TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Hasn't Top 40 always been aimed at younger listeners?
So you don't know who BTS is, then?The chorus in the number one song right now by Olivia "Good for you" is like a Descendents song sung by a teenage girl. Bruno Mars has very danceable songs. So does Dua Lipa. But the Weeknd, and the ones you mention above are lame.
There are exceptions.
I'll cop to not having any clue what current top 40 sounds like.Is your band playing a set list of mostly current Top 40? I don't mean hits from the 1990's, which is still WAY newer that most bands setlist, but current hits.
If this doesn't get asses on the dance floor, perhaps nothing will.
It just shows the current feeling …Nope. And, honestly, I don't hate a lot of that stuff. My daughters are 9 and 12. They keep my 50 year old butt "current".
I totally agree with @buldog5151bass on this one. Most newer music is aimed at very young people. And very young people don't go to the kinds of bars that have live bands (for the most part). They're into DJs.
"Can't Stop the Feeling" is the latest pop hit we do. We do several "country" songs from recent charts. (They aren't really country songs to me, but I like the songs.)
One thing I will mention about the newer music my girls are into. There's not a lot to celebrate in the songs. They aren't "party" songs. They aren't made for dancing. They remind me of the 90s, when most music was a downer (with exceptions, of course). Olivia Rodrigo doesn't have much in the way of "party" music. Nor does Ed Sheeran, Billie Eillish, Shawn Mendez, etc. They have good breakup songs, and love songs. But nothing I would try to play live. The Weekend has a party song from time to time. Dua has some catchy stuff. But most current pop hits just aren't..... "fun". Kids are pretty melodramatic these days.
i think they were ubiquitous. even when i left the city (there were 10-12 competing teen clubs in/near indy, mid 60s) to go visit my 'country cousins' there was some version of a 'teen scene' joint(s) with bands.I'm sure there were parallel scenes in other US cities. THis culture doesn't exist anymore.
i can appreciate your "rose tinted glasses" point, but: what is it about that list that annoys you?Too many people have rose tinted glasses… top 40 or whatever always been meh. The good songs of the 70 (50 years ago) aren’t that much better … where are all the bands people are so proud and happy and rave about here ? No where that is where. People only remember the good.
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970 - Wikipedia
Totally agree. But to be fair to the artists he displaced, his new release dropped 11 days ago and has 29 tracks on it. So, huge immediate buzz that can fill up more spaces than most releases with that buzz. (My 20 year old musician son reports Donda it has great moments, but needs editing.)That is impressive.
I guess there are no live bands a t Teen Clubs anymore.
I’m looking it right now and can’t find any Grunge song piercing the top 40 during the 90s weird how our perception isn’t the realityAs of today, most of the Billboard Hot 100 seems to be Kanye.
The Hot 100 Chart | Billboard
My acoustic trio has recently done "Circles" by Post Malone and "Levitating" by Dua Lipa with success. But past that, i can't see attempting many of these songs.
In the 80's I was in my 20's. There were huge crowds of 20-somethings in the bars listening to bands like mine playing what was then current music, which has now morphed into classic rock. The record-buying public wasn't high-schoolers back then; it was also all of us in that generation. Things seem a little different now.Hasn't Top 40 always been aimed at younger listeners?
Uh, that list is filled with classic songs by revered artists. Those artists include The Beatles, Sly & The Family Stone, Simon & Garfunkel, Chicago, The Carpenters, Santana, The Four Tops, The Kinks, CCR, The Jackson 5, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, The Spinners, Joe Cocker, Ike & Tina Turner, The Temptations, The Supremes, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Glen Campbell, James Taylor, Elvis, etc.Too many people have rose tinted glasses…
top 40 or whatever always been meh. The good songs of the 70 (50 years ago) aren’t that much better … where are all the bands people are so proud and happy and rave about here ? No where that is where. People only remember the good.
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970 - Wikipedia
The first post-covid show I did with the blues band. Outdoor, youngish crowd, polite, not too responsive, whatever, they're paying us.At my nephew's wedding a few weeks ago, my niece's boyfriend went absolutely bonkers dancing to Cottoneyed Joe.
If this doesn't get asses on the dance floor, perhaps nothing will.
None of the songs are the one associated with the artist by cover band.Uh, that list is filled with classic songs by revered artists. Those artists include The Beatles, Sly & The Family Stone, Simon & Garfunkel, Chicago, The Carpenters, Santana, The Four Tops, The Kinks, CCR, The Jackson 5, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, The Spinners, Joe Cocker, Ike & Tina Turner, The Temptations, The Supremes, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Glen Campbell, James Taylor, Elvis, etc.
Not exactly a list I would refer to as "meh".
It just shows the current feeling …
in the 90s it wasn’t a happy time just like right now it isn’t happy…
it also shows that Boomer wanted to be hippies and party and have no care