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What Has Happened To The Music Industry?
7/13/02 | Maryellen Davies

Posted on 07/13/2002 4:55:42 PM PDT by Wondervixen

Why has music entertainment gone into the sewer the past 25 years and who is to blame?

Nobody seems to be able to tune in to a music program (short of Country Music Television) without seeing what today's young music executives strive to convince us is "popular music entertainment". In the words of ex-ELO Drummer Bev Bevan, these up and coming manufactured superstars are performing "Rubbish". I tend to agree with him and here's why.

Over the course of Rock & Roll history, it became a classic staple that was added to and subtracted from, but rarely deviated from...A lead guitar...A bass...Keyboards...A set of drums. Those who PLAYED them also sang and I don't think I need to tell you that it took considerable practice to do it well. Walking and chewing gum at the same time is the joke. Singing musicians are where the talent is!

Then, along came Michael Jackson. Sure, the Drifters, Spinners, Temptations, and many other Motown legends performed sans instruments and dazzled audiences with some very cool dance moves, but their vocals were the drawing card. The moves were the icing on the cake.

Then, Jackson splits from his family band and goes solo. The vocals were catchy but the dance moves took attention away from the sound. Youths were imitating the Moon Walk and the strutting around Michael would do (even the crotch grabbing). The shame here is that some idiot in the music industry saw this as the wave of the future because from Michael's moves came New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney, Christina, and all the rest of the "Dancing Bears" who dominate music today.

It is no longer imperitave that you have musical talent, just that you're willing to wear the revealing clothes and DANCE, DANCE, DANCE. Voice mixers will straighten out the fact you can't carry a tune in a designer handbag.

Forced to "the reservation" of oldies summer tours are the real talents. Real BANDS like The Eagles, KISS, The Who, Cheap Trick, Doobie Brothers, Electric Light Orchestra, REO Speedwagon, and Styx are all but ignored by contemporary radio and only heard if you're lucky enough to have a good oldies station signal. Kids today have little appreciation for these talented icons of the bygone days of playing your own music. No, they cast their adoration upon the Dancing Bears who likely cannot play a radio.

Like the state of education in this country (ie; the "dumbing down" of our children), we have grown all too accustomed to accepting this laziness in music that now glorifies the least talented while the more talented get paid for hiding in the studio or standing in the dark of the stage providing the Bears the music to dance by.

Shame, shame, shame. At least Nashville and CMT still have it right.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: entertainment; musicindustry
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1 posted on 07/13/2002 4:55:42 PM PDT by Wondervixen
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To: Wondervixen
The music coming out now is for the kids who will buy the records. Country is for grown ups. You're showing your age. :)
2 posted on 07/13/2002 5:01:34 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: Wondervixen
There are still some kids out there knocking socks off with their musical talents. Unfortunately, the MTV Crew and the PC pushers don't want to headline them. I met a fantastic local guitarist that just turned 20 that was playing Hendrix, Clapton and the Beatles licks with the best of them. I think once the crap has floated to the top and been flushed, the little rockers will resurface.
3 posted on 07/13/2002 5:07:38 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: gcruse
I didn't say I'm a country fanatic...I prefer the music of my grade school years like those I mentioned. Too bad that by the time of my high school years, this brand of Band music was being phased out by young turks in the music hierarchy.

Besides, where does the money these kids spend on this entertainment come from? ANSWER: The parents who are too busy trying to be their kids "best friends" rather than their responsible guardians.

4 posted on 07/13/2002 5:08:12 PM PDT by Wondervixen
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To: vetvetdoug
Would that have been "guitar slinger" Joe Bonomasa?
5 posted on 07/13/2002 5:09:40 PM PDT by Wondervixen
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To: Wondervixen
I agree. About 1972, acid-rock came out and the music (which had been superb for a generation) started going to hell in a hand basket, and has never recovered. It's just gone from bad to worse, and unfortunately, the good musicians, who want to play real music, must play the oldies but goodies/greaties.
6 posted on 07/13/2002 5:13:16 PM PDT by XBob
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Jackson is just mad that the wacky remake of 'smooth criminal' (by alien ant farm) went top 10 and he can't score any hits anymore...

The best looking women are always in the country videos, although I'm not into country.

'ceptin for the song Sean Hannity opens his radio show with...anyone know what that is?

7 posted on 07/13/2002 5:14:23 PM PDT by KneelBeforeZod
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To: Wondervixen
Yeah, that Shania Twain is the real thing. Or not.

