Music hot takes

[GhostMachine]

2 hours ago, Gabriel said:

I always thought that Ed Sheerhan (spelling?) was a more accessible John Mayer, so people who didn't get into Mayer because not all of his stuff is Your Body is a Wonderland-type pop music ended up liking Ed... but John Mayer is superior in so many ways. Killer guitarist too.

Have you heard him with Fall Out Boy, covering Beat It?

[Lint]

On 01/04/2019 at 14:59, GA! said:

There's also this shite:

 

What shit?  The song is about Skinhead Rob's sister?

[=BK=]

10 hours ago, Forky said:

John Mayer is amazing....I don't really know if that's a hot take but I feel like on this board it would be. I think he has amazing song writing ability and his voice is amazing.

 

[Colly]

15 hours ago, RPS said:

I think there are the indisputable hits that are iconic and crack the zeitgeist - like Hey Jude or Billie Jean or I Will Always Love You. Songs that will exist forever and are transcendent. 

But there are those type of songs that exists for people who follow other genres. Like every punk fan has heard Blitzkrieg Bop and it is iconic for them. Every rock fan can probably hum the lyrics to Seven Nation Army. Every person who is into dance music probably knows Sandstorm. It is still an impressive feat, but it is still incredible that people listen to Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You every single year. 

 

I find it quite interesting that you think these songs will last forever (albeit slightly hyperbole-y of course) given that we've had about 70 years of recorded pop music. I'm really curious as to how "the classics" will age over the decades and how much will just be forgotten in a hundred years.

Obviously Menswe@r will essentially be Bill and Ted and all 22nd century culture will be based entirely on the lyrics to Daydreamer.

[Skummy]

There's been a cultural shift in how we purchase music, and I'm really curious what - if anything - will be recognised as the culturally defining songs of this decade.

The notion of defining songs of certain eras and genres was more or less dictated by radio DJs (both in what got played first time around, and what gets codified as, for example, "The Sound Of The 80s" on oldies stations), music journalists, and later by music TV.

For all extents and purposes, all of those have gone the way of the Dodo. Kids aren't listening to the radio to hear the latest hits, music journalists and DJs have lost pretty much any power they had as tastemakers, and music TV is dead. There's not the energy behind one or two songs, or one or two artists, as "defining" one era or one genre.

I haven't DJ'd in a few years, but when I go see friends play, or watch covers acts perform, the setlist is the same as it was ten to fifteen years ago. The requests you get are the same as they were ten to fifteen years ago. Kids ten or twelve years younger than me are requesting nothing but what was played on Kerrang! and MTV 2 when I was their age. I couldn't tell you what's in the charts right now, despite knowing people who work for the UK Charts, and I doubt any of my students could tell you either.

It feels like precious little breaks through into a wider consciousness any more. Because the way we consume music, and discover new music, has become so intensely personalised, that there's no longer that mass energy behind a single song or artist.

[Daniel Bryan]

That might speak more to the bubble you're in. I still find there's songs that permeate the mainstream as much as ever. This summer it's "Old Town Road", for example, before that it was the new Ariana Grande, couple years ago it was "Despacito", etc. There's always going to be songs or artists that for a point in time are everywhere and you can't get away from.

[Bobfoc]

Taylor Swift songs in particular are the sort I hear all the time without intending to. I could say the same thing for Jessie J a few years ago too.

I think a fairly big factor can be where you work. If your place of work has a radio, you're almost certainly going to be better acquainted with the top hits, whereas a music-free working environment is obviously different. However, what with adverts and video packages on television, it's hard to envisage a scenario in which the vast majority of people in developed countries don't hear certain songs fairly regularly. I defy anyone who says they haven't heard Shake it Off dozens of times without going out of their way to do so.

[GA!]

On 28/06/2019 at 09:14, Lint said:

What shit?  The song is about Skinhead Rob's sister?

I'm talking about the music video.

[GhostMachine]

On 29/06/2019 at 08:31, Bobfoc said:

Taylor Swift songs in particular are the sort I hear all the time without intending to. I could say the same thing for Jessie J a few years ago too.

I think a fairly big factor can be where you work. If your place of work has a radio, you're almost certainly going to be better acquainted with the top hits, whereas a music-free working environment is obviously different. However, what with adverts and video packages on television, it's hard to envisage a scenario in which the vast majority of people in developed countries don't hear certain songs fairly regularly. I defy anyone who says they haven't heard Shake it Off dozens of times without going out of their way to do so.

I don't listen to the radio much except in the car. Can't avoid hearing Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande or Halsey unless I keep it on an oldies or classic rock station. Heidi's main station of choice plays Halsey to death. They used to do that for Adele and Ed Sheeran.

[=BK=]

Gun to my head I couldn't name a solo Halsey song.

To me Katy Perry has been the unavoidable artist right next to Taylor Swift.

I kissed a Girl

Hot N Cold

Waking Up In Vegas

California Gurls

Teenage Dream

Firework

ET

Last Friday Night

Wide Awake

Roar

Dark Horse

These songs all get played again and again and again on radio and TV. Annd these are just the singles I like and remember. I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

[GhostMachine]

Well, the station in question has been playing Without Me a lot, and I've heard Bad At Love and Now Or Never quite a bit on there lately.

As far as Katy Perry is concerned, they've played Never Really Over, Firework and Teenage Dream a lot. 

[METALMAN]

Yeah I think a lot of it depends where you are. When I was an undergraduate I worked part-time at HMV (09-13) so I basically new absolutely everything that was in the charts and ended up liking a fair amount of it too.

Now I don’t have a clue what’s popular and I don’t go looking for it on that basis either. I still listen to new music, but that’s either the stuff that some algorithm puts in my new music playlist or new releases by artists I already know. And I don’t really have any idea whether what I’m listening to is popular or not. I’ve got a vague idea of what is really big - Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift etc - and I don’t mind some of it.

[RPS]

13 hours ago, metalman said:

Yeah I think a lot of it depends where you are. When I was an undergraduate I worked part-time at HMV (09-13) so I basically new absolutely everything that was in the charts and ended up liking a fair amount of it too.

Now I don’t have a clue what’s popular and I don’t go looking for it on that basis either. I still listen to new music, but that’s either the stuff that some algorithm puts in my new music playlist or new releases by artists I already know. And I don’t really have any idea whether what I’m listening to is popular or not. I’ve got a vague idea of what is really big - Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift etc - and I don’t mind some of it.

You would love Ariana Grande. 

[METALMAN]

I listened to the album that came out last year and I enjoyed it!

 

[RPS]

On 01/08/2019 at 06:42, metalman said:

I listened to the album that came out last year and I enjoyed it!

  

Did you listen to her newest one? It is really good too. 

[DMN in the House]

I think my hottest take is Joe Strummer/The Clash > Freddy Mercury/Queen, but I feel that's totally defensible and not really an insult to Mercury or Queen.

[GhostMachine]

Hey, its your opinion. Me, personally, I can't name more than 5 songs by The Clash. 

What's your take on Big Audio Dynamite?

 

[VerbalPuke]

Early Marilyn Manson is brilliant. 

[RPS]

16 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Hey, its your opinion. Me, personally, I can't name more than 5 songs by The Clash. 

You ever listen to London Calling the album? 

[VerbalPuke]

3 minutes ago, RPS said:

You ever listen to London Calling the album? 

I haven't,  tell me about it. 

😉