Thoughts on "Pop" Music.

leahey

leahey

Active member
I know this should probably go in Media & Arts but I think more people will see it here.
The music that has been released to the public and jammed into the iTunes top ten for 5 minutes lately is just terrifying. People like Lil' Wayne, Drake, and others are completely ruining music, hip hop, and pop for me. Rap shouldn't be about your "ho" and all the bank you are collecting. I hope other people feel the same way, I'd be surprised if they didn't.
/end rant.
 
music = arranged sounds to express an artists feeling, memory, and can be something significant or even nothing significant at all.
pop = arranged sounds that follow formulaic popular rhythms and melodies by easily marketable pop icons in order to turn a profit.
 
the majority of people purchasing from itunes are middle school kids with their parent's credit card on file
 
imo, lady gaga changed pop music. hate all you want but if you think about it there weren't really any electronica/dance type songs on the radio. she has 8 number one songs out, all from one cd, and all currently played. after just dance came out, every song started to sound similar (ke$ha and others). synth (the warp 1.9 sounding one) is becoming more and more popular in every song.

just my opinion.
 
Yeah pop music is gay as fuck.
And now EDM is getting popular and watered down just like every other genre.
 
everyone likes different music. one group of people, no matter how large, can definitively say that one style of music is bad and that no one should like.
also, since pop music evolves and changes, to say that it follows a formula is ridiculous. if you can find a formula that every billboard top 100 song follows, then i will divide by zero.
 
Yeah seriously! Rap (or what is called rap) is so gay now!
"I'm trying to find the words to describe this girl, without being disprespectful."
WTF is that? 10 years ago that lyric would have been:
"That girls a skank bitch, and I'm going to make her suck my dick for ten dollars then slap a ho till she cries."
 
I've always wondered how calling a girl a sexy bitch isn't disrespectful..

Slob on my Knob, truly a classy song about lovin yo bitch.
 
Currently, I'd say the formula is an upbeat 4/4 time with synths, a drum machine and a catchy chorus. Listen to any Gaga, Kesha, or Justin Beiber song for an example. I also agree with ohninelines that Lady Gaga changed pop music.

That said, there are exceptions but the majority of the top 100 songs will follow about that formula
 
There is plenty of 'pop' music that doesn't suck (MGMT, Flaming Lips, Stars etc.) however, almost all music produced by major record labels is shit, because their sole purpose is to sell as many records as possible.

 
so your formula for a top 100 song is: -upbeat-4/4 time-synth-drum machine-catchy chorus
you covered pretty much the majority of music nowadays with rock being the exception simply because they don't use a drum machine. your argument is shit.

 
I 100% agree. Sometimes I'll preview the top music in iTunes, just to see what the masses are into right now. It's kinda disgusting. Not only is the content of the songs completely unoriginal, but they don't even sound nice. Like pop has always been the mindless genre of music for those who lack creative expression or are too lazy to find music that appeals to them more, but it used to be tolerable to listen to. This stuff lately is simply garbage.
And for whoever said there is no bad or good music, just different people liking different stuff, and that there's no formula, etc. I'd say that might be true, but the music out there today sure says things about the culture of those who listens to it. Whoever likes the pop now clearly isn't listening to music for the same reasons as someone who puts effort into it. It all sounds the same, all the lyrics are about extremely simple concepts (like boy meets girl, she might be a ho, might take place on a dancefloor, some girl looks good, some dude is a gangster even though he never set foot in a ghetto, etc.), and the music itself isn't very complicated either. By my definitions of what music is (expression of self, means to out views on society, way to convey emotion, way to draw an emotion from listeners), pop is a disgrace. Hate if you want.

Recently saw an ad to go on a shopping spree with Justin Derulo if you won a contest. What the fuck kind of artist would sell out that hard? Hope it was just a well put together spam ad... If not, then that sums up pop music for me.
 
