Since the year 2000, I have been in the hot and
uncomfortable dwellings of musical hell. For more than 10 years now I have been
avoiding the pop tunes on the radio and thanking Apple for producing iTunes so
I can listen to something of my choice.
I have songs on my iTunes that are over 30 years older than
I am. I’ll play an oldies song for my parents hoping that they would relish and
take pride that I listen to the same music they did when they were my age and
sometimes they don’t even recognize the song.
I guess you can say I have wide preferences in varieties of
music that I enjoy. Not only do I love all genres but I have been getting jabs
from friends on my ability to know every word to every song no matter if its
Johnny Rivers, The Doors, Notorious B.I.G., or The Police.
I was born in Seattle during the grunge era of the nineties.
I was showered with Collective Soul, Dave Matthews, the Wallflowers and of
course Nirvana. I was raised in the rurally rich town of Fort Worth where I
picked up a new fancy for Tim McGraw, Randy Rogers Band and George Strait.
The city or town I lived in didn’t matter; music has always
been a top passion of mine, right up there with my friends, family, school
studies, religion and sports. So as a member of this twenty-something
generation, I can speak for all of us when I say: Our music sucks.
Less voice, more auto-tune. Less guitar, more production.
Less verses, more catchy hooks. Less bands, more individuality.
Who knows what changed, in my opinion it could have been the
“boy band era” but sometime around the millennium transition, music changed for
the worse. The love of chasing money arose in music, the love of making
beautiful sound died about the time “Crank dat Soulja Boy” hit the radio.
Something very interesting as happened in music recently however,
the road to stardom is much easier. The days of garage bands are over as long
as you have a YouTube account. Teen sensation and now world sensation Justin
Beiber was found on YouTube. Heck, the new Filipino lead singer of Journey was
found on the internet.
Not only can a record company strike gold just by watching
home videos, they can sit back and watch reality television’s talent shows and
choose themselves. It literally is a big huge try-out for the big-name record
labels disguised as a fan loving competition.
The bands that play for dollar bills and bar tips on Sixth
Street in Austin now have more of a chance to succeed. The term “big-break” is
not so common any more. In fact, there are too many different artists making it
big then fading quicker than they arose.
In 2002, Fox started an American television series that
would captivate its country only to rank number one in the U.S. Television
rankings for an unprecedented eight straight years, stemming from many
episodes. American Idol has now produced Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood,
Jordin Sparks, David Cook and Phillip Phillips en route to nine Grammy’s among
many other artists who have had some success since winning.
Among the many copy-caters, NBC’s The Voice has met the bar
that American Idol set for reality talent shows. The Voice has eclipsed and
surpassed its predecessor in ratings of all sorts but has not had that Clarkson
or Underwood just yet.
Has the new dynamic that started over a decade ago been
somewhat of the change in the musical landscape?
I would say there’s definitely been an impact from Idol, the
Voice and all of the other talent searching shows. More specifically, American
Idol has altered how an artist can “make it” and reach the Billboards. There’s
less selling of one’s voice, less selling of one’s ability to play an
instrument and more selling of a brand, look, or back story. All in all, there
is more attention to the amount of dollar signs, attention, popularity and
entertainment.
The Mariah Carey’s and Whitney Houston’s of the world are
overlooked because of the Nicki Minaj’s of the world and their ability to
constantly come out with hits in a short span. Sustainability is key to music
in that artists should be expected to come out with several albums over a
decade not several hit songs over years that all sound exactly the same
(hint-hint Taylor Swift).
I am not saying everybody who has come from American Idol
has been a money driven, attention seeking flavor of the week but it’s apparent
that’s what Idol is after, and they don’t even realize it. That’s why the
“blind-auditions” of the Voice are so refreshing because they are judging
contestants based purely off of their voice, not anything else.
Patience is no longer existent in anything really but music
especially. Labels want hits, and when the hits are overplayed they want
another hit sacrificing originality and album work for the best interest of
their label/brand and money making singles.
Again, there are exceptions in modern day music, not
everybody is a Nicki Minaj or Kesha. There are extremely talented artists out
there like Adele who take their time to make classics and are not necessarily
driven by fame or fortune.
In a reality television era, fame is made at every corner of
the country in people who wouldn’t even be recognizable in their own towns if
there wasn’t a show portraying them as something greater. But, with American
Idol and The Voice there’s a chance to make music great again, if they use the
right motivations.
I am waiting for the next wave of music stars to wash over
America because the industry is in dire need of some help. It needs to get back
to quality over quantity not vice versa. The next Sinatra, Lennon or Jackson
might turn up from these shows, maybe not stemming from the winners but the
unfortunate others who were looked over for someone else who had “the look” or
“the story.”
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