I've actually reviewed the awards show in the past; I checked my Facebook memories and even as recent;y as 2016, I covered the show, even saying that it was an enjoyable program.
Three years? It actually feels like thirty, to be honest.
And also to be honest, it's not just the Grammys, but all award shows seem to fit this mold lately. It's hard for me to sit there and watch those who had entertained us pat themselves on the back, while trying to preach their own beliefs on us--political or otherwise, giving us a history lesson that we learned a long time ago. Still, it was a platform for, if you were into one kind of music, to see what was going on in other genres. If you liked what you heard, perhaps you can dabble into it. Three years ago I did just that, adding artists like Justin Timberlake, The Weeknd, and Zac Brown Band to my playlist to go along with my alternative rock base.
As I said, I didn't watch this year's show, but it seemed that it was pretty much as exciting as the music which is considered "popular" these days: what I've called "sparse" pop....more rapped than sung, no percussion, no melody and all sounding the same.
I'm not going to dissect the awards show as I didn't see it, only mentioning that Brandi Carlile put on a great performance and that the Red Hot Chili Peppers made an appearance. No Revivalists, Mumford & Sons, Leon Bridges, Caroline Rose....heck not even Panic! at the Disco or Marshmello and Bastille. Yeah, exactly.
Anyway, right around the same time, I read an article about how millennials--presumably the generation who has bought into this sparse pop movement---feel about that music as compared to that of the 1960's through the 1990's. The results might surprise you.
Seems that, according to a study, their recognition of songs from the sixties through the nineties was constant, while popular music made from 2000 through 2015, though initially making more of an impact, diminished rapidly over time.
In other words, it's pretty disposable.
The researchers noted that the songs that were popular in the latter decades of the twentieth century were more diverse in nature, and therefore more recognizable.
And all this time, I figured I was just getting old.
You can read the article here: Millennials Still Recognize Songs from Golden Age
Last summer, to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100, Sirius XM Channel 4 played all of the number one songs from August 1958 "Poor Little Fool", to August 2018, "In My Feelings". Needless to say, with a few exceptions, much of the number one's this decade, especially the ones in 2018, sound all the same. Same instrumentation (or lack of it), same auto-tune, same melody (or lack of it). Yet, while some more worthy trends in music come and go in a span of a few years, this one has been at it for over twenty. Yet, as apparently the "reviews" of the Grammy's and music publications and websites point out, this is "talent".
It is, in a sense a comfort to know that the recognition factor fades with college students with the new music. The funny thing about this is, back in the early 1960's, artists actually made music, thinking that it would be "disposable"---popular for a couple months, then replaced by the follow-up hit on the radio. Nobody in the industry expected this kind of music to still be played, much less, remembered fifth years or so later.
Of course, by the latter half of the sixties and throughout the seventies, music became a memorable art form with works like Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper, Dark Side of the Moon and other gems. It's probably no accident that when you walk into, say, a supermarket, the music you hear is mostly from the 1960's and 70's, and never anything current. Back then, music had texture, accentuated rhythm, diverse artistry, and of course, melody that has forever etched our mind. I'm not really sure what happened?
While the tendency is to blame hip-hop, which pretty much has dominated popular music for decades now, that genre wasn't always banal in the past. The groundbreaking artists like Grandmaster Flash and Run-DMC, to the "fun rap" of the 1980's as well as the "gangsta rap" of the nineties were as culturally significant as rock music was in the 1950's and 1960's. And although my forte is alternative, which, for the most part does have that varied melody and instrumentation, it in itself really hasn't evolved in the past 25 years either, except for the brief trends such as neo-swing, ska revival, nu-metal, emo and more recently indie folk. Is it possible that creativity has just run out of ideas? One can just look to the movies, loaded with sequels, remakes, reboots to get a picture as to what's out there.
If you are a longtime reader of this blog, you'll know that there is still really great music being made, although in most cases, it's not really getting notices, at least on the charts. While one song may crossover into pop (such as the current "High Hopes"), often the follow-up misses the Hot 100 completely. But, will millennials stop buying (whether that means "downloading" or "streaming" the same-old-same-old) and start taking notice of the "underground", knowing that "their music" lacks staying power that music in past generations has seemed to endure? While every few years we'll get a "Rolling in the Deep", "Perfect", or yes, even "Uptown Funk" at the top of the pops, will there be months of "filler" in between? My gut feeling is, unfortunately no. But that's why I have my blog and a library of eight thousand songs over my lifetime.
I doubt that this finding will alter the course of pop music, unfortunately, and I also find it depressing that creative acts that brought a lot to the table have "diluted" their music just to get mainstream acceptance. That to me is the tail wagging the dog. Scroll down below for an artist that made her mark on the Grammys and up until now really had nothing to show for it.
To underscore that familiarity factor, I work the Night Audit shift at a local hotel, which has music piped in from the 1980's thru the 2000's. Most of the eighties music were genuine "hits", some of the nineties as well. With an exception of stuff like "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt, much of the music played barely hit the chart. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John is a perfect example. The song is oft-heard. It's peak chart position? 110.
TO THE BLOGLIST: It's good news and bad news for The Revivalists. On the positive side, "You and I" spends a third week at the top, once again holding off "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco which stays at #2 (and moves back up a notch on the Billboard Hot 100, at #7). Incidentally, the other "alternative crossover", Marshmello and Bastille's "Happier", makes a big jump from #8 to #2 on the Billboard big chart but drops from 7 to 10 here.
