Is pop music inherently stupid?

[incubus]

quincy jones stupid .... rigggghhhhhht

prince stupid ... rrriiiiiiighhghghttttt

Think about all the great pop made. This is ridiculous. I'm on a pop kick today now.

Well, you are correct in many ways. What I'm saying specifically is though I've enjoyed much pop over the decades, many of todays biggest stars are pretty bad.

Let's take those two examples.....no, just one. Prince. Greatest living musician on earth. Fact, don't waste your time embarrassing yourself (like the one dude) You can love him or hate him, but he's beyond the bubble gum that is kuntya. Kuntya could write a "lyric" if his life depended on it. I have absolutely no idea now he became so pop-U lar

Or we could go in the direction of "Daft Punk" and "Get Lucky"... Would that song have taken off if it wasn't for Pherrel, Nathan, Omar and especially Nile? I don't think so. They are absolutely fabulous fabulous musicians who works with Daft to make a song I frankly really like.

But it's the exception to the rule, not the rule. The rule is these days the more atonal, autotuned, sea-sick pumpy/boring "everyone can do it on their ipad" beat/super.....no.......HYPER formulized it is..the better.

Someone famous once said "it's easier to sell chewing gum than yachts" but that doesn't mean I'd rather have a stick of gum vs the yacht

[IncarnateX]

and Happy People

Moyet did not like Happy People but it was actually one of the few times Vince left the safe halls of melancholic love songs and went political:

From the wiki:

Moyet said the only serious argument she and Clarke had during recording of the album was over the song "Happy People", which she refused to sing. She told The Quietus in 2011, "There are just some places you can't go, I tried singing that song a couple of times but I couldn't genuinely bring anything to it so I wouldn't do it. But that's the only time I ever refused a song."[1] As a result Clarke ended up singing on the track, the only Yazoo song on which he sings lead vocals. Clarke said that "Happy People" was written about the Liberal Party of which his mother had just become a member, but he declined to say whether the song was in support or against the party.

Whether he was for or against the party, you can judge for yourself, though it seems pretty clear to me:

HAPPY PEOPLE
Take no notice 'cos I'm just the same
There's a thousand other faces with the very same name
And we look like each other, and we all live together.
We talk about the same things
And we never try and change things.
(Chorus)
We're the happy, happy people
(repeat)
We never give opinions and we never state views
After all, you can't be sure that what we say is true
And if you want to join us, you can follow on behind us.
You can talk about your visions
You can make some big decisions.
(Chorus repeat)
We believe in having fun and smiling all the time
And sometimes we're on TV if we're over 69
And when we have a raffle, then it's just a big reshuffle.
It's a democratic poll
But we're the ones who are in control.
(Chorus repeat)

Another song seldom case is "Mr. Blue", where he touches the edges of poverty, loss of children, patriotism and war:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/yazoo/mrblue.html

At that time pop music could be about other things that hearthaches though it had to be masked a little. Also OMD's "Enola Gay" comes to mind. Wouldn't know if you can get away with that today.

[Dasheesh]

no, no, no, you guys are losing focus. Their is music, and there is not so good music. There is a hell of a lot of not so good music right now, in all genres, people just knocking it out daily and throwing it out there. Good music is good music, and a good song is timeless. Talented, good music is the outlier...the exception. Not everyone is a superstar.

[jancivil]

You know, it comforts me to know that I can still start a 10 page thread here at kvr.

But will it reach 40 like this one?

Oh yeah, that thing. Epic! That's emblematic as to what's interesting at KVR. A number of people really cared and endeavored to bring their best game to bear, even the ones bringing pretty much sophistry.

BTW, I say there's nothing inherently wrong with stupid in music.

[Karma_tba]

[quote="Dasheesh"]quincy jones stupid .... rigggghhhhhht

prince stupid ... rrriiiiiiighhghghttttt

Think about all the great pop made. This is ridiculous. I'm on a pop kick today now.[/quote]
O{+> Prince STUPID??? HAHAHA..... where is YOUR music son? U can kiss P's ass fool! U couldn't hold a burnt out candle to Prince on your best day and his worst!!! Please U are here in KVR's world for unsuccessful artists and the ARTIST is chillin' in Paisley Park. Get a F'ing clue bia...tch!!!

[Dasheesh]

Is it 420 already?

[incubus]

quincy jones stupid .... rigggghhhhhht

prince stupid ... rrriiiiiiighhghghttttt

Think about all the great pop made. This is ridiculous. I'm on a pop kick today now.

O{+> Prince STUPID??? HAHAHA..... where is YOUR music son? U can kiss P's ass fool! U couldn't hold a burnt out candle to Prince on your best day and his worst!!! Please U are here in KVR's world for unsuccessful artists and the ARTIST is chillin' in Paisley Park. Get a F'ing clue bia...tch!!!

Dude, seriously? It's not what he was saying at all. He is in agreement with you.

Prince is (again) the greatest living musician and maybe even best of all time. Doesn't matter if you do/don't like his music, he plays any instrument, plays it proficiently and has a 16 octave voice to boot!

[Aleatoriac]

Well my pop music always turns out stupid.
But is all of pop music generally and inherently stupid?

Oh probably. Won't stop me making all kinds of it.

[Aryaroman]

This reminds me of a thread I made a few months back...

I disagree that it's inherently stupid, but pop is most certainly getting worse. Nowadays you can produce nearly radio-ready music by just pushing buttons. Don't even need a keyboard. It doesn't even take a lot of button-pushing or time, granted, you have even slight idea what you're doing.

[tripomatic]

There is no stupid music, just stupid listeners.....

[ATN69]

Elvis was pop of his time and my grandparents asked my parents how they could listen to that crap. In the 80s I listened to Duran Duran, Toto, Saga, etc. It was pretty much the pop of the 80s. My parents asked me how I could listen to that crap. Generation issue. Today they make music by pushing buttons, so...

I think most people today consider The Beatles (another pop band of their time),to be a great group that wrote many timeless songs. So I don't think that pop is inherently stupid. Some pop music can just be enjoyable and good even if it does not carry any amazing political statement or any other smart message to the mass.

[trimph1]

Everything can be stupid at one time or another.

Does anyone have an example of permastupidity?

[ATN69]

Everything can be stupid at one time or another.

Does anyone have an example of permastupidity?

That would be me and my music ..I spend too much money buying plugins and I am a nob ..so yeah..I guess I am permastupid but its fun anyway.

[fmr]

Elvis was pop of his time and my grandparents asked my parents how they could listen to that crap. In the 80s I listened to Duran Duran, Toto, Saga, etc. It was pretty much the pop of the 80s. My parents asked me how I could listen to that crap. Generation issue. Today they make music by pushing buttons, so...

I think most people today consider The Beatles (another pop band of their time),to be a great group that wrote many timeless songs. So I don't think that pop is inherently stupid. Some pop music can just be enjoyable and good even if it does not carry any amazing political statement or any other smart message to the mass.

Either that, or people are generally getting more stupid each generation Some philosopher already said we are living in the age of ignorance

[trimph1]

Everything can be stupid at one time or another.

Does anyone have an example of permastupidity?

That would be me and my music ..I spend too much money buying plugins and I am a nob ..so yeah..I guess I am permastupid but its fun anyway.

I am right with you here.