Is pop music dead?

[boa12]

yes indy, much better. now i feel like an olympic figure skating judge.

1st of all what is the definition of pop? can a band be progressive & have a pop song at the same time? rhetorical question.

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My Home Systems Page

[mike stehr]

What was thing last thing that went through Kurdt Kobain's mind when he commited suicide?

His Teeth!!!!

[synthfreek]

About time someone actually posed the question? What is pop? I thought there would be more open ears in the Klipsch community. People there are TONS of great bands out there. Call it pop..call it whatever. Genre-defining is just ridiculous. I listen to alot of Electronic music and all the tags that go with it are just absurd. Downtempo, ambient, breaks, trance, techno, Drum n Bass, minimal, isolationism, dark-core, tech-step, house, goa-trance, psy-trance, progressive, gabber & tribal are literally just a tiny fraction of the different styles of electronic stuff out there. To quote Eddie Van Halen...If it sounds good it IS good. Just as N'Sync is a "pop" band then so is Sleater Kinney or the Ramones. The ignorance factor is high when the assumption that the music played on the radio or MTV is the only music out there. My mom used to be somewhat progressive in her musical tastes way back in the day but somewhere along the line she got the idea that the crap played on the radio is the only thing available. What about the freekin' Pixies? I don't think I EVER heard them on the radio and in the true music circle they're considered demigods. Does anyone here even own 1 Pixies CD/LP? If not then you guys are only fooling yourself into thinking there's nothing to buy so I'll buy a Billy Joel SACD reissue. doobedoo. Anything on the Kill Rock Stars label rocks. What about all the new wave of new wave bands out there? Add N to X, Le Tigre, Julie Ruin, Ladytron...Oh that's right noone reads any music mags except for Spin or Rolling Stone so how in the world would I know about those bands? Uh...I know...read something besides Rolling Stone or Spin! There has always been good music out there and there always will be. I'm gonna throw out some names now for you guys to check out. I've run record stores for many years and I'm a total music nazi so I know what I'm talkin' about. Quasi, Sleater-Kinney, Peechees, Pixies, Dressy Bessy, Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Rainer Maria, Thee Headcoatees, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Calvin Johnson, The Fain, Pavement, Superchunk, The Butchies & The Rentals just to name a few. These bands are considered HUGE in the non-mainstream world. I just get super-ticked when I hear people say that there isn't any good music anymore. THERE IS you just have to look for it. Non-mainstream speakers need to be fed non-mainstream music.

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Outlaw 1050 A/V Receiver

Rega P3 Turntable

AMC CD8b CD Player

Toshiba 3108 DVD Player

Klipsch KG 4.2s(main)

2 Dynaco A-10/V IIs(centers)

Cerwin Vega E-706s(rears)

Cerwin Vega LW-12(sub)

Parasound PPH-100 Phono Preamp

Vampire Wire Digital Interconnects & Speaker Wire

[Mike Lindsey]

Hey Synth, I see ole Roy still gets you in a wad with his new SACD posts. I think that Pop music can be defined by music that is currently being played on the Top 40 radio stations. Is it the only music that is new? Of course not.

As for some of the suggestions you mention (why is it that all the non-mainstream bands have non-mainstream names?), I am always looking to widen my horizens with new music, so will check some of these out. Where might I find some of this at a reasonable price? Can it be had on vinyl as well?

BTW, nobody said "there isn't any good music anymore". I just think there isn't any good Pop music anymore (music being played on the Top 40 stations).

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[synthfreek]

Well another thing is that THESE kinds of bands are the just about the only bands KEEPING VINYL ALIVE. All of their stuff is released on vinyl. Domestic vinyl at that. Also of note is that these are all mostly guitar driven bands. None of this is electronic music.

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Outlaw 1050 A/V Receiver

Rega P3 Turntable

AMC CD8b CD Player

Toshiba 3108 DVD Player

Klipsch KG 4.2s(main)

2 Dynaco A-10/V IIs(centers)

Cerwin Vega E-706s(rears)

Cerwin Vega LW-12(sub)

Parasound PPH-100 Phono Preamp

Vampire Wire Digital Interconnects & Speaker Wire

[Mike Lindsey]

I'm starting to get into a little more of this music myself. I really like the Blue Man Group "Audio" DVD-A. Besides the interesting music, it's recorded very well.

Could you list some places (Email, WWW, addresses, phone numbers, etc) where I can get some of this music that you mention? If you had to start a newbie with 5 to 10 of these albums, could you list the bands with the album name for me? Where to get them would also be a bonus.

Thanks,

Mike

[Lone Palm]

I'm 48 years old and for all you good folks who feel that there is no good music left,I urge you to listen to Blue Rodeo! They are the best band in the world and no one's never heard of them.

[DLUngurait]

Synthfreek,

Chaulk me up as a big Pixies fan...I have 5 cd's of theirs including "Doolittle" which is one of my all time favorites by any band! I also have all of Frank Black's (aka Black Francis) solo work and several Breeders (Kim Deal) cd's. I saw the Pixies Live at a club on South Beach...the drummer screwed up a song and Frank stopped the whole show and made the band start the song all over again...never seen that before...still it was an amazing show! Hard to call the Pixies current though...didn't they break-up like 7 or 8 years ago?

You mention The Rentals but not Weezer? I thought The Rentals was just a side project by Weezer's bassist and drummer?

I heard a funny interview with the band Hansen last year...They said: "We're A BOY BAND...We're all in our teens and that means we are still boys and we play our own instruments that makes us a band... some of The Backstreet Boys are in their 30's that makes them men and they don't play instument - they are a singing group so they should be called a MAN GROUP!

Pop Music is what's popular with the 15 to 25 yr old demographic...30 yr old and up guaranteed to hate it...it's ALWAYS been that way...Think you hate teen bands and rap - wait till the next generation of Pop comes along!

