It seems like every year there are one or two songs I hear at the malls whilst farting about that I end up liking just because they are goofy fun, even if it is in a bit of a sorrowful way. What's that song that folks are up to this year? Gundam Style? Good shit. I remember the year Britney Spears did Toxic. I really liked that song a lot, but was so horribly ashamed - the Catholic in me. Now I can admit it and it's considered irony, but dammit Toxic rocked hard when it came out, and it still fucking incinerates. Fireball Ministry should fucking cover it.

I guess slayer is moderately popular same with megadeth but popular music is very common to suck unless theres a few exceptions too such as The doors and Creedence clear water revival but those bands arent cared about by the music listeners to day, so to say if popular music was good or not is hard to answer.

But you still hear CCR quite a bit in advertisements and things. The thing that I find interesting is that their whole career spanned just 3 or 4 years, and they made some great music.

I agree that CCR is pretty damn awesome, but I absolutely despise The Doors. Along with Pink Floyd, they're what I would consider to be aggressively boring, as they do everything in their power to be as boring as possible.

*comprehension limit reached; mind exploded*

The Doors and Pink Floyd actively boring? LA Woman and Meddle are the two best albums released in 1971, for my money.

Yes, it was, and yes it is now. You're just not listening to it right.

If early Floyd and Doors is boring all rock is boring.

Elaborate.

Pretty much, yeah.

Not like the new Nightwish album...that's genuinely exciting stuff there....

Real good albums, but there's a whole lot of killer albums from that year, many better than those two:

Zeppelin IV
Who's Next
Master Of Reality
Nursery Cryme
Salisbury
Aqualung
First Utterance
Tago Mago
Songs Of Love And Hate
Fragile
Sticky Fingers
Maggot Brain

Lot's more too. Damn, what an incredible year for music (friggin' Tarkus too!).

Far more exciting than the loathsome, pretentious, droning filth that is Pink Floyd and the crippling tedium that is The Doors.

Dude, I doubt even Nightwish themselves would agree with that sentiment. Opinions are opinions but to say that all rock is boring is a pretty silly one, on a metal forum anyway...

The Doors is not kawaii enough for you. You don't deserve good music, go cuddle your Tarja body pillow!

Interesting how you guys are unwilling to poke fun at Ayu and Black Sabbath, considering they've got more plays in my Last.fm...

If LA Woman is your idea of crippling tedium, what is your idea of invigorating excitement?

Sunn O))). By comparison, of course.

You're a funny guy.

You aren't the only that doesn't like Pink Floyd.

Their name was inspired by the book The Doors of Perception by Alduous Huxley, I believe. I think it is the perfect name for them when you consider the themes of that book and Jimbo's poetry.

Because Black Sabbath is great and an Ayu body pillow makes sense.

That's Bloodshy & Avant. They're responsible for about the only listenable radio-pop at the moment. Not saying everything they touch turns to gold... but most of it.

Yeah it's pretty easy to tell that The Doors' name is something a little bit deeper and more metaphorical than just a bunch of pine 760mm right-hung, pre-primed slats dude. Having said that, I respect the band myself. Though not a fan, i find them to be one of the more memorable bands from the time. A lot of the bands were floundering around with amateurish sounding psychadelia or blues rock, and their music had a standout quality. Although i think they're overrated, and get too much credit, and you kinda get bombarded with their music while you're a kid on the radio etc, I don't think they're worthy of contempt - just a little bit "Hey buddy, we get it, they're a big, important band, but that doesn't mean I need to listen to them, we've all heard the Doors plenty enough..." You can kinda lump Pink Floyd in the same camp really. I mean, yeah we get the point. Pretty sure I heard enough Pink Floyd while a kid/teenager, i don't really need to hear em anymore.

^ I see where you are coming from. For me, I didn't hear the Doors growing up a lot. So when I discovered them it was a big wtf everything is changinggggg moment. And then that nice shiny coat of nostalgic wax was placed on some of their albums for me, and I get all fuzzy and start purring and asking for delicately cut meat when their music starts playing.

At least it's a tasteful song though, and I think that's the difference. It's not that shitty pop didn't exist back in the day, but at least shitty pop was tasteful, so it wasn't as irritating and eye brow raising, just kinda dumb and sugar coated, like this .

Meanwhile today, the shitty pop is aggressively shameful and idiotic, attempting to use every trick in the book to try and make sure people just don't change the radio station while that song is playing (I mean, as long as it isn't bad enough that you change the station, it worked right?). The attention whoring is so bad at this point that anyone who isn't as impressionable as a toddler (such as myself, and most non-pop music fans) feel like they're being patronized by the shear audacity of the music's attempt.
I mean, it more less speaks for it self in terms of quality and effort: It uses some dumb, skanky, skanky ass super model as a mascot (not an actual artist) for it's true parents: a team of corporate execs and their army of producers (usually 2-6 per song), drooling for money, and who think I'll purchase their half assed piece of shit song cos it has a nice pair of plastic tits (or if it's a guy, some comical or foreign gimmick) and sings about wanting to be a whore, and just generally acting in the general date-rapist attracting, club trash shit that uses the same LOUD (SYNTHNY) NOISES and BA-BA-ASsssS formula of today to get my attention, cos that's what people like, right! Fuck that assembly line bull shit.

