What happened to today's pop music?

[Silver Incubus]

Pop music has slowly faded away because Urban is the new trend to replace rock & roll from the early 50's to the mid 70's when it became FUNK and then pop ruined funk with DISCO( the popier funk)Then the new underground was punk and that in turn created GRUNGE as the popier version of punk. As Rock progressed it became more complex with artist like Cream, Boston, Pink Floyd, YES, etc with the prog rock which combined with punk made the new form of metal in the 80's like Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, WASP, etc and that created metal lite known by me as COCK ROCK, Mötley CREW and any other type of band, even van halen, by this time in the early 90's that music really got out of hand with sub sub sub genres of music that to continue my turn out to be the equivent of the many books and classes I have read and take about pop music history.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Actually pop-punk is the poppier version of punk, grunge is more like a combo of punk and commercial to heavy rock.

 

[Silver Incubus]

Actually pop-punk is the poppier version of punk, grunge is more like a combo of punk and commercial to heavy rock.

I only said that because Punk was a reaction to the prestigious prog rock the kind of DIY attitude of punk was the same as Grunge being the response to metal which in the earlier 90's was technical shred soloing and Grunge was that same DIY anyone can be an artist kinda deal.

 

[monoxide_child]

MTV created a change in the way that record producers market their albulms

nowadays the profesional song writers get paid every time a song that they wrote gets played on MTV, so that 95% of the songs that have music videos are written buy about 10 different people (there was 1 guy that actually wrote songs for Brittney, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Christina, Jessica AND Mandy Moore) and the record producers get 1 or 2 songs from every albulm on MTV/VH1/CMT BEFORE the albulm actually hits store shelves, they make the the visuals so spectacular that the people that watch MTV religiously end up buying the CD within the first few hours of being capable, and because they've all been hypnotized by the visuals no one realizes that the song "genie in a bottle" is all about Cunnilingus until after they've bought the albulm and the studio doesn't even bother trying to make albulms good enough to sell from "word of mouth" anymore because for the last ten years 99% of the people who bought a pop albulm bought it within the first hour of being able to, and no one seems to care that the rest of the albulm is even more crappy than the really crappy songs that got the videos

this ^^^ post answered the original poster's original question

 

[horndog]

In the U.S. , musical people have left or lost their positions in the music biz . They were replaced by gimmick men who know how to make a quick buck by showing you something 2 dimensional and shiny . Add to that file sharing which greatly narrowed the market for an invitation of diversity. then add to that the rise of the upper middle class and the rise and spread of conservative values over the last 15 years here in the U.S.

This is a classic formula for a sh*t sandwich . The children of these people who have grown up into young adults , bought into always being "comfortable" materially speaking and not searching to hard for variations as not to rock their little sail boat. ironic with the internet at their cell phones finger tips . They excepted Brittany Spears and paint by numbers hip hop in 1999 and continue to only want for or ask for smarmy , wimpy , uncreative pop songs , watered down and cliche fashion and generally relish their role as status quo types . The parents of 1950's america would be so proud !

Of course we all don't want to be bees in a corporate beehive here . The underground music scene is as quality as it ever was now . If you haven't found out about all the quality bands and artists out here currently , stateside , then let this reply be your small shovel . Get to digging .

 

[Dak]

Rise of the upper middle class? Rise and spread of conservative values over the last 15 years in the US? What bullshit outlet do you get your information from?

 

[monoxide_child]

Rise of the upper middle class? Rise and spread of conservative values over the last 15 years in the US? What bullshit outlet do you get your information from?

there is no middle class
there hasn't been a middle class since the creation minimum wage
the creation of credit cards created the illusion of a middle class by allowing some people in the lower class to believe that they are upper class

 

[Kara-Shehr]

What the fuck are you talking about? There is some good fucking pop around right now.

Lady Gaga, for Christ's sake. She's original. Talented. I'm surprised people can't see that. And anyone who hasn't listened to Marina and the Diamonds has no right to diss modern pop.

You guys are crasy. If you want to hear terrible pop, go time travel to the 70's

yea i agree lady gaga is good for pop music nowadays but i still think the 90's were the golden age of pop. WE NEED MORE BOY BANDS!!!

 

[monoxide_child]

yea i agree lady gaga is good for pop music nowadays but i still think the 90's were the golden age of pop. WE NEED MORE BOY BANDS!!!

90s music (excluding boy bands) >>>> music today

 

[Kara-Shehr]

Backstreet Boys>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>N'suck

 

[TesticleMilkshake]

Why are the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber so wildly popular in the United States? It's a combination of reasons, social, cultural as well as psychological. I, for one, feel it is because their hits remain basic in terms of melodic structure and lyrical organization. Lyrically, the topics these hit-songs touch upon refer to a general experience or emotion the public can relate to, regardless of race, class, gender. Jonas and Bieber songs are pretty mild, their songs don't need to be edited for radio play and Gaga's hits can be easily edited or taken as a double entendre. And the current teenage generation of Americans wants subjects one does not have to think twice about. No absurd melodic shifts that the brain can't follow on a tonal level or lyrics with big words. Hence why somebody like Regina Spektor, Animal Collective or some prog metal has only had one or two hits. The easier the song are to digest, the more likely it will become a hit.

Also, sick beats and sex appeal. You must ooze it to be musically successful. Somebody finds Lady Gaga attractive, therefore, it's marketable.

 

[Caligulan Blood]

Little white kids. That's what ruined Pop. I used to be one, I have insights into them.

 

[monoxide_child]

Why are the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber

Also, sick beats and sex appeal. You must ooze it to be musically successful. Somebody finds Lady Gaga attractive, therefore, it's marketable.

i just now realized that i honestly have absolutely no freaking idea what the hell the Jonas Brothers or Justin Beiber actually sound like...
...this might be because i want to have sex with Lady Gaga...