Taylor Swift I just don't get it
- Thread starter Axcel
- Start date
onepixel
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ecandle
There's hope for you yet Russell
21st Century country girl.
oh.. I'd trade up to this from Dylan sure :thmbsp:
Sharpstik
Stuck in the 70's
I KNOW it pains him . He said so in a concert I attended.
I see where you're from North Carolina. If it didn't get played on WBT, way back when, perhaps it wasn't good enough? I've tried to listen to country the last 20 years. I've long since tuned out.
Great read here.
131east23
...near Frank's Pizza!
Why are we comparing her to Dylan? What about Baez or Slick? It's really not fair to post a picture of a barely legal beauty and ask "Who would you rather have, her or Dylan..." If she was ugly she wouldn't have a career and we wouldn't be posting about this. So, really, it's not about her talent. She is just another unattainable product that the marketers dangle in front of our eyes. YOU are being marketed to and YOU are falling for it! LOL
fotno
Lunatic Member
I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with you on this one.
"When they were born" is all the difference in the world. We all are a product of our respective environments and times.
If Dylan grew up playing Gameboys, skateboarding, listening to Radiohead and the Backstreet Boys he would not be the great poet as we know, and if Taylor grew up in the turbulent 60s...well it would be another story.
As well as everyone who has posted in this thread, we are all different and unique individuals pulling from past experiences which defines what we like or do not like.
If you really think about it... it's really not a big deal.
Respectfully: Taylor Swift is not now, nor do I believe she will ever be a musician the caliber of a Bob Dylan, or even a Regina Spektor (to be more gender appropriate and contemporary). But the heart of what I am making talking about, is not Taylor Swift, but the decline in the quality and individuality of music as a whole and more pointedly, roots/country music in particular.
Swift's music is fine as far as it goes, but just because something is edible, doesn't make it palatable or appetizing to everyone. Homogenization is not a pursuit in and of itself, or at least it shouldn't be. What we have with current popular music (used in the grander sense) is the creation of music that has almost no character other than its similarity to something else. Seemingly gone are the days of the instantly recognizable voice or instrument, or the lyric that reaches deeper than the surface of day to day life. Same, same, same, same, SAME.
If you like her music, fine... More power to you. You certainly won't have any trouble finding it on a store shelf. Speaking only for myself here: I wouldn't have liked it at 20 years of age, and I damn sure don't have any use for it now.
reggaenaut
Addicted Member
My grand daughter, loves this NEW COUNTRY stuff.
I guess it must be due to the disney channels to which she is glued. I tried to get her to listen to some of my music preferences, but her usual response: its old peoples music:tears:Do you mean sexually or musically? The lines of this thread have been forever blurred.
$$$$$
onepixel
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For the heart of what you're saying, I totally agree. I started listening to the "available" homogenized versions of roots/country/western music in the early 70s. Much has changed since.
As for Taylor she is only 19, we'll have to just wait and see.
you're entitled to your own opinion, and in my opinion that's a pretty bold one. she's barely old enough to drive but has a good head on her shoulders. she's had a fairly sheltered childhood and is still coming into her own, finding out how the world REALLY works and seeing the "sand and glue" side of things. to put a limit now on her future abilities and success is awfully short-sighted. and even though she does write her own songs now, my guess is the producers and her agent still have her on a pretty short leash. who's to say she wouldn't rather be doing something that you Dylan fans would be more appreciative of? if she can sustain some success, we may see different sides of her. i'm willing to keep an open mind, at least...
What about both? When I was 11, I was listening to both 80s synth pop songs and NWA. I think I turned out fine.
reggaenaut
Addicted Member
Well put! Lets keep an open mind!
2DualsNotEnough
Addicted Member
Im getting a kick out of everyone bemoaning the death of "real Country Music".A month ago or so,I ran into an enormous collection of country music dating from the early 60s to the 80s at a GW,and it took me back to being a kid,when my dads radio was constantly tuned to KBBQ and KLAC in Los Angeles.Most of the music in those boxes were just countrified pop-Mel Tilis,Billy Crash Craddock,Lynn Anderson,Donna Fargo,Glenn Campbell,Billie Jo Spears,Kenny Rogers,Ed Ames,Bill Anderson,etc.I found a few later Ernest Tubbs records from the early 70s bemoaning the death of Real Country in the liner notes.
And Dolly Parton,in the mid 60s when she was mainly with Porter Wagoner,was often belittled as just a pretty pop singer with big tits,and she had been writing her own songs all along.The great stuff-Coat Of Many Colors,In the Good Old Days When Things Were Bad,My Tennesee Mountain Home,Jolene,were written between the late 60s and mid 70s,when she had matured as an artist.Not many people now are as good as she was then.Not many then,either.
Give Taylor time to mature into her talent,and I bet we see some pretty remarkable music from her.
Jimmy
And Dolly Parton,in the mid 60s when she was mainly with Porter Wagoner,was often belittled as just a pretty pop singer with big tits,and she had been writing her own songs all along.The great stuff-Coat Of Many Colors,In the Good Old Days When Things Were Bad,My Tennesee Mountain Home,Jolene,were written between the late 60s and mid 70s,when she had matured as an artist.Not many people now are as good as she was then.Not many then,either.
Give Taylor time to mature into her talent,and I bet we see some pretty remarkable music from her.
