(no subject)
Aug. 30th, 2004 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockWhat's up with the 80s revival in pop music?
I noticed it slowly over the last two or so years. A lot of songs becoming popular that have that THING... that undescribable thing that sounds like 80s music, the way there's a thing that always sounds like country music. But I know these songs are new.
It started with "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. You can also hear it in songs like "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers, or that song by Frans Ferdinand.
I listen to this stuff and I like it, but in the way I like groups from music before my time-- it's fun to listen to but it's not my generation therefor I don't really bond with it in a lasting way. But the messed up thing here is that this new stuff *is* my generation... it's the generation I'm in right now, being twenty years old and in the prime of my listening-to-music-at-high-volumes period.
But it all feels so retro that it ultimately leaves me unsatisfied.
I feel kinda bored as a rock music fan. There's songs and records that I like and that I will buy or download, but there's nothing that I really, truly love.
The world of rock music is failing me so I'm biding my time with pop and emo punk, waiting for something really cool to land.
p.s. what's with all the 70s style hair? Ew. Stop it. Grow it to your shoulders and beyond or cut it above your mouth, guys... I don't like that stage in between. See Hatori's hair in this icon? That's the longest your bangs are aloud to be before you're required to grow your entire head of hair to your shoulders. Either have long hair or don't, none of this pussy-footing around the middle with chin length.
I noticed it slowly over the last two or so years. A lot of songs becoming popular that have that THING... that undescribable thing that sounds like 80s music, the way there's a thing that always sounds like country music. But I know these songs are new.
It started with "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. You can also hear it in songs like "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers, or that song by Frans Ferdinand.
I listen to this stuff and I like it, but in the way I like groups from music before my time-- it's fun to listen to but it's not my generation therefor I don't really bond with it in a lasting way. But the messed up thing here is that this new stuff *is* my generation... it's the generation I'm in right now, being twenty years old and in the prime of my listening-to-music-at-high-volumes period.
But it all feels so retro that it ultimately leaves me unsatisfied.
I feel kinda bored as a rock music fan. There's songs and records that I like and that I will buy or download, but there's nothing that I really, truly love.
The world of rock music is failing me so I'm biding my time with pop and emo punk, waiting for something really cool to land.
p.s. what's with all the 70s style hair? Ew. Stop it. Grow it to your shoulders and beyond or cut it above your mouth, guys... I don't like that stage in between. See Hatori's hair in this icon? That's the longest your bangs are aloud to be before you're required to grow your entire head of hair to your shoulders. Either have long hair or don't, none of this pussy-footing around the middle with chin length.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 11:32 am (UTC)& you also have the homages to the smiths. which is sort of where franz ferdinand come into it. but there's a lot of the clash happening there too.
a lot of it's really good stuff & sounds completely fresh...as opposed to most of the drivel that's been released in the wake of seattle. & then again, some of it's crap.
i grew up in the 80s, which sounded like the 80s...& also sounded a lot like the late 60s (REM & the plimsouls were derivative of big star were derivative of the byrds). the 90s sounded like garage (late 60s/early 70s), progressive rock (late 70s), punk (70s AND 80s...different genres), & metal (late 70s especially). where do you go for something new? ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 11:54 am (UTC)Um... most of that went over my head. ::sheepish::
I don't have anything defined in my head. It's like "there's something about this that sounds like that" and that's the extent of my music vocabulary.
Also I sadly have to say that only band I recognized there is REM.
I loved pretty much everything in rock music from 91-96. Yes... all the "drivel" out of Seattle. That's what I loved. Then the boybands hit and raprock killed the last surviving bits of alternative and then pop-rock music all started to sound the same (like Three Doors Down or Trapt), and emo like Dashboard Confessional entertains me but doesn't make me fall in love, and pop is starting to sound like 80s and I'm feeling seriously like I'm standing in the middle of an empty field kicking the dirt, because as fresh as it sounds it's not what I like or have any interest in hearing.
::kicks more dirt:: I've started to listen to bands like Pink Floyd and Rush that I downloaded from my uncle for lack of anything better. That's not exactly my cup of tea either, but then there is no more Smashing Pumpkins so one has to make do.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 12:18 pm (UTC)& the drivel was really post seattle. soundgarden & mother love bone? both incredibly good bands that i still love dearly. green river, mudhoney, early nirvana? also great bands. but i'm still confused over what the term "alternative" means. what was it an alternative to? ;)
boy bands have always been around. i grew up in the era of menudo, new edition, bel biv devoe, new kids on the block, color me badd, etc. & let's not forget debarge & the jets.
the rap-metal crossover? now there's something i really don't understand.
want more pumpkins? (i've had siamese dream in my car all week.) check out medicine (especially her highness). yet another band that broke up a million years ago. & just like the pumpkins, they draw from pink floyd & rush. ;) also check out swervedriver...if you can find anything. medicine & swervedriver opened for the pumpkins on the siamese dream tour.
you should also check out big star. they were an american band from the early 70s. alex chilton & chris bell are up there with nick drake, tim buckley, & jeff buckley in terms of songwriting & should-be-heardedness. (& wow, 4 dead guys in one sentence!)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 12:42 pm (UTC)Well, I do remember New Kids on the Block from, like, my friends 1st grade birthday party. But I meant the revival that happened with Backstreet Boys, NSync, 98*, etc, from around 95 to 2002.
but i'm still confused over what the term "alternative" means.
It gets thrown around a lot--- like I've seen Sarah Mclachlan listed as "alternative" in cd stores. I'm all "what the fuck?"
When I talk about alternative I mean grunge bands, mostly, and I guess maybe the punkish bands on the raido at the same time (like The Offspring). But mostly grunge bands. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, Alice In Chains... and bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'd even extend the label to slightly-later bands like Garbage and Third Eye Blind. But that's pretty much where I stop.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 02:09 pm (UTC)AMEN. Glad I'm not the only girl who feels this way.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 03:10 pm (UTC)