Radio, Radio
Continuing on in my litany of musical influences and revelations, I must mention that around eighth grade or so, I stopped listening to the radio and MTV for musical enlightenment. (Now, I try not to be one of those haughty, pretentious “Oh, you listen to the radio? What a small brain you must have in comparison to mine”-type people. I just know it’s not for me.) And I really haven’t been “with it” ever since. It’s not like I decided one day “from here on out I will refuse to be ‘with it.’” I just gradually became more interested in instrumental music and music of the past, which weren’t on any station’s play lists.So, I missed Nirvana’s big breakthrough. Actually, that’s not correct. I remember watching them perform “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on Saturday Night Live and thinking to myself, “Why are these guys so angry?” I missed the explosion of Seattle grunge, which most critics point to as one of the most important times for popular music. How nerdy is this-when Nirvana and Pearl Jam were apparently “changing the face of popular music,” I was more interested in a guy who lived in the late 17th and early 18th century named Johann Sebastian Bach.
But I think that’s a part of musical education-to refer back to the past. Let the “superstars” and “divas” of today do what they will, dragging the press along with their hype, like groveling sycophants. The things that last, the things that are talked about or still listened to in twenty years or so will have proved their merit by nature of their mere existence.
And so, from that point on, I was determined to find the music that spoke to me, popular or not, by my own means, my own research and the occasional review.
So, all you radio listeners, and MTV watchers and people more plugged-in to pop culture than I am- here’s your chance to fire off. Who is the least-talented, yet overexposed “musical artist” today? Who is the most obvious, manufactured creation of a record company out there? Who is the one “artist” or group out there right now that will be a punch line within a year or two and by twenty years will be an obscure reference by Dennis Miller in his stand-up act? I might not know who you’re talking about, but it’ll be therapeutic, don’t you think?
Commence screeds and rants…….NOW!
posted by Mike @ 1:51 PM
6 Comments:
I think I hate Ashley (Ashlee?) Simpson more than any other so-called "artist" in the music business. She's totally contrived.
I don't know of one artist in particular that I would say is worse than any other. I'm inclined to agree with duckfan in saying that Ashlee Simpson is pretty lame!! Her stupid sister isn't any better though. I just think that "popular music" in general sucks!!!
I wouldn't pick anybody you hear on the radio because any overhype for a "radio star" is met with an equal amount of backlash.
Most of the "overrating" isn't done by consumers, DJs, or record labels, but rather by music critics.
I'll give you an overhyped artist and an overhyped genre: The Strokes and hip-hop.
i say music critics suck : )
well most of them...
I agree that "popular music," for the most part, just sucks. But isn't that sort of an ironic situation?
Shouldn't what's popular be AWESOME!?!?!?
It's like the scary thought that I came to with television a few years ago before all of the reality shows appeared. I would see these awful sitcoms advertised and think, "man, who watches this stuff?"
And then, the awful thought was--SOMEBODY, in large numbers, is watching this stuff, otherwise it wouldn't be on!
So, who's to blame for today's pop culture not meeting our needs? Is it us for having too "elevated tastes?" Are the critics to blame? The corporations that own record labels and tv production companies?
Or could it be that people watch this stuff because it's what they are fed? If I'm only fed rice and cornstarch all day, I'm going to find a lima bean, however untasty, to be a surprisingly good thing. And I'll probably be a critic of proper rice cooking methods and taste, and will rave about really good rice or lima beans.
And I would say all of that without ever tasting seafood, red meat, poultry, bologna sandwiches, or ice cream. Hardly an unbiased opinion.
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