Ten Reasons Why Music Now is Better Than Music "Then"

There I was sitting in the waiting room at the Dr.'s office and some morning tele-vision talk show modeled after Oprah meets the View was playing. The host began to compare Janet Jackson to Elton John, both first ladies of pop music from different eras. The host said while John might have flashy suits, in the end his show is John sitting at a piano and singing, and Janet might be lip synching, but she is up working hard shaking her booty. So this Revelation that maybe music shouldn't be taken seriously and the entertainment it is what you are loading your brain with. So maybe we have been making to big a deal about people who can play instruments versus those who just push buttons or have their producer push buttons. So here are some match ups to explain why music now beats music then. Then being the music of the past four or five decades once thought to have shaped our culture.




 Sam Hunt vs Hank Williams sr

 Hank Sr

Hank pours his heart into every note he sings, but that can be depressing and who wants to be depressed. This was recorded in 1949 without the benefit of auto-tune, so you can hear when his voice cracks and strains. Many might regard this a classic country, but it sounds like the making of an alcoholic.

 

 Sam Hunt

 Hunt mixes country music with hip-hop, what could be wrong with that? Hunt the first country artist to have all of the singles from his debut album to peak within the top 40, so something must be working for him. Hunt wins he doesn't need to stand there and play guitar when he can dance around like Marky Mark and trade his cow boy boots in for some Jordans.

Kesha vs Morrissey

Morrissey

Morrissey fronted the Smiths who created what spawned into indie rock. Lyrically, he always uses sarcasm and metaphor,  so why can't he just come out and say whatever he needs to say?  He might be the better singer of the two, but when was the last time you heard a solo Moz song on the radio? He is always in conflict with the record label for being a diva, you would think he could at least find a more valid reason to turn down money like having a producer touch his no-no box.

 
 Kesha

Kesha knows how to use auto tune when she is rapping, that is an art form unto it's self. People try to touch her junk,while Morrissey wasted most of his life avoiding sex. Who knows if Kesha will ever enter a studio again do to producer phobia. Kesha wins this one because people want to dance and have fun rather than mope around and engage in painful introspection, after all that's why we take Molly and drink ourselves silly every weekend. Morrissey doesn't do any of that so he just can't understand what it's like to be young and stupid.

Drake vs Krs -One


Krs-one

 Who the fuck is Krs-One you ask? What the fuck is Boogie Down Productions? He is sampled more than his songs are actually heard. Does any one under the age of thirty know who this guy is ? If not then how can he be any good at all. Who cares about where rap came from we only care about where it's going.

 

 Drake

 Now here is a guy with something to say. He is obviously hard as hell and from the streets because he is concerned about who is calling him on this cell-phone. Krs-One might get up in your face and diss you, but that won't get you bitches and isn't that what hip-hop should be about? So that is why Drake wins.

Babymetal vs Iron Maiden

This one is easy. Iron Maiden might have invented the post- Sabbath brand of classic power prog metal and has high-brow lyrical content about every other book in the library.  However, Baby Metal wins because, well they are little Asian girls in leather skirts who perform anime-style dances with the promise of a happy ending. Baby Metal, you will love them long time.

 

Nicki Minaj Vs Kate Bush

 Kate Bush

 Sure Kate has a four octave voice and Tori Amos and half the female artists from 90s would not exist if not for Kate, but you can't dance to her songs,  because they sound like mini operas.



Nicki Minaj

She really has it all... the boobs for white folks and the ass for bruthas. How many decades ago was it that you could masturbate to Kate Bush? The 70s and even then she was dressed like a refugee from the Muppet Show, sex sells and Kate Bush is now writing songs about snow flakes and washing machines, not even Prince could add sex appeal to her sound.

 
Lady Gaga Vs David Bowie

Bowie

 It's not secret Bowie's popularity soared after his death. His last number one hit after "Let's Dance" was the duet he did with Mick Jagger "Dancing In the Streets". He has Gaga outclassed when it comes to acting, but we are talking about music, maybe not substance, but sales in recent years, that is where he certainly loses the edge here.

 


Lady Gaga

She proved at the Grammy's she can't beat Bowie at this own game. She beats him at the numbers game when we are talking about units sold in the past five years. He might be a more convincing as an alien than Gaga, but she looks like an alien and still convinces people to buy her albums so that is where she wins here.

 

Ghost vs King Diamond

 King Diamond The King might be an actual satanist, but his voice is scary. There is no way King Diamond could tour with Avenged Sevefold, the 12 year olds would get to scared of him and that's no fun. Is isn't metal supposed to be fun, if people want to watch a horror movie they would pull on up on Net-flix. Ghost might have come out decades later and trying to sell you a kinder and gentler version of their Hammer Horror, but it goes down much smoother than King Diamond's more aggressive brand.

 

 Ghost

 Ghost can change singers at the drop of their pope hat. Now they are on Poppa Smurf number four, and this one is the best yet, he sounds like the dude from Linkin Park. That is why Ghost is packing stadiums with kids who don't care about who influenced who, and don't  are know who Blue Oyster Cult is. Why should they? Ghost doesn't even have to play actual metal, they can write something that is catchy with half the balls and it's more marketable, next time you drive your moms car to Warp tour count how many Ghost shirts you see versus how many King Diamond shirts you see and that will explain why Ghost wins this one.

