What became of pop musicians?
08-04-18, 09:39 AM
#26
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Funny you should mention them. The one other song I remember liking from the '80s was their theme song for the 1985 Bond movie, A VIEW TO A KILL.
08-04-18, 10:04 AM
#27
Moderator
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Just wanted to point out that Pet Sounds, generally regarded as one of the greatest pop albums of all time, was essentially one guy (Brian Wilson) and session musicians, with the rest of The Beach Boys contributing vocals.
Last edited by Groucho; 08-04-18 at 11:16 AM.
08-04-18, 04:15 PM
#28
DVD Talk Hero
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Guns 'N Roses may be one of the few 80s acts that had a more timeless sound because it was guitar-driven music.
08-04-18, 05:17 PM
#29
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
I think Taylor Swift still writes her own songs and she can play the guitar.
08-04-18, 05:18 PM
#30
DVD Talk Legend
08-04-18, 08:11 PM
#31
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
I don't think record labels employ the army of A&R people like they used to. The industry has gone back to being pop star and personality driven. Besides, the barrier to entry is so low now that pretty much anyone can make a decent recording without a big studio. Coupled with instant access to soundcloud, CD Baby, and even iTunes, smaller artists are just striking out on their own, hoping to "go viral" somehow and break through that way.
08-04-18, 08:13 PM
#32
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
08-04-18, 08:48 PM
#33
Moderator
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Taylor Swift writes and plays her own songs. She gets dismissed by adults a lot but she's talented.
08-05-18, 06:38 AM
#34
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What became of pop musicians?
How did Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer have top ten albums? How did Blue Oyster Cult pack arenas?
Bowie wasn't known to the masses until 1976. Good luck trying to get a ticket to big arena 1974 tour. Who were these people?
99% of people never heard of Frampton until the live album. Who are these thousands of people at the concert who know all the songs?
Led Zeppelin was a one hit wonder.
It happened two ways.
1. Somebody would blind buy an album and then play it for their friends. "Check out this album called Ziggy Stardust. It's pretty good man." Then the friends would buy it. They would play it for more people.
A guy with an 8-Track player in his car would pick up a hitch-hiker. The hitcher would asks, "That tape's pretty good. Who is it?". The driver would reply, "Some guys called Nazareth. They rock man."
2. People would discover artists as warm up bands. "Deep Purple rocked dude!".
"Yeah. And those guys called Aerosmith weren't bad either"
Look at the very first Black Sabbath album. A debut so nobody had heard of them. Zero play on the radio. Yet the album charted at #23 on the Billboard chart and sold a million copies. Word got around.
Stacey Kelso and a his buddies are drinking beers and listening to an album by some new guys called Judas Priest.
His younger brother Mike overhears the music and thinks it rocks.
Mike Kelso swipes the album and takes it over to Foreman's house.
Kelso, Eric, Hyde, FES, Donna and Jackie get stoned and listen to the album. They think it rocks.
Eric's sister has a guy over and they play it while fucking on the basement couch.
A couple months later Eric and the gang take the Vista Cruiser to Milwaukee to see Judas Priest.
A band is born with no airplay or hits.
Last edited by rw2516; 08-05-18 at 07:11 AM.
08-05-18, 07:05 AM
#35
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Re: What became of pop musicians?
It looks like the bands who pack arenas are nostalgia acts whose relevance peaked in the 1980s. There isn't a lot of counter-culture word of mouth here.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/c...grossing-tours
https://www.billboard.com/articles/c...grossing-tours
08-05-18, 08:54 AM
#36
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
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.
The ‘80s have won the day. Stations that stopped playing golden oldies are playing ‘80s hits.
You'll find just as many old farts waxing poetic about The Struts or Royal Blood or Greta Van Fleet or Beartooth or whatever new rock is out there.
Last edited by Hokeyboy; 08-05-18 at 09:34 PM.
08-05-18, 05:13 PM
#37
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Re: What became of pop musicians?
