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One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

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Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#91

Post by busterarm »

TylerE wrote: post #79
busterarm wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you're right. But honestly producers have been the most important players in the game since Rick Rubin when producers started to contribute more to songwriting (actually that's sort of a lie - I'd argue it started with Keith Olsen). It's sorta shocking that people don't know. I only even mentioned ghostwriting because some other comments mentioned it and because it actually does happen where the credits aren't…

It goes way back before that. The whole Brill Building/Tin Pan Alley era, Holland-Dozier-Holland, etc.

How Motown slipped my mind completely I don't understand but yes you're right, but I wasn't under the impression that at Tin Pan Alley the songwriters did the production themselves. That said, I hadn't done much research into that era of recording.

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#92

Post by twerquie »

rch wrote: post #77
joelrunyon wrote: post #14

I don't understand all the hate. Okay I get we don't have a lot of backstreet boy or Britney fans here (not one either) & I get the whole "pop music sounds the same lament, but at the same time, there's a market for it & he's excelled at creating something that sells that. Just because it's pop music doesn't mean you can't give the guy credit for understanding his market & dominating his field.

I'm sure he gets plenty of credit in his professional life already. There's no reason to champion people who trade in valueless simply because they are able to make a living at it. Of course he is probably a truly nice guy, and great source of conversation, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's making a valuable contribution of some kind.

And how is value determined (hint: it's not subjective)?

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#93

Post by sweedy »

BoardsOfCanada wrote: post #84
twerquie wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a feeling we're going to look back on this era of music with wide-eyed wonder and recognize many of his pop hits as the masterpieces they are. Unfortunately, social norms prevent us from listening with our ears.

I never ever listen to pop-music, but every summer I used to drive my parents car for 1-2 weeks. So I always got a fresh set of songs every summer, and every year there were between 0 and 2 songs that I found genuinely good (and I knew little or nothing about the artists). The last time was in 2011 (I think) and Rolling in the deep was the only song I liked. I'll go back and look through the producers, would be cool…

Rolling in the deep is been produced by Paul Epworth, and he is is no less impressive

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#94

Post by Tycho »

twerquie wrote: post #80
Tycho wrote: post #42

That is a gross, absurd exaggeration. He has a few classic pop songs, no doubt, and clearly a very lucrative career writing and producing tracks for A-list pop stars. But in the last 10 years I'm not sure he's written any of what I'd call the best pop hits. Looking through his discography on wikipedia I suspect there's some of those songs I know by melody and not by name, but I think he's long past his songwriter pea…

Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album was largely written by MM, I'd say it's both one of the most important pop records of the last decade and MM's best work. It smashed all sorts of chart records, in total it had 8 top-three singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and 5 number one singles. It's absolutely destined to be a classic album in every sense of the word, and I find it funny that most music heads I know can't see that…

Interesting. Maybe I'll give it a spin. I can only think of a couple of singles but they were very catchy (Last Friday Night and California Girls).

I tend to view rock and pop and most other mainstream genres as simply one super-genre: modern song. It amuses me slightly when rock fans look down on pop music when really the difference is very small.

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#96

Post by ronaldx »

twerquie wrote: post #90
ronaldx wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I dislike about Dr Luke is that his artists are autotuned to the extent that they all sound exactly the same. Katy Perry's voice could be swapped for Avril Lavigne's and many people would barely notice. This accusation is not new in pop music, and I do like his work, but it seems no more skillful by now than finding the right formula and milking it to death with marketing machinery. It find it negative for creat…

Pitch correction is unable to change the timbre of a voice. If you can't easily recognize different people's (auto-tuned) voices, you would be in the vast minority of humans who lack this basic skill.

You can count me in that group, in this particular case, but maybe pitch correction is not the whole story.

Here's my point: I can identify a song as being by Dr Luke far more confidently and readily than I can identify the named artist, and I doubt I'm in such a tiny minority there.

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#97

Post by alan_cx »

swombat wrote: post #18
tedks wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>there's a market for it & he's excelled at creating something that sells that. There's also a market for black tar heroin, nuclear missiles, drones, slaves, and so on. >Just because it's pop music doesn't mean you can't give the guy credit for understanding his market & dominating his field. Is pop music a good thing for the world? (It obviously isn't as bad as any of the things I listed above to avoid claims of hyp…

Are you seriously comparing pop music to heroin and slaves???

No he didnt. All he did was say that its not an instant justification for something just because there is a market for it, by listing examples of things that have a market, but society doesn't want sold. Just because there is a market for something, it doesn't mean it should be sold.

I disagree that pop music is some how damaging, bad or undesirable, thats just snobbery. Its not my thing, but then I dont expect other people to like my taste in music. Its stupid, its like arguing that blue is good, and yellow is bad.

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#98

Post by rch »

twerquie wrote: post #92
rch wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure he gets plenty of credit in his professional life already. There's no reason to champion people who trade in valueless simply because they are able to make a living at it. Of course he is probably a truly nice guy, and great source of conversation, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's making a valuable contribution of some kind.

And how is value determined (hint: it's not subjective)?

I'd say it's more complicated than you're hinting at.

In this case, could it be at least in part a function of the likelihood that people will listen to and/or perform a piece of music after the copyright on that work has expired? Assuming such a thing is possible, of course.

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#99

Post by twerquie »

rch wrote: post #98
twerquie wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how is value determined (hint: it's not subjective)?

I'd say it's more complicated than you're hinting at. In this case, could it be at least in part a function of the likelihood that people will listen to and/or perform a piece of music after the copyright on that work has expired? Assuming such a thing is possible, of course.

Why wait until the copyright has expired?

Re: One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

#100

Post by VintageCool »

zaidf wrote: post #10

Does anyone know what's the equivelent in rap? Can I assume most mainstream rappers(Kanye, Wiz, 50 Cent etc.) heavily contribute to their own lyrics? I'm particularly curious about Eminem.

From Wikipedia: In 2006 and 2007 alone, Timbaland was responsible for 16 Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles.
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