ComfortablyNumb
Unquestionable Presence
Metal being castrated in the 80s haha.
I thought I already answered that I didn't really find anything fundamentally wrong with that. It was a little boring for my taste but so is a lot of what is considered great classic singer songwriter stuff.
Popularity has no bearing on quality. Crap always seems to be more popular than really great stuff. However, in the agregate quality USUALLY prevails. I'm not talking a mere ten years though. Me too. I didn't become a real Beatles fan until I heard entire albums of theirs. My favorite song from them is Within You Without You. I doubt that has ever been a real hit. In fact, I used to rag on them for their 'simplistic' approach.
With a statement like that I find it hard to believe you've heard a lot of classic rock. soft/loud dynamics, piano, orchestration (sometimes using actual orchestras) has been in popular music since the 60s and widely used by many artists.
How so? I have a sneaking suspicion you are talking about production value (that's an element I care almost 0 about), but correct me if I am mistaken.
Could you elaborate (maybe give an example) how 'bent' or whatever sounds like? I'm not trying to poke fun. I really don't know what you mean by Simon and Garfunkel 'playing it straight. I get that with Croce (who I really dig) but can't follow what you mean in regards to S&G.
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Well, now maybe we are getting somewhere. Perhaps you don't like 'rough' sounding vocals at all? As a fan of Corgan's voice I find that a little amusing but is that maybe what you are getting at?
Not familliar with the first guy but at least we can agree that Mayer is boring personified.
You might, but I am totally not following what you mean. Sorry. I read this post several times to try to figure it out but when you call a group like Simon and Garfunkel 'straight' you lose me. I really don't know what you mean.
Couldn't agree more. I don't want anyone to stop what they are doing. I just want to see people start to 'rise through the ranks' again. I think if music was infused with people who actually had to make a living at it BEFORE becoming famous we might see a return to the kind of music I really like.
Look what happened in Seattle. There was this town with a lot of semi pros that not only jammed at the same venues but had to spend years perfecting their sound before one group came along, shine attention on the whole scene and suddenly big business came in and we all heard it. What I am saying, is that there was a similar dynamic in every city at one time. Even my humble home town of Baltimore had really great 'amature' bands producing 'originals' and playing off of each other and the once great music scene as well. They could do this because there was no shortage of paying gigs for live performers. Now it is reduced to hobbyists and that sort of player. I have nothing against that but don't see anything really great comming from a scene that is so compartmentalized.
Some folks play best in their comfort zone, others have to be sort of prodded along. It all depends on the artist. And I don't think anyone wants any musical style or idea on a pedestal. We aren't done using them after all...
If you are referring to what is being produced under those labels today we will have to agree to disagree. Everything is becoming increasingly homogenized. Take a 'country' song of today (for instance) and try to find qualities that seperate it from pop rock of the 80s. 'Southern' sounding singing? Really? Is that all it takes to be considered a 'country music star'?
I never said there was a definitive 70s sound. I am sometimes surprised by the date something was actually produced. I think to a degree there was a 70s sound but that isn't a quality but rather a by product of various factors.
Again, I envy you for being content with today's music. I am not. That's not to say there isn't anything I don't like. Hell, I even like a few Adelle songs for God's sake. The Alabama Shakes seem pretty cool, how could you not like WOLFMOTHER....sorry I get giddy just saying the name. It's....comic but in the good way.
That's great. With any luck you will always have this attitude. It's really no fun disliking 99.99999999% of what is popular.
Yeah, me too. I actually sort of follow what is going on. I'm waiting for it to come around and for a time I thought it might. After metal got castrated in the 80s I was happy to hear something that grew a pair in the early 90s. Now that this has passed, I'm waiting for the next thing. It might be good blues based rock (Black Crowes and a few others did this), might be a return to cool progressive, might be good jazz (doubtful since it's mostly vocal drool now), etc. I have never ruled out the possibility that the next great thing might be just around the corner. I'm actually pretty sure it is bound to happen.
That's great. Me neither. If something like this could offend you you really need to grow a thicker skin. It's just opinions after all.
As for the targeted demographic, that is why I'm here. If it were a general music forum I wouldn't waste my time because of what I've heard that's out there I don't have many good things to say.
Everybody calm down n listen to New Found Glory
the best of both worlds
Obviously they do this because the music in the songs is weak.
ABBA uses real drums while Kate Perry uses what sounds like a drum machine.
To hide the fact that there's no real music in the song, the drum machine is turned up to 11.
That's great and I'm glad you specifically mentioned screamo bands because they are exacly what I find badly contrived semblences of an actual dynamic interaction. They go from loud to soft at the flick of a switch and - to my ears - lack the emotion of a proper build up.I'm not saying about the 70's as far as breaking it down that they didn't have any of those elements. I just think the stuff from my generation amplified though qualities I like. A lot of Screamo bands bounce back and forth between a ruff coarse sound and can seamlessly to my ears parlay it into something soft and beautiful to my ears.