Seeing (and hearing) Loretta Lynn, you really were lookin' at country; the current cheesecake from Music City is something else.

8 posted on 07/13/2002 5:15:16 PM PDT by niteowl77
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To: XBob
That, or suffer with the indignity of being studio musicians and backing bands stuck in the shadows on-stage.
9 posted on 07/13/2002 5:16:05 PM PDT by Wondervixen
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To: Wondervixen
Good post, but I disagree with your last statement. Modern country music is pretty poor, too. "Pop music with cowboy hats," as one music critic described it.
10 posted on 07/13/2002 5:16:19 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: Wondervixen
How many instruments did Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or Sammy Davis Jr. play?

You won't find a bigger KISS fan than me, but I couldn't honestly say KISS was driven by musical talent.
I think the same showmanship you deride in the one gloved albino pedaphile can be found in a Alice Cooper or Ozzy Ozbourne concert.
11 posted on 07/13/2002 5:17:08 PM PDT by Once-Ler
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To: Wondervixen
video ruined music....tatoos and bolts
thru the face used to not be cool.
12 posted on 07/13/2002 5:17:20 PM PDT by cactusSharp
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To: Wondervixen
VIDEO killed the Radio Star
-- The Buggles
13 posted on 07/13/2002 5:17:28 PM PDT by balrog666
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To: gcruse
Your quite correct that the music industry produces what it believes will sell, and when something does sell, it's imitated by a thundering herd of the talentless.

Remember in the '60s, the folk music which became popular grew by word of mouth and small labels for over a decade before it reached the critical mass that brought it to the mass audience. Likewise, the "San Francisco sound" acid rock bands were playing around the Bay Area for several years before they became popular enough, and received the exposure at places like the Monterey festival, to be picked up by the big labels. Even the then talentless Beatles were a garage and club band for several years before their big breaks and the Invasion of the US. Elvis, too, spent a number of years on the local ciruits in the South and Southwest before his national debut and fame.

14 posted on 07/13/2002 5:20:04 PM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: balrog666
LOVE that song! (especially the subtle strings section)
15 posted on 07/13/2002 5:20:45 PM PDT by Wondervixen
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To: Wondervixen
At least Nashville and CMT still have it right.

Can't agree with that. "Big" country music sucks as much as the rest, or almost as much anyway. The only time CMT is any good is when they do alt-country, old country or bluegrass sets (which, admittedly and thanfully, they have been doing more of lately). The major labels in country music, however, manufacture "stars" just like the other generas do. Most so-called country music is just insipid pop with steel guitars.

I don't know much about the music industry, but the impression I get is that fewer and fewer "real" musicians -- people with genuine talent, a deep love for musical tradition, and a strong desire to perform and to innovate -- are willing to sign up with major labels. They know it is a crap shoot. They might hit it big if the label decides to promote them, but even then it is not a sure thing, and they will only get serious promotion if they follow the "artistic guidance" provided by their label (i.e. bastardize their own artistic vision to conform with what some record company exec will sell with some lowest common denominator target demographic). If they don't happen to have a big mega-hit, they aren't going to make any money because the labels are going to eat up all the profits (often even from pefectly respectable "sub-mega-hit" sized sales) in production and promotion costs.

In short more and more really talented artists are electing to go with smaller "independent" labels and do much of their own promotion. At least this is the impression I have as a non-insider to the music biz. In short the big labels are giving us crap, especially from new artists, in part because that is all they have. The really good newcomers won't sign with them any more.

16 posted on 07/13/2002 5:25:09 PM PDT by Stultis
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To: CatoRenasci
Agreed. Garage bands seem to be the next thing in rock, but my tastes are frozen somewhere around Led Zeppelin back to the mid-fifties.
17 posted on 07/13/2002 5:29:05 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: Wondervixen
I went to see Judas Priest on Thursday night. Great band!
18 posted on 07/13/2002 5:33:13 PM PDT by nonliberal
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To: Once-Ler
How many instruments did Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or Sammy Davis Jr. play?

IIRC Sammy was pretty good with a drum set (and in any case, before his hip went out, could give any drummer a run for his money with a pair of tap shoes). SDJ, in fact, is my nominee for the best all-around entertainer of the last century. Dance, singing, acting, comedy/impressions. Vaudeville, cabaret, broadway, vegas, film. I can't think of anyone else who covered that much as well as he did.

19 posted on 07/13/2002 5:34:45 PM PDT by Stultis
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To: Wondervixen
Real music died in 1974. End of story.
20 posted on 07/13/2002 5:38:13 PM PDT by freedomtrail
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