lastdecember said:

true and Barry Manilow has never been bigger

Mazerati said:

Exactly so in 20-30 years are we really going to be talking about Ne-yo or Ciara, the thing is a label took a chance and banked on talent like a Bennet or Manilow and it paid off, but theres no such thing as staying power anymore

lastdecember said:

Exactly. Also folks barely talk about some of the artists that came out over the last two years yet alone if some of the new artists today will be talk about too in the next 10 years or not. There hardly any legends in this decade, a few for the artists of the 90s though.
Me and my little sister did a challenge of name ten popular new artists of the 00s and we could barely name 5. The same happen about naming 10 most memorable songs. I am not just talking about Rnb and rap either. Its happening in the other genres too.

ladygirl99 said:

So true, it is every genre, lets not even talk about Rock and Pop. And it has nothing to do with age or getting older myself, because i find new artists still, but for every Norah Jones,John Legend and Van Hunt there are 100-200 artists like Ne-yo and Cassie and Jojo and Brooke Hogan, getting all the play and push from a label.

maybe people are finally tired of whack,midtempo,hip-sounding crap disguised as R&B?

SoulAlive said:

Rap & Bulls**t

CinisterCee said:

where's Vain at? He should be all over a thread like this,lol

SoulAlive said:

He's off somewhere having nightsweats about it all.

And, anon, that Usher ringtone story cracked me up! "It's from the summer!"

Harlepolis said:

I know.

lastdecember said:

Too true. I was flipping through video channels yesterday, (I have way too many of them ) flipping past crap, drivel, shite, and more crap, when I decided to leave it on Bucks Fizz "Making Your Mind Up".

Things have gotten bad when I decide I'd rather watch and listen to early 80s Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz than whatever's on the regular MTV channel.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...wHMVhPiSUk

Here I am!

Actually, I think the decline in sales has to do with downloading or making CD copies for friends, etc. because the kids are definately still listening to the bullshit, they just aren't buying it.

My nephews eat, sleep, and breathe that shit hop shit. One of them's mother buys him lots of CDs and his cousin always wants the same CD. I told him to not buy shit, bring me his cousin's CD, and I will make him a copy of it. He's thinks I'm being nice but nice is the last thing I'm being. I know it's not much but I see it as less money in these (c)rappers and record companies pocket. Everyone else should do the same and make it no longer profitable for these dead asses to continue making so-called "music".

If R&B is going to continue the way it is and has been for the last 15 years, I'd rather see it go extinct altogher.
.
.
[Edited 1/8/07 9:07am]

anon said:

-----
Songs can be exteneded ring tones to you and anyone else that wants one. I do not have any songs as ring tones on my phone and I never will.

vainandy said:

-----
Co-Sign. The decline is really due to shitty music and I would like to see RnB disappear if it continues to go to down the shit-hop road.

This is pretty surprising. I thought everyone was listening to hip hop, but then I live in Oakland.

Now, if only good music would see a sales increase...

laurarichardson said:

_____

lastdecember said:

You right and they sound the same. I am older now too yet my music taste have always been open-minded. But since this decade, I am extremely disappointed
with mainstream music overall with the songs sound the same and boring, and also little personality among these artists. Hell some of these younger kids like 12 to 15 are complaining as well and that sort indicate the decline of sales. Even my ll year old brother prefers to 90s rap over today. My sister said the same when she went to a talent show (I also watched on tape) awhile back that the performers was basically imitating todays shit-hop music only a few of them were bold enough to be different from the others. I hope that the declines is a wake up call for the record execs and stop continue to blame music downloads as the decline and get a new stragedy in place. If downloads are the reason for decline then why people aren't downloading the whole album but getting singles instead?
That is why I tuned out mainstream music after 1999, and support new indie artists in rnb and rap mainly when I have the urge to listen to some new music. I am not too impressive with today's rock artists they sound very boring. Otherwise nearly 99% of my vast music collection are the great artists from 60s to the 90s.

ladygirl99 said:

True because being different would be too difficult. I mean people just wanna cash in, make a quick buck and get out, its that whole "reality" show mentality. Its just everywhere, its honestly sickening at this point. I worked in music retail for a long time, up until April of 2006, and when i walked away people asked me dont you u miss music, of course i laughed and said "music will always be part of me" the sad thing was what it had become that depressed the shit out of me, i mean i would see people not buy a cd because it only had 10 tracks, or because they didnt like the cd cover or how someone looked, and this is the mentality that labels want to sell too, its no wonder sales arent down more, well i guess this year will further it more.

vainandy said:

You're a responsible uncle. Now just get your nephew into some decent music.

When I looked around I didn't see this thread. Sorry for the dupe.

There were some very good points made on the thread that was locked. Lastdecember, you and Blaqueknight are so on point.

