And as an addendum to this topic, check out this article that recently came across my radar...
http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/defining ... music.html
A few thoughts about the article...The article pretty much states that pop is repeating itself and that the repetition will eventually turn people off of it...I wonder, though, if the author's continued focus on only the popular music of the day is stymying his vision. Maybe he needs to look harder to find music that is more interesting...Dig a little deeper, perhaps? Maybe we should blame the general public for WANTING these "retreads"??? :-k That said, this is not "Top 40 Land" anymore...There IS a Top 40, because each year, decade, century, etc. has to count it's successes (whether in books (New York Times Best Seller list), films (box office success), TV (Nielsen ratings) or in our case, popular music. But the charts just aren't as diverse as they used to be...No more Elton John and The Bay City Rollers mingling with Helen Reddy and Alice Cooper, with some Eagles and Anne Murray threw in...Even the 90's could claim CeCe Peniston, Nirvana, Roxette and The Geto Boys on the same chart. Where is that variety now? Maybe it's still there, but in a different form? Maybe we've stagnated about innovation in pop music...What is the answer? I am fortunate that I have friends who teach me about the latest indie pop and rock. My vinyl mentor clued me into a lot of progressive rock, when I didn't know as much as I thought I had...We've shared different artists with each other over the years and in the process, I have become a fan of some of his favorites and he's become a fan of some of mine...I've learned about many artists on my own, too, through crate-digging, online searches, YouTube video recommendations, playlists, Shazaming, radio airplay, studying the credits of TV shows and films, reading books about or related to music, magazines, newspapers and from this site! My curiosity just happens to get piqued, whereas I can't say the same thing about MOST music fans...Can they even TAKE THE TIME to search out new music? Is it not easier to just be spoon-fed whatever is out there without lifting a finger to actually discover something? My thread here is full of new "discoveries"...
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=73035
Whether the music is new or old, it is still a "new" discovery to me, if I haven't heard it before...Mind you, I do listen to a lot of stuff that is within my wheelhouse (soul, jazz, pop, R&B. etc.), but I'm not afraid to venture outside my "boundaries" on occasion to see what another genre has to offer...My dad got me interested early in classic country...My mom did the same with 70's pop...Casey Kasem helped me learn what was popular each week in the 80's, even if I hadn't been tuned in to the radio all week...Casey summed it all up on Sunday mornings and I felt like I knew about all the latest bands and artists, and he did it in a very congenial way...I learned all about the R&B of the 90's through Walt "Baby" Love on the radio, hearing his "Countdown"...Thrift shop record hunts led me to a sincere appreciation of 50's pop and big band music...My dad's gift of my first case of 45' records exposed me to the greatness of 60's pop and rock...Other friends at school turned me on to metal...Various radio stations here in Detroit helped hone in my sensibilities to other genres of music...I have had a continuing interest in educating myself about the various musics and records out there, although it's been hard in recent years due to the immensity of it all...I've tried to keep the record collection focused on the 40's to the 90's, with some of the oughts thrown in...I took a look at the Top 40 for January 4th of 1992...I can claim with certainty that even as vinyl was waning, I have all 10 singles on vinyl for every one of the songs in the Top 10 that week...All in all, I'd say that I have about 34 singles on vinyl from the Top 40 that week, 35 if you count a U.K. single for U2's "Mysterious Ways"...If I count the same week in 2002, I have only 15 of that week's Top 40 singles on 45 rpm vinyl...And yes, they were still producing it, even if it was on a jukebox-only single or foreign pressing...Some of the others I have on 12" singles or CD singles, too...But, nowadays, in the age of downloads, it is rare to find ANY of the popular songs of the day on a vinyl single...Vinyl albums DO exist, but they are not as collectible as the 45's were in my world...Plus, I've sorta lost interest in the modern music on the radio...I like a lot of Bruno Mars' stuff...I appreciate Pentatonix, although they won't get played as often on the radio...There are talented people who win these talent shows, but can some of the other genres compete with the likes of all the pop starlets and rap DJ's and MC's out there hogging the charts? :-k The future of jazz is in good hands with young people like Joey Alexander and my latest discovery, Andreas Varady...Lindsey Stirling can play a fantastic violin...Tame Impala and Monophonics can do psychedelic music like no other...Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton are carrying on the mantle of classic country somewhat...Ruthie Foster can sing the blues like it's nobody's business...But, will ANY of them have a Top 40 single on the radio??? I highly doubt it...Yet, all of them have made music I find interesting, even if it does rehash certain hallmarks AKA tropes of certain genres...Sometimes, there is comfort in familiarity...In order to keep my sanity about me, though, it's important to limit oneself within certain genres...With any genre you can think of, there are a thousand sub-directions one can go in for music...The music room just can't hold any more records...Fortunately, in this day and age, downloads are easier to conceal and take up less space...But, if the vinyl were available on some of my favorite music, you know I'd be snatching it up...Re-discovery is great when it comes to artists and/or songs you may have missed the first time around...Northern soul records and rare 80's synth-pop/power pop fall into this category for me...Also, rare disco and funk...It seems the more time you invest in the rarities, though, the less time you have to listen to your favorites...Still, I do like to have