What are our music assignments thus far?
1. 50s Music Artist Profile
- Little Richard, etc
2. 60s – 70s Music Artist Profile
- Jimi and Robin Hendrix/Hendriks, etc
3. 80s Music Artist Profile
- rap artists from the 80s
We need one more little assignment to get this action complete –
4. 90s – today
The Music Industry AFTER the 1980s
- what was one of the most importance developments in music in the 80s?
- MTV – is it
- Music video changed the whole industry forever
- Once people started watching videos of their fave bands and music, the industry started pushing looks, style and image as more important
- A whole new kind of artist came up that focused on the look and the style, with less importance on the music
- This wasn;t a good thing for music – more industry involvement in crafting a look and focusing on the less musical elements – selling an image – just like advertising
- Music videos were commercials for bands and performers
- Videos made it important for bands to have a really solid look and a band with the right look didn’t have to have much else
- bands like this were – Boy George, Wham, Madonna, Ratt, Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, and on and on
- the wimpiness of these bands and the focus on looks led to something that totally reshaped the music industry
- one band came out and broke the whole thing about looks, style and image
- Nirvana came out and looked like normal people, appealed to normal people, played aggressive, punky pop rock and made a whole new statement that the industry picked up and called GRUNGE (also called the Seattle Scene)
- It was a reaction against the look and image of MTV bands and style
- The big companies were not that easy to ignore and they took control once again and that’s when everything went straight to Hell
- Hell – corporate pop – big companies made piles of money on highly controlled artists who were all about looks and style and easy, structured, planned music –
- Eg Spice Girls, New Kids on the Block, etc
- This is now the dominant kind of music in the industry – artists who are good looking, marketable, highly managed and structured to sell and appeal – we’ve lost a certain kind of music and performer in the pop world – those artists are still out there – but they are now called – INDIE or ALTERNATIVE
- Modern artists don’t get signed to a label unless they are already getting audience or unless they have some really obvious hook – looks, style, etc
- There are some bands that sneak through with great music – Kings of Leon transitioned from indie to pop
- The hooks and the looks
- We have a sad little music industry these days – but you’re used to it, so it’s okay
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