 

Miley Cyrus vs Peter Gabriel

 This one is the wrecking ball vs the sledge hammer . First off Peter might have gotten his start in the prog legends Genesis, but without Phil Collins they would have never made it on the radio to begin with. If Gabriel had not snagged key placement in 80's teen dramas would anyone know him? He got his start taking on different personas, but did he every settle on who he was as an artist? And yes that's Kate Bush at the beginning of the song below.

 

Miley

 Hannah Montana might have been having a party in the usa way before she was twerking, she clearly is the dominant force in this match-up, with little confusion in what genre she was trying to appeal to or having to rely on a name someone else built in the past, be it family or past band mates. Gabriel has a distinct vocal tone, but Miley goes from her speaking voice that sounds like a chain-smoking forty-year-old to a producer's wet dream. Speaking of which, would you want to see Peter Gabriel swinging around in his underwear on YouTube? So Miley wins.

 

 Bruno Mars  vs Marvin Gaye


Marvin Gaye was ground breaking in his day and has an incredible voice. But while the compositions on his 15th album, "Here My Dear," might have been masterpieces, it was a commercial flop. In the studio, he and his backing band were all high on cocaine and created something that was a hybrid mix of soul, funk, and disco. So it brings up the age old question if a tree falls in the woods and know one hears it...does this make Gaye's album worthless while Mars is heard by millions?

  -

Bruno Mars-

 On his hit song "Locked Out of Heaven" Bruno Mars being the genius he is takes a riff by the Police and weaves it into pop gold that plays in the bathrooms of Wal-marts every where, while Gaye is reduced to elevator music.Sure Gaye might have brought social issues of the day to top 40 radio, Mars makes powerful statements in regards to racial stereotypes in his video for "the Lazy Song".

 
Mars is headlining stadiums and Super Bowl halftime shows, so obvious he is the winner here.

Kayne West vs Prince

 Prince

 Prince had a revolution, a new power generation and transformed from a symbol back to being himself. He produces his albums all by himself while Kayne has 26 producers on one album. This might tell you Prince doesn't play well with others. He is an enigma while Kayne stays in your face, when was the last time anyone thought about Prince?

  Kayne

Kayne is a master of auto tune and knows how to pack a studio full of producers. He might not be able to play a single instrument while Prince can play all of them, but you won't care because you will only think of the massive media brand that he has created for himself. Prince is a recluse only known for his golden oldies while the rest of the world is waiting for Kayne to tweet his farts. So Kayne wins this one. In the final blow to the music of yesteryear.

25 Kanye Producers Needed to Screw in A Light Bulb

The internet is a black hole. Facebook sometimes tries to suck you in and pull you down to it's level of uncommon sense. There was discourse I engaged in about the meme below.

This was obviously created by someone who has never heard of the song "Ogre Battle" or really any brains at all as those Kanye lyrics are still pretty terrible and were much better stated by Chuck D 20 years earlier. I think the problem with music "then" vs "now" started in 1998 with the dawn of auto-tune, first used for effects by Cher to later become a crutch for entertainers who cannot sing. Since he doesn't play an actual instrument and relies on a team of producers to create for him, Kanye tends to fall along side other pop "artists" as an entertainer. I like my share of pop music, but it's like eating fast food occasionally vs a balanced diet. I was shocked to learn Kayne West's new album has 25 producers on it. We are talking multiple producers per song. How many Kanye producers does it take to screw in a light bulb? This brings new meaning to the term "over-produced". In all fairness I looked up Taylor Swift and the Weeknd to see how many producers were on their albums. On 1989 Taylor Swift had 8 and the "Beauty Behind the Madness" had 13. Still despite this gross excess is still combined less than the number West rolls with. An interesting side note, only one producer worked on "A Night At the Opera", so they obviously didn't need as much help.

So what gives Taylor Swift and the Weeknd the edge over Kayne? Well it goes back to 1998. They can actually sing if required to do so. Swift can even play an instrument, edging her out of just being an entertainer, though she is embracing the pop queen role which is obvious if you have seen any of her videos. But rappers are poets you argue....if that's the case, then they need even fewer producers. How many producers did Allen Ginsberg need? The flow of lyrics on "Beauty Behind the Madness" has more heart in it than Kayne has ever put into any of his albums. West's real talent is being a media whore. So Taylor, watch your step or you won't be much better no matter how classy of a Grammy speech you give. At the end of the day if your music doesn't matter more than the brand then you are in trouble, trouble trouble... Go ahead, make all the money you want, as PT Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute".

Ask Quincy Jones how many extra producers he needed for "Thriller". If you don't count Suge Knight's role as the executive producer, which means money man, the role that Kanye is assigned to on his own albums, then Dr. Dre was also the sole producer of "the Chronic". So if you are wondering what's wrong with hip-hop, how hard can you be if your shit has twice as many producers working on it than the team that puts together a Katy Perry album? If you are just making a circus then pack as many clowns as you can fit into your car. With that said I think Charlie did a wonderful job with the song below which is without a doubt Kanye's best work since "Gold Digga" .