Jimmy
This is a very interesting thread! I agree with several posters about how the times we live in impact our musical tastes. My 15 year old daughter loves Taylor Swift, but she would not be caught dead listening to "country music". I asked her why -1) she is a nice girl; 2) she is not a "trashy" girl; 3) she writes lyrics that connect.
It seems to me that the way people (kids especially) currently listen to music (via online sites, TV, movies, etc.) often makes them more open to whatever sounds good. Examples - I was vinyl shopping; my daughter was along. She got all excited over some old Billie Holliday records. Reason? One of her songs was on a movie soundtrack (Twilight maybe?) Example 2 - she is on a Frank Sinatra kick! She says she just likes his voice - nothing fancy, he just sings! I asked where this came from - she said she was tired of "imitators" like Michael Buble, and likes the real thing. I said, if you like Sinatra, check this out - gave her a Harry Connick big band CD. It is on her iPod now.
So, I don't complain about anything that is playing in our house, as long as it keeps our family "in the music!"
It seems to me that the way people (kids especially) currently listen to music (via online sites, TV, movies, etc.) often makes them more open to whatever sounds good. Examples - I was vinyl shopping; my daughter was along. She got all excited over some old Billie Holliday records. Reason? One of her songs was on a movie soundtrack (Twilight maybe?) Example 2 - she is on a Frank Sinatra kick! She says she just likes his voice - nothing fancy, he just sings! I asked where this came from - she said she was tired of "imitators" like Michael Buble, and likes the real thing. I said, if you like Sinatra, check this out - gave her a Harry Connick big band CD. It is on her iPod now.
So, I don't complain about anything that is playing in our house, as long as it keeps our family "in the music!"
onepixel
.
This is a very interesting thread! I agree with several posters about how the times we live in impact our musical tastes. My 15 year old daughter loves Taylor Swift, but she would not be caught dead listening to "country music". I asked her why -1) she is a nice girl; 2) she is not a "trashy" girl; 3) she writes lyrics that connect.
It seems to me that the way people (kids especially) currently listen to music (via online sites, TV, movies, etc.) often makes them more open to whatever sounds good. Examples - I was vinyl shopping; my daughter was along. She got all excited over some old Billie Holliday records. Reason? One of her songs was on a movie soundtrack (Twilight maybe?) Example 2 - she is on a Frank Sinatra kick! She says she just likes his voice - nothing fancy, he just sings! I asked where this came from - she said she was tired of "imitators" like Michael Buble, and likes the real thing. I said, if you like Sinatra, check this out - gave her a Harry Connick big band CD. It is on her iPod now.
So, I don't complain about anything that is playing in our house, as long as it keeps our family "in the music!"
Kids are great aren't they? They open your eyes to a "new" world and also not to forget the old. My teenage daughter seemingly out of the blue liked The Who and Led Zepplin. She had heard their songs on tv shows and commercials.
btw... I never knew who Michael Buble was until couple years ago when my daughter gave me his CD for Christmas. I've been telling myself it's not that bad.
fotno
Lunatic Member
Listen folks, I'm being open minded, but I've been around long enough to have seen 'em come, and seen 'em go. This gets real personal with me. I've known brilliant musicians who were never given a chance to make it because they didn't fit what the money people in the music business were looking for, and I've seen sub-par musicians do well because they had a square jaw and could play a half dozen chords. When you've seen great musicians working their fingers to the bone in a cotton mill, when others (who aren't worthy to tie their shoes) are the toast of the town, it tends to rub you the wrong way.
I haven't heard anything from her yet that inspires me to think that she's somehow going to mature into the poet laureate of modern country music.
Maybe she will (that's me being open minded) and if she ever does move beyond writing songs about being a teenaged girl, I'll give her another listen.
21st Century country girl.
Makes me want to get my '54 GMC running and ask if she wants to go out for a spin.
Well said, and it reinforces the point I made ages ago. The times when "real" country was actually in the forefront of country on the radio were few and far between. We're talking about an industry that tossed Johnny Cash under the bus, only for him to reach (arguably) even greater heights as an old man when the alternative rock crowd discovered him in the mid 90s. He won Best Country Album for one of the "American" series even after the Nashville music machine radio stations wouldn't play it.
specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
To continue on onepixel's thoughts...
It's not Taylor Swift's fault some of you don't like her music. She's doing the music she wants to do, and having a blast doing it.
My almost 15 y/o daughter is a big fan. If TS gets her into music and buying whole albums instead of induhvidual songs from iTunes, I'm not gonna knock it.
I'll agree it's not country the way we think it *should* be. But I also remember being 16 and playing my Deep Purple and Grand Funk Railroad 8 tracks too loud. My parents hated that.... "that's not rock and roll! You should listen to some Chuck Berry!"
It's not Taylor Swift's fault some of you don't like her music. She's doing the music she wants to do, and having a blast doing it.
My almost 15 y/o daughter is a big fan. If TS gets her into music and buying whole albums instead of induhvidual songs from iTunes, I'm not gonna knock it.
I'll agree it's not country the way we think it *should* be. But I also remember being 16 and playing my Deep Purple and Grand Funk Railroad 8 tracks too loud. My parents hated that.... "that's not rock and roll! You should listen to some Chuck Berry!"