when you get off the commercial radio stations you'll find there's a whole universe of excellent modern stuff that you can't find in mainstream record stores.
I don't doubt that that's so. But here's something that bothers me.
In the old days, a hit song was a shared experience. It wasn't just kids who knew about "Stop! In the Name of Love!" or "Michelle." Everybody did. Kids liked the songs more than their parents did. But the parents heard the songs on the radio too and reacted to them in some way. Music then was a cultural experience shared by all, and that gave it a long-term significance that it seems to me to lack today.
It seems sad to me that when you go to a wedding or something, they still play songs from decades ago because those are the ones that everyone knows. It doesn't seem healthy to me to stay stuck in the past. But the new stuff is only recognized by a small percentage of the population. So it doesn't work in trying to get people out on the dance floor.
Also, it doesn't seem that we are creating new melodies. It used to be that they had "Revolution" on one side of the single and "Hey Jude" on the other. Now it seems like it is all various versions of the "Revolution" concept. Actually, I think Dylan should take a lot of the blame for this because he was so big that a lot of people were influenced by him and he was real weak in the melody department. Who are the young Stevie Wonders--the ones who can write a memorable melody and combine it with lyrics that don't make your teeth hurt?