the physical media available when I feel in the mood to listen to it...And what about the next 20 years of music? Where will I find the room for it, either mentally or physically? These issues do make you think...I think cataloguing my records into certain genres, even if I can't necessarily pigeonhole the artists, has helped me in that it forces me to place an "identity" on the artist and thus, makes it easier when and if I want to compile a playlist...My database and software helps me to set certain parameters for my music, if I fill in all of the right information...This comes in handy when my brain can't necessarily process all the information I need...The database helps me to remember and to coordinate certain info and all of my records, for that matter, together in one place...The scope of the world can be limitless, but one can only process so much at one time...And if there is a new song or artist on my radar, I have to let that artist in...Into my mind, into my psyche, into my routine...It's bad enough just to juggle all the non-music-related information...Still, with each new discovery or song I encounter that I like, I grow as a person...And growth can be a good thing, if you are wise about it! I almost envy you guys who stick to one particular genre without fail and disregard the rest...You have honed in to what you like and nothing else can change your mind...New discoveries may take hold of it on occasion, but you always go back to the tried-and-true music of your youth or constant favorites over the years...It allows you to keep your record collections small, too...You may buy a reissue on occasion of a favorite album...But, you've pretty much stuck to the same artists all your life...When you have a taste as eclectic as mine (I can listen to almost anything...I used to hate opera, but can tolerate some of it now...World music can be harder, although I have some in the collection and should listen to it more...), it becomes harder to "control" it all, as you can end up finding lots of great records and going broke buying them in the process! #-o Which is another reason why I have to limit myself sometimes...Fortunately, I have found many records over the years...I've kinda built this collection up, as an "investment" of sorts, an "investment" in ideas, in "new discoveries waiting to happen", so that I'll have something to keep my mind active with in my old age, when I get there...Hearing new music on occasion keeps one young, too! That fact can't be over-emphasized enough...It can help me "connect" to younger family members...Still, I always fall back to what I know for the most part...But, I've kinda cultivated a keen curiosity, so that all I know isn't all there IS to know...And it teaches me that there is much more out there to learn, if only my mind will let me learn it.
Another thought is this...Take Taylor Swift for example...If I get into "Reputation", what about "1989"? What about "Fearless"? Or "Speak Now"? Or even her debut? With each album, she tries something different...But does always listening to her "latest" thing make all her other PREVIOUS records obsolete? And which of these will provoke nostalgia in the mind 20 years from now the way a vintage Casey Kasem broadcast does it for me today? :-k
Are any of the #1 songs coming out today going to be good memories for the youth the way "my" songs were back in the day??? We recorded our favorites off the radio...If we loved a song, we went out and bought the single...Or saved up for the album! Cassettes helped in downsizing the collection's "footprint"...I could get much more music on cassettes (except for cassette singles) and cassettes would take up less room than the vinyl records...Of course, one has to consider fidelity of the LP's vs. the cassettes, too...We made elaborate playlists and mixtapes...We shared our music with friends...It was played on the playgrounds, in PE classes, on the bus, and in locker rooms...Everybody does their own thing now on their own devices, so there are no "shared" experiences for learning like there was back in the day...We have websites online and social media like Facebook nowadays, but in my mind, it doesn't replace hearing a song for the first time on the radio...Will kids say in 20 years, I remember hearing about such-and-such a band through a friend's post from 2011 the same way I remember seeing a video on MTV for the first time or hearing a favorite song played at a memorable wedding? The experiences I had make the music more tangible in a way, more memorable...I can hear a song 20 years later and cry over it, remembering the first time I cried to it...where I was...what I was doing, etc. Is it that emotion has been stripped from the music??? Almost anyone can criticize an artist nowadays, especially on comment sections of YouTube posts, but does anyone remember when music was much more a part of the culture? You couldn't relegate it to the background...You couldn't remove it from your minds...You could dismiss it, but not so easily, if the radio kept playing it...Now, we have so many choices...We can choose to block certain things out...But at what cost? Cost to our growth as human beings? We listen to a song for 10 seconds, and if it doesn't enthrall us, it is gone from our radar and we can never listen to it again...In a way, that's one thing I like about vinyl...A long-playing album FORCES you to listen to the whole album...You can't just click a button or fast-forward vinyl that easily...You get to experience the artist's WHOLE vision and not just a piece of it...You can also allow an artist to grow on you over repeated listens, if you give the said artist a chance...Nowadays, it seems no one has the patience for that...But, I'm also willing to surmise that if you give new genres or new artists a chance, you just might learn something...And any growth is better than no growth at all, even if I myself have to force myself to grow...And what is so intrinsically BAD about that??? :-k
In any case, do any of my words ring true with you guys? Are any of you guys in the same boat musically speaking? :-k I'd be curious to know more of your thoughts on this subject, because I have a feeling this topic is not going to go away, either now or into the foreseeable future...
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