In reference to us talking about blogging before, I have to say that I can understand some of the problems people have had. People obviously don’t compulsively check one another’s blogs, and while many of us do check occasionally, I have a feeling it’s not the same kind of interactivity and feedback situation that Dr. C intended to create. I know that writing blogs has also been somewhat of a hassle for some people. Myself, I simply don’t think to get online and write most of the time. I do think a lot about music (pretty much constantly) but I often feel that spur-of-the-moment thoughts would be too random and erratic, unless that’s what we’re going for…
Another aspect of blogging, and this really applies to me personally, is that I happen to be much more interested in the structuring of the music than the cultural and societal aspects that we discuss. Basically, I’m a music nerd, I’ve taken music theory classes, I like to write music, and that’s really what draws my attention to a song. To tie in to today’s presentations, I could really care less how well the Backstreet Boys’ albums sold, or how popular they were among tweens, in my opinion, their “music” was crap. It was whiny, suggestive lyricism on top of heavily synthesized sounds. Of course, they didn’t write it themselves; they were clearly molded by the record company into an attractive, flashy package.
Now, I have no problem with suggestive lyrics, as long as they don’t sound blatently stupid (”am I sexual?!?!”) I also have no problem with synthesizers and computer-created sounds, those can work really well when used alongside brilliant writing (Pink Floyd, anyone?) My point is that this “pop” music of today is not what “pop” used to mean. Sure, I guess it’s still “popular,” but I also think that by this point in time, pop has become its own genre, separate from rock. Songwriting and instrument-playing aside, pop has changed.
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