Seeing (and hearing) Loretta Lynn, you really were lookin' at country; the current cheesecake from Music City is something else.
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.
The problem today is that the media rarely shows musicians with an instrument in their hands. Artists just dance and lip sync while the musak magically appears in the background. The few exceptions... country, thrash metal, & chicks with acoustic folk guitars are pretty much the clientle in music stores these days. But without the key 18-21 year old audience barred from the clubs by authoritarian do-gooders, it really goes nowhere.
BTW, you're fooling yourself if you think what's coming out of Nashville these days isn't some of the most fomulated crap being produced these days.
My favorite kinds of music are some swing from the 40's, rock and roll from the 50's and the Beatles and Beach Boys from the 60's. I also like songs from Creedence Clearwater Revival and that song called "Horse with No Name" from the 70's. I hate heavy metal music from all era's though.
I also like some country music like Hank Williams, Sr. and Patsy Cline. For laughs, I sometimes listen to Mrs. Miller, who did off-key covers of famous songs. :)
After CCR, music became progressively worse. I can't stand rap and this current racket and I am hoping it goes back in the sewer where it belongs.
I still listen to the rock'n'roll from the 60's and 70's, but country music is where it's at these days. Still, there are a number of good young bands out there, IMHO, but the record companies don't seem to have a vested interest in sortin' thru the schlock to promote them.
FReegards...MUD
The problem with this is that MTV has become nothing more than a life style network for these clowns.
Remember when you watched MTV? The lure to it was you always thought the next video was going to be better than the one you just saw.
Where's the good music gone? It's right here.... http://www.wusb.org/deadend/
There are a number of talented songwriters out there who are putting out good music, you just have to work a little bit to find some of it. I won't necessarily sing the praises of bands like Styx, KISS, the Eagles or some of the other 70s stuff, but they are certainly more listenable than a lot of the music coming out these days.
It shouldn't be any surprise, of course, that the decline of popular music took place during the Clinton Era. Like everything else the Clinton Baby Boomers touched, music became more base and vulgar, and ultimately less listenable. I could pontificate on the institutions that the Boomers have destroyed, of course, but that would turn into a lengthy treatise, if not a book!
"These kids today... the clothes they wear... and their music: it's just noise! How can anyone stand Puff Daddy? Now, Steely Dan... that was music!" -- southernnorthcarolina, 2002.
"These kids today... the clothes they wear... and their music: it's just noise! How can anyone stand Steely Dan? Now, Ella Fitzgerald... that was music!" -- my parents, 1978.
"These kids today... the clothes they wear... and their music: it's just noise! How can anyone stand Ella Fitzgerald? Now, Benny Goodman... that was music!" -- my grandparents, 1954.
"These kids today... the clothes they wear... and their music: it's just noise! How can anyone stand Beethoven? Now, Bach... that was music!" -- my great, great, great, great, great grandparents, 1799.