On long drives home, I tend to give up. I lose hope and stare ahead into the emptiness of my headlights on the twists and turns of Arkansas roads. Eventually, I get tired of the deafening nothingness of my four-door and pop in a CD that I have listened to hundreds of times before. The music washes over me and offers a dull, comforting melody as it has done many times before. The radio has let me down once more as it plays a handful of good songs (generally oldies) mingled with the garbage of today: modern artists with dull perspectives who focus on the now. They tend to talk about the body and what to do with it set to what sounds like synthesized music anyone can reproduce on a decent keyboard. I know the difficulty of trying to produce something original and purely from myself (I'm an aspiring actor/writer) seeing as every theme, situation, and so on seems to have already been expressed through one form of artistic medium or another. Moreover, I feel from a music standpoint that there are positive qualities from the oldies that modern, mainstream music is lacking. And I would like to point out that not all modern music is trash. On that, I reveal today's blog topic: 60's Music vs Today's: Quality vs Money.
I say "60's" you say The Beatles. You would have to live under a rolling stone to not know who The Beatles are. Speaking of a rolling stone, The Rolling Stones were one of the big bands from that era too. I chose to talk about the 60's today because, according to my research, some of the top artists of all time come from this period and there are a lot of them. Some of the top spots belong to...
- Bob Dylan at #2
- Elvis Presley at #3
- Jimi Hendrix at #6
- Ray Charles at #10
- The Beach Boys at #12
- Otis Redding at #21
- Simon and Garfunkel at #40
- The Doors at #41
- The Kinks at #65
- Diana Ross and The Supremes at #96
They aren't the only ones. What do these artists have in common? A mixture of quality music that works to heighten the quality lyrics of their iconic songs. Lyrically, these artists tend to be poetic when they speak of life. They speak of real things that the audience can relate to in one way or another. Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel are my picks for the best lyricists. Musically, I would personally say that Jimi Hendrix was the most unique out of that group. Nothing previous to him sounds like him. Diana Ross, hands down has the best vocal quality from the list. There are few singers who could be put in a fair match with her in a sing-off except, perhaps Adele or Amy Winehouse. Some of the best songs from this period according to research are...
- 1968's "Hey Jude" by The Beatles (#1 top artist)
- 1965's "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones (#4 top artist)
- 1967's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum
- 1964's "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles
- 1964's "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison (#37 top artist)
Overall, what I take from this music is that quality was put ahead of making money. Then there is today's music...
By "Today's Music," I am referring to music that came out in 2000 and every year after that. I have noticed that what is being pushed, endorsed, and played on continuous loops on many radio stations is mainstream awfulness. The lyrics are full of sex, alcohol, and drugs. I am not saying that these topics shouldn't be touched on in music. It has been done before by artists like Eminem. His rap style and content is gritty, harsh, and beautifully done, He talks about these things in a real, unapologetic way that is easy to empathize with because he paints a picture that is so vivid and emotional that it takes you there. It is just being done poorly by other mainstream rappers where they promote having meaningless sex, consuming large amounts of alcohol recklessly, and doing illegal drugs. Another thing I have noticed is that a lot of mainstream modern artist are completely talent-less. They can't write lyrics, sing, or even produce good music. Then why are they so popular? Money. They are good business investments. They are pretty, cheap, and sell well. It seems that business has too much input on the creative side of music. I do have some hope. There are good artists in mainstream. Two good examples are Adele and Sam Smith. Both of them have strong lyrics that are relate-able, they are both fantastic singers, and they have great music to back them up.
There is good music. You just have to know where to find it. Look around you. Look in you local community. Chances are there are bands that are just as good (or in many cases better) that what is on the radio. Those are the people who are really worth supporting. The next time you want to hear something original, find open mics or local bands performing near you. The more supporters they have, the more likely they will get signed on to a label. We need these artists to be successful to bring back good music to the mainstream.
My research is from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231 and http://tsort.info/music/ds1960.htm. I do not own any of the videos.
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