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Why is music on a downward spiral?
I am new to this site and it seems infested with young teenagers asking about bands who care more about their image than their music. Since when do trends like black hair and girls jeans take precedence on what muscians are there for in the first place? Everyone is following a cookie cutter sound and it seems no one cares about throwing something fresh into the music community and that the only way to get noticed is to follow the crowd.
I guess what I'm asking is, are the cookie cutter image based bands just marketed well and forced upon youth, or are kids not being exposed to the real music enough for them to get into it?
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Ohh, good question. Good grammar too, you get a gold star. :D
Most of the teenaged population follow (and are infatuated with) "cookie cutter image based bands." Part of the reason is commercial TV / Radio and peer pressure. If all the "cool" people in your school are listening to 'Band X,' and 'Band X' has been on MTV a few times, regardless of their music quality - Band X is going to be a hit. ESPECIALLY if they sing punk/emo stuff.
Sometimes I'll browse through PureVolume, and I'm amazed at the number of 'boy bands' who all have black hair, black TIGHT girl-pants, red or black shirts and matching shoes. HUNDREDS of these bands.
Do you know why there are so many of these bands?
Because they know it works.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right?
I prefer stuff that's a little different. Skillet is okay, and Pillar is cool. Superchic[k] is wicked awesome the Supertones are pretty good, Seventh Day Slumber is cool, Mae is great - you get the idea. None of those bands sing punk/emo stuff. In fact, they're all a little different in what they sing. Superchic[k] definitely has the most original music of them all. Their music is sort of techno-dance stuff. I like it. Especially because they have guys and girls in their band and they don't follow the "cookie cutter image."
Most of the music out there all sounds the same. I like something new and fresh, something you don't hear on the radio every three songs. In fact, most of the bands I listed above are never on the radio.
Because most of the smaller companies are owned by larger companies (though they keep their own labels), there isn't much variety in music anyway. To make it worse, teens hear the same stuff over and over, so they start to like it. Once they decide they like it, they want more of it. When they want more of it, the newer bands (who still sound very much the same as the older bands) get a chance. The band-wanna-bes see what teens want and conform to that in order to survive. It's just a big circle of madness.
That, combined with "everyone listens to Band X" is pretty much why most youth listen to the same stuff : Cookie cutter image based bands.
Don't conform - be different! :)
-FunnyCide
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See, it's not just the music preference of thie kids that bothers me. You can sit down and illustrate for these kids why their music is bad and represents the fall of rock, and they are so naive they block out everything you say, even if it makes total sense. They like their music and stay firm on that, but they don't even care to open their minds to see what is actually out there.
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An intelligent question. Well written, too. Thanks.
The truth is that the problem is a combination of both factors.
Commercial radio and the music business are controlled by a relatively small number of large companies; smaller labels have a very hard time getting their songs and bands out to the public. So there's little variety in the music that's available to teens.
And since they are mostly restricted to listening to the same pablum, they develop a TASTE for pablum. Which leads to a vicious circle: the music companies produce crap, so the kids learn to like crap, so the companies produce MORE crap, and round and round it goes.
But the situation isn't totally hopeless. We faced a similar situation in the 1950's, and rock & roll smashed the music establishment pretty thoroughly. True, in time rock itself BECAME the new establishment, and is even worse than the original entrenched system that it originally rebelled against. But at least there's hope: if one musical rebellion could succeed, then there's a chance that another one could.
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Personally...as I young teen I have a lot to say on this. Yes there are many bands that are way too blown up in size...But I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are always going to be the ditsy girls that are in love with Baskstreet Boys or some other fake banc...but there are PLENTY of true music lovers. Although it's true that kids do buy into a lot of bands that in truth aren't that great...but you have to remember all the kids who are out there listening to the classics and loving them. Kids have plenty of resources to find real music and be exposed to the good stuff, some just chose to follow the crowd.
Unfortunately there is no way to escape the fakeness of a lot of it, but as long as your happy with your music it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
hope i gave some good insight:)
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First off, have you ever been in a band?
If you haven't, the fact is that sometimes fans go a little, wlell, crazy. You put yourself in a poistion where kids will idolize you, wheather your a MTV or Underground musician. Some kids like to take little things from you because they think your cool: you look, your music style, you hair cut, you name it. Fans are fans. They're nothing musicians can do about it.
Kids hear what they hear. That's life for ya.
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