Nick Danger

I watched some compilation videos of the biggest hits and noticed that nobody who can play instruments has hits anymore.

Thirty years ago, the top ten hits were by

The Bangles
Heart
Gregory Abbot
Whitney Houston
Starship
Robbie Neville
Whitesnake
Bruce Hornsby and the Range
Bob Segar
Bon Jovi

Seven out of ten of them were a band, they played their own instruments, and had their own sound.

Thirty years later, the big hits are almost all by singers, backed by studio musicians, with a sound created by producers.


These songs mostly sound alike to me.

What has become of musicians?

PhantomStranger

Popular music has become less and less driven by the actual musical quality over time. A 24-7 news media and social media has made it easier than ever for mediocre talents to become stars.

The Cow

Ebb and flow..

Go back 40 years and it's also like what you are describing for today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billbo...ingles_of_1977

1 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" Rod Stewart
2 "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" Andy Gibb
3 "Best of My Love" The Emotions
4 "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Barbra Streisand
5 "Angel in Your Arms" Hot
6 "I Like Dreamin'" Kenny Nolan
7 "Don't Leave Me This Way" Thelma Houston
8 "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" Rita Coolidge
9 "Undercover Angel" Alan O'Day
10 "Torn Between Two Lovers" Mary MacGregor

PhantomStranger

Rod Stewart, Andy Gibb, Barbara Streisand and Rita Coolidge were all major talents in their day. The rest of that list does look entirely forgettable.

jpcamb

not to mention that Stewart and Gibb both were part of successful bands before doing solo work.

Decker

Stewart was, not Andy Gibb

Nick Danger

I'm sure that several of the people on that video can sing well without needing autotune, and can work an audience brilliantly from a stage. Those are important skills. I don't want to sell them short.

But, damn, it seems like nobody can handle a keyboard or a guitar pick.

Decker

When Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, 21 Pilots and Fall Out Boy are your most popular rock bands, you are looking at a dying art form.

fumanstan

Guys like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars play instruments. Sheeran plays guitar and Mars can play just about anything. I like both of them

But yeah, rock seems dead and not a lot of bands with success still. Imagine Dragons are ok, I still generally like Coldplay. Maroon 5 still has hits.

Decker

To be fair, Ed Sheeran who they have at #2 and in the picture above does write his own songs and plays the acoustic guitar quite well.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SRLXxyh-Geo" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

fumanstan

Nick Danger

That was smack in the middle of my top-40 adolescence. I still remember most of those songs.

Some people remember the songs from their mid-teens with happy nostalgia. I don't get to have that.

Hokeyboy

Times change. Music changes. Forms of music change. Expression and availability of music changes.

YOU just get old.

Perkinsun Dzees

Wasn't popular music, aside from maybe the Bee Gees, pretty much creatively bankrupt and going through the motions in the mid-to-late 70's?

Then along came the Sex Pistols, The Clash, etc, and the punk rock movement to shake everything up. That led to the New Wave movement and an era of unmatched excellence.

Big Country, U2, The Alarm, The Waterboys, REM, Elvis Costello, Icicle Works, The Psychedelic Furs, Kate Bush, Sinead O'crazy, er, O'Connor, Marshall Crenshaw, The English Beat, Aztec Camera, etc, etc, etc. Jesus, what a period of amazing music. I think at least 75 percent of my all time fave bands/artists come from that period.

Then along came grunge to f' things up again and send us down the path we are today.


.

Decker

Maybe, but music has gotten a lot more disposable as well. Do you think if someone thirty years younger than you looked at that list above in 30 years from now that they'd fondly remember any of those songs? I barely remember any of them one year later.

Mordred

Not sure your point. If I found a 15 year old today and showed them the list from 1987 ago, not only are they not going to fondly remember any of those songs the only one they'll probably recall hearing is "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Not sure that's necessarily an issue of disposability, just there's a lot of music that's been released over the last 80 years.

Anyway, that's why you gotta raise your kids right and indoctrinate them from an early age.

morriscroy

Even worse is bands like Nickelback still playing large stadiums/arenas.

Michael Corvin

All pop bands, IMO. I'd add Maroon 5 to the list. All get plenty of air on the pop station here. Never heard any of them on any of the rock stations.

Paff

I think once singers started openly lip-synching in concert, and their fans were perfectly ok with it, that's when it became obvious that no one even cares about the music anyway.

rw2516

Every once in a great while I catch something on tv, usually a tribute show, where a modern band plays a classic rock tune old school and really rock. Even though their own recordings and performances don't exhibit musicianship they have the chops. I guess it's just not what they are into musically.

Imagine Jerry Lee Lewis relaxing by playing classical music concertos on his day off.

Mabuse

Go watch a music video on YouTube of a good song from the ‘80s. Then read the comments. There will be a ton that say something to the effect of, “I wasn’t even born until twelve years after this was a hit, but I love it. The ‘80s sound was great.” There’s kids out there that get it.

The ‘80s have won the day. Stations that stopped playing golden oldies are playing ‘80s hits.

Ash Ketchum

Can you give some examples? I lived through the '80s and the only songs I'd consider "good" that I recall from that decade came from Madonna and Michael Jackson.

Michael Corvin

Yeah I'm an 80's kid and the bulk of 80's pop music is dreadful. I think that's just the nature of the genre. Pop music follows trends and trends don't last.

Hazel Motes

Being a popstar these days is first and foremost a hustle and a con. Look no further Cardi B and the Cash me Outside girl. Being a popstar is just a front for being famous and making money. It may have always been that way to a degree. But its never been so blatant and so widespread.

morriscroy

I was a kid/preteen of the late-70s and 80s.

I would agree Michael Jackson and Madonna's stuff has so far stood the test of time.

Other "pop music" stuff from my youth which I felt also stood the test of time, could be stuff like Duran Duran or the Bee Gees.