for the longest time i've been blaming the poor talent of todays artists for the awful music that has come out in the last 10 to 15 and after all this time it finally hit me! its the songwriters! if you look at the 80's you had some great writers such as Desmond Child or Stock,Aitken&Waterman who wrote a ton of great catchy songs in the 80's and now todays songs are so damn boring with absolutly no memberable hooks..i was watching the vh-1 countdown of the greatest songs of the 80's and its amazing how many songs on that list still sound great and have stuck with people after all these years and i was thinking in 20 years from now how todays songs will be long forgotten..in fact today once a song is off the charts its already forgotten..i have a feeling if you put some decently written songs in the hands of todays artists they may be pretty damn good..but oh well that may be too much to ask
[Edited 11/13/06 17:12pm]

It's hard growing old, huh?

U may be right on the songwriting and the catchy songs,
At the end of another year every radiostation has his own top 100,top 1000 and even a top 2006 4 wich people can vote.
It's amazing how many 20+ year old know a lot of those classics
of the 80's,at work they sing along more with those songs then with recent hits!

On the other hand,I think they enjoy their music just as much as we enjoyed our music in the 80's.
Example;my 9 year old likes the new version of Everybody dance now
(Bob Sinclar) better than the original by C+C Music Faktory,he thinks the beat is not hard enough

I do think,since mid 90's,there are some real good producers these days,
the sound is sometimes amazing.

Ever since the 90's wrapped up there doesn't seem to be an identity for music, it's more experminting and randomness.

Though trust me there are some astounding songwriters out there right now who started out in the 00's and are very promising, like John Mayer, Robin Thicke, Tyler James, Remy Shands & James Blunt to name a few.

I do think though that down the road the industry is going to be somewhat dominated by rock since everybody and their mama are switching to it now adays.

The songwriting isn't the problem, it's the lack of instruments. It's nothing but a slow ass weak beat and some "talking". There's nothing to give it rhythm such as some funky real drums (or at least some better stronger sounding drum machines like they had in the 1980s), a funky bass line, and some handclaps. If the music sounds good, I don't give a damn if the song has any lyrics.

These dull ass people these days don't know shit about music though. They say we're getting old but we aren't the ones that slowed the tempo down, they are. If they get any slower, they'll be going back to the days of classical music. They may have the behavior of a criminal, but they have the musical taste of a nerdy ass Waldo.

I used to worry about getting old but not any more. Actually, I can't wait till the days when my generation will be old enough to go to a rest home because it will be a nonstop party. We will be dancing our asses off to the fast funky jams of our era while the younger generation will be sitting in rocking chairs and taking Geritol with the slow shit of their dull era.

vainandy said:

Yeeaww! Can't wait for KCET to do one of their fundraisers with all the 80s music bringing Madonna's old ass out to pump up "Burning Up for Your Love" and our decrepit asses trying to dance to it. What's so funny is I go to clubs where it's mostly 40 and 50 year olds and we're jamming Rick James, old Prince songs, Donna Summer, and other dance club songs where everyone is on the floor dance and hollering up a storm, and whenever I go to the younger clubs they're all just sitting around chicks showing off their new boob jobs and bitching about their lame ass men, men bitching about chicks, or what their friends did while some heroine-induced drone is going on in the background. Whenever some old soul or rap song comes on, all the women will get on the dance floor dancing with each other and the men just sitting around looking stupid, except for the drunks. What's up with that?

Naw, I actually love my age.

LQ

I agree. No hooks anymore.

Mazerati said:

Correct!

vainandy said:

Correct! 2000's music has been reduce to a Korg Triton & a Akai MPC sampler/sequencer/drum machine being played (READ: programmed) at a tempo of 95 BPM or less.

its funny but even tho the 80's was a great decade for music and is still popular today it seems songwriters try so hard to distance themselves from anything that even remotely has a hook and sounds 80ish that is comes off totally boring,,,they should look to The Killers Hot Fuss album to see how a new record could sound modern yet retain some of the 80's sounds and still be wildly successful

I wish we had clubs in my area that play old school funk and disco. I'm 39 and there are clubs in my area for older people but they are country type older people in their 40s and 50s.....the down home blues crowd that still walks around with geri curls, gold teeth, and use phrases like...."you look so good I could sop you up with a biscuit". A lot of the men come to those clubs in their work uniforms. These type of clubs are called "cafes" or a "hole in the wall".

