Long story short, the mid-90s destroyed mainstream music. In addition to all the above nonsense, the major labels also began their absorbing and combining into bigger and more bloated monstrosities, and eventually so to did the music get streamlined into vapid formula that has remained unchanged for over a quarter of a century at this point.
Now, the music industry has been well known for corruption since its beginnings, but there was always usually a way to work around it or find cracks in the walls to give the audience what they wanted. The 1990s was the era all of that was sealed off, which lead to the slow death of the 2000s. For anyone who liked music at the time, you knew how tough it became for someone with any taste at all to listen to what they wanted.
By the 2010s, nothing was left but recycled sounds swapped around with whatever figurehead the industry wanted you to worship that week. Anything involving sound or talent had long since been drained away for the lamest image imaginable. I can't even remember the last time I've met anyone who even knew who any of these "stars" were.
And now no one listens to the industry at all.
Check out this documentary on the music industry made around this time period (in 2001) and see just how little has changed since, and how much they changed not so long ago.
And now musicians have to figure out how to produce outside of this busted system. Many such cases today!
In other news, Tomorrow at 6pm Central (7pm Eastern), I will be appearing on the SuperversiveSF channel to discuss the Gemini Man Kickstarter and any other subject deemed interesting enough to cover.
For those unaware, SuperversiveSF also produces a show called Pinkerton's Ghosts, which is a sort of horror anthology series, and has just produced it's 95th episode overall. You can check that out here for yourself.
Lastly, if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out some other campaigns on the platform. NewPub is using crowdfunding quite well these days, and few have done it better than Alex at Cirsova has. He is currently running a campaign for a new project from the ever-prolific weird fiction maestro Misha Burnett. This one is called Small Worlds, and it is unlike anything else you're liable to see.
There are about 18 days left, so be sure to look over their campaign page here! There are never any shortage of new projects out there.
Thanks again for all your support. Have a good weekend!
For those unaware, SuperversiveSF also produces a show called Pinkerton's Ghosts, which is a sort of horror anthology series, and has just produced it's 95th episode overall. You can check that out here for yourself.
Lastly, if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out some other campaigns on the platform. NewPub is using crowdfunding quite well these days, and few have done it better than Alex at Cirsova has. He is currently running a campaign for a new project from the ever-prolific weird fiction maestro Misha Burnett. This one is called Small Worlds, and it is unlike anything else you're liable to see.
There are about 18 days left, so be sure to look over their campaign page here! There are never any shortage of new projects out there.
Thanks again for all your support. Have a good weekend!
Back in the day I used to hang out with a big music buff. He held it as moral certainty that most flash-in-the-pan bands' second albums were better than their first. Some examples I can think of are Flock of Seagulls, Jesus Jones, and Blind Melon.
ReplyDeleteJust a few more data points to show that Music Ground Zero is less a matter of artists' creativity drying up and more a concerted effort by corporate label monopolies.
When I learned how artificial "One Hit Wonders" actually were (in that they always had WAY more than one good song) it started to unravel that it was all just marketing.
DeleteIronically, it was this period of the late '90s, when One Hit Wonders actually did come into existence, but you were trained to forget them by being pushed to jump on the next fad song that hit the radio next week. I didn't know then that they were poorly attempting to fish for a Michael Jackson style talent (ignoring everything that made him a success) and instead left a crater of forgettable pop acts no one except Millennial kids have any warm feelings for.
To this day, none of the manufactured late '90s pop hits get any play whether by Zoomers (who seem to love old rock and pop music otherwise) or by anyone else who lived it. I've never heard anyone play any songs from that time period, even at local events or on local radio. It's always older stuff. Limp Bizkit and boy bands are still seen as punchlines; hair metal bands aren't anymore and haven't been for a long time.
Really puts into perspective how fast and hard everything collapsed. It is as if popular music itself ended in 1996/97, and it basically did.