Pop Culture for Fun

I remember when the musical scene in the U.S. was diverse. Back in 1999, for example, Eminem had just started out, Britney as well, there were the Offspring, Cher was having one last blast, there were the TLC (now that was RnB), Ricky Martin was reaching his peek, Shania Twain had released her most popular album to date, Mariah Carey hadn’t yet settled for whatever she’s singing now, Blink182 was making people laugh, Madonna wasn’t as hated as she is now, Fatboy Slim was at the top of his game, and oh, yeah, there were the New Radicals (whatever happened to them?).
That was diversity. Nowadays what do we get? Tokio Hotel and the Timbaland brand? I liked Timbaland, I thought he did good stuff when he first broke out (I even liked what he did with Missy), but now I’ve come to hate him. Just because nowadays everyone wants to work with him that every song ends up sounding just a bit the same.
There’s too much RnB and Hip Hop on the market. Too many crossovers, too many attempts at combining what’s hot with everyone’s personal style. It doesn’t work. Went through the Billboard top singles a couple of days back, heard almost nothing special. Had to turn to MTV UK’s charts. Not that those were extremely great either. Where’s the rock? Coldplay? Viva La Vida’s as pop as it will ever get. Sure there are some bands out there, but really, as a parallel, do they compare with The Offspring, Blink182, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bush, The Cranberries as far as 1999 goes? And that wasn’t exactly the best of all year for music.
I mean, Chris Brown? “I need you boo, I gotta see you boo”? How does that make it to No.1? “i bet there’s hearts all over the world tonight”? I bet that too, please hand me my winnings.

Posted on September 26th, 2008 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: Music