November Contest: Gossip

[tomg]

Its unlikely you'd hear most of the entires on the radio anyhow.

That's never going to change as long as people are hamstrung into producing material that's unacceptable for a radio audience.

[vespers75]

Its unlikely you'd hear most of the entires on the radio anyhow.

That's never going to change as long as people are hamstrung into producing material that's unacceptable for a radio audience.

Not everyone has the desire to make commercial tunes. That said, your track "Evil" is not commercial in sound nor radio-friendly either.

[vespers75]

Not everything is verse/chorus format, nor is it always a call for proper songs. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box, so to speak.

Not allowing enough time to do a proper song in a song contest is a serious flaw in thinking. FAIL

Its only a "fail" in your eyes because you're being narrow-minded about it. If a particular month's theme is, say "create drones" for example, how the f**k are you going to write a verse/chorus song for that?

[tomg]

Its unlikely you'd hear most of the entires on the radio anyhow.

That's never going to change as long as people are hamstrung into producing material that's unacceptable for a radio audience.

Not everyone has the desire to make commercial tunes. That said, your track "Evil" is not commercial in sound nor radio-friendly either.

I didn't say is was. I said this contest does not allow time for musicians to enter anything close to a commercial song in length, instantly making 98% of the entries disposable and that's pretty stupid for a song contest.

[tomg]

Not everything is verse/chorus format, nor is it always a call for proper songs. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box, so to speak.

Not allowing enough time to do a proper song in a song contest is a serious flaw in thinking. FAIL

Its only a "fail" in your eyes because you're being narrow-minded about it. If a particular month's theme is, say "create drones" for example, how the f**k are you going to write a verse/chorus song for that?

That's not a song and it wouldn't matter. It only matters when you ask for songs.

[robogone]

Why does it matter at all? I say screw all the 'rules' about structure and just work out how to do it in the limitations of the competition. No big deal.

[Zombie Queen]

The average pop song is 3:45.

...and has a boring 45 seconds guitar/synth/whatever solo in the middle, trash it and everybody's happy.

[tomg]

Why does it matter at all? I say screw all the 'rules' about structure and just work out how to do it in the limitations of the competition. No big deal.

If you want to run the mile in competition. Practicing for it by running the 440 and never running a mile is a guarantee you'll fail.

It's a big deal because it's not realistic.

[LauraMichelJarre]

I'd rather have dive-bombs for 45 seconds

I always thought the limits were to reduce download time and file size and ensure contestants could "get to the point" within time limits. Nothing worse than 2-chord rondos which last 7+ minutes. Or drum-bass tracks which go for daze.

[Aziraphal]

Ah, it took me years to write it,
They were the best years of my life.
It was a beautiful song.
But it ran too long.
If you're gonna have a hit,
You gotta make it fit--
So they cut it down to 3:05.
- Billy Joel, The Entertainer

Ahh, Scoops should come up with these engaging topics that bring out the worst in people more often. This is almost as fun as the monthly flame wars of '07.

I got a track finished in my head. Now I need a day off to record the damn thing... not happening this week. Keep your members crossed...

[tomg]

The average pop song is 3:45.

...and has a boring 45 seconds guitar/synth/whatever solo in the middle, trash it and everybody's happy.

Which parts would you cut out of your favorite music. Take one of your favorite albums say Dark Side (guessing) and reduce it by 14%.

Not a good idea.

[1-2-Many]

OK - finally able to think about doing the contest this month...

Although, I'm a little confused - is the theme 'Show some anger' i.e. write an angry song, OR 'Piss Me Off', i.e. write something totally irritating to piss off the listener?

From the talk here it appears to be the latter, but the submissions OP leads my to think the former.

Piss Me Off


OK I've had it!
Enough of the wishy washy melodies
Enough of the trite little harmonies

( )

Common people!
Make a song that shows me some anger!
Make some raging music!
Make it Bold!
Make It Loud!
I want to hear some deviate behavior! - (keep it within reason folks)

...AND - Just who'r you callin common Scoops!

[tomg]

Billy Joel, The Entertainer

3 min 41 seconds. Point!

[vespers75]

Even though its far from friendly or commercial, my submission this month actually has a rather conventional "V/C/V/C/bridge/C" kind of structure (which is rare for me). I was able to fit it in the 3 minute time limit with only 10 or 11 seconds to spare, though no doubt the high speed tempo helped a bit.

[tomg]

Even though its far from friendly or commercial, my submission this month actually has a rather conventional "V/C/V/C/bridge/C" kind of structure (which is rare for me). I was able to fit it in the 3 minute time limit with only 10 or 11 seconds to spare, though no doubt the high speed tempo helped a bit.

Do you make the song better or worse by squeezing it into 3:00. I maintain that the original vision that ran over 3:00 was art and the squeezing to make it easier to judge, DL and throw away is a failure of constructive thinking.