You may remember the days when your parents were telling you that all the music you listen to sounds the same (although U2, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cult and Siouxsie Sioux all sound very different to me).
However, even the pop industry now seems to (subliminally) admit that a lot of music released today sounds like a lot else. And here is why I think it so:
You see, if you listen to a pop station like Capital (I like to refer to it as ‘Crapital’) you might begin to notice that many of the songs begin by announcing the name of the artist – as part of the song. In other words: the performer is telling us who they are.
J-Lo, Shakira, Beyonce, Tinie Tempah, Rihanna, JLS and many others have all been at it.
And I think it’s because they finally realise that if you weren’t told you wouldn’t readily recognise who the artist was because they all sound pretty much the same.
Having said that, I’ve listened to Planet Rock a fair bit this week (bearing in mind that I’m a fan of rock music) and even many rock bands sound largely the same.
Is it me?
No, I agree with what you are saying. I think as music has evolved over the years we’re starting to see a trend which is steadily correlating to that which is needed for the society we live in. And I think that it’s also that society which begs the need for this music- which popularly seems to be becoming largely devoid of substance. Style over substance- and people seem to be blinded by what is substantial over that which is stylish. They are not one and the same thing, but people are starting to get into the mindset that they are. And this is where a lot of music is going wrong. This culture in our society has started to influence the mainstream music to be this way too.
But it’s only natural I believe as I also think that popular culture and popular music have always been massively in sync. And it’s like that all over the world. But what I do think is a bad thing, is that now we are having to wade through a sea of garbage in order to find pearls- music of course, I am referring to.
I am not saying people who listen to popular music are garbage. That’s simply not the case. I do think that if this music makes people happy it is a very good thing. But at the same time I also think that this music in question isn’t what music should be in many cases- it’s really dreary. Anyway that’s simply my opinion, nothing more. I am sure I could elaborate more but that is simply what I think off of the top of my head.