SystemUpdate said:
(1)Just as a heads up, I'm sure this doesn't apply to a majority of the Escapist users as us lot seem to be an intelligent and open-minded bunch. It's just an observation I've had on the way many people regard music.
(2)I'm sick of people jumping to massive conclusions and disregarding entire genres of music simply because they're heard a few songs they dislike or (3)it is disliked by the media. (4)Music like rap and pop often gets bad-mouthed for no good reasons; yes, there is a tonne of bad rap and pop, just like there is a tonne of bad metal and jazz and electronia. It's not like I have a problem with people not liking a certain type of music - but you should still have respect for the genre and artist (unless they really are a piece of talentless crap - Brokencyde, for instance).
I don't listen or really like Lady Gaga, but she has a good voice and well-written/well-produced pop songs, even if her pompous diva persona grates on me. She's not on my iPod, just like Metallica aren't and neither is Tinie Tempah - but I do respect them because I understand they are musically gifted and please their intended audience. Just because I don't like their music doesn't mean I think they're 'bad'.
(5) Heck, even Justin Bieber takes too much flak. He sings bland and uninteresting pop, yes, but is it harming you? Or even the music industry in general? No.
So, please stop writing off types of music just because of its media image or certain bad artists.
Sorry for the rant.
I'm confused and require clarity. Sorry, bad English. I am confused, and I require clarity. I'll just do this by the numbers with my reactions and questions.
(1) I'm glad you took the time to humbly present your opinions as just that and nothing more - I'd like to see more of this on The Escapist.
(2) Hell, yeah - wait, did you say "pop?" Are we talking Apples in Stereo/Rilo Kiley pop or are we talking Rebecca Black/Usher pop?
(3) There is not a style of music "disliked" by the media.
(4) Let's brake this down separately by genre, because I have observed quite a few reasons to badmouth both. Pop, by which I mean Lady Gaga and her-her-her-her-her poker face and Justin Bieber, has done a tremendous amount of work inviting scorn. GaGa's music might not be as wholly unoriginal as Britney Spears, but it still doesn't sound terribly inspired to me. It sounds just like all of the other post-techno club-light diva stuff out there. It actually is unique
for commercial pop in the lyrics category. She likes to sing about her bisexuality, and not always in a self-objectifying "hey boys, look at me kissing a girl!" way. Good for her. That's really about the only positive thing I can say about her. She dresses up in crazy extreme outfits. So does Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so does Bjork, and so did Kiss. Hell, G.G. Allen used to end his sets covered in blood and feces. But none of the above artists (well, except for Kiss) made derivative, simulacric music the way that GaGa does, so I have to say I'm not impressed by the meat dress and the blood outfit and the 10-feet-tall shoulder pads, because the music doesn't back it up. Bieber is much, much worse. There's really no need to go into his music because you already know what I'm going to say about that uninspired, prefab mess. Instead, let's talk about his marketing of sexuality to underaged girls. Unlike his intellectual/artistic forebearers NSync, Bieber actually is underaged himself. But, just like them, and like The New Kids on the Block and all prefab boy-band crap that markets sexuality to children, it's utter crap. Hell, it's crap by design. The music (or what passes for music) is secondary, it's just another component. It's actually less important than all of those retarded feigned looks he gives to the camera before doing some akward face twitch that's supposed to be sexy. This phenomenon and all of its practitioners have earned our scorn, and I for one don't feel the slightest bit bad about giving it to them. I do love Quasi, though.
Rap - or rather, what passes for commercial hip-hop today, isn't any more interesting than Bieber. None of the big-name rappers topping the charts are actual gangsters, like (fewer than would admit) their 90's counterparts were. At least Kanye's crazy ass admits he's a college dropout and not a former crack dealer. Precious few of the rappers actually rap. What Li'l Wayne does, I can do, which is the perfect litmus test for
is this rapping/singing? Answer: no. Quite a few of these "artists" have to slow down their voices in order to sound tough, which is particularly laughable considering that the entire point of the song, other than of course how many toilets they have, is how tough/rich/much of a pimp they are. Rap lyrics are like the boasting of a 12-year-old school boy; I don't believe that one of these dumbfucks has the first clue how to please a woman. And what's really so sad about this is that hip-hop has continued to grow as a genre, thanks to MC's like Mos Def, The Roots (Jimmy Fallon-what the fuck?) and Dead Prez. Too bad none of them play on the radio, since they don't sing about being a hard nigga and fuckin' up a ***** when she don't bring home the dough. See, the greatest perpetrators of black stereotypes are sorry excuses for a black man such as Li'l Wayne.
(5) It's harming popular music.
Most people don't have much in the way of tastes; they watch whatever sitcoms or reality shows are popular and they listen to whatever comes on the top 40 stations where they live. Top 40 music is bland, corporate and often outright terrible, I'd say 95% and 85% of the time respectively. You shouldn't expect such "normal" people to understand your tastes, not because you're inherently better than them in any way, but because commodified shit doesn't appeal to you. It doesn't appeal to me, either.
Go team Venture!