Pop Reincarnate?

[richidoo]

My daughter has a new friend who moved into the neighborhood last month. She is 3 years older, and well into the teen idol phase. So she is luring my 8yo innocent little princess into Tiger Beat world. She loves it, and is smitten with Justin Bieber. He is 15, but looks like 12 and sounds like 8.  My wife says he is just like Leif Garrett and Shawn Cassidy from back in her day.


The best part is that my daughter made a Justin Bieber radio station on Pandora by herself, and likes to listen in the sweetspot for extended periods. That is one of the major goals for my system, that it be accessible and fun for the whole family. So I'm so happy to see her taking initiative to use it. She can play the shit out of the piano and studies dance so music is as important to her as it is to me. Last night all 3 of my kids and the new girl rocked out with the stereo by themselves. No tubes on the floor or wires to trip over, and simple Sonos controller runs the whole thing so it is easy for them to explore music for fun. It made me feel so good to hear them laughing and enjoying the music intensely with the nice sounding system.

I don't mind the recent pop music, it is far better than the edgy hip-hop and gang rap from just a few years ago. It's still not Van Halen or Whitney Houston but think we are finally emerging out of double decade dark ages of pop music, when it really wasn't "truly" popular at all as evidenced by falling music sales.

Thank you American Idol and country/rock crossover artists for reminding our youth about the fun of a good melody and a shiny coif, and for raising the vibration so high in such a short period of time. The current youth are demanding quality music with positive lyrics and nourishing melodies. Let's hope the new sounds are a precursor of even stronger music for the masses to come in the future.

What's your take on Rianna, Taylor Swift, Daughtry, Gaga, Shakira, Jonas and the rest? Who's album covers do you stare at for hours at a time with the record on repeat? Stay up late until you hear your fav song... What about hop-hop, is it over or is it evolving to be the new R&B/Adult Contemporary of old? What about the state of popular music in general and the trend for the future? Do you see music ever resuming as the premier form of entertainment as it was 1920-1995? Was the rap age and the abandonment of popular music just a cultural blip? Some musicologists say that the popular music forecasts the future of a civilization. Or maybe you could care less? Let's hear it!

[tmazz]

Do you see music ever resuming as the premier form of entertainment as it was 1920-1995?

Unfortunately no. There are just too many other forms of home entertainment to compete with it now. From the 20s through the mid 50s, with the exception of radio serials, card and an occasional board game, like Monopoly, music was just about the only form of home entertainment. In the mid 50s television started to creep in. By the mid 70s we started to see video games invade our homes. The 80s brought us VCR which ushered in the age of home movie viewing. And of course the 90s introduced us to the internet as a competitor for our leisure time. And finally what was started with the VCR came to full fruition after the turn of the century as the DVD, BluRay discs and large screen HD televisions solidified the idea of Home Theater. While we can all hope that music will remain part of the home entertainment mix, given the amount of things now competing for our free time, it would be hard to imagine that it will ever again return the dominant position it once had in the homes of the general population. (there will always be some hard core music lovers for whom it will be the primary source of entertainment, but they will become more and more of the exception and not the rule.)

[Black Sand Cable]

I think the good times for popular music are long gone.  

I find most of what I hear today was made by somebody with marketing skills. Justin Beaver as I call him is a prime example. The kid can’t sing worth a crap but yet my kids know who he is, your kids know who he is and it's not a result of talent, its marketing dollars behind him and nothing else. My 10 year old can’t stand him and prefers to listen to Whitesnake (I swear that is a true statement.....she has a real thing for "Still of The Night" and Daddy is proud!). She has now taken up guitar and is trying to learn the song. I can play about 70% of it and have tried to teach her parts but her darn fingers are way too small to pull most of it off but I love watching her try. Whitesnake and bands like them from that era made her pick up a guitar and give it a go. I cant say the same thing about "The Beav" or anybody else along those lines.

Just look at the Disney channel as another example. It seems that every kiddy star on that network has a cd out (Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale, Miley Cyrus, Miranda Cosgrove...and the list goes on and on) and none of them can sing worth a crap.

Don't get me started on Taylor Swift......

Speaking of American Idol. Kelly Clarkson is another one. Came out strong and I actually didn't mind her but the only thing she has taught my kids is that its cool to eat everything you see and as a result, coming in at 300 pounds is all good as she is just expressing her desire to clean out every Dunkin Donuts she comes across. If that is what I can look forward to in the coming years as supposed role models, I have issues.

For the most part I have issues with a lot of the garbage that comes out today. That is the main reason why I think I'm stuck in the 80's when it comes to music and when I do listen to new stuff, it tends to be Rock or Metal bands that are still keeping it real and doing it because they love to, not because some marketing putz thinks they have something they can push down my kids throats. If anything I wish the Beavers of the world and others like him would go the hell away and come back when they have talent.