Wait, were you disagreeing? Because that sounded pretty right to me.
In my opinion all music has its place, the pop music of this day and age is the product of a society that can't slow down. The majority of our generation, when it comes to music, yearns for accessibility because we don't have time to seat down to actually listen and appreciate a complex and intellectually challenging piece of music, so what you get is music that appeals fast, punches hard, and is over quick, giving the listener the emotions gleaned from music with out actually listening properly. Not saying its bad or good, its just music of different generation, our musical zeitgeist. Some generation's music is concerned with protest, civil unrest, etc. Jazz for example, when picked apart, carries many of the same qualities and virtues of the 20s, the vitality, the swing, the spontaneity. However, our generation is preoccupied, scattered, so our music reflects that: its presence is felt, but, like our generation, it isn't concerned with intellect or innovation, its simply just there, loud and catchy, a song that doesn't require a thought. We don't need distraction, and thats exactly what 21st century pop music is giving us, music without purpose, with out reason, simply the bare bones of melody.
 
I got into a huge argument with my friend the other day on what makes pop music different from music.

Basically the argument was fixated on whether pop music is its own genre or whether its just selected music from a variety of genres.

Like take Empire State of Mind or Run This Town by Jay Z, which were hugely popular rap songs recently. I don't think anyone would say that these weren't pop songs. But then look, the Blueprint 3 is also a hugely respected album in the hip hop community. What defines a pop song?

I also think that all of a sudden this huge attitude as come about where people are like POPULAR MUSIC SUCKS!!!! No doubt, songs by like Ke$ha and Soulja Boy are bad, but at the same time I also understand why these songs are popular and why the songs I like could never reach wide scale popularity. Are we really gunna wage a war on Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, I mean give me a break, its so evident why those are suuuuuper popular songs, but Brother Ali isn't.
 
this is nothing new. look at the 80s. so much AWFUL pop music. disco in the 70s etc.

there will always be crappy music based on appeal to the masses and not art/creativity. that being said, dont think that just because an artist has "made it" or is played on the radio, or on itunes top 100 is bad. nothing is worse than the hipster douche who simply hates music because its popular now.
 
Hipster-Kitty-Youve-never-heard-of-them-Trust-me.jpg
 
first time ive seen a girl like being called a bitch.
and also about your lady gaga comment, ya she did change it but it doesn't mean that it's any better than the shit that was on the radio before
 
she changed it? Really? Sounds like the same bullshit as before. Meaningless lyrics, boring pop melodies. Like the second poster said, pop is about turning a profit. The only reason why people like some of the stuff they do is because they're like oh "that's that song that played on the radio 800 times a day"

Such weak music.Mainstream radio today is just awful.
 
im with everyone on hating pop..however i am pumped on the way things seem to be heading..david guetta had a brilliant idea to put his electro beats with mainstream artists and created fire. I see alot of electro pop in the feature which could be promising.
 
That's true. I think people are starting to realize how awesome electro is now too. Instead of everyone lumping every electronic genre into the category of "techno", other genres are getting recognized. Might lead to some better mainstream/pop-ish music down the road.
 
Are you actually calling some of the mainstream shit electro? Jesus, there is no hope for our world. I actually like electro, but the mainstream music is just god awful. It's like calling those mainstream stations hip hop for rap, not even close. Just shitty music that retarded people dance to in the clubs.
 
" nothing is worse than the hipster douche who simply hates music because its popular now."

Hahahaha, oh man. Are you retarded? So much shitty hipster music going around these days, yet you're actually calling the people who hate the mainstream bullshit music of today hipsters. You're mixed up there sir.
 
no i wasnt. i agree 99% of the radio today is garbage

im saying people love bands, but when they blow up they are no longer "good" i mean look at mgmt, matt & kim, etc. people LOVED them when they were "underground" but the minute they blew up they became uncool. which makes no sense, like music because you enjoy listening to it, not because you want to be trendy and underground.

on an entirely unrelated note, i find it funny that you guys put lil wayne on the list of crappy pop artists. the vast majority of his music never gets radio play, and i dont think anyone can look at his "rock album" (if you can call it that) and say his goal was to make music to get radio hits. he did it because he wanted to, not to please anyone. hes said himself that lollipop, which was really his first big radio hit, was basically just to prove he could make a pop hit/club banger, whatever.
 
you're dumb. a hipster is someone who hates things because they're popular. there is no mixing up on ben's part whatsoever. if you hate all mainstream music, that's your own problem, but it doesn't change what hipsters are.
 
