[sephka]

A coworker was playing top 40 internet radio today, and my ears they were a bleedin'. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but this is coming from an individual who can enjoy nearly every style of music. Most of what I experienced on that station was R&B - something i'm not particularly fond of, to be honest, though I do like some of it. I suppose my main problems with that genre would be the seemingly neverchanging subject matter (relationships), less than great hooks, and at times annoying incorporation of popular culture. The other stuff on the top 40 I heard, the rock and rap, were also rather subpar, the rock less so than the rap. Am I alone in finding little joy with top 40-esque songs? If you couldn't tell, i don't really follow modern music trends...for some of the reasons I mentioned.

 

[NPoet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sephka Am I alone in finding little joy with top 40-esque songs?

As a 21 year old that is supposed to be in with this music I suppose I could not agree with you more. I listen to many different genre's but I'd have to say modern music has just been slowly becoming worse and worse over atleast the past 10 years.

Rap and R&B have been slowly taking over the popular music scene with their what I would call for the most part talentless and thrown together music. Granted, there are some exceptions to this and for tha majority those are in the R&B genre. With rap though, you have to consider how complex it is to have an electronical rhythm in the background and to talk at an acclerated rate... and rhyme... wow. This is also not meant to say that I do not like rap as a whole, there are certain songs and artist which I do enjoy incredibly.

Also it has to be noted that the production quality of music has been going downhill in since the 80's. There was a good article about music compression and what it is doing to the overall quality of modern music that was linked to in another post in this forum, though I do not have it on my hands currently.

Also yone may realize the lack of instruments and the overall lack of depth in songs... Think I've siad enough though

just my two cents...

 

[spaceman]

In my listening area there has been a revival in radio format (never thought this would ever happen) and we are seeing a decline in Top 40 crap and an increase in "classic rock" stations, yes, Classic Rock. 70s, 80s, and some decent 90s stuff. This is what a lot of the younger kids are listening to now, and I see this with my 16yo son. He and his friends are really into the Floyd, Metallica, Golden Earing, AC/DC, etc. Tesla! Who ever thought Tesla would make a comeback in 2004! I'm so happy to see this because the quality of music has really been shi**y. I know, I know, that's what my parents used to say, but this just isn't the same. The quality of new music produced the past 4-5 years has really sucked. Yeah, there is "some" good stuff mixed in there, but overall the majority has lacked a lot of substance and creativity.

 

[Aman]

I too enjoy the increase in Classic Rock popularity. I have been listening to bands like Aerosmith, The Beatles, and Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen since I was five, but I expanded my horrizons to EVERYWHERE in the classic rock area: David Bowie, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Creme, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Boston, The Doors, etc. I was almost one of a kind, but now with MORE people listening to this kind of music (because they make obvious drug references.. that is the only idea I can get why the "mainstream" crowd is into GOOD music now

) I think it will become a more dominant part of the industry. We've noticed people like Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, and others making contribution records to blues and the such, hopefully more classic rock bands will emerge out of the dust and make more music that will target more audiences.

I am so sick and tired of this "rap, hip hop, R&B" thing going around. They are popular simply because they have supermodels dancing in their music videos, and it's this new "fad" to be dancing around in pants hanging much below your ASS screaming vulgarities every three seconds now... But this is starting to change, thank you heavens!

 

[NPoet]

"video killed the radio star"

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPoet "video killed the radio star"

aint that the truth.

 

[Textual Intercou]

what's the deal with the top 40? it's not the top, and it makes me want to down a fourty!



<rimshot>

 

[SunByrne]

There's a great documenting of the decline, err, change in top 40 music for those of you with iTunes. Go to the Music Store, click on "Browse", then click on "Charts", then click on "Billboard Hot 100."

Start in around 1985 and scroll up one year at a time, and notice what percentage of the listing has "R&B/Soul" or "Hip Hop/Rap" in the "genre" column. You can slowly watch the "rock" and "pop" entries die and these others take over. By 1996 the R&B and rap categories clearly dominate, though then it's mostly "R&B". Rap really takes over in about 2001. Depressing if you're not really into R&B/rap...