That being said, there is still tasteful pop (Adele, Alicia Keys, Cee Lo Green), it's just we live in a time where taking musical risks is a big no no, swamping us with the sweaty, cum-drenched crap mentioned in the above paragraph, which is why I was so fucking glad Adele made it huge.
Despite having a single producer on each song, most of 21 is mostly craftfull, tastefull music with actual human substance behind it (despite the constant atmosphere of "it's a rainy day, let me hang by the window and lament on past relationships", but it's still actually wholesome art with actual real music *strings ftw!*) and from that she was the most successful pop artist of the past year or two, leaving the Minaj/Ke$ha/Rihanna/Perry floozies in the dust. Sure, now the music industry will probably just try to clone Adele, and I'll get sick of that formula, but god I'd rather have that than the mindless idiocy of the rest.

Honestly if you can't get into any top 40 dance/pop/club rap like Kesha, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, etc etc... then I honestly don't have much hope for you being a fun, chill person. If you don't like it and don't listen to it than whatever, that's okay. But if a Lady Gaga/1 Direction song comes on the radio and your immediate reaction is "oww this catchy and well-produced pop sensation burns my ears, turn that garbage off and play some Origin instead" you are the definition of a lame.

However, one gripe I do have with the radio is that most stations seem to play the same 5-7 songs over and over again. Usually they're all great songs, but after an hour or so of the radio it gets pretty lame. Surely there's more than those few catchy jamz which are popular at any given moment?

This is silly. What does liking insipid technopop garbage have to do with being a chill person? There is nothing appealing to me about the three artists you just mentioned. It just doesn't sound good is all. I do like some modernish pop - see above for my thoughts on Toxic by Britney Spears. But most everything I've heard of today's pop scene is just mindbogglingly atrocious.

And just because something is catchy does not make it pleasing. And I'd also argue the well-produced point. Pop production these days is way too sterile and lifeless to be called 'good'.

I agree with ExodusAttack. Maybe I wouldn't go so far as to say you can't be a chill person if you dislike that stuff, and like he said, it's not like you have to actively listen and enjoy those kinds of artists. But the whole 16 year old br00tal metalhead stereotype of "aggghhhh, turn off that crap and play some Immolation; they are the true artists!" is just ridiculous too. I don't really listen to any modern pop, don't even know a thing about most of it, but if I hear it in social situations like at parties or clubs, I damn well won't be a pissant about it and complain. Most people do like that stuff and frankly, just learning to accept that and move on is part of socializing better.

Popular music has always been good. But that doesn't mean most music featured on the radio (since the very beginning) isn't insipid crap.

Not sure why anyone has difficulty with the concept of separating "pop music" from "music suited for radio", or can determine one's ability "to be chill" (fuck does that even mean?) based on taste in music. Not sure what's so "chill" about current popular music, either... it's pretty much loud and high-energy "dancing"/club music by design... there's also nothing inherently "cool", "working class" or "bohemian" about it.

Thread's ridiculous.

Tarja body pillow?


No, that's Beck.

Beck is weird. But Mellow Gold is pretty cool.

Also, on the topic of good pop groups, Starfucker are lovely. I adore them and their various lo-fi and synth sounds. Excited for their new album this February; the two songs they released from it are both a fresh new direction (glad they aren't stagnating) and a great meshing of their old sounds with said new direction. Also interested to see if there are any more instances of Hodges' new vocal style that gets shown off at the end of "Leave It All Behind".

Neil Young. End of story.

They're not a bad band, but man, are they in dire need of better videos.

Pretty much the exact point I'm trying to make. It's not necessarily the listening of pop music that makes you chill, but the fact that you can be down with it on occasion and not act like some special snowflake who's above listening to what the general population listens to. Parties and clubs are where you'll usually hear this music: are YOU chill enough to go to these places and not make everyone hate you with your unsolicited negative opinions??

I'm gonna link some songs I've been really digging recently so you guys can understand where I'm coming from. Please understand I am being completely 100% serious when I say I love and listen to this stuff on the regular. I wouldn't go through so much effort just to troll. Maybe you guys will find something you like!

Kesha - Honestly this is pretty much the definition of a perfect song to me. Great production with a catchy beat, vocals are spot on with a perfect chorus. Let's call it electropop. When EDM artists write pop songs = heaven

Motherfuckin T Swift, bitch! Wouldn't hesitate at all to call Taylor Swift one of the greatest musicians/singer-songwriters of our generation. Countrypop as a whole has a lot of potential; The Civil Wars pulled a huge crowd at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this year.

