Is Pop Music Innovative Or Good Anymore?

Frankly I don't pay attention to it.  But you dial it back a bit and there was a magical time when there was some pretty cool things going on.  It seems some stuff used to get commercial success because the music was genuinely good.  No point in a poll because I'm guessing the overwhelming answer would be no. But maybe there are some gems out there.


Edited by Slartibartfast - January 17 2011 at 23:15

 

Slartibartfast wrote: It seems some stuff used to get commercial success because the music was genuinely good.

I disagree with this statement. 

The definition of pop has changed so much I don't think it means anything at this point, if not young and barely dressed "celebrities" disguised as musicians.

Not that "pop" has ever been a real genre, everything from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys and late Genesis have been called pop at some point, so I guess it's more of something that has to do with popularity.

And popular music is terrible, at the moment. The time of The Carpenters, Mamas and Papas and others topping all charts have passed, now thanks to the internet radio and TV play are unnecessary and the only popular acts are those worshipped by people in their young to mid teens. The songs you hear everywhere aren't necessarily the most popular, they're just the ones the labels are feeding to the masses. With the internet, everyone can listen to punk rock or noise or prog, it's not really a matter of being part of a subculture or going to obscure music shops anymore. So the only listeners labels can aspire to are those more susceptible to influence and brainwashing because they're usually left to rot their brains in front of TV and Facebook: teenagers. And people wonder why talentless Autotune users get popular? Because it's not difficult to influence someone who's maturing and doesn't know what to do with his or her hormones. And that's a messed up thing to do to because it gives them bad examples.

Let me make an example: there was this girl who did Hannah Montana or some show like that. Let's say two parents are too busy to look after their daughter and leave her in front of Disney Channel, and let her watch this Hannah Montana TV show. Let's see this girl is a 12 year old child and let's say three years have passed, now she's 15 and Hannah Montana is grinding her intimate parts against various males on MTV. What example do you think that would possibly give? Especially now that she's maturing physically and feels so confused inside. What has music to do with that?

Same thing with male teenagers seeing those pumped meat bags swearing around and dry humping "ghetto" girls.

Or that lady *a*a (I will not pronounce her name), you always hear about how much she cares about "different" people and how she teaches teenagers to be themselves. But she had tons of plastic surgery! That's hypocrisy at best.

I haven't watched TV in years and I'm aware of all those things. Why? I don't know, probably my experience on the internet and in real life. But I know for a fact that pop music is an absolute disgrace today.

Pop music is an absolute disaster because it's not about the music anymore, it's about the corporations pushing their creepy agendas. In the internet age, labels should become irrelevant. They know that and do these dirty tricks to stick around. I'm not saying you should be a hipster and listen to obscure music exclusively, just avoid packaged music.

It's obvious that teenagers need some kind of "rebel" to identify with, like Buddy Holly or James Dean or Dee Dee Ramone. But those working from the labels aren't rebels at all, they're just doing what the label tells them to do. A disgrace to humanity.

The same applies to the "indie" fad that many major labels are pushing. It works like this: they buy a small label (usually called "indie"), they promote its artists and then pretend said musicians are still working for a small label, while said artists are making six figures a year. An example? Crystal Castles is signed to Fiction Records, which is owned by Polydor which is a subsidiary of Universal. And Crystal Castles fans act like annoying "indie" hipsters all the time. That's another fad I hope will die.

Most pop music these days hasn't managed to break free from the pop music of the 80's, that's what most of it is, it's just that the technology has expanded.   

When something as simple as "Pop" is divided into various sub-genres, it's hard to label it "Good". If I were to turn it on my local top 40 station (please don't make me), I would probably hear all of the following; hip hop, r&b, club beats, soft rock, mall-punk, and the occasional sh*t-rock (Nickelback, Kid Rock, etc.).

I love a catchy hook and my iTunes has everything from ABBA to Zappa, but I can't relate to 70% of my age group.

Some pop music I like (Lady GaGa, at times), but most of the time it's a good vocal hook or a synth line...nothing really innovative there. There is this female empowerment thing going on now (slutwave, oh yes) but that's hardly innovative. Ani DiFranco's been writing about orgasms for two decades, with much more talent and class. Nothing's really innovative. Even everything lady GaGa's about can be traced back to Bjork, both in fashion and music. Plus the music was better.

There's a lot of stuff that's not super duper popular but selling reasonably well and good to listen to. Fiona Apple's work is really good, for instance, a lot better than, imo, Carpenters or Michael Jackson.  What super duper popular stuff I have heard, i.e. the Shakiras and Beyonces is really boring  but that probably has a lot to do with the fragmentation of tastes so that it's no more possible to make an iconoclastic album and sell it to a big audience, much 'safer' for the big players to make assembly line identical units of pop and which usually gets lapped up too. 

darkshade wrote: i like Cee Lo Green's - "F*ck You" . it's really catchy and of course the chorus. it's got a little 60's/70's soul feel too with a sweet little bass solo to it, but it's a cool popular song.

I agree completely, but for the most part pop is just non talented people that try to say something to some computer generated beat and call it music.

Innovative pop these days? I know Everything Everything (amazing band, their debut from last year kicked so much ass), Massive Attack and Coldplay, although only their first 2 albums are worth listening; the rest of their discography is just repetition of the formulas of Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Pop music is at its best when it's being smart/clever/erudite/witty/provocative - anything that shows there is a brain and a personality (however prefabricated) at work behind the glitz and the gloss - of the modern era, artists like Tinie Tempah, Lily Allen, Biffy Clyro, Florence & the Machine, Kate Nash, Katy Perry, Gorillaz and (to some extent) Lady Gaga and Eminem, while not being stunningly profound or earth-shattering, are demonstrating that ti still takes talent and skill to produce Pop music as an art form rather than just a product.