 

[newmanoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaceman The quality of new music produced the past 4-5 years has really sucked. Yeah, there is "some" good stuff mixed in there, but overall the majority has lacked a lot of substance and creativity.

I don't think the problem is a lack of good music or musicians, it is that being in the top 40 is determined more and more by the marketing of a few big record companies and the decisions of an ever decreasing number of media companies (as opposed to independent stations, which have all but disappeared, except on campuses). And who and what is played by these media giants (Clear Channel, etc.) is determined by who *pays.* Record companies have to buy time for their products on the radio just like cereal companies buy space on supermarket shelves. What used to be stigmatized as Payola is now simply an accepted business practice. All of this diminishes the flow and variety of true music into the artistic marketplace, and we are all the poorer for it.

 

[Garbz]

well i got 10 cds in the car, notable are ledzepplin, frank zapper, ELP, crash test dummies, etc. Like good classic rock.

Driving to the city with 3 friends, i must have gone through every cd and about at track 2 they asked the music to be changed. I mean What?

The problem is not the billboard itself, it's the people. If you can get the world to ignore the videos, MTV, and the marketing, the top 40 may once again contain music that matters.

 

[intlplby]

i just find it a real shame what top forty has done to the hip hop scene


being a good rapper or hip hop artist has gone to "how quickly can i rhyme words over a techno beat"

as a result their is no story but just more a mixing of random words that rhyme together


back in the day artists like Eric B, Rakim, Slick Rick, Gangstarr, ESG, Public Enemy, EPMD etc could rhyme over original breakbeats AND TELL A STORY .... that is what skill and talent is...... just rhyming random words together with no meaning is not talent.....

then only part of mainstream rap and hip hop that gives identity to a song is the refrain...

i hate it more when you hear a mainstream song and the only reason it is popular is because it mixes a good classic song and every youngster thinks its the best thing since sliced bread.....

i don't know the artists but two that come to mind is one which uses "The 900 Number" by 45 K and another that uses a clip from "This or That" by the Black Sheep ("engine engine number 9 ...")

if it weren't for those old classic break beats and sound clips mixed in neither of those artists would get any real recognition.... basically they are leaching off the talent of others

lots of times when i hear someone listening to a song i know is a remake i ask them if they know it is a remake and ask if they know who first made it.... i go out of my way to do this especially if they are listening to a particularly bad remake of it......

but despite all that there are some good hip hop artists out there but they hardly get the recognition for their talent....

Blackalicious, Lovage, Deltron 3030, Dan the Automator, Kid Koala, etc etc


i think it is important for people to go back and listen to protorappers and those artists which came about before hip-hop and rap were even defined as a genre

like Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, Roy Ayers, Brian Jackson, etc

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPoet Also it has to be noted that the production quality of music has been going downhill in since the 80's. There was a good article about music compression and what it is doing to the overall quality of modern music that was linked to in another post in this forum, though I do not have it on my hands currently. ...

Maybe this essay ?

 

[NPoet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma Maybe this essay ?

Yea, that's the one, I was just too tired to dig it up, t//y

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPoet I listen to many different genre's but I'd have to say modern music has just been slowly becoming worse and worse over atleast the past 10 years. Rap and R&B have been slowly taking over the popular music scene with their what I would call for the most part talentless and thrown together music. Granted, there are some exceptions to this and for tha majority those are in the R&B genre. Also it has to be noted that the production quality of music has been going downhill in since the 80's. There was a good article about music compression and what it is doing to the overall quality of modern music that was linked to in another post in this forum, though I do not have it on my hands currently. Also yone may realize the lack of instruments and the overall lack of depth in songs... Think I've siad enough though just my two cents...

Totally agree...
Somehow, today's R&B are getting worse and worse... too commercialized... to gimmicky....

Currently the only one that I can still appreciate is:

Mario Winans - I Don't Wanna Know