Am I Not Supposed to Like This Song?
Oops! I did it again!
I fell for another Britney song, and it's not even a remix. Oh the shame! Should I take my headphones out and check to make sure the volume isn't so loud that the people around me can hear the hip-shaking, booty-popping sounds that are emerging from laptop? Probably, but only because it's a generally obnoxious behavior to make the people around you listen to whatever you're listening to. I will not, however, check simply because I am ashamed of my pop listening ways. If I want to listen to Piece of Me, I will. Furthermore, if I want to admit that Bootylicious makes me happier than any Peter, Bjorn and John song ever will, I will. Why? Because I'm sick of indie-music snobbery and am ready to shamelessly admit that I really enjoy pop music. I'm coming out of the Clear Channel closet and am here to say: Pop(ular) music, is popular for a reason - people like to listen to it. Independent music can be equally or more enjoyable; it's simply harder to find. Indie music does not, however, equal cool.
Too often, I feel like "alternative" people and scenes are quick to dismiss any song that makes it on Billboard's top ten list, simply because the masses like it. To me, this elitist attitude is nothing more than a delusional, holier-than-thou attempt to make oneself a better person than most. Short on personality? Claim not to like pop music. Can't dance? Claim not to like pop music. Feel bad about working at a job that benefits no one but yourself? Claim not to like pop music. Couldn't quite make it through Intro to Philosophy, but know that inside you're a deep and enlightened person? It's okay - just claim not to like pop music!
This has been a verbal battle that I've been fighting for over five years, ever since I found myself in a friend circle comprised mostly of my liberal arts college's radio djs. Oh how they loved to joke about my fondness for Matchbox 20, Nelly, and Madonna. What had my parents done to me when I was young? Why couldn't I erase these artists from my iTunes and replace their low-class sounds with more independent, Casio-produced tunes by artists who really know how to inspire the soul? My answer was two-fold. First, I don't see why so many people feel like in order to like indie music (of any genre) you must stop listening to pop music; music preferences are not mutually exclusive. Second, I strongly believe that some people will waste away a lifetime of hearing and dancing abilities listening to cacophonous crap-music if they think that it's making them seem more authentically alternative, and I simply refuse to be one of those people.
What really irritates me are the pop-shunning indie folk who just love Motown, Pink Floyd, and any Michael Jackson album made before 1994. Folks - ahem - individuals, don't you know? All that music was once pop music, too. (What I wonder is whether all these independent souls will one day pump Madonna and Third Eye Blind in the rooms of their retirement homes, while listening to Kasey Kasem's grandchildren over a game of bridge and a glass of ginger ale.) I mean, there are certain modern exceptions that these indie-snobs have seemingly agreed to, and this is how I've interpreted them:
It is okay for an alternative to like a pop song if:
1. The artist is from another continent (not necessarily Asia/Euro-Russia).
2. ...
Well, yep, that seems to be the only rule; I guess Europe and South America are just really alternative and chic.
Overall, I'm pretty sure that the world would be a happier place and most "alternative" scenes would feel a lot less stuck up and judgmental if people could just admit, without the liberating effects of several shots of whiskey, that they do, in fact, enjoy a nice Christina Aguilera song or two. It's okay - no one will shoot you, ask you to hand over your Gang of Four collection, or demand that you take off your hipster/not-hipster skinny jeans!
Oh, and while I'm ranting, here are some other things people should start admitting to:
- Reading Pitchfork
- Peeing in the shower
- Reading In Touch in the grocery store line
- Not actually having read 75% of the books on their bookshelves
- That the best lyrics ever written are, "Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Can you pay my automo-bills?"
Did I miss anything?
16 comments:
Stephanie... you are my new hero! Seriously, whats wrong with enjoying driving down the highway listening to "Leavin'" by Jesse McCartney... or to doing one's laundry (in the privacy of one's home, of course) while dancing in your underwear to TLC's "No Scrubs"? Its called fun, people. Let your tortured indie facades go and indulge your inner tweeny girl (this applies to the ladies, gentlemen, and undecideds out there).
Thank you for this! It was very much needed and I agree with you completely. I am not ashamed to admit that it is insanely difficult for me to NOT rock out to Kelly Clarkson while driving.
Yes!
I completely agree with all of this, and not just because I'm listening to Flo Rida right now.
amen, stepanie! the first album i ever bought at six years old was "like a prayer." i am not and never will be ashamed of this fact. and while college, pot, and a couple of bad relationships have all left me with a deep, abiding love for sad-boy indie rock, i will never ever give up my belief that mariah carey is a goddess among mortals. i mean anyone who can sit there and say they don't like "always be my baby"? big fat dirty liar and not to be trusted...