Dave

[mike stehr]

KILL ROCK STARS label from Olympia WA.?

I have a compilation CD of this Label.

'23 more bands that don't want to be Rock Stars.'

Tourettes: Horse Girl

Cupid Car Club: M.P. Skulkers

Starpower: Megablot

Boredoms: Pukulee & Rikulee

Heliumw/The Bird of Paradise: Puffin stars

Spinanes: Stupid Crazy

Team Dresch: Seven

Mukilteo Fairies: We are not your Entertainers

(These ******* are pissed.)

God is my Co-pilot: Anatomically Correct

Severed Lethargy: Rev

Rancid: Brixton (Not much for Rancid,IMO.)

Free Kitten: Feed the Tree

Universal order of armageddon: Painfully Obvious

The Pee Chees: Patty Coahuila

Starpimp: Rouche Limit

Pell Mell: Don the Beachcomber

Smog: 37 Pushups

Star sign Scorpio: Eskinaut

Hattifatteners: North Pole

Grouse Moutain Skyride: Pretty Polly (Antique Bluegrass)

Fifth Column: Detox Killer (Erotic Thriller)

(cool song.)

Fleabag: Pusdog

Kathleen Hanna: I wish I was Him

(This chick on this song records herself with a acoustic guitar on a cassette recorder, You can hear the other side of the cassette bleeding over in the recording, it's hilarious!)

I bought this CD for two bucks and it was in good shape.

I listen to it on a pretty constant basis, it's a lot of different music in 23 tracks.

Try Slim Cessna's Auto Club if your into Physcobilly.

It's different.

I understand and I am with you about 'Catagorizing' bands, Synthfreek, but what the hell bands would classify as 'Trance'or 'Isolationism'?!

I admire your vast music selection, Synth.

THANX!

THANX!

This message has been edited by mike stehr on 03-06-2002 at 04:22 AM

[Mighty Favog]

As much newer "POP" music that is out there I don't think it can be dead. By definition "POP" music is derived from the word "Popular". But then again, I really protest a record company or radio station TELLING me what to listen to.

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Tom's Money Pit

This message has been edited by tblasing on 03-06-2002 at 12:47 PM

[jhawk92]

Ah, where to begin? I knew my comments were going to touch some nerves, but guess I really got a raw one with Indy.

I'll take your "Are you so naive..." comment with a grain of salt...it was a bit harsh, but your later retraction helped. Milli Vanilli won a Grammy posing as a group that didn't even do their own vocals, and then basked in that glory. That is unacceptable to me. Yes, I do get mad when our national anthem is taped and we get a lip-synch on TV. I would rather hear some minor imperfections live for the national anthem than a "tape delay." Call me overly-patriotic, or a patriot when it wasn't in fashion (ala before Sept 11.)

The job of an actor is to portray someone else in a movie for, yes, entertainment. But a singer's job is to sing, not to have someone portray them; movies and cover bands, yes even karaoke, being worthy exceptions. I understand that all singers have bad days and that a huge amount of time goes into cleaning up what's on tape before it get's released. Not a problem. Heck, even videos on MTV are lip-synched, and I can handle that because it's entertainment and it would be tough to cut a video and have it sound identical to the released song. I don't have issue with that.

When I go to a live concert, I want it to be LIVE. I think that is the best way to hear music. I can put up with Lou Gramm being a little off at the Foreigner show due to recent surgery; it means he is actually singing. Live means not everything is perfect. I'd rather hear less than perfect live music than something pre-recorded.

I don't mind dancing on stage. I prefer some movement in the musicians as I can tell they are excited about performing. A perfect example of that is AC/DC. Brian Johnson and Angus Young move all around the stage, playing to the crowd. But the remaining guitarists (Angus' brother and I forget the other name), just stand stiff on either side of the drums. Humorous.

I know it takes months of practice and intense choreography, and I respect their ability in that respect. It's somethink I know I can't do with my two left feet. But, I would rather forgo some of the dance moves if I got live music from the singers. I certainly respect the groups you mentioned for their dance abilities; I'm not bashing dancing. However, from my perspective, today's pop music is concentrating on choreograhpy rather than musical ability.

I certainly appreciate Mike Stehr's list...I'll certainly go check some of these groups out. I agree, some of the best musical talent remains hidden because they don't want to be commercialized. I think that is another big problem with today's pop groups; they are slaves to the giant recording labels and can't make music for music's sake.

I totally agree with Tom's comment about having to listen what the local radio station think's is popular, especially in small-town America where I live. The CD player gets a mighty good workout. I miss the good hard guitars and powerful voices of "yesteryear" and can't get excited about the "canned" music and vocals of today's pop. If some of the above list can satisfy my needs, I'll gladly listen.

This message has been edited by jhawk92 on 03-06-2002 at 02:50 PM

[BBB]

I have to agree with a lot of jhawk92s comments. Some of todays pop artists are actor-wannabe musicians.

Some of the good actors know that if you want to play the blues you gotta pay the dues. Even some of the most successful actors of our day like Russell Crowe, Will Smith, Kevin Bacon, Bruce Willis, just to name a few, want to be recognized as musicians. Remember what Bachman -Turner Overdrive sang in their song

Takin Care of Business If it were easy as fishin' You could be a musician Yeah Right.

You can fake playing an instrument or singing but when it comes down to the real deal you better have the chops because the people whos respect these wannabes want to earn will be the first to bury them in the dust of a million juke joints and one night stands on the road of creating the art form we know as music. I apologize for sounding so bitter. It just irritates me that there is too much unrecognized talent in the world of music while the airwaves are hogged by a conglomerate of no talent musician impersonators.

This message has been edited by BBB on 03-06-2002 at 11:43 PM