DISCLAIMER- Not all my friends are snobs like me, and so I'm sorry if anyone is offended by my opinion. I have no illusions that what I think is absolute truth and I'll never tell anyone they're wrong because I don't agree with them.
I think since 2005 I have been almost completely removed from popular music. If I have the radio on in my car, it's on 90.9 Chicago jazz, or 98.7 Chicago classical. I don't watch the TV shows that champion 'popular music', such as Gossip Girl. The extent of my knowledge of popular music extended to what I hear from the popular youtube program whatthebuckshow, which mostly makes fun of the artists. Yesterday though, at the request of a friend, I checked out some Owl City, which is apparently extremely popular since the hit single 'Fireflies' filled the radio waves last year.
Let me just say, I was pretty underwhelmed. While listening to a few of his tracks, I was struck at how processed the songs were. The lyrics were particularly bubbly and cheerful, but without substance, which appeals to a portion of the teens and 20 somethings out there. A little research revealed that the sole artist, Adam Young, relies heavily on AUTO TUNE and other processed musical effects to create the sound that so many love these days.
Let me just explain the abomination that auto tune is, for a moment. For those of you who don't know, auto tune is a program that allows the 'artist' to heavily edit his voice and correct any pitch problems that may rise up from, say, lack of ability. It has become so widespread that according to a sound engineer (who wishes to remain nameless) ""Let's just say I've had Auto-Tune save vocals on everything from Britney Spears to Bollywood soundtrack albums. And every singer now presumes that you'll just run their voice through the box." (Time, 2009)
You read that right. They ASSUME that you'll auto correct their voice while recording. Doubtless this is so the popular musicians of the day can continue their indulgent lifestyle without having to worry about such pesky things as practice and hard work honing their craft.
What this means for music as a forever growing and changing art form is dire. What auto tune has done has created a homogeneous slop of a sound that from artist to artist, more or less remains the same. Owl City, Ke$ha, Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, they're all guilty of this, regardless of what genre they pander to.
What struck me as most worrisome is that this tactic is calculated. While listening to their music, I didn't get the impression that they were desperate to express their inner creative force, or even to put their own personal stamp on the music industry. They are, more likely than not, interested in packaging a product for easy consumption and I have not heard one tune or track that would convince me otherwise. Lyrics that a 12 year old could write? Check. Liberal use of some variant of I-IV-vi-V? Check. Score your music in easy to play major keys, like C, Bb, F, or G? Check.
I'll cite Linkin Park as a decent example. Years ago, they crashed onto the music scene with a rock rap sound coupled with edgy, raw lyrics. In high school I adored them, as they put to music my own feelings of anger and angst quite well. I would never list them as musical paragons and fonts of endless creativity, but they had a sound and it was theirs. Along comes Minutes to Midnight in 2007. Gone was the sound that characterized them so well, and in its place was the same bland, boring, soulless musical product that had become the norm. They defended their album to outraged fans, saying this was their new 'creative' direction, but I don't think there was anything creative about it. They wanted in on the gravy train, but in sacrificing their sound, they lost what made them Linkin Park.
And the worst part of this whole debacle is, artists of today know they can get away with it. They are merely packaging and releasing what the public wants to hear, all wrapped up in a pretty face (with Auto Tune in the background). Gershwin is old man music, Beethoven is music for corpses. If you want to get with the sound of TODAY, you need to cram it and suck down your processed emo-rock-pop like a good little consumer. How does anyone stand this?
I say we hold our artists to a higher standard, for one. The use of Auto Tune in lieu of talent and skill is unforgivable. Asinine lyrics cranked out without a trace of irony is inexcusable. I beg everyone to find artists who make music just for the joy of it, not because they have dollar signs for pupils. The money and fame that a star invariably finds should be a perk, a side benefit, and NOT the reason you're a musician.
Everyone do me a big favor and watch this video of Frank Sinatra singing "Where or When"
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Listen to the way he phrases each line, building up and holding back. His voice is expressive beyond my ability to describe properly; he gives life to the words he is singing. And at the end of the song, his voice mixes perfectly with the orchestra and builds from a whispered hush to something powerful. He is perfectly in tune and perfectly in control of what his voice is doing technically, and he is doing it without Auto Tune.
See, back in the 50's, when this was recorded, a singer had to rely on training, talent, and the pipes God gave him to create a track, but I'll be damned if the finished product isn't something more powerful and moving. The music artists today create is devoid of expression beyond a catchy lyric or two, but in days past, a singer had to interpret and express. At the end of this rendition of "Where or When" I have chills. At the end of Miley Cyrus' "7 things" I feel mildly disgusted and used.
The optimist in me would love to believe that this is a passing fad that will die out in a few years and be remembered fondly in "I love the two Thousands" programs. But from what I understand of humanity, auto tune and commercially standardized music represents the easy way out for artists looking for the fame and success without the work involved. If we continue on this track and refuse to hold our favorite bands up to artistic integrity, we might as well have robots belting out the no. 1 hit single on the radio.
http://www.time.com/time/m
