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Mainstream Music Is Improving

Rest

Showstealer Pro: Trial Version
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12
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I find myself tuning in to radio more these days. I don't know why; maybe it's the quality of the songs being aired today, or maybe I'm warming up to radio. Regardless, they sound great, and the set of songs are, at least, starting to stray away from the usual pop-and-dubstep/electronic as well as country, and exploring in hip-hop, indie folk and rock, and R&B, as well as arena sounds. It sounds less derivative (relatively speaking, though), and I think it's starting to improve as a whole!

I'm citing Thrift Shop by Macklemore, Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars, Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Don't You Worry, Child by Swedish House Mafia, Suit & Tie by J.T., Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, Thinkin' Bout You by Frank Ocean, Some Nights by fun. and Poetic Justice by Kendrick Lamar, among others, all from the current Top 40s chart. I think all these songs are great on their own and they're from different genres.

I guess it's entirely subjective, but I'd like to hear what the people of GE think.
 

Snowdrop

Back and ready to babble!
630
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11
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Pretty much anything Imagine Dragons comes up with I'll like, and they're mainstream right? I like a few scattered songs here and there, but I rarely listen to mainstream music. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, per se... in my own opinion, I just find it generic. And they lyrics... wow. I usually don't pay attention to lyrics of a song but these ones are just... yikes. However, I think a lot of mainstream music has really catchy instrumentals. So if I went on YouTube and dug up the instrumental versions of these songs I'd like them :D

I haven't seen it really 'improving.' It seems similar to what it was years ago.
 

Mark Kamill

I like kitties
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I sort of agree. I mean I don't listen to a whole lot of mainstream music, especially if its mainstream metal I mean what the hell does that even mean, but the recent revival of R&B has been pretty damn good. Rap has lost itself in 1996 and never has come back, but R&B's revival so far has been pretty decent and is fairly enjoyable. Everything else is a mess though, nothing is tolerable.
 

Captain Gizmo

Monkey King
4,843
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I don't really the mainstream music they have on the radio. But they have SOME that I do like. Taylor Swift isn't bad and some pop songs neither.

But Flo-Rida, Rihanna & Chris Brown.. those stuffs you can't count me out of those garbage.
 

DarkRisingGirl

Order Must Be Restored
721
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I sort of agree. I mean I don't listen to a whole lot of mainstream music, especially if its mainstream metal I mean what the hell does that even mean, but the recent revival of R&B has been pretty damn good. Rap has lost itself in 1996 and never has come back, but R&B's revival so far has been pretty decent and is fairly enjoyable. Everything else is a mess though, nothing is tolerable.

I'd have to completely agree with this. Honestly, the only real mainstream rap artists right now that can be taken seriously is Kendrick Lamar & J.Cole.
 

EJ

everything is purple
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It's entirely subjective and to me all those songs you've mentioned sound like previous mainstream songs long forgotten. You can thank MIDI for that; mainstream music at one time is usually forgotten for the next "hit".
 

Rest

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I don't really the mainstream music they have on the radio. But they have SOME that I do like. Taylor Swift isn't bad and some pop songs neither.

But Flo-Rida, Rihanna & Chris Brown.. those stuffs you can't count me out of those garbage.

I agree, I'm not that fond of Flo-Rida and Chris Brown too. I'm not a fan of Rihanna either, but admittedly she's pretty good in featured spots in some singles, like her work with Yeezy, Drake and Calvin Harris, all of which I enjoy to some extent.

I'd have to completely agree with this. Honestly, the only real mainstream rap artists right now that can be taken seriously is Kendrick Lamar & J.Cole.

A$AP Rocky has been dishing out solid work too, IMO, but yeah, Kendrick Lamar is one of the best things to have happened in mainstream music today (even though his choice of singles are probably several of my least favourite tracks from his otherwise spectacular album).
 

Cordelia

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I have found myself enjoying almost everything you mentioned in the first post. I actually listen to the radio fairly regularly now and it's quite enjoyable. A lot of good music is making it on the airwaves and I'm happy to see the change.
 

François2

#FutureSun&MoonMod
396
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11
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It's just a case of radio playing more music that fits your taste. It hasn't improved, it's just a genre-shift.

Now personally I think the charts are better (to my ears) now than they were in say, 2010/early 2011 when it seemed like all hope was lost for the world, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who think everything that isn't dance is horrid and we're heading into an awful phase for music. Which we are in the longterm - Gotye, fun, Imagine Dragons and co are so obviously going to lead to a return of the vomit-inducing landfill indie of the mid-2000s that I'm sure will have me crying out for the return of Pitbull. But radio can never stay diverse for long, it always has to latch onto one genre and hammer it to absolute death.

From a UK perspective, 2008-2009 was the best time for the charts. In 2009 especially there was wonderful diversity and everything sounded so fresh. It's just a pity that everything that was so fresh back then was turned into LMFAO and Flo Rida and blah blah blah.
 

ShinyUmbreon189

VLONE coming soon
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Mainstream is not getting better. They're doing it for money and fame and most of the lyrics make 0 sense. Compare mainstream from early 2000 and earlier to now. Artists now are degrading women because they think it's "music" when it's just ignorant. As the above said, J Cole, Lamar, and B.o.B. are the only hip hop artists that I can take seriously. Still can't stand up to old school mainstream. Wiz is a joke, js, that dude shouldn't even be mainstream, he's a sell out and the music industry made him a puppet. I'll prove evidence if anyone want's to disagree, I know what goes on in the music industry. I'll post song after song even from different artists.
 