The bad news for the New Orleans band? The follow-up to "You and I", "Change" moves up just a notch to #3, losing out on a chance to be only the fourth song in the blog era to reach the top in three weeks, while also failing have the top two songs on the list. The song, which moves from 4 to 2 on Billboard's Triple-A chart, of course is still making gains, and with the songs behind it a good substantial amount of points back, still has a chance to accomplish that feat next week. Meanwhile, "All My Friends" moves back up a notch to #18, giving the band, once again, three songs in the SNS top 20.
Some other big movers in the top ten include Elle King's "Baby Outlaw", and Tennis' "I Miss That Feelin'", not to mention the Top 20 Impact winner this week, The Cranberries' "All Over Now" (24 to 8). However, the rest of the top 20 is very stagnant, with no other new entries, and songs either inching up, staying steady or slightly downward despite all losing points. You have to go to Bebe Rexta's "I'm a Mess" (29-22) for the next bulleting song. Rexta, a mainstream pop singer actually has a good song here; but not surprisingly, it only peaked at #35 on the Hot 100. (C'mon millennials!). San Cisco takes the Mover of the Week honors with "When I Dream". Another mover of note is Lauren Daigle's "You Say", which my friend Denise Catania posted last week. The song, which sounds so much like Adele, moves 65-47 this week.
There are seven new entries on the list this week, half pop, half alternative. While The Kooks have a cool follow-up to "Four Leaf Clover", the melodic pop-sounding "Chicken Bone", proving that the band is indeed 'back' (#51) with the Top Debut, the brand new record comes from Cage the Elephant, "Ready to Let Go", from their forthcoming fifth album, Social Cues. CTE is an interesting band that has been around since 2008 and has been one of my favorite bands in the blog era (and a little before). Their style varies frequently from up-tempo soulful pop to all out rock. They've been successful here with two #1 songs and a few more top 10's. Opening up with a "One More Night" (Michael Kiwanunka) tempo beat with a rock flair, the song is pretty much a mish-mash of CTE's various styles thrown into one song. It works, and should be a bit hit in Alternative circles for the Kentucky band. They will be on tour with Beck this summer. By the way, congrats to Beck for his Grammy for Alternative album of the year.
Kungs, an artist I plucked out last year from a 2016 album who hit the top of my list with "This Girl", comes out with another SNS pick "You Remain", which features Ritual. It is a slower tempo than the former song but is still melodic yet haunting. A third SNS top 20 should be just around the corner.
Brandi Carlile, who from what I had heard, provided a very awesome performance at the Grammys, also enters the list with the song she performed "The Joke". She has been around for quite awhile, but perhaps this is an artist I've either taken for granted or just overlooked. She's been on my list twice before. "The Eye" peaked here at #37 in 2015, but "That Wasn't Me" Tremored out at #101 in 2013 when the chart was very competitive. But "The Joke" is a heartfelt piano-and-vocal ballad is about people who are struggling to fit-in with today's society. The song builds as it nears its end, packed with emotion. The song was nominated for a Grammy "Record of the Year" and the songwriters' "Song of the Year". It lost to "This is America" by Childish Gambino (thus proving my point in the first few paragraphs in this blog). The song, naturally didn't hit the Hot 100 at all, but peaked at #4 on the Triple-A chart. In fact, Carlile has been at it in since 2005 but her only Hot 100 apparently was "The Story" in 2007. Once again, people, get with the program and support this song and artist. Hopefully her Grammy performance (and subsequent appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show) will put this one on the charts and show what real music is like.
Also new this week to the SNS 100 is Walk The Moon's "Timebomb", similar to their "Shut Up and Dance" hit, Avril Lavigne, the former teen singer who went from singing grown-up songs that turned into an adult singing sugary pop songs, grows back up (a little anyway), with "Head Above Water", and Kelly Clarkson's amazingly disappointing (and headache creating, but it's Kelly, right?) "Heat". Not one of her best, I'm afraid.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
February 10, 2019
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 |
NUMBER ONE:
Album: Take Good Care
(3 weeks at #1)
|
9 |
| 2 | 2 | Panic at the Disco - High Hopes | 16 |
| 3 | 4 | The Revivalists - Change | 3 |
| 4 | 9 | Elle King - Baby Outlaw | 4 |
| 5 | 11 | Tennis- I Miss That Feelin' | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | Kitten - Pink Champagne | 12 |
| 7 | 5 | Foster the People - Worst Nights | 6 |
| 8 | 24 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
Album: In the End
|
3 |
| 9 | 10 | Trapdoor Social - Hold Me Down | 13 |
| 10 | 7 | Marshmello & Bastille - Happier | 13 |
| 11 | 8 | Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness - Ohio | 10 |
| 12 | 6 | Sharon Van Etten - Comeback Kid | 11 |
| 13 | 13 | Molly Burch- Torn To Pieces | 15 |
| 14 | 18 | Dennis Lloyd - Nevermind | 14 |
| 15 | 12 | Mumford and Sons - Guiding Light | 14 |
| 16 | 14 | Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats f. Lucius - Coolin' Out | 13 |
| 17 | 17 | Kurt Vile - Loading Zones | 16 |
| 18 | 19 | The Revivalists - All My Friends• | 18 |
| 19 | 22 | KT Tunstall - The River | 8 |
| 20 | 20 | Jade Bird - Uh Huh | 11 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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