Friday, December 11, 2009

Taylor Swift

I don't get it. How can this bland boring music get so many plays and fill up so many slots on the top 40? It has nothing new to add to the world, just soul-less retellings of stories that have already been told too many times in better ways, packaged in the most attractive of plastic packaging for people with empty heads, backed up by millions of dollars of payola money to radio stations to play this unadventurous and inoffensive (but content-free) pap.

Am I missing something? Anybody?

-- Badtux the "What's the deal?" Penguin

12 comments:

  1. Who is Taylor Swift and why should I give a shit?

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  2. Baywatch is the most watched TV show. Bud Light is the best selling beer. Not just in our country, but in the whole world.


    Accept those facts and then almost everything else about "the masses" makes total sense.

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  3. retellings of stories that have already been told too many times in better ways, packaged in the most attractive of plastic packaging for people with empty heads, backed up by millions of dollars of payola money

    And you say you don't get it? You get it exactly.

    TS is cute, bordering on stunning, has a pleasant voice, and her sense of pitch does not make me wince.

    I think I'm becoming a fan . . .

    Cheers!
    JzB the gets it trombonist

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  4. JzB, if her sense of pitch doesn't make you wince, you've only heard the auto-tuned version. It's bad. Really bad.
    (And Tux, she's terrible. It bothers me that her ear candy gets plenty of attention while so many truly talented songwriters and artists remain under the radar.)

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  5. BBC: I'm not sure, but you look at the top 40 chart, it seems like half the slots there have "Taylor Swift" beside them. WTF?!

    Phygalgia: Glad to know.

    Purple: I think it was W.C. Fields who said, "nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."

    Jazz: Thing is, there's so many people out there who have actual *talent*. There's just no need to promote some dimwit whose entire output doesn't even reach the level of being the least bit interesting. As for her looks, I haven't noticed them, sorry.

    TwoCats: I take it you've had the misfortune of hearing Ms. Swift live at some point in time, perhaps due to a tween relative insisting upon it. The only worse fate would be, I suppose, a Miley Cyrus concert, Ms. Cyrus can't even sing out of tune (rather, she whines nasally, thereby making the world safe for Joisy Goils everywhere, oh wait, Madonna already did that but far more interestingly). In any event, it is certainly interesting how well the modern "Autotune" functions and other such vocals processing work. I just got Logic 9 and will experiment some with that myself, but it's definitely an eye opener seeing some of those voice processing plugins...

    - Badtux the Music Penguin

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  6. Many people look at music today and notice how horrid the popular music is, but when I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) popular music was absolute shit then as well.

    For good music, look far away from whatever is popular. I am sure Ms Swift is a nice enough person, but music without any real soul or meaning to it is nothing new whatsoever.

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  7. Maybe you could figure out this Lady Gaga person while you are at it...

    I live in Quebec where all you hear in the stores this time of year is Celine Dion. You quickly develop the ability to stop listening...or if it's too loud, just leave the store.

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  8. Gaseous Gray12/12/09 4:48 AM

    This is a tough question, BT. I think the fact that Taylor is a teenage cutie (as opposed to a wizened old guy like me) has helped propel her career. I don't intend to buy any of her records, but I'll admit that I like to look at her on my TV box.

    By the way, her music is far less offensive to me than that macho Bud Light-swilling "patriotic" crap that guys like Toby Keith spew out.

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  9. Anon: I'm also old enough to remember when even manufactured music (The Monkees?) had at least *some* originality and freshness.

    Southern Quebec: I can actually understand Lady Gaga more than Taylor Swift. Lady Gaga does bouncy dance music. Good for bouncing around to. Not particularly original, the two songs I sampled on YouTube sounded like she took Madonna and filed the serial numbers off (and external information says that's exactly what she was trying to do) but being original is not its intent, its intent is mostly to sit there in the ambient background inoffensively giving something to dance to. Young people do like dancing around, it makes them feel good, not like us old farts, where it just makes us feel old and creaky. The goofy interviews she gives where either she is making fun of pretentious journalists and rock stars or is an utter loon also appeals to the sense of cynicism that young people have today. So I can understand why young people might buy her product. But Taylor Swift? You can't dance to Taylor Swift's stuff!

    Gaseous: To tell you the truth, I'm not even that familiar with what Taylor Swift looks like. If she's the emaciated blond chick in the YouTube videos with the 1970's "starlet" hairdo held by enough hairspray to float a boat, meh. Teenagers playing dress-up to look like Mommy don't appeal to me, I think teenagers should look like teenagers, not like they have stripper names.

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  10. BT -

    For the most part, my tongue was way up in my cheek.

    But, really, she is cute.

    And pop music has always had a huge crap component. Always.

    Really


    lion-tiger-dingo grrrl -
    I just took a look at the first YouTube vid that popped up. Could be auto-tuned for all I know.

    Cheers!
    JzB the lingual trombonist

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  11. A pretty little blonde, blue-eyed country girl who writes her own stuff and who the media loves?

    You're a silly penguin sometimes.

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