the "lucky you got a contract" artist (mainstream). Most head-fiers discuss the greats. I was just wondering if anyone here listens to mainstream music at all.


You create here a very strange dichotomy. How can greatness and mainstream be set opposite one another? The greats are almost mainstream by definition (obviously the converse is not true). To be considered great on a large scale, you actually have to be known on a large scale.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 4:41 AM Post #8 of 49
Quote:

Originally Posted by Rempert /img/forum/go_quote.gif
You create here a very strange dichotomy. How can greatness and mainstream be set opposite one another? The greats are almost mainstream by definition (obviously the converse is not true). To be considered great on a large scale, you actually have to be known on a large scale.


That's true. But many greats were never mainstream, and vice versa. The Velvet Underground barely cracked the charts, and King Crimson wallowed commercially since their debut. However, if we take mainstream as it is today on MTV and the charts, then definitely no. Between derivative hard rock, derivative emo "rock", shameless unoriginal "R&B", and shameless untalented club rap, there's very little worth listening to that's produced today.

However, I'm not discounting all modern music. There's still some damn good hip hop artists around (although usually not on the radio), and the indie scene has still produced some greats.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 4:46 AM Post #9 of 49
I largely listen to Progressive rock of the 70s, or folk like nick drake, some classic rock of the early seventies. So, nope. All mainstream music is terrible garbage, if we are talking about stuff on the radio or MTV.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 4:58 AM Post #10 of 49
Almost none.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 5:54 AM Post #11 of 49
I don't really know what is mainstream any more. I only listen to public radio and stopped watching TV in 1999. Every few weeks, I'll tune across the dial to see if anything catches my ear. I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything.

Finding new music on the Internet is easy. I also find a lot through the used vinyl shops I visit. If it's inexpensive and looks interesting, I'll pick it up.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 6:05 AM Post #12 of 49
Mostly no, but there IS some stuff worth listening to. Right now, some pop I've been enjoying:

Gnarls Barkley
Amy Winehouse
Red Hot Chili Peppers
John Legend

All three bring something unique to the table - even if it's nothing revolutionary - though first and formost, they write solid, catchy tunes.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 6:09 AM Post #13 of 49
John Mayer, RHCP, Tool, Ben Folds.. pretty mainstream to me. i don't really listen to much stuff that is in the Top 40 radio circulation, but i consider any band that i can sing a song and someone else knows it mainstream.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 6:29 AM Post #14 of 49
Aside from my collection of rather obscure electronica, I'm probably one of the most maintstream Head-Fier's around. From Tool to Norah Jones, My Chemical Romance to Jack's Mannequin, Dashboard Confessional to Avenged Sevenfold...Smashing Pumpkins...Jack Johnson...it doesn't get more mainstream than that! I just don't listen to any hiphop or rap, though.
 
Feb 4, 2007 at 6:42 AM Post #15 of 49
i listen to a radio station which offers a whole lot of variety (past and present), most of which i wouldn't listen to regularly.

also, because i don't listen to top 40, i wouldn't know if most of my music is 'mainstream' or not.

that being said, a few artists i know do get radio airplay from that aforementioned radio stn above, (eg. Dixie Chicks, KT Tunstall, RHCP, Feist, Michelle Branch, etc.)
 

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