There is some new popular stuff that I don't mind but for the most part, I can’t stand 95% of what I hear on the radio or see on tv.

On the bright side, rap seems to be dying out which is long overdue.  

Keep in mind that my rant is based on popular music, as in the crap you hear on the radio and see on MTV. There is a ton of good music out there but unfortunately most of it doesn't make the radio.

In the spirit of my youngest daughter, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Isl_KX2WQ Daddy likes this video only because its a good song. The very sexy girl in it has nothing to do with it all.....I swear. 

[tmazz]

If that is what I can look forward to in the coming years as supposed role models, I have issues.

While I agree with your ideas on today's "manufactured" stars, I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone in popular music that I would feel comfortable holding out to kids as a role model. Entertainers as a group have a notoriously bad track record in the behavior department as far back as I can remember. Before the days of rock bands spending their spare time doing recreational pharmaceuticals in the tour bus singers were known for spending their nights drinking and whoring. While guys like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin could sing like it was nobody's business I would have a hard time holding them up as an example of clean and moral living.

[richidoo]

Before Sinatra and Elvis and Beatles and Zeppelin and Jackson and Mariah came sugar pop flash in the pan poppers. They get the money flowing and make people crave stronger music. I think this is just the first sign of hope for the future that kids are choosing melodious love songs instead of cop killing noise which turned everyone off to music. It will take a few years of scrubby weeds before the soil is ready for a forest. Music was strong for so long, I think that rap was a death blip, like spraying roundup by accident instead of fertilizer. As rap fades out young people that weren't alive 20 years ago have to learn from scratch the purpose and use of music. When this reemergence first started, it was very commercial, Hannah Montana, etc. But some of the newer works are decent. Last night I was listening to Rianna, I thought it was a relaxed Mariah Carey, she has a beautiful strong voice. I saw Shakira on Dancing with the stars and told my wife i want that CD for my BD, she is extremely talented. Bieber is a decent singer and a good stylist, a hell of a lot better than the clowns on Idol. Even Carey Underweary is so commercial I can't listen to her, there's no soul in there. But she blasted open the pipeline between country and rock originally started by Shania, which let melody return to pop music. Bieber was doing his thing by himself before anyone knew about him. He posted covers on YouTube and started a serious buzz before he had a recording deal. He'll be gone the minute facial hair emerges, but he is kindling in the hearts of tomorrow's teenagers who do buy adult music. They learn to love music from sugar poppers like him. Without Donny Osmond, Everly Brothers and Bobby Vinton you would never have had the masters that wanted in on that commercial action. Teenybopper money floats all ships - record execs have money for experiments like The Police and Nirvana because of Culture Club and INXS. Teenagers need more, but little girls light the fuse.  I think the signs are good.

[Black Sand Cable]

If that is what I can look forward to in the coming years as supposed role models, I have issues.

While I agree with your ideas on today's "manufactured" stars, I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone in popular music that I would feel comfortable holding out to kids as a role model.

I agree completely and that is my problem. Whether you like it or not, kids see and hear this crap daily and regardless of how good a parenting job we may do, they will pick up stuff from these fools. It may be a style of dress when it comes to clothing, a slang saying or whatever but they do pick stuff up from these manufactured idiots and it's sad.

[mfsoa]

Every little snippet I've heard from Beiber has been severely auto-tuned.
Barf

[Black Sand Cable]

Every little snippet I've heard from Beiber has been severely auto-tuned.
Barf

I have heard a few reports that it's actually going to get worse. Apparently he has hit puberty and the marketing folks are scrambling to correct it. Chances are high this kids voice is going to be heavily mixed moving forward. By the end of it all, he will be the 2010 version of Milli Vanilli.

[richidoo]

Every little snippet I've heard from Beiber has been severely auto-tuned.
Barf

Well that's why he's such a good singer!     

[rollo]

 Great that your Daughter is into music and its reproduction. Now the Girl 3 years older could be an issue. I have been through that with my children. At 8 she is extremely vulnerable. There is a big difference between 8 and 11. You cannot believe what 11 and 12 year olds are into these days.  Its NOT just the music. Be a watchfull interfering parent, in the end you will be glad you were.   



charles
   

[Black Sand Cable]

Great that your Daughter is into music and its reproduction. Now the Girl 3 years older could be an issue. I have been through that with my children. At 8 she is extremely vulnerable. There is a big difference between 8 and 11. You cannot believe what 11 and 12 year olds are into these days.  Its NOT just the music. Be a watchfull interfering parent, in the end you will be glad you were.   



charles
   

Trust me I know. I actually have two daughters. My oldest is 12 coming 13.