Audio Drive-Thru: The State of Popular Music Today

Sure, why not. (Currently #7 on the Hot 100) 
Copyright: Hollywood Records

During the duration of this post I will get fired up. Feelings will be hurt. Things will get graphic, possibly disgusting. You have been warned.

Okay so maybe I'm not exactly allowed to go in on this particular topic as I'd like to (flipping censorship, man) but I'll do my best to convey my strong emotions in an appropriate manner.

SO. Today I want to talk about pop music. However, before I go off I want to properly define the type of music I'm referring to. While pop music is technically short for "popular music," I cannot, in good conscience, use this definition because I would then be lumping any music that is popular among the masses as the target of my disdain.

Popular music simply refers to what music is being purchased, downloaded, streamed, overall listened to the most. For instance, if you were to head over to Billboard.com right now and peruse their two most popular lists, the Billboard Hot 100, which tracks the popularity of individual songs nationally, and the Billboard 200, which does the same for albums, you would find many unique artists worthy of being popular because they offer something unique to their respective genres. These include Vampire Weekend, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Daft Punk and Florida Georgia Line. However, in the same vein, these lists are riddled, I mean absolutely riddled with easily digestible, shallow, downright lazy albums and songs from the likes of Demi Lovato, Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Selena Gomez, and will.i.am, among others. This is the music that genuinely gets under my skin and (brace yourselves) represents everything that is wrong with The United States of America.

Now, I have nothing against making money. Hell, if someone paid me to do something that I loved that required minimal effort I would sign the dotted line in half a heartbeat. ----> HOWEVER <----, I take serious issue with musicians who just decide that being a famous singer or rapper or former Disney Channel star (looking at you, Demi) qualifies them to make, for all intents and purposes, half-assed music. If all your songs revolve around a painfully simple, watered-down, dance beat and a catchy, my-seven-year-old-brother-knows-all-the-words chorus, then you're probably a made-for-radio-artists. And FINE, you want to reach the masses and get money and sell out shows and do very little work in the process... as long as you're okay with it!

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against wanting to be on the radio (the radio as a whole, however, is a whole other story for a different day), but when I'm able to turn on z104.3 after picking up my brother from school and he's able to sing the lyrics to EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. that comes on during our 20 minute drive home, you know something's wrong. I reiterate, though, that I have nothing against popular music. SURE, Thrift Shop gets annoying after hearing it a 452nd time, but you know for damn sure Macklemore wasn't sitting around with whatever eccentric people he hangs out with saying, "Hey, let's make a really conventional song for 8 year olds to sing a long to!" NO. That dude was like, "YOOOO, I F***ING LOVE GOODWILL, LET'S WRITE AN ENTIRE SONG ABOUT IT. HOPEFULLY PEOPLE LIKE IT AND BUY IT BUT IF NOT OH WELL IT'S STILL A REALLY COOL LYRICAL CONCEPT WITH A DOPE BEAT THAT I CAN BE PROUD OF!!" (Sorry if you yelled that in your head, I just needed to get the point across.) Basic idea: ain't nothing wrong with radio songs that deserve to be popular. When an artist puts in work and they make a somewhat unconventional, popular song, good for them! When they churn out garbage like this and it becomes a number one because their name is a brand and anyone can sing along to it, shame on them.

At this point I'm probably sounding like a bitter music snob. Hopefully not but, if I do, I'd like to take this opportunity to dispel that misconception: I like just about every genre of music out there. Literally. I've even acquired a taste for country in the past year and that's something I never thought I would do. Ever. Also, I listen to music of all varying popularities and musical quality. While I've spent this whole time ranting about music that's easy to make, that doesn't mean I won't listen to some of it because let's be honest, if something is catchy you want to listen to it. It's human instinct to like a song that you can tap your foot to and it's why pop music is successful. You could shuffle my iTunes and in 10 minutes listen to Flocka, The Avett Brothers, Ballyhoo!, Rebelution, The Miracals (who you've probably never heard of, they're pretty underground *proceeds to update Tumblr*) and Childish Gambino. I don't discriminate! Bottom line: I'll listen to my trill rap and not feel guilty, but the minute it hits the radio and my brother is singing the edited version of "She Dancin" by Juicy J (don't worry, friends, this will most definitely never happen), I'm done. For me, it's all about weighing how much work the artist puts in to their craft and how much recognition they're getting. That's just one man's opinion, though. Clearly the masses disagree with me and that's okay because I don't really care what fainting tweens at a Justin Bieber concert listen to as long as they don't shove it in my face.

Now that I've ranted, I'd like to return to the title of this post, "Audio Drive-Thru." It's not a hard connection to make but I've always thought of (my definition of) pop music as fast food for the ears and, by extent, the soul. It's quick, easy, and frankly it gets the job done. Who doesn't love instant gratification?! Why take the time to season and grill your own burger when you can go to McDonald's and buy five McDoubles for a quarter of the price and effort? Why change the radio station to WTMD and discover a slick new alternative band on the rise when you can flip to z104.3 and sing along to the latest Ke$ha jam?

Same idea.

If anything, the state of popular music today is indicative of the age we live in. Everything is faster and more accessible. We, as Americans, need instant gratification and that's why we're obese, why we owe absurd debt to each other and the world, and why Pitbull is bumpin' from every soccer mom's Yukon after she picks up her nine year-old. Ha, that thing I said earlier about pop music being everything wrong with this country isn't looking so unwarranted now, is it??

Top 40 radio is simply easier to access, that's why little kids know all these songs. It's fine if they know them, but when Ricardo (my seven year-old brother) listens to the radio, I always make a point to play him something different or less accessible next time he gets in the car. That's why he goes to school singing P!nk somedays and Gary Clark Jr. others. You win some, you lose some.

So there you have it. This concludes my rant on pop music. Feel free to leave comments on here or via text/Facebook chat (like several people have) so that I may improve my writing or if you want to disagree with me or just whatever. Just try to keep in mind that next time you opt to listen to Katy Perry instead of Kate Nash, you're basically eating Grade D meat from Taco Bell instead of a tender sirloin from your local Ruth's Chris Steak House.

(Note: I do not actually have a Tumblr. That was a joke and if you thought I was serious I need to seriously re-evaluate my lifestyle choices.)

Peace OUT.