"Taylor, I'm Really Happy for You, and I'm Gonna Let You Finish, but..."

Ooooooh, boy, we remember that little outburst, don't we? When Kanye West graced the musical world with his little tirade against Taylor Swift, the whole music industry collectively groaned and rolled their eyes. Yet given West's history of making unexpected stage appearances, the actual event itself wasn't a huge surprise. Wait, think about that. Could you see something like that happening fifty years ago? Thirty years ago? Fifteen years ago? I could be wrong, but it seems to me that a good portion of the modern music industry has become too consumed by commercialism to actually care about finding musically-skilled class acts.

Now, before I get a bunch of rap fans and Taylor Swift worshippers on my tail, let me explain that last paragraph. In my last blog I discussed the importance of the connection between music and lyrics. Well, I believe that a lot of musical artists today have simply forgotten about this crucial detail. Why? Record labels have become too focused on spitting out as many albums and merchandise as possible, putting the actual quality of the music on the wayside (if you want to see a full blog about it, I highly suggest Kate Schutte's excellent blog). More specifically, the industry has maimed the amount of diversity which an artist can employ within his or her songs.

Let's start with hip hop and rap music. I will admit right now that I am definitely not a big fan of either of these genres. I have legitimate reasons, though. To start, hip hop and rap music focus on sexual interests. Now, I have already expressed that music is intended to manifest emotions, and sexual desire qualifies as an emotion, so I can't really condemn these genres for that reason. However, not all of the songs contain lyrics that discuss this topic. Yet nearly all hip hop and rap music contain the same type of swinging, suave beat and playing style that implies that the audience is supposed to still dance seductively while listening to the song. Now, obviously not everybody dances like this when listening to the songs. Still, though, I would appreciate a sorrowful song about lost love a little more if they actually contained a tune that reflected that sorrow.

To me, that is one of the worst musical crimes of all-destroying the potential of good lyrics or a good concept because the industry demands that you sexualize it or make it overly upbeat and poppy (not to name anybodyHannahMontana). I also take issue when artists are popularized simply because of their good looks. I know this is just my opinion, but I'm sorry, the Jonas Brothers/Justin Bieber/Hanna Montana contingent is just painful to hear. The Jonas Brothers have good instrumental music, but the songs are consistently ruined whenever Joe Jonas decides to open his mouth and sing. Justin Bieber simply has an average voice that tends to sound overwhelmingly weak, and if it wasn't for his long hair that drives preteen girls bonkers, he'd simply be another rich kid in school. Hannah Montana...well, anyone who comes up with a name like Hannah Montana is waaaaay to preppy for me. I know that my musical tastes are a bit old-fashioned, seeing as I grew up listening to folk, Beatles, and seventies and eighties music, but still, I wish there was some actual quality in today's music.

Until next time,

ParallelFifths