The Top Forty Desert – An Xperience Column
Written by Staff on July 4, 2024
The Top Forty Desert – An Xperience Column – by Johnny Mystery.
Out in the arid plains, we find the vapid wasteland we refer to as Pop Music. The Top 40 landscape has been talked of ad nauseam since this antiquated art form appeared nearly a century ago. Where’s the melody anyway? I didn’t ask that, Chuck Berry did. If Chuck was alive, would you argue with him? He would sock you the same way he did to Keith Richards when Keef had the audacity to touch Mr. Berry’s guitar when he thought nobody was looking. These days, we are all looking and listening.
It would be easy to assume that the musical taste of the majority has devolved. The pop being played on the corporate, conglomerate, national broadcast networks seems to work. Peel back the onion, though, and you’ll see things a bit more clearly. The wizards of musical smarts are not so much seeking talent and content as they are becoming trendmongers. There was once a day when record companies were run by balding, cigar-chomping, trenchcoat-wearing men who were throwbacks to the Vaudeville Era and actually took chances with new and different artists. They wouldn’t go out of their way to find something bizarre, yet they had an open mind in their approach. They would just say, “I don’t know what this is, but let’s put it out and see what happens.” Money would be budgeted for a project, and on it went and out it goes. Cast it to the wind and see what happens.
Today, because of laziness and just general malaise, it’s an entirely different ballgame. A twenty-something fresh out of college with a major in, oh let’s say philosophy, walks into record company X and gets a job running for coffee and handing out the mail. Once this individual has proven a willingness to show up every day, they might get a real job. Unfortunately, that job turns out to be a talent scout, a job they are not entirely qualified for, but get anyway. The “talent” they find, for the most part, is not found in the clubs. It’s so easy to jump on your computer and toss a few digital darts at unknowns who happen to look right. Once two or three or whatever the budget calls for are chosen, it just becomes a matter of signing, marketing, and distributing the “product.” What you get is the same type of artist, over and over again. The executives are just that lazy and uninterested to bother. That’s not the way to make records, but there it is.
It would seem now that, with the development of AI, the powers that be are content to set everything on cruise control and just sit back and collect the cash, as beatboxes and synthesizers create some sort of droid pop symphonies.
How many great records, songs, and albums never happened because worthy artists didn’t have proper label support? How many bands decided to give up touring after staying in hovels and eating rat burgers on the road, because their songs never got the airplay they deserved? Just because somebody can record anytime, anyplace on their little laptops, does not mean they should. Too much junk is clogging the system. Call the plumber! Not enough time and effort is being put into finding the next artist who could really set the industry straight.
Somebody once took a chance on Frank Zappa and he made a difference in our musical culture. Zappa, in turn, took a band called Alice Cooper and (as a result) they made a series of records that would inspire countless bands and also make some incredibly fun music. Which is what rock and roll started out to be. Music is supposed to make people happy. I didn’t say that either; Fats Domino did. Soul used to cross over into pop radio. Country did the same. Pop would mix with R&B. There are no variables anymore. Lines are drawn, dictating what gets played for whom. The culture has taken a few steps back.
So, who cares about Top 40 or popular music? Isn’t it just background noise for whatever else we happen to be doing? Is it just something else we listen to in the car along with talk radio? Is Pop Music a snapshot of our lives? If you believe that, don’t check out the current hits, ‘cause you’ll run screaming from the room. Not only has song structure all but disappeared, lyrics are repetitive nonsense. The words are not so much sung, but screamed in your face or performed in a monotone, robot tone. This is not what Phil Spector meant when he said, “Back to mono.”
I hate to come off like the Prophet of Doom, but it’s just not a good time for pop radio. There is great music out there, but you have to go looking for it and most people are too lazy. If you seek out the good stations, you’ll find it, and you’ll like it, and you’ll tell your friends about it, and hopefully the word will continue. It has to start with you. That’s right, you – the person reading this right now – has to take the ball and run with it. “Popular” means a lot of people like something. Most people like it. It’s popular. You understand now, don’t you? Wider audience equals bigger airplay.
We want everyone to hear and enjoy great music. We want real singers in real bands, playing real instruments. We want organic music, too. Listen to “Street Fighting Man” by the Rolling Stones. The only electric instrument on that record is a bass. Let’s have some more records like that … ”What else can a poor boy do?”
Just remember a funny man who is no longer with us once said, “See this? This is sand. You’re in the desert. You can’t grow food in the desert. Go someplace where you can grow some food.” In other words, find fertile ground. Plant the seeds and watch it grow. Get out of the desert.
On a sad and final note, the music community has lost a great friend. Scott Cornish, who managed to attend countless local and national shows, many in Troy/Albany, lost a battle with Covid on June 5th. Scott was from Rome NY, and he managed to get around everywhere, without a car! He was a fun person and a super fan. He knew everybody and everybody seemed to know him. We will all miss him. Now get out and see a show, even if you don’t drive.
Continue reading
RadioRadioX