Blues dominates the music scene down here for older people. A lot of them only know blues. They are aware of slow shit such as Whitney Houston or Anita Baker (because there are "soft soul" stations down here) but if you play something fast that isn't blues, they holler..."turn off that rap shit". They trip me out because they just don't know that the rap shit they are talking about is slow as hell. They are still picturing rap as being like it was back in the days when it was jamming with songs like "Me So Horny".

I have got to get the hell out of Mississippi.

SoulAlive said:

co-sign

I reckon the in the 80s folks experimented more, less formulaic approaches.

Mazerati said:

You hit the nail on the head! I agree with everything you said.Most of today's pop songs are completely disposable...like greasy,unhealthy fast food.Kids buy that crap then quickly discard it and move on to the Next Big Thing.On the other hand,a song like "Time (Clock Of The Heart") by Culture Club,or "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson,or "Careless Whisper" by Wham...those songs are eternal classics!! Sounds just as powerful now as it did when it came out.Those songs have excellent lyrics,superb production and strong choruses that actually linger in your mind for awhile.I'd like to see Timbalind or P.Diddy come up with something like that.You are correct: it's the songwriters and producers of today who can't compose a real song to save their life.

.
[Edited 11/15/06 5:55am]

God do I hate 80's music

PANDURITO said:

To be fair on Maz, tho, I gave up listening to radio regularly about 10 years ago because most of what I heard did nothing for me. At the time I was only 22!!!

Not to play devils advocate here, but I couldn't stand alot of the songwriting from the mid to late 80's. I gag when I hear those songs from Belinda Carlisle, Cher, John Waite, etc... It was all too safe and calculated. Even if it had a hook or managed to get stuck in your head, it didn't mean it was necessarily enjoyable, LOL.

Tom said:

I think the first half of the 80s (1980-85) was superior to the second half of that decade.

The second half of the 1980s was the beginning of the end, especially for the R&B side. People were watering down the music for crossover pop appeal. Adult Contemporary was starting to take over the airwaves in the second half of the 1980s and by the 1990s, it had killed anything funky and danceable. Everything became "parent friendly" which left a wide open gap for shit hop to come in and fill the "rebellion" void that hard jammin' artists had filled earlier.

Tom said:

Yes,there also was some crap in the 80's just like today.
But some of the best hit makers were musicians and songwriters,
U could put Inxs,Level 42,Simply Red on a stage and they did their thing live!
Damn,even a hitmachine like DuranDuran was/is a real band who write their songs
and performed live.Don't see many of today's stars doing it.
Except for the alternative scene but it's not the kind of music everybody will like.

You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned a particular genre that you like not being popular with the rest of the world.

Whenever I bitch about there not being no good music out there these days, it gets on my last nerve when I hear someone say..."There's good music out there but you have to look for it". Yeah, I'm sure if I searched long and hard, I might find something but I want good music to be what's popular so it will be the type of music that dominates the nightclubs. I don't live in a house with a ball and chain spouse, a white picket fence, a dog, and a station wagon. I'm a slutty whore and I like to go out and party. My life isn't over, it's still going on and I want to have a good time while I'm living it. That way, even if I don't find someone to sleep with for that particular night, I would have at least had a good time trying to pick someone up.

Mazerati said:

Yeah I agree with that.But just about better in all catergorys really. Better musicians, singers, composers. Garage bands started ruining it. They don't really have a good voices and they know 2 notes. Now you have have all these young adults who grew up on Whitney Houston and copy her (Christina aguliera, jessica simpson). To make matters worse you are now getting these bubble gum artist (I use that lightly) brothers and sisters getting into the act. It's like Ashlee Simpson told her dad "hey since Jessica is a pop star I want to be one too". Oh yeah actors "jamie fox, lindsy lohan, jennifer love hewitt, and jennifer lopez" stick to your so called acting. Paris Hilton and Hulk Hogans daughter stick to doing nothing!!!!!

coolcat said:

Ehh...one was enough.

SoulAlive said:

Latin freestyle was THE best genre of the 80's, especially the second half of that decade.

Also, you can't overlook New Jack Swing, THE last original genre within black music culture.
[Edited 11/15/06 17:46pm]

vainandy said:

Andy I believe this is the first time you didn't refer to Whitney as $#!TNEY Houston

TonyVanDam said:

GO FIND POOK NEW THREAD ABOUT BUFFALO STANCE

THIS NOT NEW PROBLEM

vainandy said:

Andy, you're killing me.

Plus it's hard to have a interesting and memorable melody whilst "talking".


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431