I stopped following the Top 40 around 15 years ago. I’ve noticed my Yahoo! homepage refers to certain artists and bands, and sometimes I’ve heard of the name, but I have no idea what his/her/their music sounds like. The other day I picked up a cast-aside USA Today at lunch and saw the listings for the Top 10 songs, and realized I recognized only one name (Usher). Whether Usher is a guy or a band, I haven’t a clue. So here are the names from the Billboard Top 20 Singles chart (how many can you recognize?):
Hoobastank
Usher
JoJo
Nina Sky featuring Jabba
Kevin Lyttle featuring Spragga Benz
Usher (again)
Britney Spears (Okay, I know who she is.)
Christina Milian
Maroon5
Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim
Switchfoot
Petey Pablo (sounds like a restaurant)
Usher (again) featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
Los Lonely Boys
Beyonce (Knowles? She was in the third Austin Powers movie)
Alicia Keys (I’ve heard this name somewhere)
Mario Winans featuring Enya & P. Diddy (Okay, I know those last two.)
Ashlee Simpson (Is she the next Britney? I’ve heard this name too.)
D12 (You sank my battleship!)
OutKast
FYI: I mostly listen to movie soundtracks nowadays, and the only band I really listen to is Great Big Sea.
Darn you kids, with your crazy rock and roll music! Stop making me feel old and out of touch!
The real sign you’re old is when you don’t listen to the music AND you say it’s crap. So it’s good you haven’t reached that point yet.
For the record:
Ashlee Simpson is Jessica Simpson’s sister.
D12 is Eminem plus some other guys.
OutKast you should’ve heard of. “Hey Ya”?
Most of the Top 40 artists are future one-hit wonders. This is true at almost any point in the past or present. So it’s OK if you don’t recognize their names; most of the people listening don’t really know the names either.
I recognize the above, and could sing songs by, lessee, Hoobastank (“I’m not a perrrfect perrrrrson…”), Maroon5 (“this love is taking its toll on me, she said goodbye so many times before…”), Los Lonely Boys (something about heaven), and OutKast (if OutKast is the group that did “The Whole World” which I think is right).
I had a post all ready but Something Happened (not the hamsters. It never even got that far).
Short version: I’m nineteen and this list is the first I’ve heard of many of these people. Britney, Usher and Beyonce are the only people I know of. Hoobastank and OutKast I’ve come across only in the context of ‘bands I like’, so I had no idea how obscure/ mainstream they are. D12 is the only group I can put a song to (I know Eminem’s voice, and the song is supremely annoying).
Enya and P. Diddy? The heck?
For those of you who are interested, my musical tastes are centred firmly on prog metal, with early Dream Theater stuck even more firmly in the centre of that.
The large majority of those folks, I have no idea who they are or what any of there songs are. I listen almost exclusively to NPR and classical music. Dagnabbit!!
I’m 16, and I’ve heard most of those songs, and you know what? They ARE crap. Seriously, I find most of today’s cookie-cutter career artists laughable.
Know all of them, can sing at least a piece of the song that’s currently on the charts. I’m 44, but I watch a scandalous amount of VH1, MTV Hits (on digital cable) and occasionally listen to Top 40 on XM when I have to be in the car early in the mornings. (I need something to pep me up.)
Outkast did do “The Whole World” and “Hey Ya” and “Miss Jackson” and a host of others. Their songs are darned catchy. The D12 song is funny but Eminem is the most annoying thing on the planet. The Mario Winans (whose family is reknowned for gospel) track with Enya and P. Diddy is a P. Diddy production, which means that he has stuck his fat face into things with an out of place rap break, and the Eyna comes in because she’s whose music Diddy has ripped off this time around for some lesser talent (sorry, Mario, but that’s you) to whine over.
Alicia Keys and Beyonce actually deserve notice, of that list they’re the ones with talent. Also Maroon 5, but I’ve mentioned on the boards before that I really like them. I’d add Usher to that list, but the remix of his latest single promotes violence against pregnant women so as far as I’m concerned, Usher can go to hell.
Hoobastank (I have their first cd. Don’t like the softer stuff on the new CD. “The reason.” Belch)
Usher (does “you make me wanna” get stuck in anyone’s head?)
Britney Spears
Maroon5 (this love makes it harder to breath)
Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim (well, 50-50. I don’t know Soulja Slim)
Switchfoot (we were meant to live, you know)
Los Lonely Boys (thanks to a really annoying commerical)
Beyonce
Alicia Keys
Mario Winans featuring Enya & P. Diddy (2/3rds. Who’s Mario?)
D12
OutKast People I’ve heard of
Ashlee Simpson
JoJo
Petey Pablo (Isn’t this a character in a Pixies song?)
Huh?
Nina Sky featuring Jabba
Kevin Lyttle featuring Spragga Benz
Christina Milian
No clue about the following:
Hoobastank (Seriously? Hoobastank? WTF?)
JoJo
Nina Sky
Jabba
Kevin Lyttle
Spragga Benz
Christina Milian
Maroon5
Switchfoot
Petey Pablo
Los Lonely Boys
Alicia Keys
Mario Winans
Ashlee Simpson
D12
Soulja Slim
Great Big Sea
Vaguely heard of:
Usher
Juvenile
Lil Jon
Ludacris
Beyonce Knowles (whose name always makes me think of Harry Knowles. Which considerably reduce the impact of her sexiness, let me tell you)
OutKast
Heard enough to know I don’t like them:
P. Diddy
Britney Spears
Heard enough to know that I do like them:
Eminem (never heard of D12, though)
Actually own an album by:
Enya (although I don’t much like them, either)
My list of those I recognize would be pretty close to the one in th OP. That’s probably because I gave up on pop radio about 1975. Now I listen to just about everything else.
