10 depressing facts about pop music

[Swede]

[rocktivity]

1. Apples and Oranges

Last edited Fri Jun 22, 2012, 12:45 AM - Edit history (2)

It's called "pop" music for a reason: it's MADE to be as popular as possible, even at the expense of actual talent. Like their ancestor Madonna, Rihanna and Perry are "popular" only because they're video mass-marketed half naked, not because they can actually sing. Real rock music has NEVER been about trying to appeal to everyone, and what it loses in profit it makes up for in substance -- and longevity.

Bon Jovi has 600,000 Twitter followers; the Rolling Stones have 100 million Facebook likes. I don't think a Kesha or a Rihanna are going to have that many thirty years from now.


rocktivity (retired rock journalist)

[bluesbassman]

2. Great analysis.

[Posteritatis]

21. Plus the industry as a whole's larger, access to music's easier, etc.

That's before going into the whole "lol stupid kids these days' aspect of lists like that, which is of course a different rant entirely.

[pipi_k]

24. But I remember

when pop music used to be performed by artists who really could sing.

Yesterday I was listening to one of those satellite music stations...the 60s.

Wow...Brenda Lee! Elvis! Connie Francis! The Beatles! Marvin Gaye! Aretha Franklin!

Pop music these days is mostly shit. It didn't used to be...

[Dash87]

3. The most depressing fact: It exists.

[LynneSin]

4. Jimmy Page hated singles

Probably why the band has sold 200-300 million albums.

That was big issue with the band early on. There was this perception that it was singles that created the band but Page saw it as a cheap way of buying music and it would keep listeners from hearing the entire album. If you liked that Led Zeppelin song you heard on the radio you had to buy the entire album thus getting the full experience of what the album had to offer.

Personally I think it was Marketing genius in regards to Page & Peter Grant (the manager who helped to promote the band). And I think it's only by hearing the entire album does one get a real appreciation for a band and builds up an audience.

[rocktivity]

6. Last I heard, Zeppelin are STILL moving approximately 3 million units a year

Last edited Mon Jun 17, 2019, 10:01 PM - Edit history (1)

how many thirty-year-old non-functioning musical acts can say that?


rocktivity

[Art_from_Ark]

18. How many musical acts can say they've sold 2.3 billion albums?

http://www.statisticbrain.com/the-beatles-total-album-sales/

[progressoid]

20. That's because of these youngsters...

[pipi_k]

23. Led Zep

is one of the few bands who, IMO, sound as good live as they do in studio. Which, again IMO, is pretty hard to do. Oh yeah, easy to do take after take until you get it right.

Zep just lays it all out there, at least in one of my favorite concerts of all time, the one in MSG and which eventually led to the album, "The Song Remains The Same".

Plus, most of the songs on their albums are really good and worth the price of the album...unlike some other bands/artists whose albums only contain a couple of songs I really like.

Oh, just remembered...Santana...also good live, and their albums also contain more than just a couple of good songs.


Who I didn't/don't like live...C,S,N & Y

[Major Nikon]

5. Jimi Hendrix never achieved huge commercial success during his lifetime

Yet he still became one of the most influential rock stars of our time.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

7. +1,000,000

[LynneSin]

8. He's the Van Gogh of Musicians

Never appreciated until after death

[jp11]

9. Interesting.

1) Creed is still together?
2) Who dat?
3) ^
4) ^
5) Blame capitalism and global marketing!
6) It was on the titanic sound track I take it?
7) This blows my mind.
8) Dayum
9) Now I think you're making this shit up.
10) Those actors released albums?

[Archae]

10. Nothing new here.

Two songs came out the same year, "Fortunate Son" and "Yummy Yummy Yummy."

Guess which one sold more records?

Guess which one known as a classic?

[Taverner]

11. The only one that stands out is #8

I'm no Babs fan, but it's not like she's Katy Perry or Kei$ha

[marmar]

14. True. She can hold a note without autotune assistance.

nt

[L0oniX]

12. The population has increased considerably.

[OrwellwasRight]

13. And yet the poor record companies continue to cry that the internet puts them out of business!

I don't really understand #10, by the way. I can't name one cast member of Glee, and would not purchase a song of theirs even if I could name them. So I just don't see how it's possible. Is Katy Perry or Kesha in Glee? Because I hear a lot of their stuff on the radio. And Drake. And Usher and the Black Eyed Peas. But the cast of Glee? I'm at a loss.

