As you can tell, I AIN'T a fan of mainstream music. It simply sucks. Finding a good mainstream artist is harder than finding a myspace code. It's that elusive. All you need to be a good mainstream artist is the ability to copy others and lack talent. Worse, any artist in the mainstream that's decent is past his time. Is there a way we can put QUALITY into mainstream music again, if it ever had that. Mainstream music is a travesty and a cancer to the music scene. Anyone who likes it is kidding themselves into thinking crap is quality. Check the underground stuff and you'll see more quality there.
Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a travesty to music?
Submitted by Steve_Wolff on July 22, 2007 - 5:01am.
Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
December 25, 2007 - 11:52pm
U2 were simply copying The Clash, Nirvana was copying the NY punk scene (I lived in NYC and Seattle early 1980's so I was there to witness it) To their credit, Kurt was a superb song writer and they are great musicians. U2 wrote one great song and coasted with phlegm for years afterward.
Myspace has been a God send to music, I never would have listened to Hank 3 or really good bands like Ludicra or Holly Ramos or Lisa Knapp without myspace.
I agree with folks saying mainstream really stinks, I have been a fan and musician for forty years and can remember when no one knew who Tom Waits was or what kind of music the Dead played I hung out with the Ramones and got backstage at The Clash shows.
A long time ago I liked NWA, Public Enemy, Geto Boys and Sugar Hill Gang (I lived on Sugar Hill in Harlem in the late seventies) but new hip hop is soul destroying garbage.
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
December 28, 2007 - 2:15am
so what song was that then?
Being influenced is not copying, as a musician you should know that. If you hadn't copied someone, then you would have never became a musician to begin with, would you. Unless you where some kind of prodigy, even prodigy's copy what they hear, then create their own material later on.
U2 where very young when they took off so they copied what they knew or else they would have had no material. You can't hold them to what they where early on because no one starts out the greatest in the world, the definitive album is always late, just look at the Beatles.
Anyway no big deal if you don't like them, everybody has different taste, As I said I never liked nirvana, Don't hate them though, no point in hating something its just a waste of time. But They did bring the ideas of other people into the mainstream when no one from their scene would have had a chance. And I know that even if I never play a Nirvana song or even a riff, that some how they did influence what I will play. On that note we should be glad that crappy music is around, because it will teach a small hand full of people what not to do.
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
December 5, 2007 - 5:51am
there are some that are good, mostly the innovators, the ones that start a trend or a sound that soon spirals into mediocrity. But they mostly get seen as copycat bands by younger people(I'm only 21 by the way) or people that really didn't know what was going on in the music world at the time.
A lot of these innovative mainstream artists and bands get drug down because people group them with what came later. I hate to bring up U2, mostly because I don't want to sound like I'm a blind fan, but they are probably the band that has been the most copied since the Beatles when it comes to mainstream music. but unlike the Beatles people act like the musical ideas that they put forth already existed, most people think the joshua tree came out in the nineties, because the music didn't sound like anything else from the nineties. In fact they where copied so much that they desperately tried to stay ahead of the curve, which ended in disaster with the release of Zooropa and Pop. they're last two albums actually weren't bad.
which leads to Nirvana, the band which lead to grunge and now to the two most overused and untalented genres today post grunge and EMO. I'm not a Nirvana fan, but its hard not to recognize how much they shaped music as a whole. They made it ok to sing about anxed that involved other things then breakups and they made it so you didn't have to look or act a certain way to be popular musicians. These things got thrown out the window of course as time went on and songs about depression now involved you're girlfriend leaving you, the same dirty distorted guitar riffs where played over and over and the counter culture ascetic became Hip.
mainstream isn't the problem, its the kids with no new ideas or even a basic understanding of melody and when to much pop hiphop synthing is to much(main reason they ruin cover songs), Or why two guitars and a bass shouldn't play the exact same thing through neck pickups and the gain maxed out. The other thing that really destroys mainstream music is the focus on having citche(not catchy) chorus and a complete disregard for the verse which I think is the most important part of the song because it tells the story of the song, the chorus is like a punchline and like any punchline it doesn't make sense without a lead in. But most of all its the producers that get demos all the time from talented young artists and cast them aside because their not the next Britteny or my chemical romance, the only time they sign talent is when they see an ocean of people outside a coffee shop or they find a band of Irish kids that have been sweeping talent shows effortlessly.
Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
December 2, 2007 - 6:25am
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 31, 2007 - 5:02am
Mainstream music has it's place in our world. It's like the old saying. Without Rollerblading every idiot would ride a skateboard. That being said, I like some mainstream music. Rap is very mainstream. Hip hop culture as it were is permeates popular culture. Yet I love a good radio edit rap song. Now my music of choice is mostly metal and hardcore but on my iPod you'll find some Fergie, some Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy Justin Timberlake and such. Just because most mainstream music lacks talent does not mean all mainstream music lacks talent. To be honest the lack of talent really only affects the listener if they go see one of these performers live. Britteny Spears lip syncing for $200 a seat is a tad bit wrong. Now say, 10 years ago I would have never admitted to liking some of the above music. I guess being older makes being cool less important. Now that I've played the other side, here are some great bands that aren't mainstream to check out:
Between The Buried And Me
Rocky Votolato (singer songwriter genre)
Rise Against
Coheed & Cambria
ps, It bears mentioning that Rush is part of Mainstream music especially mainstream rock. They're not my favorite but I can't deny they are some talented SOB's.
"I'm just like you only shorter."
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
August 1, 2007 - 9:05am
Now say, 10 years ago I would have never admitted to liking some of the above music. I guess being older makes being cool less important.
Amen. I myself have BEP, a little "X-tina", that Usher tune that echos Michael Jackson 25-30 years ago. Old Madonna and Duran Duran (because I am a 39 year old chick) are next to OuKast and old Run DMC.
Even Kelly Clarkson and Mandy Moore.
So yeah - it's FAR less important to be cool now that I'm on the right side of 40 for just a few more months. Like I've said to a prolific musician whose tunes I liked 20 years ago as much as I like his new stuff (genres couldn't be more different, those who know whose myspaces I do), when asked what kind of music I like "most"...."I like what I like". Whether there's a synth or a bagpipe. I don't care what people think anymore.
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 24, 2007 - 7:58pm
I hate Avril the most. The fact that she's got fans is a bigger travesty than the fact that she's in the business. I'm guessing the same people that discovered Vanilla Ice discovered her. To me, rock with all that emo crap is lame and useless. All those bands look like posers and copycats, probably thanks to the influence of MTV--or NTV (Nazi Television) as it should be called. NTV is the source of lots of image problems and depression lots of people face. It places values on being popular and its own fascism. It tries to control the world of fashion, censorship and music and comes up with idiotic ideas. If you like the MTV of today you are a nothing but a wannabe because that's all MTV creates.
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 24, 2007 - 12:19am
although i do enjoy some mainstream music, my heart belongs to anything before the eighties...disco music aside, there was alot of pure music back then, vocals, guitar, piano....just pure..I agree with LadyCerridwen48, myspace is awesome for good music...
To err is human, to forgive divine
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 22, 2007 - 10:36am
It's a factory. A formula.
The Britney-Christina formula sells records. As does the boy band formula and the indie-sounding garage skater rock. As long as people are buying formulaic music, the labels will keep signing the same sort of acts and not veer from what's proven to make money.
(although I feel a little bad grouping Christina and Britney together. I doubt anyone will argue that Ms. Aquilera actually has talent. Girl has pipes - I do agree LadyC.)
It's incredibly difficult for any unique act to get any sort of exposure. A&R people rarely take risks. And now with recent legislation threatening internet radio and podcasts, it'll become even tougher for anyone unique to find an audience.
That's why if you hear a band you like, an indie/unsigned band, using a method to download their work from myspace isn't helping the process. The internet does allow even the most obscure band to sell CDs on their website. It's crucial to support them so that we don't have a world limited to Top 40 drivel or JackFM DJ-less digital playlists.
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 22, 2007 - 11:41am
The internet does allow even the most obscure band to sell CDs on their website. It's crucial to support them so that we don't have a world limited to Top 40 drivel or JackFM DJ-less digital playlists.
That's something I've been loving about MySpace, the exposure to local bands, easy and comprehensive access to local bar and band schedules, and the fact that I CAN buy albums from bands that you just aren't going to find on the rack at your local Best Buy.
NY radio ditched Jack FM this week!!! Yay, I have my oldies station back!!!
"He sounds different. It's the only reason they can hear him at all."
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 22, 2007 - 7:31am
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Re: Anyone else think mainstream music (especially rock) is a tr
July 22, 2007 - 8:09am
I'm going to have to agree with you there, BeachBum. Although, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised bu Christina Agulierra (sp?). I thought she was just another prostitot, in the ranks with Avril and Brittany. Gotta say, that chick's got a set of pipes! Thing is, it took her doing a retro-style album to get that recognition.
"He sounds different. It's the only reason they can hear him at all."
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