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Most-streamed track of the day by country

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Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#101

Post by freetime2 »

[deleted] wrote: post #44
holografix wrote: post #13

I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip! Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic, materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

[deleted]

For anyone else who is unfamiliar with this usage of "NPC", here is the definition from Urban Dictionary:

> NPC - Modern (2018): A term now used to describe a 'Social Justice Warrior' or SJW, as their behavior mirrors that of traditional in game NPCs, in that their thoughts and actions are limited to their programming (programming being mainstream media in this case) and lacking any critical and independent thought process.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#102

Post by fh973 »

derefr wrote: post #17
holografix wrote: post #13

I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip! Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic, materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

Pretty sure you'd say that about songs from whatever decade you grew up in, if those could be sorted by "most listened to" as well. Top40 is already pablum, but it still has some tiny amount of curation (and therefore elitist dictation of taste) driving it. This chart, meanwhile, represents pure populist sentiment—it's "what the people want to hear." And populist sentiment has always been pretty much all of those thi…

I beg to differ, at least for the genres I have some attachment.

Kids that are into hip-hop still listen to 90s hip-hop, now called golden era.

On the other side 90s electronic music has great stuff, but the field has much advanced in quality and depth.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#104

Post by isoskeles »

Archit3ch wrote: post #31
derefr wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure you'd say that about songs from whatever decade you grew up in, if those could be sorted by "most listened to" as well. Top40 is already pablum, but it still has some tiny amount of curation (and therefore elitist dictation of taste) driving it. This chart, meanwhile, represents pure populist sentiment—it's "what the people want to hear." And populist sentiment has always been pretty much all of those thi…

Also, just because it's popular doesn't mean that people actually prefer that lifestyle. It reminds me of the opening scene in Office Space where a white man listens to rap during traffic on his way to a typical 9-to-5.

To add some more context, he's listening to Scarface, one of the members of the Geto Boys. Geto Boys also had two other tracks on the Office Space soundtrack, Still (from that scene where they beat the hell out of the printer) and Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta.

Not on that soundtrack, but Mind Playing Tricks On Me is another a really good song by them and not at all formulaic, misogynistic, etc. Not saying that anyone attacked the Geto Boys.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#105

Post by sacred_numbers »

Something to keep in mind: the top track in the world right now is ROCKSTAR, with about 5 million streams per day. The song lasts about 3 minutes, which means the song was streamed for 250k hours around the world. Spotify streams an average of 234 million hours per day, though, which means the number one song represents about 0.1% of the total. We have an unprecedented level of access to all sorts of different genres of music, so the number one song is barely relevant in determining this generation's taste in music. Consider this idea: if 99.9% of the population is listening to classical music, but are all listening to different pieces it's possible that none of the songs they are listening to would show up as number one, since there are many thousands of classical pieces. The number one song is determined by a small percentage of people (maybe even a fraction of a percent) that care about listening to whatever is most popular at the moment. The rest of the population just listens to music from any generation they like.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#106

Post by freetime2 »

jariel wrote: post #98
colejohnson66 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re ignoring the point. The point is that, at that time, people hated it. Nowadays, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hates jazz; they’ll recognize it as instrumental, but they won’t like it. The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing. It’s just a fad. In 20 or so years, the younger people who like it will hate the pop of the 2040s or 2050s.

"The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing." No, this is not true at all. "People hated Jazz" - agreed. "People hate pop music now" - agreed. 'Change is generational thing', ok, yes. But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at all. Jazz - to any musical observer - requires an immense amount of skill. However much anyone 'hated Jazz' - if they understood music in the slightest, t…

Is the quality of music determined by the skill of the performer? Or how much it pleases the listener?

Also:

> But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at all.

I think it's much harder to write a hit pop song than you are making it sound. I don't think that I could do it. Do you think that you could?

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#107

Post by colejohnson66 »

jariel wrote: post #98
colejohnson66 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re ignoring the point. The point is that, at that time, people hated it. Nowadays, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hates jazz; they’ll recognize it as instrumental, but they won’t like it. The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing. It’s just a fad. In 20 or so years, the younger people who like it will hate the pop of the 2040s or 2050s.

