12 year old girls love, 20+ year old people hate

[Banshee16]

The New Kids on the Block. Rick Astley.

Banshee

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

NKOTB haven't released a hit album in years- their most recent album (2008, as I recall) was a modest success at best. Their fans are not interested in new, all they want is the old stuff.

IOW, they have not successfully transitioned into an adult act.

Ricky Martin, Mark Wahlburg, Bobby Brown, Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake and others HAVE done so...but again, they don't routinely include more than 1 or 2 of their Boy Band hits in their sets.

Unless they're on a retrospective tour with the Boy Band, of course. Then its all about the old stuff, and very little of their new stuff gets played. Its almost as if there is a Great Wall of China between their early careers as teen idols and their careers as adults.

Rick Astley, OTOH, hardly qualifies as a Teen Idol. He's more of a One Hit Wonder.

 

[Fast Learner]

Let me put it to you this way...

Teen Idol music is actually a construct of the labels. Those who are chosen are picked precisely to be marketed as cleaned up versions of popular music. This isn't an opinion- this is what the labels actually do. The labels choose what will be sung, they choose the venues, they choose clothing and other image decisions. Venture outside of those boundaries, and you're dropped.

I don't disagree with any of that. Still doesn't make the music inferior to the music you like.

 

[BrokeAndDrive]

Everyone say this out loud: "All music that I do not like, is inferior to music that I do like."

To all who says that: you're right.



P.S. Bathory and Limbonic Art murder you and has your mom make another one of you just so they can kill you twice!

 

[Wombat]

Partridge Family

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't disagree with any of that. Still doesn't make the music inferior to the music you like.

I'm not talking about whether I like or dislike the music in question. Some of it I do, some of it I don't (I could probably sing David Cassidy's "I think I love you" even today, but couldn't even ID a song by Bieber or a Jonas Brothers piece). That doesn't prevent me from recognizing its quality or lack thereof.

By its very nature, Teen Idol music of each genre is designed to appeal to fans of particular musical styles. As such, it may seem virtually indistinguishable from the works of other performers within that genre...with a casual listen. But the more you analyze it, the more it suffers in comparison.

The fact is, when discussing the quality of art of any kind, its difficult to use generalities, objective standards are hard to find.

But I think all of us would agree that while a paint-by-numbers piece may be quite attractive, it will still lack a certain essence as compared to an original piece of art.

And that's the problem with the music of Teen Idols. Its not meant to last. Its throwaway music. It is so ephemeral that it often doesn't appeal to its own biggest fans after just a few years. It is to serious music as Cracker Jacks are to a balanced meal- it may seem tasty right now, but eventually, you're going to need something better.

 

[Tonguez]

Point at any Teen Idol who successfully made the transition to adult musical performer, and you won't see the same kind of demand for their early work. (AFAIK, the only pre-solo era song Michael Jackson kept in his set for any length of time was "Ben".)

Paul McCartney - his Beatles work still outranks anything that followed (seriously, name two Wings songs)

 

[coyote6]

Paul McCartney - his Beatles work still outranks anything that followed (seriously, name two Wings songs)

"Live and Let Die" and "Band on the Run".

Note that I am not a big Wings fan -- I have never owned an album, though I'm sure someone in my family did when I was a kid. If you had asked me to name three songs, I'd have to go to Google.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Paul McCartney - his Beatles work still outranks anything that followed (seriously, name two Wings songs)

Paul McCartney was, even as a young musician with The Beatles, a serious rock musician. Yes, he was the idol of many teens, but he wasn't a Teen Idol in the sense that I'm talking about: a solo performer or member of a band basically created by the record company (or more rarely, broadcasting company) to be target marketed at teens (or younger).

IOW, not Sir Paul, but The Monkees.

As for Paul post Beatles?

Lets not forget songs like "Ebony & Ivory", "Listen to What the Man Said", "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", "Magneto & Titanium Man", "Jet", "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "With A Little Luck"- and no, like coyote6, I don't own any of his post-Beatles stuff.

He may have peaked with The Beatles, but he's no slouch on his own.

(Though looking at what I just wrote, perhaps I should track down a "Best of" album...)

 

[Pig Champion]

80s popular is nothing like today's popular music. A lot of it was actually ground breaking music that had never been heard before. A lot of it was written by the actual bands themselves.

Today's popular music is watered down compared to that. A lot of it is actually written for the singers.

That's the problem. It's comparing grapefruits to lemons.

Careful, your age is showing.

Gorillaz are one of my generation's pop-bands and they are very ground breaking and original.