When Did Hit Songs Become Garbage?

[lumpy]

Realize while 15 - 20 years ago, 5 to 6 minute hit songs were not uncommon, that 10 - 15 years before that the 3 minute single was king.
Once again we can thank the Beatles for changing the norm. Oh yeah, and Iron Butterfly.
I think back to Brandon's glorious 80's and most of the stuff played on the radio then was crap too. I especially hated the faggy English synth bands.
But for some reason I can go back and listen to Fox on the Run by Sweet from the 70's and I think it's the greatest. Somebody that grew up in the 70's would probably differ that Sweet was a faggy English bubble gum band.
My dad swears the 283 was the greatest motor Chevy ever built.
See where I'm going with this?
For some reason most music fans think of the previous generations' music as being more "genuine".
My biggest problem with today's music is that even the stuff the cool kids listen to is boring. I remember having to sneak some of my old punk records home when I was a teen, lest my parents catch me. Nothing offends me. My kids' music should piss me off damnit.
Lump

[thesilentdrummer]

In response to the question, "Why do people listen to this garbage?", it is because the songs represent a certain lifestyle: sex, booze, sex, drugs, and sex. Coming from the high school crowd, I can tell you that this particular group of people (towards which much of today's "music" as marketed towards) want music that represents their idea of what they wanna live like. There are no hit songs (in fact, they all sound pretty much the same to me) because, I feel, the music industry has locked into a formula that people seem to like. The formula that is locked into doesn't produce anything memorable; it is just a bunch of really loud programmed kick drums and bass guitar lines repeated over and over so the "singer" can talk in rhythm with words about screwing some girl or buying/selling pot, coke, etc. The noise produced reminds people that they can move in a sexual way while rubbing against someone else.

In response to lumpy, you must be pretty easy-going, because many parents and nearly all schools are pissed off at the kind of music being played (even more so the grinding).

I think there is light at the end of the tunnel, though. My favorite band (actually, the whole band is made up of my friends) is using a lot of the general style of 70's and 80's and combining it with a new, modern feeling. They are finally going to a studio (not mine) in June (I am going to make them read Brandon's 10 things every band should know thing article before they go), at which time I'll share their sound with you guys. If there were more bands like this one in the mainstream music industry (even if it doesn't start for a few more years), we are in for a real treat. As of right now, we're screwed.

[xBTWATWDx]

"This is why im hot, Im hot because im fly, you aint because your not. This is why, this is why, this is why im hot."

is there anything else to say?

[brandondrury]

I think you just summed it up, dude!

Brandon

[scribe]

Originally Posted by lumpy

My biggest problem with today's music is that even the stuff the cool kids listen to is boring. I remember having to sneak some of my old punk records home when I was a teen, lest my parents catch me. Nothing offends me. My kids' music should piss me off damnit.
Lump

Yeah man, with you 100%! I think that this isnt entirely the bands idea though. Eg; At the studio I work at there is a really great noisy punk band that rehearse here, not really offensive, but old school. They recently recorded an ep and when I heard it, it was way too nice, too clean, too .... not punk. Punk should be done on a budget!! I think the days of digital editing has taken away alot of feel, humaness or whatever you want to call for some genres. Just doesnt seem right. Would 'Theatre of Pain' by 'Christian Death' have been such the classic it is (well to me anyway!) if it had the pro tools treatment. Those old records sounded offensive because the were recorded offensively so they were offensive to our parents ears because they sounded like they came from the gutter!! Now we can have any band singing 'Fuck' as many times as they like but it will sound crystal clear and the production will be so good that it is no longer offensive.

To me its all got to do with vision of the project. Sure we can make anything sound huge but as engineers, producers etc we have to evoke emotion. Just like the musicians we record we should use our creativity to sculpt their sound, make them unique, not just to make them sound great.

Cheers.

[DT Chris]

In the end, it's all about making money. I have lots of singing, performing and songwriting experience. The songs that people loved more were not your Opus that you and your prog-rock musician buddies loved... it's the simple, stupid, boring tune like "I'm hot, you're not" that was popular.

We as artists can piss and moan, and point to others that 'sell out', etc. when it's the audience that buys the CDs and determines what they like or don't like.

Please don't give me this "Labels/radio stations forcefeed us crap until we like it" argument. Bull. If I don't like a song, they're not going to force me to buy anything.

My way to songwriting is this; first I write for myself. I'm the one that's going to have to perform the song a million times, so I better like it. Next - can I make the song I like commercially appealing so that >gasp< I can make a living at it (so I can stop doing jobs I hate?)

A song is a song is a song. How I present it at any given time can change. A good song stands the test of time.

So what if I emo-punk up a tune of mine I wrote 10 years ago. If the kids end up coming to my concerts or buying my CDs, and/or hear the rest of my material and say "cool", then why not?

[DT Chris]

So really, how can we all sit here like jealous people and call down someone else's 'hit' song, which is making them money so they can live a better lifestyle than us?

We all have the potential to make crappy hit songs. I say, lets write at least one crappy hit song on our albums that will make us money, so we can play the rest of our tunes.

[brandondrury]

If it were only that easy!!! I have no ethical problems with that. Of course, once I was rich enough, I may actually try to write a "good" hit song.

Brandon

[dannyman]

it was way too nice, too clean, too .... not punk.

Haha. Yeah, it's a double edged sword: the old punk records are so awesome because they're so raw. Most of the best punk records, like "Keep Laughing", were recorded in one or two days with sub par recording equipment. To me, the number one problem with music nowadays is that everything is overdubbed, and then studio magic is applied and everything ends sounding SOOOO clean, and thus sterile, I mean, there's no life. Would Led Zeppelin have sounded better if they used Pro Tools and a click track? I think not. What bands need to do is not overdub their recordings. Raw, energy soaked recordings are possible, and they don't have to sound like they were done in your garage. Unfortunately, the general public has no interest in music that isn't completely processed, but what I don't get is why the so called "punk" and "metal" bands are editing, scrubbing, overdubbing, etc... their recordings. The general public has no interest in these genres anyway, so why do they do it? The world may never know...

[brandondrury]

Raw, energy soaked recordings are possible, and they don't have to sound like they were done in your garage.

There is a balance, here. I've heard some raw, live recordings that sounded great. I've heard some terrible live recordings where the band played like a bunch of drunken monkeys.

We could say "if you can't play, then don't" but that would eliminate 90% of the bands...depending on where you draw the line between raw and slop. It takes a bad ass bunch of dudes to play raw in my opinion.

I'm not saying that a click track is always the answer, but it's not like everyone can play drums like John Bohnam or Phil Rudd. What's worse, is these kinds of drummers (drummers that actually know how to keep time) get laughed at by your average metal drummer (who doesn't really have a clue).

So everyone needs to be aware that there is a fine line between completely shitty playing and raw playing.

Brandon