I remember when everyone was calling Prince crazy or trying to say that he was hatin' on these kids. However he saw it as clear as anyone who loves music. Consolidation and greed have led to the demise of real music by real musicians. It's not about bashign the kids who are making the most of the opportunities that they have been handed. It's the business folks who are to blame for this.

Lastdecember your point about the radio is so true. I live and Chicago and the two major R&B/Rap stations play the same 10 to 20 major-label artists all day long. There is no variety. I never dreamed that I would witness something like this in my lifetime. I'm 31 and I can remember hearing Bob Marley, Prince, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Cameo and Queen on the same radio station! Those same stations even played Run DMC and Grandmaster Flash when rap first started to get radio play. Now it's all the same cookie-cutter, studio produced, synthetic nonsense.

I just hope that one day someone will have the gumption to go back to developing true talent and supporting good music on a major level. The only problem is that many listeners have been fed a steady diet of junk for so long that they might not have the appetite for or know how to digest a real meal.

Maybe things will get better again. Music went through a fast food revolution, but maybe organic music will become more popular again.

anon said:

This is so true. It's awfully sad. I had a discussion the other day with someone about Robin Thicke's song "Lost Without You," and I said it was cool, but it's like most music today - IT DOESN'T GO ANYWHERE! These R&B songs today have no changes, no modulations, no turnarounds, NOTHING! They don't know what a "B" or heaven forbid "C" section is. They just repeat the same rhythm for the entire four or five minutes of the song. It gets to be sooooo boring after awhile.

I think it is partly because many of these "artists" are from the sampling generation. Sampling just took a catchy part of a song and looped it over and over. A lot of these kids think that's all you need - a beat to loop over and over and over again. So that is their approach to song writing/producing. They fail to recognize that those samples came from a complete song that had changes, modulations, etc.

Also, the lyrics of most of these "artists" aren't creative or imaginative at all. Back to Robin Thicke's song, the sentiment of "Lost Without You" is sweet, but the lyrics are so weak. I guess I have been spoiled by the lyrics of Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and others who could really tell stories and paint vivid pictures with their words. This stuff is so mundane now, there's no poetry in the lyrics. It's as if the sentiment is - let me write some words that rhyme and "sing" them over this beat that will make a good ring tone too.

laurarichardson said:

I have a Jamiroquai's Little L as PolyTone and it sounds great!

lastdecember said:[quote]

minneapolisgenius said:

Even worse was the fact that the American Music Awards actually had an award for TOP RINGTONE and Billboard has a chart for it!

What???
:omg:Okay,I'm gonna look 4 Marty McFly and jump in his car so he can bring me back to a better time..
[Edited 1/9/07 15:54pm]

Paisley4u said:[quote]

lastdecember said:

I can't believe that! Billboard, maybe, since they're all about sales, but an award?

bellanoche said:

Yeah i would love to see some kind of "bonding" of these artists and a creation of a new forum. VH1,BET,and MTV are lost causes at this point, and unless someone like Van Hunt is going to do a reality show he's not gonna get played there. The thing is i really feel bad that music no longer has any "shelf life" and the artists are here and gone even before you can see them do something else. The fact that Viacom,Disney and clear channel own everything at this point is why you dont get anything with some substance, its not in their best interest to develop an artist, they have no patience for them to build an audience, either they sell right away or its on to the next. Sometimes people think its funny that artists from the 70's 80's still continue to put out music, some people say why bother, BUT thats the issue, to those artists music is their life/love/passion, and it means something to them, I just dont get that passion from many of the artists today that MTV or any of those stations play. Not to say that i shut my ears to younger new artists, I mean in this decade i have found greats like Van Hunt,Norah Jones,Ryan Adams,Rashaan Patterson,Joss Stone,India Arie,Alicia Keys,Teedra Moses,The Roots etc.. So there are artists out there, but the problem i have is with what is pushed out there, plain and simple, the playing field is not equal, not even close, and until it tilts the other way, i dont see any improvement

bellanoche said:

Very true. The other day someone asked me what new music was i looking forward to this month, and i told them new releases from John Mellencamp and Norah Jones. Mainly because they are artists, something is going on in the songs, theyre taking a song somewhere, and then the "listener" can paint their own picture. The problem is someone coming up now would rather sample a Curtis Mayfield beat than get into the man himself and carry that trend on.

they're actually surprised that this shit was gonna happen?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

My thoughts exactly. The "suits" always do this kind of stuff, the blame goes everywhere but on the system that THEY created.

minneapolisgenius said:

Its ridiculous

bellanoche said:

I think its coming...this is a sign. The scariest thing to me was the emergence of that silly ass dirty south shit...thats when it really hit a low. It was bad enough with Puffy. Oh I give up...its just frightening what has happened to music. Its awful...and guess what people like Mary J Bliege and Janet Jackson paved the way for a lot of no talents