I think you have volumes and volumes of classic rock that was extrememly popular to get into. I really envy that. The piano was at least as prominent in the 70s as it is today as far as I know but being that I don't listen to modern stations perhaps I could be mistaken. As far as what was played on the radio, I'd say a good one quarter of songs featured a piano either prominently or as the main instrument and more obscure stuff never shied away from using it either.I think there's more piano rock today where a pop rock sound actually features the piano as prominently as the guitar. I'm good with guitars but the piano is my favorite instrument and I like it mixed with just enough edge using the guitar to give it a rock sound.
I'm not calling you naive. I think there is volumes you have yet to hear but that is hardly being naive rather than just plain inexperienced. But if we are going to call inexperience naivite (or whatever) I am profoundly naive about modern music and from what I've heard so far I really want to stay that way. I didn't need to hear every hairspray 'metal' band to know I wouldn't like them and I don't need to hear any more emo, screamo, techno, club, hip hop, etc to know I'm not going to like that. I really don't care about the newer genres and wish them the best. What I don't like is when someone is said to have a timeless sound and a click on the link and it's Christine Agulera etc. But whatever, I've wethered worse.I don't claim to be an expert on 70's music or even my own generation. I'm not as naive as you think because I dive head first into 70's music a lot.
Everyone from Elton John and Queen to King Crimson and Skynerd used pianos quite a bit so I really don't know where to start there. But as far as the screamo transitions I don't think you'll find anything EXACTLY like it but there are rather abrupt dynamic transitions but usually confined to the beginnings of songs leading into the 'heavier' part.I have a whole thread dedicated to listening to ANYTHING from that era. If you gave me an example of a band that uses those elements I'd have a good chance of knowing them and agreeing that sure they may use certain instruments.
Well, if you like Curved Air you are off to a great start. I have a feeling it won't be too long before you revisit at some of these posts with a different perspective.I just don't find enough of it, don't like how it's integrated or that they do it in a way I like. One group I've gotten into is Curved Air but I really liked this more than any 70's music I heard. It was the closest to what I like in modern music that I heard and it came from a Jazz Pop group:
Affinity-I Wonder If I Care As Much
That's great. When I was younger I hated a lot of what I adore today and I still can't get into a lot of what some friends and family are into. You don't have to like everything. Disliking certain things is not being narrow minded, it is simply having a specific taste.For James Taylor, Cat Stevens or Jim Croce I guess I'm not into that humbled, laid back, everyman singing to me.
Are you talking lyrics here? In the original post you have a song about a guy who just killed a man and has come to the profound understanding of what he is going to lose (at least in mortal life) vs. what ammounts to a 'you go girl' cheer repeated ad nauseum. And this is not an exception to what I normally hear from pop rock these days. Lyrics are usually the most watered down corporate jinglesque garbage compared to even what they were in the 90s which was nothing like they were in the 70s. I must have misunderstood what you were talking about here.I want some ooomph if you are telling me a story. I think if anything folk has integrated more rock into it.
Example of what? I must have misunderstood you.Besides Damien Rice, I think David Ford is another great example of this.
Yes, but it is the dynamic interplay between these two very different vocalists that provides the real hook in their sound. If you get together two very similar vocalists with similar approaches to music you just are not going to get that kind of harmony. And this is what is at the core of what I think is wrong today. You have a bunch of businessmen who fancy themselves music lovers sitting together in a room deciding who to put together into a band or what band should get exposure rather than artists having to hone their sound through live performance and various lineup changes decided by the artists themselves. There are exceptions to this formula but big business music has never had as direct a hand in formation of music stars (idols) than they do today. And it shows.For Simon and Garfunkel, I find the appeal and beauty in their vocals. It's beautiful and the songwriting is awesome. It has a great mystical quality to it (Sounds of Silence, Scarborough Fair) that transcends time. However the personality behind it almost seems like someone in a choir. Art sounds like the one that's a little too rehearsed and I think anyone can agree Paul Simon is pretty flat as a singer.
Well, thanks for the examples. They really aren't bad but also aren't anything I'd suffer through top 40 radio to get to. Perhaps you are referring to taste and the intangibles here and I can dig that. But I think there are bigger reasons why music today isn't what it used to be. For better or worse depending on your perspective.Whether rough or not the artist just has to really go that extra mile to give me that chills feeling. Here's a song by 2011 artist the civil Wars where it's not just tight harmonies but a chemistry that gives life to the song. It's a cliche love song by nature although they take a simple line "I don't love you, but I always will" and draw so much from it. This duo doesn't just harmonize well together. They play their roles believably and tell a story with emotion. I can see why someone might pull out a song like "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and say they feel more. Arts voice is beautiful on that. That may be my least favorite Simon and Garfunkel hit though. It kkind ofgrates on me for some reason.
The Civil Wars-Poison and Wine
I've been listening to Simon and Garfunkel for the past week or so in stretches and I just don't get pulled in emotionally like with that.
Those are the examples I wanted to draw attention too. It's easier to explain what works with artist with me but with the overall discussion we are having I think we are going in circles dude.
Hating it is understandable, but criticizing it as a botch job for the very aspects that make it dance music, which is exactly what genre Katy is in, and ignoring the fact that this is a well-established style of music 40 years in the making, is just silly. If you don't like dance music by all means, say so...