# Is popular music getting even wierder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061 "2005-08-29T03:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Watcher\_of\_the\_Skies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Watcher\_of\_the\_Skies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watcher_of_the_Skies)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/21 "2005-08-30T03:42:49Z")
When Bjork hits the top ten, then we can talk about weird. Most of the idol pop & hip hop that fills the current charts makes me feel like I’ve jumped back a generation (“you call that music?”). Nothing against Gwen Stefani but I can not believe that one artist could be responsible for two of the most annoying songs ever, “Rich Girl” and “Hollabeck Girl.” On the same album no less. Yikes, maybe the top ten really is getting weird. Recent Dylan and even recent Tom Waits releases have fallen into the realm of weird too. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/22 "2005-08-30T03:54:56Z")
> [@Watcher of the Skies](#): > > Recent Dylan and even recent Tom Waits releases have fallen into the realm of weird too. You know what they say- “when the going gets weird…” Artists like Dylan being weird doesn’t surprise me. A lot of popular artists try to get consciously weirder to avoid being predictable. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/23 "2005-08-30T04:04:42Z")
I don’t consider hip-hop to be pop music. It may be _popular_, but I don’t think it’s pop. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/24 "2005-08-30T04:29:53Z")
> [@Watcher of the Skies](#): > > When Bjork hits the top ten…[/SIZE] Well, her album _Medulla_ came close, hitting number 14 on the Billboard 200. (_Verspertine_ also cleared the Top 20, peaking at 19). None of her singles cleared the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but several have topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and made the Top 5 of the Modern Rock tracks. Source: [Allmusic.com](http://Allmusic.com) ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/25 "2005-08-30T10:38:21Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > I don’t consider hip-hop to be pop music. It may be _popular_, but I don’t think it’s pop. Hell, it isn’t even music either . . . Ducks&Runs . . . . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/26 "2005-08-30T12:51:58Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Then droids in “hip” suits did the “after the show” schtick What is a “droid” and what is a “hip suit”? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/27 "2005-08-30T13:01:49Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > I don’t consider hip-hop to be pop music. It may be _popular_, but I don’t think it’s pop. Pop music straddles all music genres and most certainly can be applied to hip hop and R&B acts. Let’s pick an obvious popular rap act: MC Hammer. There’s no way I can think about a song like “U Can’t Touch This” and not consider it pop. It was popular, hooky, and structured like a typical pop song. It’s pop. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/28 "2005-08-30T13:04:26Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > I don’t consider hip-hop to be pop music. It may be _popular_, but I don’t think it’s pop. You’d be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061/29 "2005-08-30T13:39:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I dunno. To me, it seems like there’s a lot more interesting pop music out there than their ever was. I can actually listen to Top 40 stations these days and not turn off the station in disgust. When you have production teams like Timbaland, The Neptunes, N.E.R.D., etc… turning out fantastic sounding hit single after single, really exploring groove and sound textures and, man, that _bass_, it’s hard not to get excited. I mean, check out something like Kelis’s _Milkshake_. Yeah, overplayed to hell and all that, but it’s fantastic tune. Just the sounds in that song alone give me shivers. It’s nothing short of an incredible pop tune, and it’s got an originality and execution I really haven’t heard in, well, ever. > > I mean, I’m not terribly wild about most Top 40 music in general, but I concur with the OP that there seems to be much more quality and innovation these days than there ever was. I agree, as usual, with you, **puly** - with one exception: for Milkshake (which I love, too), I hear the white-noise generator-synthy sound of…Cars by Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army. Listen - I bet you’ll hear it, too. Applied in a different way, but definitely a similar sound. I think the breakdown of normal “singles - album - radio” distribution and the ambiguous situation regarding what the New Way to Get Music over the Internet is going to be has put us where we are at. iTunes? Napster? Rhapsody? Combined with easy DIY ways to mix music and the rules have all been broken - anyone can write anything, and make it available to everyone. We seem to be feasting on an infinite variety and are trying all things. It is could, but unsettling and can lead to a ton of crap out there. I love the fact that there is so much variety - giving people more control is leading to them voting with their downloads, so songs no one would have taken a chance on are getting popular and producers are taking more risks. Also, as listeners trust producers, the producers stretch out and the listeners follow. Part of me misses the constraints of rules - I love a well-written, 3-minute rock song (and many pop songs, too) - having those limitations forces innovation. The real question is: as the new music landscape evolves, what limitations will surface that will: a) lead to listeners to group around a smaller handful of music sources - either due to listener trust of the source or the power of big business to control distribution channels; and b) how will those limitations influence the creativity of the artists and what new music forms will results. This is an interesting time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-popular-music-getting-even-wierder/319061.md?page=1)