Americans and music

biffy clyro wrote:

Why does it seem the vast majority of Americans seem to dislike good music?

Prime example...Kings of Leon go in at number 25 in the album charts(number 1 for the second week running in the UK),Nickelback go in at number 1 and sell 5 million??

i agree as an american, its something i just dont understand myself. Why a horrible band like Nickelback has a career? i dont know. Why do a vast number of Americans like them, I blame radio and tv. American Radio is Terrible, most rock stations here cater to a more metal/grungy hard rock mainstream sound. and they tend to lean toward bands like nickelback. The more they play a song the more that songs sticks into peoples heads and make them believe its good. its brainwashing. most people think if its played on the radio its Good. the same goes for Tv, just watch mtv if you have the stomach for it. this goes especially for the hip hop community. i mean it seems if someone just puts a bunch of words together and a nifty little easy dance move , they sell a million records.
Peopel are lazy and would rather have music forcefed to them and told whats good instead of seeking it out themselves. i look for music till i find good stuff. im on my computer everyday sampling music and taking suggestions from all people including a lot from this board, then i check it out and see if i like it
another reason why Good music isnt selling a lot is because a lot of people are poor and dont have the time or money to be spending on music, its not in their budget. its not like they dont know what good music is, they know exactly what it is , they just get it burned from some one else. for example., i dont think my brother or sister have bought a cd in the past 5 years, yet they love every great band out there , I.E Kings of Leon My morning Jacket Etc Etc. they come to my cd collection and burn what they like, if a cd is comming out they want, either i am buying it or they find one of their friends who did and burn it.

i mean al ot of american cities do not have a Modern Rock/Alternative radio station, to hear new good music Indie or otherwise.
Take Philadelphia, where i live. in the before time, we once had a lot of Rock stations here. Now we have one. Before there were a few stations here in Philly like Y100 that played new music, indie music, and cool music, good music, and a mix of bad too. but it was a station that you could here a band that was under the radar and see if you liked em. but since all of these stations have been dumped for hip hop or gospel stations, we have no other outlet for new modern rock, we are left with one Rock Station . Which Is Wmmr, Which is a great fucking station and they play a ton of Pj all the time. but they lean toward a more older hard rock( 70's 80's early 90s) sound . and the new music they do play is all of those neo/post grunge bands like hinder/nickelback/shine down/seether etc etc. so for rock fans in the Philadelphia region we have to settle for Wmmr and what their musical tastes are. i email the radio station everyday and request a ton of cool music, but their emails back to me always sound like " sorry thats not in our playlist" or " although we think that band is awesome , they dont fit the same feel of our station". so basically Wmmr tells us whats good and whats out there. There are a gazillion bands Philly people will never hear because Wmmr will not play them. people who might fall in love with bands like Kings of Leon if they could hear a song will never know who they are because wmmr doesnt play them. Interpol has not had any airplay in Philly for the past 3 years. so how are they supposed to sell any records in Philly if no one knows what their new single is or what type of music do they play, that is why they dont sell a lot of records. the Philly are has around 5 million people in its market, that 5 million records that could be sold .Bands like Nickelback have a lot of money for promotion from their label and have the means to get airplay. most people arent like us on the PJ message pit , they dont know what the cool good bands are today, they depend on the radio and tv ( which is really sad) to tell them.

iluvcats wrote:

I really enjoyed your cover of "some where over the rainbow" on american idol last year

shh shhhh shhhhh

From some of the stuff I have read from the old days alotta great British bands(Zeppelin, I know for sure) done good in England then absolutely blew up when they hit the states. IMO though, and this is kind of another subject, after the initial rush(Beatle,Floyd,Zeppelin,etc.) America has crushed England.

I will say that for such a rural area, where I live has good taste in music. Granted alot of it has to do with redneck classic rock lovers, but I have a pretty good network of friends and acquaintences that have different but generally good taste in tunes.

Why are Kings of Leon thought of so highly around here? They are just a southern mediocre version of The Strokes who write generic unmemorable songs.

hippiemom wrote:

It's not Americans, it's people. Have you ever heard the crap that tops the charts in other countries? We don't have a monopoly on bad taste, that's for sure.

...i second that emotion. i've had people say to me, 'but why don't you like nickelback? i think they're alright' . i just tell them there are not enough hours in my day to open my mind to crap music. they listen to what the radio plays them and what they see on those godawful video shows. after a while they can't even listen to anything except what they've been fed. but then again i don't really care, so long as i don't have to listen to it.

Yeah, Kings of Leon are fucking boring.

PaulJam wrote:

What is the answer to 99 out of every 100 questions?

Money.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

biffy clyro wrote:

Why does it seem the vast majority of Americans seem to dislike good music?

Prime example...Kings of Leon go in at number 25 in the album charts(number 1 for the second week running in the UK),Nickelback go in at number 1 and sell 5 million??

Don't worry, I think the same about Europeans (and for that matter Canadians).

Matty Boy wrote:

Why are Kings of Leon thought of so highly around here? They are just a southern mediocre version of The Strokes who write generic unmemorable songs.

because they supported Pearl Jam.