Hello again everyone! Today on Deep In The Grooves, I’ve
decided to change things up a bit. Instead of sharing some interesting music
history, I’m going to write a more opinion piece. When I first started this
blog, a reader asked me what I thought about modern pop music, and I’ll tell
you, if I had a dime for every time I was asked that, I would be able to go out
and buy myself a new record by now. Every time I share my musical taste with
another person, that question is bound to pop up. I usually give a “half assed”
response to this question, but I’m going into depth about it here on this post.
I believe that it’s a nice, refreshing change from my normal posts, and it’s a
great way for me to use my writing voice effectively.
Before I continue, please know this: I am not the kind of
person who believes that my opinion is the
right opinion. I respect everyone’s personal taste in music, and I’m not
trying to define what good music is, because my definition of good music may be
very different from other people’s views. So please, do not be offended by my words;
this is my take on modern pop music; nothing more, nothing less. It’s also
important to note that I’m not focusing on new music in general; rather I’m
talking about the content that appears on the Top 40 billboard charts.
The bottom line is that I am not a fan of pop music
whatsoever. But no matter how hard I try to block it out, that music always
finds a way to get into my head. Whenever I hangout with my friends, majority rules in
terms of what music we listen to, especially when my friends and I go for a drive.
Unfortunately, most of my friends hate artists that I listen to casually, so
91.5 The Beat tends to be the radio station of choice. So at times, I have no
choice but to be exposed to the horrid pop music that pollutes our local radio
stations. Believe me when I say that I have tried to like it. I’ve tried to
find a deep emotional connection to it, but I find that the more I listen to
pop, the more it makes my blood boil. Yet, as much as I hate the music, some
how these song’s ridiculous lyrics and rhythms get stuck into my head. It is
like getting water in your ear; you try to get it out, but it just doesn’t seem
to work. Eventually, the water makes its way out and you are finally find
relief. To me, same idea applies to pop music.
(Meghan Trainor: The artists behind "All About That Bass")
Yes, pop music is catchy, and the rhythms are exciting, so why do I hate it? To me, good music is constructed by two, equally important primary factors: lyrics and production. Modern pop music is all about the production of the song rather than the lyrics. People love a song if it sounds cool, even if the lyrics are complete garbage. Take the song “All About That Base” by Meghan Trainor for example, since it is the song that currently holds the No. 1 spot on the billboard Top 40. The song is catchy, and it puts one in a “pumped up” mood, but the lyrics are atrocious. Trainor starts out by singing about her love for bass, and then begins to sing about how young girls should ignore the media’s typical image of an “attractive” girl. My question is, how is a women’s body image and bass related? They are not. And where is the passion in this song? Where are the emotional stories that the listeners can relate to? Where are the poetic lyrics? I look for them, but can never seem to find any of these components in pop music. I mean, just look at most rap music that is on the radio. I cannot find anything beautiful about the lyrics; I only find a ton of words that feel as if they are forced together by the artist’s urge to become famous. It just seems that people don’t care about a song being poetic or moving at all, they just care about it being loud and exciting. When I hear hip hop on 91.5 The Beat, I just hear a bunch of people rapping about getting money and being under the influence of substances. There was a time when rap was a passionate form of music, but pop music has given rap a reputation of being a senseless, idiotic genre of music. I cannot stand this because artist like Tupac and Nas wrote incredible, deep, and emotion rap songs. I guarantee that if you listen to “Dear Mama” by Tupac, you’ll be touched by these words so much that you will want to cry. That song alone proves that hip-hop was once a beautiful genre of music. I'm a sucker for poetic music to be honest. It is a product of true beauty when people take the time to pour their emotions and intelligence into lyrics. But that is just not evident in our modern pop music. Not only that, but pop music is also completely overproduced. What happened to producers trying to be the next Phil Spector? I feel like people are just throwing a bunch of random noises together, and classify it as music. It makes me cringe.
This is not question of whether or not pop artists are talented, because many of them are. Singers such as Sam Smith are extremely talented singers, but the quality of their lyrics is not as impressive as their ability to sing. They just sing these songs that make little –to- no sense. I would be satisfied to hear a singer like Sam Smith cover real soul music, like Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder. I’d find that interesting.
All right folks, I think that is enough ranting for one day. Just wanted to give you all a light load for this rainy tuesday morning. Hey, I’ve made my point anyway and it’s time to move on. Clearly, I am not a fan of pop
music. So the question now is: What do all
of you think about our modern pop music? As teenagers, we are the audience that
a majority of pop music is targeted towards. Do you like it? Can you find an
emotional connection to it? I’d really love to hear your opinions.
Tune in soon for the next post here on Deep In The Grooves.
I’m your host Aidan Hunt, and thank you very much for taking time out of your
busy day to read my posts. Adios guys!
Images found at the following sites:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=all+about+that+bass&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=all+about+that+bass&sc=8-18&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=8785AB23C7FE87D03DC53277F4DE9D77E49B229A&selectedIndex=1
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=whats+going+on+marvin+gaye&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=BDBD569EACA8B173965F977B78764DA235079CC2&selectedIndex=0
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=whats+going+on+marvin+gaye&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=BDBD569EACA8B173965F977B78764DA235079CC2&selectedIndex=0
I totally agree with all of this, I hate the Top 40 pop music. The focus is on the production and pumping out the next chart topper for the money or fame or both. It's a terrible way to create music.
ReplyDeleteI mostly listen to indie bands. The ones that make music because it makes them happy or some other reason. They don't do it for the money or fame. Now of course, not all their songs are amazing, some of them are down right wretched sounding, but it makes them happy and I can relate to their lyrics so it's perfect to me.
On the topic of "All About the Bass" Meagan Trainor was using bass and treble to represent thick and thin body types and of course, dat booty. Personally I don't agree with the song since it's suppose to promote confidence in everyone's body type but it has a lot of skinny shamming lines so I'm not sure how it's supposed to include everyone in it. Opinions, opinions. It seems like my tumblr activist side came out again *sigh*
Very interesting topic to go out on! I've told you from the very start that I have much love for both this blog's content and the smooth writing voice in which these articles are written. In this particular post, your mechanics are consisted with your other posts (few grammatical errors etc), so I'll talk more about the content. People often times mix up musicians and performers, it's a common mistake. Being a musical theatre geek I have friends whose only goal in life is to sing challenging music on stage in front of people. So in that mindset, I think that it is absolutely fine that pop music continues to cycle through the same chord progressions and strange trends. A performer wants to make money, have fun with that money and keep performing for people. It's not about making music it's about entertaining people. Most pop singers are performers. But then there are some who aren't, who consider themselves musicians...like Sam Smith. I confess I love his album to bits, but some of his songs have pretty ridiculous lyrics. Back to your post, I think you did a good job of explaining to us WHY you hate pop music rather than that you just hate it. Reigning in your anger to provide a clear and respectable argument was a good idea. G'job man.
ReplyDelete