Bobby Emerald

A voice of reason.
39
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18
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I'm not quite sure if Curren$y is mainstream (as I almost never listen to the radio in the first place), but I've been keeping tabs on his work, he dishes out a lot of projects....He doesn't stand up to J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar (don't care about B.o.B.), but I think he's doing pretty good as a standalone rapper. I don't listen to Asap, I probably should though.
That being said, there are plenty of good rappers that AREN'T mainstream - Childish Gambino is one of my faves.
 

ShinyUmbreon189

VLONE coming soon
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I agree with Emerald. Mainstream rap < Underground rap

Here's the definition of the 2 and how they are different by my understandings.

Mainstream - Degrading women, don't speak facts when they're rapping, and lacking the passion. They care more about money, fame, and fashion than they're lyrics. It's been proven, MAINSTREAM RUINS ARTISTS. Look at Wiz Khalifa, one of the biggest sell outs in hip-hop today. His Show and Prove album was "facts", had his own style, etc. As soon as he went mainstream he turned to utter crap. He only raps about drugs, money, women, and fashion. Underground he rapped about the streets, how he had real flow, pretty much for the passion than idiotic ignorant crap.

Underground - As a whole speaks truth. When they're rapping they're speaking facts and have true meaning. They don't rap about crap that degrades women and drugs, money, etc. But just because your underground don't mean your real, I've heard a few underground artists that are fake as mainstream. That's why as a whole they do it for the passion. Lots of underground artists are smart enough to not get sucked into the mainstream and have made MANY songs about mainstream or mainstream industry music.

I'm gonna name a few "underground" rappers that will completely murder anyone on the mic in mainstream like they were goin on killin sprees. Tech N9ne, sickest flow today and even tho he's a chopper at times (spittin super fast) he's a lyrical genius. He's rapped about the industry on numerous occasions and everyone in mainstream know's he's the king, 40 years old and still has the stamina he had when he was 25. He's a legend in rap. Songs like Come Gangsta, Industry is Punks, Who Do I Catch, and Ugly Duckling are a few where he bashes the industries. He also raps about struggles and the half owner of Strange Music. The dude makes millions upon millions and yet made songs like he went mainstream. He respects mainstream but hates them at the same time.

Hopsin, yet another underground artist and the owner of Funk Volume. On numerous occasions rapped about the industry. Nocturnal Rainbows, Ill Mind of Hopsin 5, Kill Her, etc. Hopsin is yet another lyrical genius and went from homeless to rich. The mainstream despises his music and they told him he's not "real enough". He pretty much said fy I'm gonna make my own label, and look where he's at today. As soon as he started getting recognized mainstream industries have been blowing him up with messages and his latest song "Independent Living" mentions that. He's making close to as much as mainstream artists and has some of the realest lyrics known to rap.

Immortal Technique, he's been down the mainstream industries road and he knows what goes on. He's one of the realest rappers in the underground and owns his own label as well.

Mainstream has no reason to do what they do because they're cash flowin, it's actually not them, it's the industries and they're just puppets.

As Tech N9ne said "Yeah the radio dead! - cuz the industry is punks! (punks!)
Put the double-barrel to it's forehead!"
 
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Gabri

m8
3,937
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17
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Mainstream music was never really good actually, save for a couple of bands or songs. Nowadays it's just incorporating different genres. If anything, it's getting worse by the day - each passing day you listen to songs on the radio and TV and such that are just outright unoriginal on the instrumental and the structure of the song, with generic (and sometimes stupid) lyrics/lyrical themes and a hit song only lasts a week. Then you have awards that focus mostly on the mainstream and show a total disrespect for several genres. It's music that is created to make money and that's it.
 

Sir Codin

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Mainstream music is getting better?

Haven't noticed. Then again, I don't listen to the radio, I just bring CDs I like and blast them instead of searching for frequencies that don't aurally rape me with Top 40 pop, simplistic R&B, gangsta rap, cancer-of-electronic-genre dubstep, and butt-rock.
 

Keiran

[b]Rock Solid[/b]
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The only listed song close to being decent is the one by Frank Ocean. The rest are crap. Nowadays, most mainstream artists just vomit out singles that get overhyped and overplayed (a good example is the Justin Timberlake song) until people get sick of it, and then they release another.
 
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I'm cynical. Even if for the sake of argument all the music brought up in this thread were good (not familiar with enough of it to say if it's good or bad) I'd guess it's only a matter of time before something awful comes to replace it. That's just what the mainstream is: trying to appeal to as many people as possible and (usually) stretching itself thin.
 

Nihilego

[color=#95b4d4]ユービーゼロイチ パラサイト[/color]
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It's just a case of radio playing more music that fits your taste. It hasn't improved, it's just a genre-shift.

/thread.

I see mainstream music now as the same as it's ever been; high quantities of very similar material made to cater to whatever works with the masses right now. And right now, what the masses want is generally more popular with people who don't like mainstream normally than it usually is. That's not objectively better, not that such a thing exists in music; that's just a phase which mainstream is going through which is particularly appealing. Give it a few months and people'll be saying how terrible it is again. Of course, there's always the chance that this is a rare occasion when a lot of genuinely semi-decent stuff is out there, but I feel like it's more likely that it's just what's in high demand right now.
 

Soile

Eevee Breeder
15
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11
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I half agree with you. Part of the music on the radio actually makes me think: huh, the sheep are getting better tastes in music! Then Ke$ha comes on and I have no hope for this planet.

In short, the good mainstream is getting better, and the bad mainstream is getting worse.
 

Rai

Quarter Life Crisis! @.@
4,522
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18
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I agree. I used to hate the radio. It all sounded the same and consisted of mostly heavy, crappy rap, which I hate. Now radio music is more techno-based and I really love techno music. It is more upbeat and easier to dance to. I also feel that the lyrics aren't as vulgar as they used to be (except for Kesha whom I despise >_>).
 
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