Taylor Swift I just don't get it

[onepixel]

Hootie?

lol... sure ain't your grandpappy's country.

 

[Brett a]

I had the same reaction; Where'd the country music go? How's this noise different than all the other the pop/rock drivel being pumped out of the global entertainment sphincter?

Taylor Swift also hosted SNL last weekend. Although i fail to see her talent as a singer, I thought we may be seeing her work as an actress in the future.

So...when exactly did the masses have great taste in music?

Spring of 1789:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart's_Berlin_journey

Is her voice better than Lou Reed's (or) Bob Dylan's) (...) Yes.

Them's fightin' werds. I believe Bob Dylan was the greatest singer of the last century. Period. Serious as a heart-attack.
There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of women who can match Taylor Swifts abilities. But how many singers can nail a song to your forhead like His Bobness? Exactly one.

 

[cwall99]

The music major music business (aka RIAA) is no longer about music, and is all about marketing... Taylor has had serious marketing with the ones that buy into the RIAA model.. Kids.... so she wins...

I couldn't agree more. My wife is a huuuuuge Bon Jovi fan (and while they have many fans who are huge, my wife is not one of them... if you get my drift), and she and her cousin and a few others were talking about how cool it was that all of a sudden, Jon Bon Jovi was NBC's "artist in residence" and he was appearing on In the Actor's Studio (really? for getting his head blown off in U-571???? or for his gripping portrayals of Jon Bon Jovi in B movies about vampires? Ooop, I digress).

So, I made a crack about them having the PR machine rolling along...

I have a basic theory that the quality of the work of art (whether it's an album or a movie or a book or whatever) is generally indirectly proportional to the amount of promotion given to the work.

We have fun arguments, though, about the fact that Bon Jovi's sold over 110,000,000 albums.

I ask her, in reply, McDonald's has sold more hamburgers than anyone else. Does that make their burgers the best?

I think the McDonald's hamburgers metaphor really works with popular music.

 

[steelglam]

There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of women who can match Taylor Swifts abilities. But how many singers can nail a song to your forhead like His Bobness? Exactly one.

I just want to say at the outset that I love Dylan's voice.

Having said that, and I don't mean to be contrarian here, but couldn't it be the words and music he's writing that nails the song to your forehead as much or more so than his vocals?

 

[fotno]

More country? Lets see. Fountains of Wayne -- Hung up on You. It's lyrically and musically more country than most of the stuff being called country nowadays, and they're a rock band. The founders of which are from New Jersey and Pennsylvania respectively.

 

[similost]

Personally, I think a certain song by the Revolting Cocks is more country music than any thing I've ever heard Taylor do...

 

[KeninDC]

Them's fightin' werds. I believe Bob Dylan was the greatest singer of the last century. Period.

Put up yer dukes.

I love Bob Dylan's music and his singing. I used him as an example because the number one (based on my own unscientific research) reason folks say they don't like Mr. Zimmerman is his voice.

In fact, "Visions of Johanna" is permanently nailed to my noggin.

Ken

 

[cwall99]

I just want to say at the outset that I love Dylan's voice.

Having said that, and I don't mean to be contrarian here, but couldn't it be the words and music he's writing that nails the song to your forehead as much or more so than his vocals?

I love the David Bowie song about Dylan where he says Dylan has "a voice like sand and glue." I think that's one of the best images in rock music (right up there with Elvis Costello singing, in Watching the Detectives, "She pulls their eyes out with a face like a magnet").

Bowie's song is most definitely a tribute, so please don't get wound up over that.

 

[fotno]

On the topic of Bob Dylan: A good singer can sing the phone book and sing it beautifully. Maria Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston have incredible voices, I'm just not interested in what they're singing.

Bob Dylan has an awful voice (poor pitch, single octave range, and in concert I defy anyone to translate what he's mumbling into English), but I love to hear him sing because I love the things he's singing about. His music transcends his voice.

 

[Brett a]

(...)and I don't mean to be contrarian here, but couldn't it be the words and music he's writing that nails the song to your forehead as much or more so than his vocals?

