The Day the Music Died

[Lucifer]

Here is a thought. Every decade can more or less be said to have been influenced largely by one performer/group. For instance, the 50s were all Elvis, the 60s belonged to The Beatles, Floyd ruled the 70s, and Michael Jackson was the King of the 80s.



I have not picked these musicians based on my preferences but by the popular perception of the time. But I am not able to decide if any one artist/group has had enough influence on the 90s to say that the decade belonged to them.



Yes, we did have the likes of GnR and Nirvana ruling the early 90s to an extent. However, post 94 (when Kurt Cobain decided to kill himself), I am not sure we have had any music that could anywhere be termed impacting enough to shake a decade. We have the Britneys (yes, we may not like her but the whole world seems to - so she has to be mentioned), the Christinas, and the manufactured pop bands. Some of them have had some very impressive debuts. None has been able to match the hysteria of the first time, leave alone build it up with every release.



We have a plethora of so-called stars and divas. Not one who can lay any claim to having an iota of the hold on the populace that Jackson did. Are we living in a screwed up generation where people just cannot decide what they want with their lives and keep changing their minds? Or did music really die on 5 April 1994?

[CtrlAltDel]

...Are we living in a screwed up generation where people just cannot decide what they want with their lives and keep changing their minds?...

its not the present generation, but the performing artistes who are screwed up. none of them have the charisma or consistancy to pull in the crowds for more than a 3-5 years.

same is the case with hindi film music these days...however a big hit a film song might be now, it wud be forgotten in weeks or months. there are no more 'evergreen' numbers. this is not the case with songs of the 70s or before.

[Lucifer]

I don't really buy that today's artists don't have it in them. In every generation we have talent. I think there is something wrong with the taste. We do not know what we want out of life and keep looking for new things. So we keep moving from one artist to another.



It is like some people move from one partner to another, most of us move from one music artist to another to get some freshness. But we fail to realise that the bliss that a lifetime of companionship brings with it, multiple partners can never hope to match that ever.

[Wisecrack]

Music? Dying? I beg to differ. Music has always influenced our lives and will continue to do so. Though rare,good music is still here.Just that it doesnt come from the Pop/rock idols and divas anymore. The Indian music scene looks quite pathetic actually.We've remixes of good ol melodies,remixes of new songs and remixes of songs one would love to forget. And then,those never ending talent searches ("Come realise your dream!Be the next Indian star & Pop Idol") The saddest part is, nobody wants to be a Jim Morrison or John Lennon or Lata.Our cool and hep junta is very much happy with their Ricky Martins and Britney Spears,thank you!



Bottom-line: Music no longer sells these days. Sex sells.

[solosynergy]

r we not living in a world that is so overwhelmed with information that people do not really have the time to digest music. And for music u need to have the time and peace to really enjoy the music. In the early days the concept of buying albums existed and u would pay for the music and that would be something u would value. Today we r overwhelmed with volumes of digitized music that we hardly know what we r listening to.

[CtrlAltDel]

I don't really buy that today's artists don't have it in them. In every generation we have talent. I think there is something wrong with the taste. We do not know what we want out of life and keep looking for new things. So we keep moving from one artist to another.

It is like some people move from one partner to another, most of us move from one music artist to another to get some freshness. But we fail to realise that the bliss that a lifetime of companionship brings with it, multiple partners can never hope to match that ever.

in that case we can look at my view in another angle: the talented artistes of today no longer have their hands on the people's pulse...they are not able to cater to what exactly is wanted by the music loving public, so what they dish out is popular only as long as the people dont tire of it.



the constant searching for new meanings and things only advances humanity and refines the tastes and senses remember Buddha, Nanak, Jesus....?

[talky]

Music? Dying?

chanceless

[Lucifer]

Nice angle, CAD. Here is mine.



Why blame the artists? Why not blame the people? Perhaps the people don't know what they should or should not be fond of. May be this generation is screwed up. We just do not know what is good or bad for us. And this reflects in our constant shifting choice in music as well.

[OsmaniaBiskit]

Nice angle, CAD. Here is mine.

Why blame the artists? Why not blame the people? Perhaps the people don't know what they should or should not be fond of. May be this generation is screwed up. We just do not know what is good or bad for us. And this reflects in our constant shifting choice in music as well.

Totally agree with Lucifer, there is wonderful music all around, one just needs to look beyond the 'headliners'.

[pingu]

Nice angle, CAD. Here is mine.

Why blame the artists? Why not blame the people? Perhaps the people don't know what they should or should not be fond of. May be this generation is screwed up. We just do not know what is good or bad for us. And this reflects in our constant shifting choice in music as well.

why blame anyone?
i dont belive its anybody's fault that the 90s didnt really have a band associated with them... its not the peoples fault ,and its certainly not the artists fault.

the talented artistes of today no longer have their hands on the people's pulse...they are not able to cater to what exactly is wanted by the music loving public

i dont think "great" music is produced by the artist thinking about what his/her neighbour and his dog would like to listen to whilst they go for their morning walk ... infact , i dont think the greats really cared for the people listening to their stuff ... PF had the utmost contempt for their live audiences ...cobain too ... and morrison hated them enough to show them his you-know-what on a regular basis and then pee on them ..
and we know micheal jackson hates us
if he had any consideration at all,he would have slit his wrists a long time back
my point is this , none of the really good bands became good thinking of what people want or measuring their pulse. they were good.period.

It is like some people move from one partner to another, most of us move from one music artist to another to get some freshness. But we fail to realise that the bliss that a lifetime of companionship brings with it, multiple partners can never hope to match that ever.

now i dont really get where lucy was going with the whole polygamy/polyandry thing with the multiple partners and multiple artists thingy.. but im guessing he's saying we ought to stick to one band...dunno about that..a "lifetime of companionship" with Nsuck or booby spears sounds horrible...



i think the real issue is this .. good music need NOT be popular music ...

and vice versa.naturally.

[akhilis2cool]

good post pingu. totally agree with u



As long as u try to please people u'll end up making mediocre contributions.

[Betty]

When I was a teenager, I remember my parents saying that today's songs are not melodious enough, music has died, we don't have great artists like lata and asha any more....etc. etc. I, on the other hand, listening to 'Ashiqui', 'DDLJ' and the likes, used to wonder what they are talking about...and wanted to point out that though the music is different, it is still good and though we have new artists, they will catch up with the old ones before long.



Seeing this thread, makes me feel we are somewhat cribbing about the same things which our parents did then. I am not trying to promote mediocre music, but what I am trying to say is music being good or bad is pretty subjective and even if we don't like something, todays generation which ultimately buys those albums and make a singer a star should have seen something in these singers which we are missing out on.



It also might be what wisey said is true:

Our cool and hep junta is very much happy with their Ricky Martins and Britney Spears,thank you!

Bottom-line: Music no longer sells these days. Sex sells.

[CtrlAltDel]

i think betty's opinion is valid. we compare today's music to what we used to hear, just as our parents do it.



but still, speaking of Britney et al, does anyone think they wud have the longevity of the old superstar bands? wud they be remembered 10 years later?



it looks like most people have same musical inclination as i do: ie a total lack of 'loyalty' to a particular artiste/band/genre. as i had mentioned elsewhere, i listen to what sounds good to me. i do not care about the genre or band or artiste. it so happens that i love hiphop, jazz and R&B more than songs of other genre. but i also listen to many rock/metal songs. i also like certain songs of Spears, Aguillera, Blue, NSync, Timberlake etc. i am not a follower or fan of anyone/anything in particular.



i think that lots of people nowadays think same way like i do, which is why it is getting difficult for any one performer to become an evergreen superstar.