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Jon Bon Jovi blames Steve Jobs for killing the music business


The Poojer

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can't agree with bon jovi here. maybe he's right about the drop in popularity of overproduced, pedestrian crap. the flip side is that we're seeing the rise of many original, innovative, talented and sometimes quirky artists in genres outside the mainstream that would probably have little or no recognition in the days of vinyl only. good for them, the listeners and steve jobs. :thumbsup:

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can't agree with bon jovi here. maybe he's right about the drop in popularity of overproduced, pedestrian crap. the flip side is that we're seeing the rise of many original, innovative, talented and sometimes quirky artists in genres outside the mainstream that would probably have little or no recognition in the days of vinyl only. good for them, the listeners and steve jobs.

 

Total agreement on that, but I kind of get what he's saying. As a kid, you'd put on a record and listen to the whole thing; and surprise, surprise, sometimes the best cuts weren't the ones you had heard on the radio. I think that's what he's lamenting -- the loss of the album concept.

 

Of course, you need quality music to make that matter in the first place and there isn't much in pop music these days that qualifies.

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Total agreement on that, but I kind of get what he's saying. As a kid, you'd put on a record and listen to the whole thing; and surprise, surprise, sometimes the best cuts weren't the ones you had heard on the radio. I think that's what he's lamenting -- the loss of the album concept.

 

Of course, you need quality music to make that matter in the first place and there isn't much in pop music these days that qualifies.

 

That's why I really only listen to live music. Either in a show or on CD. That way the band can create something different every night. It's not spinning the same disc day in and day out. I saw Umphrey's Mcgee Saturday night for the first time and they blew me away. I saw Widespread Panic a few months ago and just learned that they write the second set during the break based on the vibes they get from the audience. That's great.

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I am glad you liked umphrey...they put on a spectacular show

 

That's why I really only listen to live music. Either in a show or on CD. That way the band can create something different every night. It's not spinning the same disc day in and day out. I saw Umphrey's Mcgee Saturday night for the first time and they blew me away. I saw Widespread Panic a few months ago and just learned that they write the second set during the break based on the vibes they get from the audience. That's great.

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I am glad you liked umphrey...they put on a spectacular show

 

 

 

Probably top 5 shows I've ever seen. No......top 3. You can't help but get up and groove and I don't dance. Thank god I live in the city and just had to take a short cab ride home.

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Total agreement on that, but I kind of get what he's saying. As a kid, you'd put on a record and listen to the whole thing; and surprise, surprise, sometimes the best cuts weren't the ones you had heard on the radio. I think that's what he's lamenting -- the loss of the album concept.

 

Of course, you need quality music to make that matter in the first place and there isn't much in pop music these days that qualifies.

 

Yeah - he's not saying the music industry is dead. He's just saying it's lost a lot of its magic. Most people don't flip through liner notes, see the artwork, etc anymore. It's similar to people who complained about the artwork shrinking when we went from LPs to CDs.

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He's not 100% wrong (not exactly 100% right either, but whatever). MP3s/itunes/ipods ruined pop forever. But it also drove album artists back to the LP. Vinyl sales have been doubling every year since 2005. It's renewed an appreciation for the album experience amongst an minority. In many ways it's not so different from the pop scene in the early 60s. Before the Beatles and Dylan changed the game by making the album the artistic statement instead of the single, pop was all 45s. We are in a similar state with digital having such severe aural/artistic limitations. Now we'll probably never go back to huge masses of people buying albums--it is going to be a niche market from here on out. But it's becoming profitable for bands to think in terms of the LP again and that's what matters.

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as noted here, bon jovi is not enitrely wrong about what ITunes did to music, but he's well off target on several counts.

the greedheads at the record labels and at radio conglomerates had far more to do with the shift in the entire landscape that has occurred since the 1980s.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who pushed CDs down everyone's throat at the total and full expense of vinyl.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who caused music labels to eat themselves up until there we were left with four or five "major labels," mostly interested in pushing safe, tepid, radio-friendly, baloney for the tin-eared in order to bolster what's left of their bottom line.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who bought up a majority of music radio stations and then had them programed (and de-programmed of identity and authenticity) from some corporate, windowless room in some suburban Phoenix office park.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who brought us the genre best known as some conglomeration of NickelCreedDoughtry and had it played over and over and over and over and over again to numb what remaining brain cells we have left.

 

and if poor jonny can't compete, well, too bad. it's evident he was too busy worrying about:

-- his hair.

-- his acting career.

