Music Now: A Bland Corporate Product?

Anyone who has (a) Listened to music in developed world 1960+, and; (b) knows anything much about music industry, has to admit the whole music thing has descended into tame mush which pukes all over most of the wannabes who never make it bigtime. Dominated by just four multinational corporations, even the 'rebellious' music is now packaged like soap powder, and much of today's sorry output is sold with a heavy dollop of sleazy sex to make it look 'tasty'. Once upon a time, everyone wanted to play music; now every kid just wants to be famous.

Other than a few independents like Nation Records in the UK, and some long standing whacky bands like Ween, there is simply no genuine alternative. Turning on the radio today is like turning on the gas with your head in the oven!! Do we need another punk revolution, y'know, or have all you kids gone soft in the head?


:confused:

Music has always been a bland corporate product, however there have always been independent labels.

And now, with the advent of the internet, it's far easier to be exposed to 'different' kinds of music (which turns out, often, not to be different, merely underproduced).

90% (or more) of it all is still crap, but it's crap that somebody out there likes.

De gustibus non disputandum est.

I'll agree if you change 1960+ to 1975+.

My forthcoming CD will not be bland...no siree!

How's that Steinberg learning curve going, Syc?

Eh, still haven't really played with it. Once I finally get the apartment cleaned up, then I'll fuck with it some more.

Originally posted by wolf
Music has always been a bland corporate product,

Even in 2000 B.C.?

Originally posted by wolf
90% (or more) of it all is still crap, but it's crap that somebody out there likes.

And 90% of everything is (and was) crap, to quote the immortal Sturgeon. Of course, Sturgeon also noted that the other 10% is worth dying for.

Nostalgia has a tendency to make people remember the best and worst bits of an era, but pass over the mind-numbing waves of mediocrity in between. The music industry has always had its share of corporate-manufactured one-hit-wonders, genre bands and albums with two decent songs and ten filler tracks. It's not a cup of coffee; neither the cream nor the scum necessarily rise to the top.

The Internet has had a moderate effect on this, in that discerning consumers have more free access to music beyond what gets on MTV and the radio. Going D-I-Y is easier now than ever before, if you're not particularly worried about big label-level sales figures. You don't have to spend night after night in the clubs hoping that someone cool and yet-unknown will come to your town, or hope that your local college radio stations will play something different.

Once in a while, artists will come along that just don't give a fuck but become a success anyway, mostly by playing by their own rules and finding their own particular niche. Frank Zappa comes to mind. The Grateful Dead. Jimmy Buffett. They amassed huge followings with minimal (if any) radio airplay. (Zappa released 80+ albums and only broke the top 50 on rare occasions. We all know about the Dead. Buffett has a few tracks that have become standbys like "Margaritaville," but has gone years at a time without anything NEW of his getting airplay.) Today's artists could learn something from those examples.

Good post Project-San. My roommate really likes Fugazi. I'm in an Ambient/Groove ambient time of my life now. Lots of small groups on smaller labels.

Well, whaddya know -- once in a while, my faith in music is rewarded.

Years ago, I had a serious Crack the Sky fetish -- I tracked down all the albums, got the compilation CDs from Record & Tape Traders in Towson, and added all of John Palumbo's solo albums as well. This was around the time that the band had broken up and reformed for the fifth or sixth time -- only Elizabeth Taylor had a spottier relationship record.

Well, not only are <a href="http://www.crackthesky.com">Crack The Sky</a> still around after ~30 years, not only are they still recording new albums, but they even have a free-download page containing MP3s of live concerts and three albums that never got released on CD.

HOT damn!

Seconding what others have said before me, plus:
Yeah, there's lots of crap around. Watch Amadeus to see how long crappy secondary music has existed.
The trick is to find stuff that is genuinely good to you. Some might argue that Britney Spears is better than Christina Aguilera. Within the framework of bubblegum pop, they might be right. But comparing either one of those two nincompoops to Ella Fitzgerald gets you laughed at. Perspective and taste are key. I happen to like Eminem a lot, but not so much DMX. Some people call it tasteless, I don't.
The other thing you have to remember TP is that major music corps aren't out there to make great music. They exist to make money (some might argue off the backs of great musicians, but that's a different thread). So, they sell what people buy them. All the blame should not be placed at the feet of the music corps, but some needs to be spread before consumers as well. Take the electronic music scene, for example. The best DJ's are taken by the best labels, and tour under ClearChannel's massive flag. But, these major companies bring world class music to folks who wouldn't otherwise get it because that's what the consumers of that music demand.

I wouldn't say the best anything are always taken by the major labels. As a fan of indie music, I can point to a hundred bands I would rather listen to than what's on the radio. And most electronic music will never get on the radio - anyone heard Amon Tobin or Out of Phase on the airwaves?

But indie music is out there, and while there is an under-produced mantra to it at times, that's often beneficial. Check it out. Go to insound.com and have a look around.

Or http://www.cdbaby.com which is a great site as well. It has a search engine that lets you define your interests based on well-known bands and returns selections based on what the artists themselves thought they were most like.

Or something.

There just isn't enough genius to go around

Apparently genius is teaching piano in Lancaster, PA. Reaffirming my thought that the best music goes on right next door, if youre listening.

Originally posted by Tasneem Project
Anyone who has (a) Listened to music in developed world 1960+, and; (b) knows anything much about music industry, has to admit the whole music thing has descended into tame mush which pukes all over most of the wannabes who never make it bigtime.

Way over-generalization.

Dominated by just four multinational corporations, even the 'rebellious' music is now packaged like soap powder, and much of today's sorry output is sold with a heavy dollop of sleazy sex to make it look 'tasty'.

Sex sells. Proven fact.

Once upon a time, everyone wanted to play music; now every kid just wants to be famous.

So....back in this fictional "day", when the intent was "pure" and the music was "raw", evrey kid didn't want to be famous? How many of the pre-60's music generators ever said, "I did it for the music, man? The money? The fame? It don't mean shit."

Other than a few independents like Nation Records in the UK, and some long standing whacky bands like Ween, there is simply no genuine alternative.

Of course there is. You just have to go out of your way to find them, turn off your TV and Radio.

Turning on the radio today is like turning on the gas with your head in the oven!! Do we need another punk revolution, y'know, or have all you kids gone soft in the head?

No, all we "kids" haven't. And who is "you" anyway. Don't try to make it sound like the UK doesn't have it's own bubblegum pop labels, case in point, "Ant and Dec".

One thing I have definitely noticed is what I would call music with an engineered outcome.

It just seems that the record industry has pre-ordained the types of music that will be at the top of the chart then they either find an existing group to perform the song or they assemble a band to do it (like the boy band craze).

Judging by the stark decline in diversity even within given genres (pop, country, etc.), I am wondering if bands have been reduced to order takers following the instruction of the record label's chosen producers.

I was a big fan of alternative in the early 80s but it pretty much died by 1992. At this point, I have resorted to techno/house/trance etc. to find the originality that attracts me to music.

Check out !!The Ministry Of Sound for some good stuff