I suspect that access to free, easily transportable and copiable music means that there is no need to have a ‘favourite’ genre. I could only afford one album a month or so back in the early eighties, so I went for a certain type of rock, since I knew I’d like it. Now - why limit it?
Also, I have a feeling that popular music no longer fulfills the same role in shocking people as it supposedly used to do (although what reading I’ve done on this suggests that pop music has never been that shocking to many people ever…) I think kids now scare the crap out of their parents with computer games and the internet in general. Spending 12 hours browsing God knows what is a hell of a lot more worrying to parents than listening to Necrobastard and the Sauteed Nipples.
What’s interesting about some of the biggest names in pop from about 1925 to 1955 is that they started out with much more interesting music (at least IMO), which then became bland and sappy so more people with no particular interest in music would buy the records. Bing Crosby started out as a genuine jazz singer, in much the same way that Nat King Cole started out by recording hip vocal arrangements like “Straighten Up And Fly Right” and “Route 66”, but soon changed to more commercial material like “Mona Lisa” and “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire"), with plenty of lush strings and soft brass–not to mention “peppy pop” songs like “Lazy Hazy Days of Summer”. God, I know about this stuff. Shoot me now. Benny Goodman, at the beginning of his success, was dishing out some hot jazz as well but went commercial as well. Sometimes thinking about how little tolerance the market had for anything that was really interesting and truly good must have been enough to make grown men cry. It’s not so bad now because everyone accepts the fact that we don’t all want to hear the same kind of music.
(Before I press “Save” I have to acknowledge that Sinatra was a standout exception; he seems to have started out with the typical 1930s “warbling style” of vocals, and then evolved a tougher and more interesting sound. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Sinatra may have been the most important vocalist of the 20th century with respect to his impact on popular music. )
Yeah, same here. My iTunes includes stuff like the Ronettes, the Crystals, Dusty Springfield, Smokey Robinson, Frankie Lymon, as well as the Smiths, Depeche Mode, the Cure, and…umm…Britney Spears. And, indeed, the “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” song.