I don't mean to be contrary either. I've put a lot of thought into this in the past.

I think Bob's voice and his words are two halves of a perfect presentation. or to put it another way, his voice is the perfect vehicle for the content it's delivering. If you took either side of that away, it doesn't work nearly as well. Ever hear the "Dylan" album for around 1975? It's Bob doing embarrassingly bad covers. Some speculate that Columbia released it as a spiteful act to shame him.

For me, a lot is lost when folks who sound more polished, like Peter, Paul,and Mary, cover his songs.

I can understand that folks would be inclined to use Mr. Dylan as an example of "bad" singing. Especially if you thought you were talking to a group of people who value technical polish over heart and soul. Maybe I'm a bit too sensitive about Bob.

 

[JohnVF]

I don't mean to be contrary either. I've put a lot of thought into this in the past.

I think Bob's voice and his words are two halves of a perfect presentation. or to put it another way, his voice is the perfect vehicle for the content it's delivering. If you took either side of that away, it doesn't work nearly as well. Ever hear the "Dylan" album for around 1975? It's Bob doing embarrassingly bad covers. Some speculate that Columbia released it as a spiteful act to shame him.

For me, a lot is lost when folks who sound more polished, like Peter, Paul,and Mary, cover his songs.

I can understand that folks would be inclined to use Mr. Dylan as an example of "bad" singing. Especially if you thought you were talking to a group of people who value technical polish over heart and soul. Maybe I'm a bit too sensitive about Bob.

I'm with you on this one. A lot of people can sing a tune. It's something special when you actually believe them.

 

[cableguy]

On the topic of Bob Dylan: A good singer can sing the phone book and sing it beautifully. Maria Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston have incredible voices, I'm just not interested in what they're singing.

Bob Dylan has an awful voice (poor pitch, single octave range, and in concert I defy anyone to translate what he's mumbling into English), but I love to hear him sing because I love the things he's singing about. His music transcends his voice.

Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits....both come to mind as well.

 

[Sam Cogley]

This is an interesting conversation. Country has been a bastardized version of itself for most of it's existence. While there was that brief flash of Hank Williams, and later the Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson/etc. "outlaw" take-back of Country music, the industry was, for years, dominated by the Chet Atkins/Nashville Sound/Nudie suit style of so-called "country" - which was the country pop of its day. Nothing new under the sun.

So...when exactly did the masses have great taste in music? I don't think something very average become very popular is a new phenomena, if my digging through the thrift store record sections has anything to tell me.

The late 60s when the Beatles, the Who, the Stones, etc. were at the top of the popular music lists? Maybe the 40s and 50s when people like Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and the rest were at the top? Disco and the "falsetto rock" era of the early 70s killed popular music, IMHO.

 

[Caseworker]

I don't mean to be contrary either. I've put a lot of thought into this in the past.

I think Bob's voice and his words are two halves of a perfect presentation. or to put it another way, his voice is the perfect vehicle for the content it's delivering. If you took either side of that away, it doesn't work nearly as well. Ever hear the "Dylan" album for around 1975? It's Bob doing embarrassingly bad covers. Some speculate that Columbia released it as a spiteful act to shame him.

For me, a lot is lost when folks who sound more polished, like Peter, Paul,and Mary, cover his songs.

I can understand that folks would be inclined to use Mr. Dylan as an example of "bad" singing. Especially if you thought you were talking to a group of people who value technical polish over heart and soul. Maybe I'm a bit too sensitive about Bob.

Great point.

I was just listening to Time out of Mind last night. I'm trying to imagine the vocals on that album replaced by someone with a traditional singing voice. It's funny to even think about, it just wouldn't be right. Dylan has a certain presence on his albums, lyrics aside, that can never be copied.

 

[fotno]

We're a special group here (and I mean that sincerely), in that we seek out both music and ways of reproducing it that the public remains largely unaware of. But remaining unaware of it, is not entirely the public's fault. Most people would listen to other/better? music, if it were made available to them.

