Popular music - its future

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Sometime in the mid-90s I lost track of pop music and I'm just clueless about it now.

"I'm getting old". You can add me here.

[greg]

Yeah, well, I lost track of popular music before I even started keeping track of it, and I'm younger than both of you.

[snyprrr]

Music sucks.

[eyeresist]

What do you see as the future of popular music (insert broad definition)?  10, 25, 100 years from now and beyond?  It hasn't been around for that long, to my knowledge (unless you include folk music, but I wouldn't).

Before popular music was invented, everybody had to listen to unpopular music.

[drogulus]

     I imagine people looking glum and thinking: "Man, we could be rockin' our asses off, and here we are stuck in the 18th century!"

[71 dB]

Before popular music was invented, everybody had to listen to unpopular music.

Most quality music is unpopular. Popular music gives people an excuse to listen to crap.

[Dr. Dread]

Music sucks.

[Dr. Dread]

Most quality music is unpopular. Popular music gives people an excuse to listen to crap.

You listen to some "crap", don't you?

[karlhenning]

You listen to some "crap", don't you?

The statement "Most quality music is unpopular" is crap. So whether he listens to it or not, he's generating it.

[drogulus]

Most quality music is unpopular. Popular music gives people an excuse to listen to crap.

      You do realize this is a nonsensical statement, don't you? I see not the slightest reason to think people are looking for excuses. Pop music is easy to like for a wide audience. It isn't deliberately crappy, and the people who listen aren't looking for crap to listen to. The crap results from a process that filters out anything unusual enough to catch the attention of someone who wants music to be challenging. Even so quite a bit of good music gets through.

     The problem is not that people prefer crap, it's that they don't want music to be hard. They are almost as prejudiced against difficulty as art cultists are in favor of it. And music companies know the limits they are working with and are often over-aggressive in eliminating anything troublesome in the sound, producing a feeling of sameness in too much of what is available. They are trying to hit a sweet spot that will result in a big payoff. So I see the average listeners and the music companies as being in conflict. It's like with TV commercials where the logic produces so many obnoxious or forgettable ads and then the occasional giant evil insect that makes it all worthwhile.

[eyeresist]

I imagine people looking glum and thinking: "Man, we could be rockin' our asses off, and here we are stuck in the 18th century!"

LOL!!! There's a good comedy skit in that.


Drogulus, I think you are correct that pop music is simple music. The best of it shows a strong musicality that implies greater depths, which is a hell of a trick if you think about it.