Peter Gabriel
Police
Tears for Fears
Oingo Boingo
Springsteen
Elvis Costello
10,000 Maniacs
The Clash
The Smiths
Joy Division/New Order
Joe Jackson
Graham Parker
John Hiatt
Tom Petty
Social Distortion
Bad Religion
Howard Jones
All great 80s acts.
Last edited by Mabuse; 08-06-18 at 04:28 PM.
08-07-18, 06:03 AM
#38
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Ahh, yes, to go back to a world where the biggest single is a true musician's work, like Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing."
08-13-18, 08:48 AM
#39
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: What became of pop musicians?
On the first GnR album, they had somebody who was a great songwriter in the band. From listening to the post-Illusion and/or solo efforts of the GnR bandmembers, it was obvious who that great songwriter was: Izzy Stradlin.
08-13-18, 08:49 AM
#40
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: What became of pop musicians?
More generally for just about most forms of music, I suspect the longevity in the public memory has a lot to do whether a song was well written and catchy.
In more recent times, it seems like pop/rock stars who are not very good songwriters, will end up hiring professional songwriters to come up with catchy sounding songs. For example, the top dogs in the professional songwriting business are writers like Max Martin, Diane Warren, etc ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ma...on_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...y_Diane_Warren
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Warren
In more recent times, it seems like pop/rock stars who are not very good songwriters, will end up hiring professional songwriters to come up with catchy sounding songs. For example, the top dogs in the professional songwriting business are writers like Max Martin, Diane Warren, etc ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ma...on_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...y_Diane_Warren
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Warren
08-13-18, 10:50 AM
#41
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Pop music has been dumbed down to the reality TV show level. It has no substance, no sophistication, and no complexity. Compare Pop music of the 70's to Pop music today. Today's Pop is meaningless fluff with no real sophistication. That wasn't true in the 70's, and was far less true in the 80's than it is now. Pop has been slowly, but steadily, getting dumbed down decade by decade starting in the late 80's.
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
08-13-18, 10:56 AM
#42
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: What became of pop musicians?
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale
08-13-18, 11:03 AM
#43
08-13-18, 01:33 PM
#44
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What became of pop musicians?
With the crap out today when a band like Royal Blood comes around it is reassuring that there are still solid rock bands out there.
08-13-18, 05:48 PM
#45
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: What became of pop musicians?
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oVME_l4IwII" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
08-13-18, 09:24 PM
#46
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
I'd add Phil Collins with his (arguably) three best albums, all released in the '80s.
Depeche Mode
Eurythmics
Pet Shop Boys
Dire Straits
Men At Work
Human League
Thomas Dolby
The Art of Noise
This list could go on and on...
I maintain that nothing has ruined music more than autotune.
08-14-18, 10:04 AM
#47
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Since we're now waxing nostalgically about 80s pop, my favorite sub-genre of that decade was the so-called "blonde pop" (I prefer "buzz-pop") of female fronted British bands towards the end of the decade. Stuff like The Primitives, The Darling Buds, Voice of the Beehive.
08-17-18, 11:19 AM
#48
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Re: What became of pop musicians?
Pop music has been dumbed down to the reality TV show level. It has no substance, no sophistication, and no complexity. Compare Pop music of the 70's to Pop music today. Today's Pop is meaningless fluff with no real sophistication. That wasn't true in the 70's, and was far less true in the 80's than it is now. Pop has been slowly, but steadily, getting dumbed down decade by decade starting in the late 80's.
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
I read an article a few years go about how someone (at a college or something) put popular music through a computer to analyze it's complexity and sophistication, comparing it decade by decade, and there was a clear, factually documented, downward regression of the music into something less sophisticated and musical. Even things like the chords used in songs were simplified and less musical.
08-17-18, 01:02 PM
#50
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Re: What became of pop musicians?
So were "Yakety Yak", "Tequila", and "The Witch Doctor". They were all big pop hits that year. It doesn't make the case that the sophistication of pop music has been declining, only that it has been varying.