Hip hop hasn't been good since the 90's, period! theres some good underground, but commercial hip hop was destroyed when every rapper had to talk about bling, patron, up in the club in every trak, get over it. Pop imho has improved slightly background music wise with all the electro/techno shit but who wants to hear corny lyrics over it by kesha, gaga, etc. so just listen to underground traks and u should be straight /rant.
 
again. rapping about money, hoes, blah blah blah is not exclusive to mainstream hip hop, nor hip hop of the 21st century.
 
No I wasn't. I was saying that with the recognition of Electro as its own genre, and all other electronic genres, mainstream music might incorporate electro down the road. It wouldn't be as good, but I'd rather listen to a mainstream knockoff of electro any day than what gets played now. I think we're on the same page.
 
money, ho's, etc, not exclusive to mainsteam hip hop, but bling bling, patron, and up in the club is purely abused in mainstream hip hop, im 33, was listening to nwa, slick rick, etc since its inception, and NOBODY EVER talked about patron and shit back in those days, it was pure well thought out quality! evn the gangster shit.
 
Music arguments on newschoolers are about as intelligent as youtube comment fights.
That said, you something relative to judge good music off of. If there isn't bad music, there also isn't good music.
There are tons of creative artists out there. Get out there and explore, diversify, and enjoy music my friends.
And Pop has plenty of good material, but it goes through stages just like everything else. There are high points and low points. Not going to speculate on where we are now.
Anyways, I'm not going to share my opinions in here, because this IS going to turn into a huge shit show, and I don't want to get involved.
 
True. I'm kind of in that boat with mgmt. once they blew up there were like 3 songs playing nonstop everywhere. And a billion remixes on every radio station. That sort of killed it. Still like them though, just don't enjoy some of the stuff. And they still are kind of weak live
 
yeah. but im not talking about getting tired/burned out of/on songs. that just happens.

but we all know the kid who LOVES a band, and then the minute people have heard of them is like "OMG they suck, they are so mainstream now. Im more underground than you". and thats just obnoxious
 
Wow. Are you serious? Lady GaGa did nothing but slightly tweak electronic music techniques that are more than a decade in the making. She hasn't invented anything. She is the opposite of an innovator and she has done nothing to progress music. She affected the sound of the top 10 radio hits by copping beats from innovators in electronic music.

And by the way, "popular music" does not equal "pop music". Pop is a genre that encompasses music that is both popular and "indie" (excuse the term).
 
yes i am serious, most songs on the radio sounds very very similar to hers where as before just dance came on the radio you heard nothing it. i never said she progressed music as a whole, i'm not that dumb to make a statement like that.
 
Most of it's pretty bad, but it's not as bad as everyone tries to make it out to be. Sure it's the same recycled lyrics and beats most of the time, but it's not that bad. I can't stand souljia boi, and that rihanna song that goes "want want want whatchu want want want" makes me want to shoot myself but some songs on the radio are enjoyable from time to time. I wouldn't want to listen to it on my own if I had a choice, but I find it nice to drive home from a party just listening to some generic feel good song every so often.
 
I agree Lady Gaga has had the biggest influence, but there has been some electronica slowly filtering into mainstream for a while it seems with Cascada, DHT redoing "Listen to your Heart", and even a lot of rappers using more electronic beats. But yes, music does seem to be heading that direction.
 
ahhhh i love DHT but i never heard it on the radio, and cascada had one song on the radio. lady gaga is hit after hit after hit. record companies see the trend and so they pump out people similar to her. i mean at least my station in pittsburgh plays gaga every 11 minutes.
 
Haha sounds like its time for a new station :)

In the Seattle area though, Cascada had two songs on the radio that got quite a bit of play time, "everytime we touch" and 7 years and 50 days" I think was the other. But yes, Gaga is on a whole new level.
 
I strongly dislike people who only care to complain about an issue in music that has been around since the mid century. Pop music is shallow, it sucks, get over it. Find some real music and do something productive with your life.
/rant
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top