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Inevitable "crap music" thread

Started by Professor Bear, 23 April, 2014, 09:00:36 PM

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shaolin_monkey

Quote from: Radbacker on 24 April, 2014, 01:12:45 PM
i suddenly realised how old I was when I heard that Dub step stuff and thought what the f&*k is this sh&t you cant call trhat music.  Bam suddenly I was my father :)

CU Radbacker

I couldn't even tell you what dubstep is.  I wouldn't recognise it if I heard it.

I totally agree re the whole 'Dad' feeling.  Mine couldn't understand what I saw in Gary Moore and Iron Maiden, despite being a massive Stones/Hendrix and general rock counterculture fan himself.

Thankfully, the worst my kids have assaulted my ears with so far is One Direction, which while still ferkin grim (and surprisingly one of the few things me and the ex agree on!) at least has a tune.

Proudhuff

my radio nearly went out the window when there was a young whinger whining about being Huummmen, vocal acrobatics aren't big or clever, less is more people.
DDT did a job on me

Fungus

Quote from: Mister Pops on 24 April, 2014, 01:03:52 PM
I stopped listening to the radio once I was old enough to figure out that's where the horrible noise was coming from

:D

Your comment is my pick, Mister Pops.

TordelBack

Quote from: Fungus on 24 April, 2014, 02:02:35 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 24 April, 2014, 01:03:52 PM
I stopped listening to the radio once I was old enough to figure out that's where the horrible noise was coming from

:D

Your comment is my pick, Mister Pops.

Hah, a great line!  Rest assured I'll be passing that one off without attribution to impress the fellows at my club, Pops!

radiator

QuoteIf what passes for contemporary popular music doth offend my ears, then so does much of the sludge that pours forth from the missus' favourite 80's radio station.

Oh, absolutely. I think there's a lot of rose-tinted spectacles and revisionism that goes along with musical history, and it's as foolish as it is predictable to state that all music released since your own adolescense is culturally worthless. Some people would have you believe that everyone used to listen to The Clash, but a quick glance at old charts and TotP2 shows that really wasn't the case.

Being totally honest - there's a fair bit of modern pop that I don't find totally offensive - say what you want about 'Umbrella', 'Poker Face', 'California Gurlz' etc etc - they're great pop songs (Black Eyed Peas not so much). It's not for me, it's not aimed at me, and that's fine. I certainly wouldn't expect my young nieces and nephews to like the music I listen to. Likewise, boybands and novelty acts are nothing new.

What is different now, what the OP was getting at and what I had a bitch about in the 'Grind My Gears' thread, is that pop is so inescapable now. Pop music used to be confined to Radio 1 and The Chart Show, now it assaults your ears on every ad, in every shop, in car parks, when you're on hold on the phone. It's this assumption that everyone wants to listen to One Direction that bugs the shit out of me.

Frank

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 24 April, 2014, 11:44:35 AM
One of the biggest selling singles of the swinging psychedelic 60s? Ken Dodd

... and Engelbert Humperdink famously kept Strawberry Fields Forever off the number one spot. You don't have to reach for the grannies favourites to prove that not everything from the sixties was sprinkled with fairy dust - half of every album the aforementioned mop tops recorded is forgettable dreck, the Stones committed hours of tedious wank to vinyl, and if you can make it past tracks 3 and 4 of any 'Greatest Hits' compilation by Hendrix, The Hollies, The Kinks, Cream, Zeppelin, Sabbath, The Pistols, The Smiths, Nirvana, Oasis or whoever, you've more patience than me.

The popular culture output of any era (and in any medium) is primarily composed of worthless landfill; we only remember the few good examples which happened to have some wider cultural resonance or some personal appeal to us as individuals.


TordelBack

Quote from: radiator on 24 April, 2014, 05:12:54 PMIt's this assumption that everyone wants to listen to One Direction that bugs the shit out of me.

True, true - although now that my 4-yr old bops along to One Dimension, I can't tell the difference between my home life and the noxious audio assaults of the public sphere.

JayzusB.Christ

See, I grew up when the dregs of punk and 80s electronic stuff were giving way to going-mental-on-drugs rave music.   What gets on my tits way worse than stuff like Rihanna and Lady Gaga (both of whom have some really catchy songs) are what are to me the insipid drones of Coldplay and the whiny moping of singer-songwriters like James Blunt.

