The State of Music in the Mainstream!

thereiver

in the cavern the beatles were playing r and b and rock and roll songs they played everyday when they were in germany Elvis did not invent rock and roll his main influence was people like bill haley and black r and b music .

Rooks

The implication that John Lennon basically invented songwriting is kind of weird. Even he would have denied that, I'm sure.

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122943513#Comment_122943513

Imagine that!

thereiver

Theres been writing songs before recorded music was invented .

thereiver

With all respect John Lennon used alot of drugs everything he said is not gospel .They Beatles just played rock n roll before they started writing songs .I read when Mtv started that started the decline of rock n roll .it became important to make music videos singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson and Duran Duran became popular . How you looked became almost as important as the music you made .when it started Mtv rarely played black singers like many radio stations in America were reluctant to play any black music for the first few years .the British invasion started because UK groups were used to make music videos for top of the pops .most rock groups dud not make music videos .Mtv was very powerful it was hard to have a hit if you did not have a good music video.singers like peter Gabriel made very good music videos .

thereiver

Before rock n roll there was jazz r and b and gospel music people were writing songs before the printing press was invented .

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122944249#Comment_122944249

Enough of your mind games.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122941512#Comment_122941512

Before Elvis

dasdog

A bit before my time. NME's top singles of 1977 - Bowie's iconic Sound & Vision just made the list.

CalamariFritti

Before my time too. I was alive alright but not in the music listening business yet. Some seriously good stuff there and almost every single thing by an actual band.

If you compiled a list like that today I have no idea what would be on it. I'm old and dont know a thing anymore. I suppose stuff like Dua Lipa or so?

I would despite not knowing a thing bet money on it not having anywhere near the character that 77 list had.

Rooks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122958680#Comment_122958680

It's almost all solo artists with armies of songwriters behind their hits.

The Golden Miller

People are missing the point about Lennon. Lennon made writing your own songs the standard. This wasn't the case beforehand. Bands like the Stones covering songs were told to shape up or they'd be dropped. Lennon changed the game.

And due to writing your own songs now becoming the standard, ideas were pushed and expanded by those coming behind. This is where contemporary music as we know started. People can believe what they like, this is the reality.

Ye Lennon drew influences from others and was a fan of Elvis, but writing your own music as nearly a requirement, was something the Beatles revolutionised. It's why they are deemed so important to this day. Lennon changed the game.

If people don't want to acknowledge or accept this, or downplay Lennon's influence in contemporary music, that's fine, but misguided imo!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122958411#Comment_122958411

Granted, the NME covered rock and "alternative" - it wasn't a pop magazine - but several of those singles were in the top 10/20/30 and featured on Top of the Pops.

thereiver

I don't care if Taylor swift or dua lipa pays songwriters to write their songs

Dua lipa is a great pop star she is beautiful she has a great voice she is talented I don't think many people care if she's a songwriter or not

What I care about is the music and how the song is sung .the quality of the voice . There's very few groups of any kind in the top 40 most pop songs are sung by one person .

I think the age of the singer songwriter started in the sixty's with singers like Dylan and Joni Mitchell that write their own songs and wrote songs that had meaning and reflected their own

experience of life .

I think that nme covered all genres of music including pop music or any music that was released in UK record stores it was not just an indie rock magazine

Badly Drunk Boy

Here is this year's top 50 albums from NME, for comparison. (I didn't look too hard for the singles list.)

