why was American pop and rock music so weak after the 70's and 80's?

Question

after about milly vanilly's (sp) scandal, it all just turned really lame.

Heck, even Britney Spears is only recorded one word at a time, 'til it's done right, then spliced together into a 'song'.

Answer 1

Rock turned to metal and pop turned to the Backstreet boys and Fahrenheit 91

Answer 2

Prior to the 60's/70's/80's believe it or not -- it was MORE like this, today. Singers didn't write music, they sang it. They were faces, with voices (sound familiar?). Elvis didn't write or perform his own stuff -- he was more like Britney Spears, than John Lennon. Little Richard and 100s of others right through to Bill Haley changed that. But, 50's idols like Bobby Darin, etc. were still singing produced songs for them.. it's always been a thread to make something to SELL. Like in the 60's with the Monkees and the Partridge Family. Today, its mostly gone the way of what was the smaller percentage, back then.

Prior to your era of music... many artists could play instruments and actually wrote their own words/music. They lived what they sang about, and that came through and applied imagination, story telling or real fun to it. And that's everyone from Dylan, Stones, to Cat Stevens to James Taylor to Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Hendrix, Bowie, Springseen, right through to Prince, The Cure, NWA, Micahel Jackson, etc. -- and they even wrote songs for other artists, that they admired or wanted another voice for their music, etc. Eminem writes his own stuff. But, the money is being made by producers, more than ever. Music is now JUST a package for the most part. Style used to be associated with the artist.. now, the artist shows they can SING -- and others take over, creating a world for them, and a package for sale (like with these American Idol acts).

BUT... Jessica Simpson, Timberlake, and 1000 others are at the top for a reason -- and one is, music isn't GENERATED by adult musicians -- and then sold. It's created to sell, and then played by hired musicians to prop a frontline face, and sold to TEENS. The music industry saw that "looking Hip Hop" and looking Gansta would sell just as easity. Reliance on Hip Hip and "created" acts/bands -- with emphasis on looks and production. 50 Cent is a product, not an artist. Same with 90% of today's rappers. It's all an act. I've been laughing at Lil Bow Wow for 10 years, now. But, who's laughing to the bank?

Answer 3

Because only the good die young. There is still some good rock music out there but most radio stations won't play it. I have actually heard some stations say we will not play the old stuff this is not your grandparents music. THIS even means that if a singer who is old enough to be a grandparent has a
new and good song to come out,they won't play it because of their age. It's all aimed to sell to the fluff of the good looking teenage set. But all of us in our 40's say rock on grandma and grandpa.

Answer 4

You have to go beyond the superficial and look at some of the more obscure bands. Listen to the Replacements, Uncle Tupelo and the better knowns like John Hiatt and REM.
Wilco is probably the defining band of the 90s and this decade.

Answer 5

In my opinion because it became more about the fame then the music. You have tons of "Mickey Mouse Club" cookie cutter style boy bands and Pop Singers they were flashy and danced to choreographed moves and were over commericialized with the Teen magazines. Who cared if the music was good or they could sing they were well marketed to every teenager across the world. They didn't have to try as hard to get their name out their by getting people to like their sound they just had to have the right "look". As the song goes "Video killed the radio star" ...

Answer 6

As far as music is concerned, we are now living in the aftermath of Kurt Cobain. His impact was felt accross the entire spectrum. What we call 'popular music' now encompasses a much more culturally diversified scope. The success he had (with his genre of music) allowed for what we called 'undergroud music' to come mainstream. There's only so much pie. Everybody wants their slice, right?

Answer 7

i think its because tthe ppl in the 70s and 80s were doing it for the fans and their inspiration is to make great music...im thinkin that the ppl who sing pop and rock these days r in it for the money and their inspiration is only to sell their next album, so the quality suffers.

Answer 8

Rock was in decline by the time the Beatles came along. Their music wasn’t bad, but it showed how derivative rock had already become. Most of the possibilities of the genre had already been explored by their great predecessors: Elvis (Presley, to you “squares” out there), Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, and the Everly Brothers. And that’s the short list. Let’s not omit such great groups as the Four Preps, the Crests, the Drifters, the Platters, and the ones who started it all, Bill Haley and the Comets.

In time even these giants, so alarming to our parents, would be dismissed as square in their turn. But one name deserves special mention: Pat Boone. Boone gave rock its cleanest sound ever. He was utterly wholesome; he pronounced every syllable of the lyrics with the precision of a college prep English teacher, and his flawlessly melodic baritone made him rock’s answer to Crosby. He proved once and for all that rock doesn’t have to be “funky” to be good; it can be refined of all grosser elements. And it can be performed perfectly well without suggestive gyrations of the hips.

There are those of us who still consider Boone’s rendition of “Ain’t That a Shame” superior to Fats Domino’s. People who think of Fifties rock as tame have probably never heard Boone’s “Speedy Gonzales,” a number that continues to defy today’s ethnic hypersensitivities. Boone also recorded what I regard as the definitive “Jambalaya.”

Today Pat Boone is in eclipse — temporarily, one trusts. Even the oldies stations don’t play his records, which sold millions in their day. Someday his niche in musical history will be acknowledged: he was the father of soft rock. To this day, it doesn’t come any softer.

Over the years, I’ve tried to keep up with the development of rock, maintaining an open mind. I own several Dylan albums. I enjoy Abba and, now and then, Fleetwood Mac. There is still young talent out there. But I nevertheless insist that Fifties rock remains unsurpassed.

As the poet says: “No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change.” I can say this because I discovered many of these performers after they had ceased to be fashionable. I savored them on their merits as musicians, not because I craved belonging to the In crowd, as it is called.

Great art doesn’t date. Its appeal is universal. “Till I Kissed You,” by the Everly Brothers, is just as thrilling today as when it topped the charts in my youth. I remember thinking, during one crush I had, that that simple song expressed my deepest feelings better than anything in Shakespeare or Beethoven. It makes you want to say: “Me Dante, you Beatrice.”

In the Fifties rock had not yet learned to put on airs of rebellion. It was just fun. Rock performers still smiled on their record jackets, because they were frankly entertainers, eager to please, just like Patti Page and Perry Como.

Sometime in the Sixties rockers began posing as disgruntled artists, mad at the world and all that; in the Nineties this pose remains a rigid convention of a highly artificial genre that pretends to smash conventions and refuses to admit it’s artificial at all.

I challenge you to name one current rocker who can carry a tune and sing lyrics suitable for the whole family while wearing a tie and blazer and making it seem pleasant and effortless, as Boone did.

Answer 9

pop and rock are still (pop)ular and (rock)ing on

And alot of rock is like metal and punk

Answer 10

it was all about one hit wonders and making money...