As long as I remember there's been manufactured lowest-common-denomination music.  For every Happy Mondays or Depeche Mode hit there were about ten far more popular Stock Aitken and Waterman ones.  The Monkees began life as a TV show.  Even the Sex Pistols were manufactured by a fashion boutique in London (not that I'd ever say that to Johnny Rotten's face).
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

8-Ball

Quote from: sauchie on 24 April, 2014, 05:44:29 PM
The popular culture output of any era (and in any medium) is primarily composed of worthless landfill; we only remember the few good examples which happened to have some wider cultural resonance or some personal appeal to us as individuals.

That hit home to me when BBC4 started repeating full episodes of TOTP as well as viewing more recent episodes (80s & 90s stuff) on YouTube. I had weaned myself on a diet of TOTP2 compilations so I thought it was spangly hits all year round. Most popular music is shit, purchased on a whim and discarded like fish and chip wrapping paper.
Whatever happened to Rico, Dolman and Cadet Paris? I'm sooo out of the loop.

Proudhuff

Quote from: sauchie on 24 April, 2014, 05:44:29 PM
Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 24 April, 2014, 11:44:35 AM
One of the biggest selling singles of the swinging psychedelic 60s? Ken Dodd

... and Engelbert Humperdink famously kept Strawberry Fields Forever off the number one spot.
The popular culture output of any era (and in any medium) is primarily composed of worthless landfill;

A bity harsh, but yes Strawberry Fields was that bad.
DDT did a job on me

Frank

Quote from: Proudhuff on 24 April, 2014, 08:18:33 PM
A bity harsh, but yes Strawberry Fields was that bad

This version starts off like Thomas The Tank Engine.


radiator

QuoteWhat gets on my tits way worse than stuff like Rihanna and Lady Gaga (both of whom have some really catchy songs) are what are to me the insipid drones of Coldplay and the whiny moping of singer-songwriters like James Blunt.

I always feel a bit compelled to stand up for bands like Coldplay - yeah they're a bit bland and derivative, but it's always seemed strange to me to single them in particular out in a world where Nickelback exist. I also find those awful major label-backed US rock/emo bands with hilariously overwrought, juvenile and self-pitying lyrics far more objectionable.

QuoteCut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Suffocation
No breathing
Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm, bleeding!
Would it be wrong?
Would it be right?
If I took my life tonight
Chances are that I might
Mutilation outta sight
And I'm contemplating suicide

JayzusB.Christ

"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Professor Bear

Quote from: radiator on 24 April, 2014, 09:32:43 PMI always feel a bit compelled to stand up for bands like Coldplay - yeah they're a bit bland and derivative, but it's always seemed strange to me to single them in particular out in a world where Nickelback exist. I also find those awful major label-backed US rock/emo bands with hilariously overwrought, juvenile and self-pitying lyrics far more objectionable.

I can't speak for others, but to me the problem with MOR is that it represents and says nothing, and Coldplay are no different to me than Nickleback or Garth Brooks - different musical genres, but they're still the same pointless, aimless, tune-free dirges that tick boxes to appeal to their audiences.
By contrast, the seemingly safe target of nu-metal standard bearers Papa Roach that you hold up above are at least nailing some colours to the mast.  The self-pitying lyrics you gleefully mock were from a song about the writer's personal experiences with childhood depression and self-harm and how it was dismissed as attention-seeking - bluntly tangible subject matter that led to productive discussion among younger music fans at the time about their own similar problems.  I suspect the same can't be said for pop songs where 90 percent of the lyrics  are the word "baby" and "yeah", or turgid shit like Coldplay's "Fix You", a song cynically constructed to be used on soundtracks, yet if you examine the lyrics, the song is not actually about anything.

Mind you, I still see relentless bile spewed at Billy Bragg not because of his political agenda, but because he has a political agenda.  I suppose when so much of music is artifice and facade, I imagine even the clumsiest appearance of earnestness or sincerity might be a bit off-putting.

radiator

Meh, pretty sure that some of the greatest songs ever written aren't particularly 'about' anything and their apparently 'meaningless' lyrics still resonate with millions of people without having to be so on the nose as to be cringeworthy.