-- attempting a shift to some watered down country baloney, that didn't hold a candle to 38 Special for cripes sake.

-- his hair.

 

when bon jovi begins crying about what's gone wrong with music, then it leads me to be believe that something has actually gone right.

and here's the fun part: bon jovi has essentially lost out in this groundswell of accessible singles because it could no longer keep up or find a voice in this new strange wilderness, where in some ways, the democratization of music succeeds because the listener has a choice in the matter.

you like this song, you download it.

you don't like this song, you move on.

 

the fact that bon jovi doesn't resonate is partially bon jovi's fault. not Steve Jobs' or the masses. get some self respect and play something you enjoy playing without worrying what suits the suits. ... oh, sorry, originality really was never your style any way.

 

i'm not saying ITunes is ideal. i have issues with it myself. it's narrow and directed focus for popular songs is stilting. why must i have to weed through "Yes," and "Genesis" just because i have 1970s songs by T-Rex, Television and Peter Gabriel in my collection?

and why is some of Paul Westerberg's music listed as Pop and other as Rock and other as Alternative? ... actually, why does genre matter in the first place.

 

but enough. the best news that could come of it this, is jon bon jovi gives up, goes home to new jersey, from where we shall never hear from him again.

could we be so fortunate.

or am i simply living on a prayer?

 

jw

Edited by john wawrow
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can't agree with bon jovi here. maybe he's right about the drop in popularity of overproduced, pedestrian crap. the flip side is that we're seeing the rise of many original, innovative, talented and sometimes quirky artists in genres outside the mainstream that would probably have little or no recognition in the days of vinyl only. good for them, the listeners and steve jobs. :thumbsup:

 

Problem is you have to wade through so much garbage to actually find something good, its hardly worth the time.

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can't agree with bon jovi here. maybe he's right about the drop in popularity of overproduced, pedestrian crap. the flip side is that we're seeing the rise of many original, innovative, talented and sometimes quirky artists in genres outside the mainstream that would probably have little or no recognition in the days of vinyl only. good for them, the listeners and steve jobs. :thumbsup:

 

:worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

 

I am not a big Apple fan.. I use a Sony Walkman for my .mp3 player... Yet, all the Apple lemmings, there is a place for them... For the heat to be taken off people like me that are in disagreement with what contitutes intellectual property rights! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

I want Apple and itunes to grow as big and fat as possible!!

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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If you think music is dead you really just don't get that what truly will stand the test of time isn't the overproduced pop crap like Bon Jovi its the less popular stuff that resonates with a smaller audience that will stand the test of time. In 5 years Lady Gaga and Justin Biber will be has beens.

 

Don't believe me take a look at the top selling albums by year

 

1962- West Side Story Soundtrack

1963- West Side Story Soundtrack

1964- Hello Dolly Cast Recording

1965- Mary Poppins Soundtrack

1966- Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass

1967- More of the Monkees by the Monkees

1968- Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

1969- In a Gadda Da Vida by Iron Butterfly

 

Aside from Hendrix that's a lot of crap from the 1960's a time that a lot of old D-bag hippies will say is the best era in music. CCR, Dylan, The Greatful Dead, and Lou Reed barely charted back then. The thing is pop music tends to suck but its popular so the past always seems to be better because we have already sifted through the crap and picked out what stands the test of time.

 

Take a look at the 70's, 80's, and 90's most of the top 10 artists suck and are has beens.

 

IF you say music sucks now you aren't paying attention. There are a ton of great bands like The Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady putting out great new music. Good music will never be popular the sooner nostalgia idiots of all ages realize that the more we can enjoy the present.

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as noted here, bon jovi is not enitrely wrong about what ITunes did to music, but he's well off target on several counts.

the greedheads at the record labels and at radio conglomerates had far more to do with the shift in the entire landscape that has occurred since the 1980s.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who pushed CDs down everyone's throat at the total and full expense of vinyl.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who caused music labels to eat themselves up until there we were left with four or five "major labels," mostly interested in pushing safe, tepid, radio-friendly, baloney for the tin-eared in order to bolster what's left of their bottom line.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who bought up a majority of music radio stations and then had them programed (and de-programmed of identity and authenticity) from some corporate, windowless room in some suburban Phoenix office park.

-- it wasn't Steve Jobs who brought us the genre best known as some conglomeration of NickelCreedDoughtry and had it played over and over and over and over and over again to numb what remaining brain cells we have left.

 

 

jw

 

"I didn't invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella."

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