well, i haven't been following this thread as closely as i coulda been, but
for what it's worth, i agree with a lot of what has been said, esp the
original post. when i look at the music i grew up with, especially the
first stuff i ever really got into in the late '70s & early '80s (talking
heads, blondie, television, kraftwerk, b52's, sugarhill, esg, no-wave,
specials, clash) there does seem to be be a really significant difference
between this kind of pop music that seems to be so much more diverse,
intelligent, original, multi dimensional, and what passes for pop today, if
there is any comparison, which i sometimes doubt. perhaps that time was
just particularly good for pop music, i don't know.
at the moment, it is hard to think of any groups who are making similar
music ie intelligent quality pop made by adults for all ages to enjoy - i
think that most of the artists above enjoyed popularity with teens as much
as with older music fans. that certainly isn't the case at the moment,
where all of the dominant trends in pop (boy bands, alt / noiz hip hop /
rock, maria / britney clones, generic dance / pop, or the juvenile verbal
diahorrea that is now known as r&b - ugh) are so focused on the lucrative
'youth demographic'. it's kind of insulting in a way that the majors who
push this tripe to what are probably mostly pre-teens who obviously
(sarcasm) can only digest the most utterly simplistic kinds of music. but
again, i think the majors have admitted that they're no longer in the music
game but the money game now. music is seen as much more of a teen commodity
that signifies rebellion, or a particularly distasteful version of stunted
juvenile sexuality, among other things.
some genres of dance music seem to be dominated by negativity ie tribal /
hard / 'progressive' (what a joke!) - luckily there are artists & producers
who understand warmth, funk, soul, musical orgasms on the dancefloor -
praise the lord for moodymann, theo parrish, danny wang, disco old & new
:^) real house or techno, hooray.
but i agree it is funny in a way that some genres of music and the artists
who work in that area do seem to have lost the impulse to make good pop. i
can't imagine any of the artists i grew up listening to would get much of a
look in these days! well there are a few contemporary artists who are
making good pop - st etienne, broadcast, bjork (ocassionally) but generally
it doesn't seem to exist. i can't think of all the skinny whiney white boy
miserablism ie coldplay et al as being pop - it's too dreary!
just a few ideas, messily written - i'm not writing an essay to be marked -
that's too hard :^)
p-dogg
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