I was having a conversation with my friend the other day about the music we like. He finds all of his new music by listening to pop/contemporary radio. The songs he mentioned recently downloading were tracks that make me cringe (even if I don't know the song, just the artist). I really wasn't trying to shun his music or say it's necessarily bad, I just don't prefer it.
But an interesting observation he pointed out is that he doesn't care if other people listen to his music as much as he does. That is to say he likes songs and bands regardless of how popular they are or how often they're on the radio. And my reaction is the exact opposite. The more a song is on the radio, the less I like it. While I don't purposely try to listen to weird or unpopular bands, I do like the fact that there are some bands and songs I like that nobody else knows or not many people know. Granted my list of favorite bands is so 90s mainstream it hurts, I could just as easily post a list of bands nobody I know has heard of. I've frequently looked at a person's "favorite bands" sections on facebook or myspace and not recognized a single name. The one big difference between them and myself is that typically their list is of indie, emo or hardcore bands and mine is random punk or electronic bands I found on yahoo 4 years ago.
I can't really differentiate between whether I really like the way certain bands sound or if I like the fact that other people don't like them. Plenty of people like the Dead Kennedys but no one I know is among them. Jello Biafra really truly does kind of sing like a goat. Mindless Self Indulgence is incredibly immature and spastic, but I like them. I like drum and bass because it's loud and fast, but it's very repetitive. To me, loud and fast and screechy and obnoxious is likeable. Things that are radio friendly are too...radio friendly.
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It always seemed funny to me that people would quit liking a band if they became popular. Even when I was doing it, it just seemed strange. I mean, one day, you're singing their praises and moving their CDs to the front of the browser, but the next, you're taking your discs to the pawnshop and crying, "Sellout!" The line seemed so arbitrary.
I get that there's novelty in being the only one on your block that gets an artist. But when does the music become about the novelty (Weird Al aside)?
A lot of pop radio is cringe-worthy, but it's not all bad just because it's played or, heaven forbid, charted.
My work friends were just doing a list of favorite artists last night. Mine was decidedly weirder than the rest, but we all had Green Day listed.
There are plenty of songs played on the radio I like, but there are a ton of them that are just wholly unappealing. But now I do bite my tongue when I say I like Green Day because their popularity has skyrocketed, due to 14 year olds.
Another problem is the similarity of all the songs. Fallout Boy = Panic at the Disco = all the other random emo rock bands. I especially hate any radio-friendly songs with super trite lyrics or any songs about rain or stars. (I want to repeatedly harm Natasha Beddingfield).
See, I came to the defense of radio, but I honestly can't remember the last time I listened to broadcast FM. My last rental had XM, so I spent the weekend listening to really crappy comedy (because the other options were worse, and I didn't find the iPod jack until it was time to return the car... such is life). I'm such a hypocrite. :-)
As for Green Day, maybe their popularity has skyrocketed because no once can tell the other groups apart. I can usually pick out the Fall Out Boy tracks... honestly, I think their craft is better than most of the others, but it might just be that the lyrics come quicker. And I continue to love MCR's The Black Parade, because it reminds me of Cheap Trick (I think it's supposed to be a deconstructed Smashing Pumpkins, but the result is the same).
I keep trying the others, hoping that one will turn up right. So far, not much happening. I hear good things about Cobra Starship, but I can't get past their "Hollaback Boy". *shudder*
I used to listen to the rain songs (but that was well before Natasha Beddingfield... remember Heather Nova?), but they're all variations on a theme. The first time you hear it, it's novel and mind-expanding... It's not trite until the second time around. I can tolerate Top 40, but that crap was written for Adult Contemporary, and that... I cannot abide.
I hope that made sense. I'm going to quit while I'm lost. :-)
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