Um, I know you've seen what I write about for the WWLT columns, right, Stephanie? I've been trying to provide breaks from the misery of indie-rock with Wang Chung, Rick Astley, and Level 42 posts.
That's it. Time to write up a Bee Gees review.
Ok, so being a music lover, I see your argument. I actually agree with you. I like hib shit, but I LOVE pop music, and everyone who knows me knows that. You see I can pump Guided By Voices, Pavement, Dead C or shit like that any day, but give me a good hook, great production, and a beat and I’m there. I know every song on pop/ hip-hop radio backwards and forwards.
To be a true music love you have to at least know the music, and most of these ""alternative" people" you speak of probably don't know their shit. Most of those scenesters started liking indie rock circa 2005 and are in love with the Arcade Fire and hold them as their (neon) bible (not saying that enjoying Arcade Fire is a bad thing). Most people you think might be "hip" really aren't. They just download music and only like it because their friends tell them to. 3 years ago they were at every Taking Back Sunday show, now they are the ones that sold out the MGMT show at 930 a month in advance (wtf? why them?).
There are lots of interesting things being done in Pop music nowadays. On the RnB front there are the “writers ternt sangas” like The Dream, Ne-Yo and Sean Garrett, who make great hip-hop songs with beats that take cues from of all things minimalist techno. Pop wise, the rock-dance edge is hitting strong. Lots of this stuff is more interesting that the majority of new indie-rock.
So in essence, don’t worry, because it actually is more hip to like pop music than not at this point (and Pitchfork loves pop music, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise).
Just a few random thoughts. . . Do people pee in the shower? And if they do, should they admit it? I actually have only read 50% of the books on my bookshelves--but that's a hell of a lot of books. And, finally, Bollywood music rocks--it's easy to dance to.
Perhaps my problem with pop music is that I am only exposed to it at gay bars that are otherwise awful for other reasons. Perhaps I'm conditioned to dislike it?
Someone should make a mixed tape for TNG of new pop music that doesn't suck.
Okay, I will: Submit your suggestions as comments and I'll put one together.
same goes for hip-hop. I put several hip-hop songs on the playlist last night. I only heard one, but it got a great reaction from the people around me. I think we should do a number of genre based mixtapes and "Intro 101" posts about various musical genres.
Anybody out there into a niche music that they want to enhance understanding/appreciation of should contact us about putting something together.
Wow, that was a whole boatload of generalizations; I'll venture to add one more: there's a world of difference between art and commercial art.
...simply because the masses like it.
Do the masses really "like" popular music, or do they just think they do because they think everyone else does?
I gained a new respect for pop music in taking a what I would call pretty groundbreaking "Analysis of Pop Music" class. Music theorists have studied pop music for awhile but basically no one takes scholarship surrounding pop music seriously for most of the same reasons few take the music itself seriously.
In the class, I was amazed (shocked, even) to see the generally high quality of sheer technical sculpting that goes into something like ye olde pop song. It is a feat of engineering to take a banal, overused harmonic progression and do something with it that sounds interesting to the "masses" we keep talking about.
Looking at pop music by analyzing it harmonically, rhythmically and otherwise gave me said new appreciation (above) because I realized, "OMG, people actually spent time creating this song." Pop music doesn't just happen to appeal to the masses, it is designed to do so, to a degree that to me, almost verges on alarming.
Michael asked "Do the masses really "like" popular music, or do they just think they do because they think everyone else does?"
My counter question:
Do people who identify as "indie" actually "like" indie music, or is it necessary for them to claim they do in order to achieve their status? (It's the same question, just reversed and worded differently.)
On another note, I tend to enjoy '80s pop music, but not what is classified in modern times as pop. This kind of debate has made me begin to wonder why I like the kind of music that I do -- and questioning one's own preferences can never fail to be helpful. Thanks, everyone!
Yes!!! Sometimes I feel shame for LOVING Madonna as a progressive, radical, way-left leaning person! Then I say, I am not going to not like her music because it may not fit into the image of what a radical is supposed to be into. It may or may not be an contradiction to my ideal, but sometimes as humans that's how we come.
why should anyone ever take personally what anybody else listens to? music, or any other thing you do, should always be about what you like, not a competition. my michael mcdonald and barbra streisand collections will attest to that ;)
YAY! Finally another validation! You know, I am intelligent, well-educated, and very well-rounded, and I LOVE LISTENING to mainstream radio. I think it is just another way to expand your horizons because it really taps into the pulse of what is here and now. It is just as important as watching the news (and way less depressing sometimes).
Those indie snobs are fearful that they may lack unique identity. Some of the most neat, intelligent, successful people I know can't stop quoting Seinfeld and report more celebrity gossip than Hello Magazine!
Post a Comment