Basics - Genres - Pop 2
Blogger's Notes
I suddenly had an inspiration and had to type this down.
I realised that no one is really writing on my blog much because a. I'm updating a bit too fast and starting out a bit too technical and wordy for most, which is why I'm starting with the basics to get everyone going again, b. you fear sounding like an idiot if you don't know what is actually going on.
Simple things - We're all here to learn. If you ask a question to benefit yourself, you'll benefit others who are reading the comments. If you ask a question which stumps me, I'll find a way to answer no matter how, which benefits you and everyone else too. So why not we all learn?
Anyway back to topic, I thought about this because I was comparing Michael Jackson to his influence, James Brown. Let's compare all the different pop stars and their influences. As well as the people they influenced.
ABBA vs New Kids On The Block vs Backstreet Boys
The battle of the popstars! Hahaha
ABBA - The Winner Takes It All
New Kids On The Block - Tonight
New Kids On The Block is the first boy band which actually didn't play any musical instruments, and sang songs written by others, as well as making use of videos to prance around to increase viewership all at one shot.
ABBA is one of the biggest influences for pop music of modern days. One of its most direct and obvious influence is New Kids On The Block. They were part of the movement where videos and good looks were used to push for record sales and popularity. However, the production of music was not completely negated; they still had quite a lot of soulful good tracks that made much musical sense which allowed them to remain in people's minds till today.
What are the differences in the music? How different are the harmonies? What is the difference in rhythms that you hear? The phrasing? The way the music is played out behind?
Can you hear the shift towards a preference to being on time?
This is the progression that was slow but steady and evolved into pop nowadays...
Now let's listen to the famous Backstreet Boys who obviously took after New Kids On The Block...
Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me
Hear the similarities between them and New Kids On The Block? Suddenly ABBA disappeared from the sound but hip hop elements started taking over. Is there any big difference in effect for Backstreet Boys from New Kids On The Block? Other than the production improvements through the years of course.
Next part I'll be talking about Madonna, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and the likes. =)
posted by Seow Yi Zhe @ 12:48 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Haha i liked how you mentioned 'the shift towards a preference to being on time'. I think that's another thing that pop music is about. It's rudimentary singing and playing. I think you know how people say that the music of the past was much greater than it is today? It's because of the shift of the reason that drives people to make music today. Simon Cowell made a comment on one of Westlife's songs and said that "that has the potential to be a number one single", and true enough, the song "Swear it again" was a hit and propelled Westlife to the fame they are currently enjoying now. Commercialism has poisoned the manner on how music is made and has inevitably made music an industry driven by profits which results in simpler music, music that can be produced fast with little hassle, but can generate huge profits.
In the past if you look at all the songs that were written, they were largely genuine and targeted at genuine issues. It was also more pure,focused on making music that made sense to them, hence they bothered to change pop music by adding in unorthodox chord progressions to spice up the sound of their song and possibly create something unique and tasteful. I don't really know if this is entirely true so yizhe if you could enlighten me on this that'll be great. But generally i think people were driven to make music by their desire to make music and express their thoughts, which made the songs they were singing all the more lasting and genuine.
Pop music uses pop stars to achieve popularity. and they also fulfill the needs and wants of the masses. Why the essence of ABBA disappeared was probably because it was not the key preference for the public and hip-hop was assured success and as such, artistes like backstreet boys jumped on the bandwagon and followed the trend and style to guarantee their paychecks. New Kids of the block made a come back some time in 2008 and after clicking on the above link of their song "Tonight" of their yesteryears i was quite astonished and shocked by what i heard which was a beatles-like ballad. I heard the material that New kids of the block released after their come back in 2008 thanks to the wonderful radio stations and it was completely different and had strong essence of hip-hop flavours. Watch this video of their song "Summertime" released in 2008 and compare it to the song "Tonight" and see what i mean. Also notice how the music videos change as well. In the past it used to be simple with a setting and the musicians singing their song. Now, shooting a music video is as complicated as shooting a scene out of a movie or a short film, with so much detail and so much work put in. So yes go on and check out the vids :D
New Kids of the Block - Summertime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpkCWs2zSNY
Its really funny how music today has no character but rather it shapes its character to fit the wants of the people, making it an industry governed by market forces with supply simply making do with the tastes and preferences effected by demand.
P.S. I think i might be ranting a lot about pop music, but i guess these are my views about pop music today. I'm totally fine with the older pop numbers like that of maybe Chicago and maybe even Michael Bolton (go the distance totally rocked my world) :D
so yea, peace to pop music xD
Hahaha which is why I wanted a whole section on pop. I addressed more of this issue in a comment for Pop 1 but I can't seem to post it. So now I will wait till the problem is fixed. Haha.
I'll be covering Carpenter, Madonna, Christina and Gaga next.
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