A few Irish acts in there too…

1. Charli xcx - BRAT
2. Fontaines D.C. - Romance
3. English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
4. Nia Archives - Silence Is Loud
5. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
6. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
7. Beyoncé - COWBOY CARTER
8. Mustafa - Dunya
9. Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
10. Rachel Chinouriri - What A Devastating Turn of Events
11. Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
12. Kendrick Lamar - GNX
13. KNEECAP - Fine Art
14. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
15. Mk.gee - Two Star & The Dream Police
16. RM - Right Place, Wrong Person
17. Clairo - Charm
18. Nemahsis - Verbathim
19. Tyla - TYLA
20. Confidence Man - 3AM (LA LA LA)
21. Ghetts - On Purpose, With Purpose
22. Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
23. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy
24. Ariana Grande - eternal sunshine
25. The Smile - Wall of Eyes
26. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
27. Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
28. ScHoolboy Q - BLUE LIPS
29. Amyl and The Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness
30. tripleS - ASSEMBLE24
31. Bashy - Being Poor is Expensive
32. FLO - Access All Areas
33. BERWYN - WHO AM I
34. SPRINTS - Letter To Self
35. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
36. Arooj Aftab - Night Reign
37. Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor
38. Rema - HEIS
39. Halsey - The Great Impersonator
40. Bill Ryder-Jones - Iechyd Da
41. Tems - Born in the Wild
42. Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet
43. Kelly Lee Owens - Dreamstate
44. Tyler, The Creator - CHROMAKOPIA
45. NewDad - MADRA
46. IDLES - TANGK
47. Wunderhorse - Midas
48. Megan Thee Stallion - MEGAN
49. Bring Me The Horizon - POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
50. beabadoobee - This Is How Tomorrow Moves

CalamariFritti

Some good stuff there in fairness. Not like that 77 list but that could be just age/no longer with it. Didnt like all of that 77 list either.

Rooks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122960749#Comment_122960749

I think the issue is that there is the homogeneity of popular music today. In the past you had bands, original artists and singers who had songwriters backing them. Now it's just the latter.

thereiver

Theres a wide range of music avaidable today since its easy to record music using computers and release it on streaming services.Theres plenty of original artists out there who write songs i don,t listen to hip hop or the latest cool indie singer ,just top 40 chart songs. before the internet if your music was not on cd or lp in a record shop it might as well not exist.

thereiver

If you are a comic book fan imagine if every comic book was drawn by George Perez or an ai boy that could copy his artistic style .it would be a bit bland compared to the wide range of artists we have now .most pop music sounds ad if it was recorded in the same studio using a limited range of musicians .I think before 2015 we had a wider range of music in the charts it was not all good quality music but it was more diverse with a wide range of music styles and genres from pop to reggae to rock music .there's not many Rock bands left making new music in 2024

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122962650#Comment_122962650

Nah I don't agree with apologising for not being with it. There is some good stuff there for sure - like NewDad, SPRINTS, Amyl and the Sniffers... but Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter - that's kids music. The NME is an extremely different beast now.

silliussoddius

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors is number 10 in the Irish album charts, I wonder what caused it to start appearing in the charts now.

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122978545#Comment_122978545

Christmas presents I would say.

thereiver

I think Lana del ray gracie Adams Billie eilish are good singers with their own style and talent .there's good music being made .record company's prefer to promote singers than take a chance on a group The cost of touring had increased since the pandemic less popular groups can't make a profit going on a tour of smaller venues that's due to economics and the cost of promotion every young singer puts videos on tik tok and YouTube that's why there's no longer xfactor on tv

it takes a lot of work to start a group and do gigs and it could be years before you make money

It took years for even Taylor swift to become a popular pop star

Being in a pop group is like being a writer of new novel most new books only sell 1000 copy's

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122978545#Comment_122978545

This isn't a new thing. For some reason, Fleetwood Mac have had a bounce in popularity the last few years. You turn on Radio Nova, they're never off it.

You understand things like Journey and Don't Stop Believing having a come back to this day due to Sopranos. But the Fleetwood Mac enduring, and continued growth, is unprecedented tbh.

No idea why or where it's come from tbh, but they seem to get bigger and bigger every passing week. They've been continually popping up on the album charts the last ten years tbh, out of the blue.

Their increasing popularity, off the back off nothing, is an anomaly tbh

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122978837#Comment_122978837

But why Fleetwood mac, would everyone not rather jack?

Rumours has been a constant seller since 1977. Plenty of reissues. I imagine the bulk of the sales are vinyl copies from the likes of Golden Discs.

thereiver

There was a survey it said the quality of lyrics in pop songs has declined in recent years eg the lyrics of modern pop songs are less complex than in previous decades with more simple phrases used

Although singers like Taylor swift and Sabrina carpenter have quite witty lyrics

Dreams the Fleetwood Mac song was very popular on tik tok with some man on a skateboard

Most songs before 2005 sound better to me with more complex melody I think because music was produced in a different way and there were a lot more groups in the charts as opposed to just singers

I think don't stop believing was featured on the glee tv show