Most musicians just like unpopular music a whole lot more than they like popular music. Yeah, that's annoying, but I don't expect it will ever change.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
What happened to Maroon 5?
- Thread starter t77mackie
- Start date
I have to agree that they definetely got softer. But that's ok. I loved songs about Jane. Man, those songs were almost misogynistic, that Jane chick, must have been quite a bitch.
I really liked It won't be soon before long (Seriously how many pop songs do you know about cunnilingus), Hands all over was meh and I haven't really listened to their last one.
To be honest I really liked their mix of electronic elements and guitars and their small hints towards Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai up until the second album. After that things got too electronic and too poppy. Still, it seems to allow them quite some records so it's fine with me. They pretty great live and I actually thought the drummer was great. Lots of small quiet but intricate stuff, playing with a click all night long and also along pre-recorded stuff. That's not easy guys.
But since I brought this up, shouldn't we be asking what actually happened to Jamiroquai??? Man I miss those guys...
I really liked It won't be soon before long (Seriously how many pop songs do you know about cunnilingus), Hands all over was meh and I haven't really listened to their last one.
To be honest I really liked their mix of electronic elements and guitars and their small hints towards Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai up until the second album. After that things got too electronic and too poppy. Still, it seems to allow them quite some records so it's fine with me. They pretty great live and I actually thought the drummer was great. Lots of small quiet but intricate stuff, playing with a click all night long and also along pre-recorded stuff. That's not easy guys.
But since I brought this up, shouldn't we be asking what actually happened to Jamiroquai??? Man I miss those guys...
Most musicians? I doubt that! A good song is a good song, in my opinion.
I just think 'those' musicians are angry and want their music to reflect their moods! Well then, go listen to 'that' music and leave the Maroon 5's alone!
Bands like Maroon 5 are very much like landscape paintings. Sure they sell but that does not make them art!
So now it's about 'art'??
Now we're experts on what art is!! Ok, y'all carry on with this nonsensical tirade!
I'd compare them more to McDonalds. I think what offends so many people (those likely to label the band a "sellout") is the idea that this band who might have, at one time, possessed some artistic integrity, are now crafting their music (or allowing their music to be crafted) to fit a very specific mould whose primary (if not only) purpose is to sell units.
Isn't that the goal? To sell units? Really, how many people is this offending? Would you get into the music business with the goal to stay broke?? Sorry, but you guys just aren't making any sense to me! And who's to say he's sacrificing his 'art'! It's still his 'art'!
Well, that would depend on which definition of "art" you subscribe to. I like to think that, in creating music, a person's objective is not solely to "sell units". I'd like to think that, at the very least, the person thinks that what they are creating is "good" or has some value besides how much money said creation is going to make them. And yes, of course, it's the music business and there are plenty of people whose sole concern is making money, but there's a reason that, traditionally (as short a tradition as it may be) there has been an inherent rift between the "artist" and those who represent the business side of the industry. And do you really expect people who love music - not just trends - to not react when they are bombarded with cookie-cutter music - to not, in some way, have their sensibilities offended in some way?
They used to be a band, now they essentially sound like they flew in a "producer" (read: computer wizard with no interesting musical ideas, or actually 15-20 as the case is) who did most of the job for them. Doesn't sound like 5 guys playing at all, not even the least electronic songs on their latest sound real. I'm kinda wondering if the guitars are tracked or just programmed, it's hard to tell when the whole thing sounds so computer-ish in general. That's my problem with pop nowadays, computerized producers who doesn't add anything interesting to the songs. They kinda ruin a lot of decent songs IMO.
I dunno... I think "We Found Love", "Danza Kuduro" and "Gangnam Style" are great songs, but it's not easy to find musicians or even DJs who share this opinion. I don't know if it's anger, resentment, elitism, or something not so nasty, but it's real.
Until I hear Adam Levine complain, I'll assume he's enjoying what he's doing and creating.
DJ's NOT like/play hits? C'mon...seriously? That's their bread and butter! Every DJ I know (and I know a lot) play whatever is hot! Folks up dancing all night long! That includes Gangnam Style! They actually go nuts when the DJ plays it! They do the dance too! Art is just part of the equation. It's part entertainment too.
Some folks art is avant garde and some folks art is pop. Doesn't make it any less 'artsy'. Just to you guys.
DJ's NOT like/play hits? C'mon...seriously? That's their bread and butter! Every DJ I know (and I know a lot) play whatever is hot! Folks up dancing all night long! That includes Gangnam Style! They actually go nuts when the DJ plays it! They do the dance too! Art is just part of the equation. It's part entertainment too.
Some folks art is avant garde and some folks art is pop. Doesn't make it any less 'artsy'. Just to you guys.
There's definitely an argument to be made for 'pop art' - after all Takeshi Murakami is one of the richest living artists on earth, rarely gets his hands dirty and yet I challenge anyone to say he's not making 'art'.
He had a great quote that could be used to frame the Adam Levine Maroon 5 conversation (heavily paraphrasing the translation from Japanese) - "comic books, manga, and movies all make money, and yet art does not. Why can't we take that business model and apply it to the creation of art?"
So in that context it's not about whether or not you 'sell out', it's more about whether or not the stuff you produce after you sell out is still aesthetically pleasing. A lot of bands lose some of their core following when this happens, the great ones do not. Mainly because they use the additional resources to keep being creative - I'd argue that for the most part Maroon 5 has not used their success to push any boundaries, other than the ones on their bank accounts.
PS. Best recent 'sell out' I've heard has been the new Tegan & Sara album (with tracks produced by talkbass' very own JMJ). You won't find a more devoted, aggressively 'indie' group of fans but they seem to have embraced T&S' attempts to keep evolving (and make a little money along the way).
He had a great quote that could be used to frame the Adam Levine Maroon 5 conversation (heavily paraphrasing the translation from Japanese) - "comic books, manga, and movies all make money, and yet art does not. Why can't we take that business model and apply it to the creation of art?"
So in that context it's not about whether or not you 'sell out', it's more about whether or not the stuff you produce after you sell out is still aesthetically pleasing. A lot of bands lose some of their core following when this happens, the great ones do not. Mainly because they use the additional resources to keep being creative - I'd argue that for the most part Maroon 5 has not used their success to push any boundaries, other than the ones on their bank accounts.
PS. Best recent 'sell out' I've heard has been the new Tegan & Sara album (with tracks produced by talkbass' very own JMJ). You won't find a more devoted, aggressively 'indie' group of fans but they seem to have embraced T&S' attempts to keep evolving (and make a little money along the way).
I DJ'd for more than fifteen years and, with the exception of the the few corporate gigs I did, I had no interest in playing what was "hot". As a DJ it depends entirely on who you're playing for.
I love musicians. they whine about people selling out, not playing their own instruments, etc. Then comes folk rock, and musicians whine because too many bands are playing the double bass and mandolins. Are we really going to yearn for the realness of Taylor Swift? I wish we would make up our minds. I can't keep up with who we are supposed to hate.
I don't think anyone expects their validation.
Doesn't mean we can't critique their stale, overdone, generic, wanker style.
My critique of "folk" rock like Mumford and Sons is IT IS NOT FOLK.
It's pop music with not-so-pop instruments and a driving beat. I like Mumford for what they are but they cop themselves over and over.
I just had a revelation ^
What annoys me more is the over-marketing due to The Voice. They along with American Idol choose judges not on their ability but on their impending albums or singles. They use it as marketing. It's really quite sick to me.
+9000.
I never liked it in the first place, and FAR too much of the local scene here is folk. Seriously, what? When and how did this happen?!?
