What Breeds Generic Music in Our Culture Today

From the start of the 21st century, music as we know it has undergone a great change. Not only are there drastic differences in the actual sound, but also in the instruments used, and creation process. Due to these differences, we as listeners and consumers must be informed about these processes and how they affect music for better or for worse. Here are a couple of opinions as to why music has become more homogenous and repetitive over the years.

Record companies carry less weight each day: Due to technological advances, the amateur music lover can get their hands on decent quality recording equipment. Furthermore, many analog machines have become replaced with digital software, feasibly allowing only one person to take part in the recording process. Where as, a few decades ago, the recording company would debut an emerging artist, back them up and put their stamp on them as a well-rounded product, we are now left to make up our own minds. While recording companies have definitely backed not-so-talented artists in the past, the task of figuring out who is good or not now lies completely on the shoulders of the listener. This allows many artists to get discovered that normally wouldn't, but also allows other artists to copy or emulated a more talented individual, resulting in a similar sound, but with less innovative or thought-provoking techniques used. We're left with one or two good artists and a whole slew of mediocre, similar-sounding material that we have to sift through.

Singing Competition Shows: Singing shows have altered the general public's view on what is good singing. Shows such as The Voice, American Idol and The X Factor rely on a judge's opinion to base whether or not the singer is good. The truth is that a lot of the judges (despite being musicians themselves) have had little to no formal training in singing and/or music. Of course, they are seasoned musicians in their field (usually pop), but this has nothing to do with being able to verbally articulate on healthy singing. A good example of a judge who backs up what they're saying is Harry Connick Jr., a new judge on American Idol. In this video clip we can see Harry Connick Jr. explaining what a pentatonic scale is to Jennifer Lopez, another judge.

Despite having sung pentatonic scales in her own music, Jennifer Lopez had no idea what they were, or when to use one. There are a few other clips like this, demonstrating that some of the judges themselves are incompetent at explaining the technicalities of music and singing! Because so many people vie to sing on these shows to gain instant fame, we now have started to believe this is the only way to make it in the music business. I leave you with a slightly paraphrased quote from one of the greatest rock drummers, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters):

"When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The Voice , then they think, 'Oh, okay, that's how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight hours with 800 people at a convention centre and then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it's not good enough.' Can you imagine?" "It's destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy an old drum set and get in their garage and stink. And get their friends to come in and they'll stink too. And then they'll start playing and they'll have the best time they've ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they'll become Nirvana. Because that's exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some old instruments and they got together and started playing some noise, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don't need a computer or the Internet or The Voice or American Idol ."

It's time we got back to sounding bad at our instruments and figuring them out instead of letting someone else tell us what's good or bad singing/playing! Music should be a fun, creative and inspiring learning experience.