"The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing." No, this is not true at all. "People hated Jazz" - agreed. "People hate pop music now" - agreed. 'Change is generational thing', ok, yes. But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at all. Jazz - to any musical observer - requires an immense amount of skill. However much anyone 'hated Jazz' - if they understood music in the slightest, t…

> But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at all.

I keep hearing this, but I never see any of its arguers actually attempt to make a pop song. If it’s so easy, why do only some people have the knack for pulling it off (not the artist/singer; the composer (the person you never hear of))

> Jazz - to any musical observer - requires an immense amount of skill.

I really wish I could show you the video as Neely argues it better than I could, but basically, at the time, the features of Jazz were what was hated, not the genre.

According to Wikipedia, Jazz is characterized by a heavy emphasis on improvisation. In the 1920s (when Jazz became a thing), the detractors argued that (I’m paraphrasing) improv “lacked musical talent” and that “anyone could throw notes together to make music”. I’m not making this up. Those are really the arguments they made. People would argue that the absence of counterpoint meant it was an abomination.

Sure, racism played a part, but for the most part, Jazz was hated for the same reason people hate pop today: “it’s easy to make”. Which is just not true.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#108

Post by guevara »

freetime2 wrote: post #101
[deleted] wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

For anyone else who is unfamiliar with this usage of "NPC", here is the definition from Urban Dictionary: > NPC - Modern (2018): A term now used to describe a 'Social Justice Warrior' or SJW, as their behavior mirrors that of traditional in game NPCs, in that their thoughts and actions are limited to their programming (programming being mainstream media in this case) and lacking any critical and independent thought p…

Thank you friend! Should have provided some context ;)

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#109

Post by jariel »

yyy888sss wrote: post #87
jariel wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but: 1) Chart toppers from previous eras are still listenable. Almost nothing on the charts today will be listenable in 2 years. Out-of-touch grandparents in the 1960s could have been convinced to listen to the Beatles. Nobody of a certain age will put up with Top 40 today. 2) It's not quite as democratic as you'd imagine. There are promotions, placements, trends, people sucking kids into clicks in big herds. A m…

Plenty of Top 40 is still generic easy listening for anyone. Ed Sheeran - Perfect is the 8th most streamed song on Spotify and could have been released in basically any era. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk is the 6th most viewed video on Youtube and sounds straight out to the 70s to me.

Absolutely - if Ed and Bruno were more prevalent, no doubt. But look at the actual Hot100. It's just not that, it's very dominated by unlistenable stuff.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#110

Post by toomanybeersies »

Awelton wrote: post #76
holografix wrote: post #13

I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip! Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic, materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

I think the same thing every time I see a top 40 or whatever. Not only do I not know who any or them are, but when I try to listen to a few to see why it's so popular they all sound like the exact same (terrible) song. It's like looking at trending youtube videos, I have no idea who watches that shit.

That's what happens when you optimise music for sales and maximum listeners, rather than artistic freedom and expression.

Chart music isn't created by individuals or bands, , it's created by an army of creative workers in the background. There's an entire industry that is dedicated to creating bland, mass marketable songs. It's the musical equivalent of McDonalds, technically good (i.e. well produced to a specification), consistent, and popular within the largest demographic possible. It's the lowest common denominator, music for people who don't like music.

It's all formulaic garbage, and it doesn't pretend to be anything but. Most pop songs are written by the same handful of songwriters, Max Martin has written 23 Billboard chart topping songs for other artists. You don't even get bands any more, solo singers are easier to work with, and the backing track can be created entirely with DAW software by a team of professionals, no need to deal with fickle band members and a recording studio, the singer barely even sings, we've got autotune for that. Pop music is created by an army of faceless creatives with the pop star nothing more than a figurehead.

That said, I have nothing against pop music, it fits a purpose and most people enjoy it. Nobody forces me to listen to it, so I don't. Just like I don't criticise McDonalds burgers for being tasteless and bland compared to the non-franchise, locally owned burger bar down the road.

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