Mainstream hip hop rules, no question asked. ASAP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Kreayshawn, Tyga, etc. I'm not saying you have to throw out your Tribe Called Quest vinyls, but it's good to keep up with what's current so you can get into it when other people play it (which they will). Club rap tends to have some immaculate beats as well. Note that the amount of 2 Chainz a song features is directly proportional to how awesome/popular the song is.

The Story So Far - Let's be honest: most OG punk/hardcore is garbage. Everytime I see someone my age (young adult) jocking Dead Kennedys and GG Allin it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. However, pop punk is a different story: give a punk band some decent production, some catchy melodies, teach them how to actually play their instruments and have them sing about something fun for once, and you get something truly beautiful!

On a related note, easycore bands like Chunk! No Captain Chunk and A Day to Remember prove that a pop punk band can simultaneously be catchy and fucking brutal; a combination which eludes many metal bands.

On a slightly tenously related note, there's a lot of great modern power pop/WarpedTourcore out there like Forever the Sickest Kids, Boys Like Girls, idk maybe Cash Cash? Obviously this stuff is scene/Myspace as fuck and marketed towards 14 year old girls, but that doesn't make it any less infectiously catchy! These types of songs have too many perfect choruses to count.

Honestly, hearing extreme metal being played at a social gathering makes me cringe. I mean, I love death metal as much as anybody but playing death metal at a party filled with people who don't listen to death metal can completely ruin the atmosphere and make things a little awkward.

Edit
Think of it like this. It's like when a nerdy weeaboo walks up to you and your friends and doesn't shut the fuck up about Naruto and Hatsune Miku.

I think that a lot of the "older music was better" sentiment comes from our tendency to forget terrible or generic music as the years go by. There was awful and great pop music in the 1950's, and there is awful and great pop music today.

Good pop music today? Look at Foster the People, Fun, Florence and the Machine, etc. I personally don't know of many bad bands from the '50s, but they've got to exist.

Popular music reached its peak in the 1960s. That's where heavy metal was birthed.



Yeah, I really don't like the social aspect of metal. I hate going to gigs because they usually are just a social gathering with little to no focus on appreciating the music. I've no interest in sliding around with a bunch of sweaty idiots in a mosh pit either.

Wow Metalheads being elitist. No surprise here. There are plenty of modern talented artists who are popular, even outside of the talented singers (Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Melody Gardot, Susan Boyle, Adele etc.)
All these talented musicans have a atleast 200,000+ listeners on last.fm and formed in the 90s/2000s: Emilie Autumn, Josh Rouse, The Roots, Lights, Owl City, Deftones, Arcade Fire, Muse, HIM, Katatonia, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me.

Of course we have to define talented. If you which to call me out on any of those artists then go right ahead. Originality in itself is talent and all those artists are original and unique (well maybe Lights is a female version of Owl City who himself sounds similar to Postal Service.) But they are still great songwriters and Owl City adds his own creativity into the music with cellos and violins, and Lights is more glitchy on Siberia. Adam can also sing very well, up to at least A flat. Emilie Autumn is a fantastic original composer, with skillful trills on her Violin. The Roots are "jazzy hip-hop." You mean not all Hip-Hop uses a 24 bar verse/hook, emphasizes the 2nd beat and raps about bitches, wiggers and hoes? I would have never guessed it. I could go on, but like I said... call me out on it.

And for those who don't believe originality is a talent: http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120726/ ... p00521.pdf
It's a scientific experiment showing that the diversity of chords and melodies has declined over the years (and not just in popular music, Electronic and Rock but Metal as well.)

Lol, seriously? I was tempted to tell you to go fuck yourself but I figure you probably don't even know you're being insulting so I'm gonna try to figure out what you're trying to say here.



They're playing the same songs over and over again because the target audience is uncultivated dweebs. Familiarity is very important for such people in all things. They react to new music the same way they react to that charming little restaurant with an actual chef. "Why don't we go to Taco Bell instead"?

I'm starting to get a better idea of your thinking in your second post:



I'm glad if you enjoy that music but I personally think most of it is utter shit and find it spectacularly hilarious that you would call Taylor Swift "one of the greatest musicians/singer-songwriters" of her generation. But whatever. I know a lot of people who love this stuff and are great.

What I couldn't help but notice is that it looks like you have a great urge to fit in. And I personally don't mind, but some of the things you say make it seem like you think it's the only way. I quote "it's good to keep up with what's current so you can get into it when other people play it (which they will)".

It's like you don't know the difference between socializing and blending in. The former is important. The ability to interact with folks will enrich your life. But you don't have to be into that shitty music to be "chill or fun".

Also, it's not like you have to either:

A) Be into mind-numbing beats and bubblegum punk and be "chill"

or

B) Be some kind of sociopath who insists on cranking Carcass as loud as they can at every turn

I don't have to pretend I like shit music just because other people do. And it doesn't mean I poop on everyone else party. And I think there's tons of music appropriate for every other occasions that a lot of people seem to neglect. I've certainly never had any problems filling my place with great people (many who aren't metalheads) despite not playing that kind of crappy "chill" music.