The Beatles had a lot of songs chart. I mean, they had every single Top 5 song on the week of April 4, 1964:

Closing in behind “Can’t Buy Me Love” were “Twist and Shout” (2), “She Loves You” (3), “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (4), and “Please Please Me” (5). It was also significant in that it marked The Beatles’ third consecutive chart-topper. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was knocked from the top by “She Loves You” which, in turn, gave way to “Can’t Buy Me Love.” In the history of the Hot 100, no other act has had three consecutive #1 songs.

http://davesmusicdatabase.blogspot.com/2012/04/beatles-had-top-5-songs-in-us-april-4.html

Enjoy:

[Art_from_Ark]

19. I think the flip side of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was the better song

[pepperbear]

15. and yet the beatles endure 50 years later...

they owned the 60s

A live album from the Hollywood Bowl and a compilation OF "love songs" both charted in the 70s. SPLHCB, the movie, was a flop...the soundtrack was a smash.

when their catalog was finally released on CD in the 80s, it was an event.

they owned the nineties with "LIVE AT THE BBC" two new singles and the ANTHOLOGY TV series.

They owned the 2000s as their NUMBER ONES album went #1, ousting the Backstreet Boys. The "Rock Band" game and their new re-masters assure a new generation of fans. Their ITUNE catalog has been selling THROUGH THE ROOF since they made it available.

And don't forget: this decade, their career turns 50....as will all the 60s artists.

I teach drums, and ALL of my students, most of whom are under 17, know the beatles, led zeppelin, the stones, the who, and pink floyd....all because of classic rock radio, commercial jingles, and the internet. where they're woefully lacking is knowledge of more obscure rock (to a fault, they don't know who Zappa is) old soul, jazz, motown and funk, and their modern POP music is just not quite as diverse.

But have no fear! everything else is just numbers, and, simply put, there are more people on the planet.

[Ron Obvious]

16. Who?

Creed? Rihanna?, Ke$ha? Flo Rida? Katy Perry? Glee?

I'm not striving for effect here, but let me tell you in all honesty that I had genuinely never heard of any of them before. Seriously, they don't even exist in my world.

[WCGreen]

17. There are also 300 more million people buying pop music now....

Well, probably much more than that since China and the former Soviet Union are now part of the pop market... Throw in the Africa and India and you have even more....

Closer to 2.5 to 3 billion would probably not be out of the realm of reason....

[cbdo2007]

22. It's all pop music....it's just much much worse than it use to be. Also, re: The Beatles....

Wikipedia has them listed as having sold the most albums worldwide of any music group ever, by a long shot. So it's somewhat misleading to compare "singles" sales.

We are back to a point in pop music where they make more money selling a single song download than an album, so that is the focus, and there is no desire to make "better" music, just to keep making stuff that sells.

I was reminded of this when I got in my wife's car and heard the new Usher song on the radio. I can dig some Usher songs from like 10 years ago, they're pretty good, but this new song is terrible and sounds exactly like every song out there. I literally couldn't have told you if it was Usher or Chris Brown or Will I Am or what?? Then that made me sad to think, Usher could probably make some pretty amazing pop music but instead he's just focused on selling shitty singles.

[kingleslie]

25. THIS is depressing...Katy Perry's album sold 5.5 million...MJ sold 30-45 million!

Michael Jackson’s Bad has sold over an estimated 30-45 million copies worldwide. Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, combining digital and physical sales, has sold 5.5 million total album copies worldwide, a mere fraction of Jackson’s total sales. However, she has tied him with being the only artist to have five number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart from one album. Her total sales should represent her lasting power on the charts, but they don’t, proving further that the majority of listeners are gaining access to music illegally. Ask any teenager how they access their music — most will tell you they download it illegally.

Check out this article by Mark Isham about piracy...
[link:http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/artists-deserve-to-be-compensated-for-their-work-by-mark-isham/|

[bigwillq]

26. Hello

Welcome to DU!

[MADem]

27. Who's Katy Perry? She sings? nt

[Nuclear Unicorn]

29. Here she is performing her two biggest hits --

[MADem]

30. Those are, as the French would say, formidable.

Was she the one who wore the "sexy" dress on Sesame Street?

[Sgent]

31. Yep

though it never aired.

Here's the video

[Nuclear Unicorn]

28. I wonder

if those classic bands had had access to our distribution technology during their hey-day if they would have done much better.

I also wonder how many great artists we missed back when only established publishers would decide who did or didn't get backing.

[BOG PERSON]

32. this should only depress rock purists

and maybe people who came of age before the 00s. but rock purists have generally been hostile to pop music.