Earlier someone used McDonald's hamburgers as an illustration, mentioning that just because they were the most popular didn't mean they were by extension the best. The same is true of mass-marketed music. The key here is that music IS mass-marketed. No matter how good a band or singer is, it means nothing if they're not brought to the attention of the public. I don't blame the public for choosing the only thing they're offered, I blame the music business for choosing the same old thing over and over again, then marketing it like it's the only thing out there.

 

[RT Fan]

Taylor Swift by all accounts seems to be a bright young woman with a solid family background. Her family moved to Nashville to allow her to persue her music career. Got signed coming off an audition at an open mic night. She is following the crossover path set down by Shania Twain, grounded in country but pop in nature.

After reading some of the comments regarding the diversion of "True Country" from "Pop Country" I couldn't help but think of the song "Murder on Music Row." made popular by George Strait and Alan Jackson.

Nobody saw them running
From 16th Avenue
They never found the fingerprints
Or the weapon that was used
But someone killed country music
Cut out its heart and soul
They got away with murder
Down on music row

The almight dollar
And the lust for worldwide fame
Slowly killed tradition
And for that, someone shouldhang ("Ahh, you tell 'em Alan")
They all say "Not Guilty!"
But the evidence will show
That murder was committed
Down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry
And the fiddles barely play
But drums and rock 'n' roll guitars
Are mixed up in your face
Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance
On today's radio
Since they committed murder
Down on music row

They thought no one would miss it
Once it was dead and gone
They said no one would buy them ol'
Drinkin' and cheatin' songs ("Oh, but I still buy 'em")
Well there ain't no justice in it
And the hard facts are cold
Murder's been committed
Down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry
And you can't hear fiddles play
With drums and rock 'n' roll guitars
Mixed right up in your face
Why the Hag wouldn't have a chance
On today's radio
Since they committed murder
Down on music row

Why they even tell the Possum
To pack up and go back home
There's been an awful murder
Down on music row

 

[reggaenaut]

Ok, ok let us call Miss Swift's music NEW COUNTRY.

 

[RayW]

I figure it's just evolution. Rock-n-roll isn't the same as when Chuch Berry played it. Reggae isn't the same as when Bob Marley was alive. Rap isn't the same as when Run DMC were on top. Everything moves on. Time will take its toll on a music genre but there are always the hardcore believers that will continue with the tradition as they learned it.

Music seems to be getting mushy and oozing together so that country/pop, rap/rock, and all sorts of crossovers are becoming more prevalent. I see it as music spreading in new directions. Follow the artists you like and forget the label stuck on it.

Personally, I'm not all that hip on genrefication of music. In my mind there's good music (aka music I like) and bad music (music I don't like).

 

[opt80]

I don't mean to be contrary either. I've put a lot of thought into this in the past.

I think Bob's voice and his words are two halves of a perfect presentation. or to put it another way, his voice is the perfect vehicle for the content it's delivering. If you took either side of that away, it doesn't work nearly as well. Ever hear the "Dylan" album for around 1975? It's Bob doing embarrassingly bad covers. Some speculate that Columbia released it as a spiteful act to shame him.

For me, a lot is lost when folks who sound more polished, like Peter, Paul,and Mary, cover his songs.

I can understand that folks would be inclined to use Mr. Dylan as an example of "bad" singing. Especially if you thought you were talking to a group of people who value technical polish over heart and soul. Maybe I'm a bit too sensitive about Bob.

I have been in many an argument over Dylan as a singer.I believe you are right,Brett,when you say his voice is the perfect vehicle for the content. proof is in Riobyn Hithcock's album Robyn Sings
Robyn sings song by song Dylan's Blonde on Blonde album.It is nice but when I want to hear Blonde On Blonde I reach for my Dylan copy

 

[jimfet]

I think it's time for George Jones to just bitch slap somebody. Listen to George sing Billy be bad. It's all about today's Country and hits the nail on the head. This is years old too.