Thread: Do you listen to "mainstream" radio music?

I actually appreciate mainstream synthesized pop music on a different level now that I've listened to enough music. You can pick apart all the different layers and appreciate exactly how well-produced the stuff is today. What the kick is like, the filters, etc etc.

I forget where I was that I actually had to listen to a pop station for a while, but I was kinda horrified. I didn't realize people who actually make their living in the music industry were using Auto Tune. I thought it was just a joke, an insult to say someone's song was AutoTuned, but no. They are. Nearly all of them, based on my limited sample.

I can listen to some mainstream formats--classic rock, hard rock, alt rock and some of the more funk/R&B skewed oldies stations--but they get old pretty quick. If I listen to internet radio, it's usually '90s/'00s trip-hop, jazz, or blues/roots. I like a lot of jam bands, but I mostly stick to my own library for that stuff; any internet jam stations I've found played almost nothing but Grateful Dead interspersed with absolute crap. I'm near a decent college station, too--they're good for indie rock and sometimes electronica.

I don't judge strictly on the fact that something is indeed mainstream music, it's more of the feelings I get when listening to the song itself. If a song sounds ugly to me, I won't like it. A lot of mainstream songs sound ugly to me, there are very few that I enjoy listening to. But there is a lot of non-mainstream that sounds just as bad.

The whole autotune thing sounds so generic nowadays, it's boring. And the cliche "getTn druNKk prtyy evryday mayb smke weed errday if i fel like showin of ma blinng" lyrical variation puts a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't like how it controls many aspects most of our younger generation. But that's in the mix with modern pop culture in general these days.

Originally Posted by Puffin

Not the best though; I'd say that honor goes to 30STM.

Jared Leto is handsome too, so it's all good.

Define Mainstream. Because in my book Nickelback and 30STM totally are.

I guess I listen to some... I like Radiohead and Tool for example and they each have a huge fan base and regularly headline the big festivals.

Although I NEVER listen to radio and would guess that most of the bands I really like aren't widely popular or known. And since I don't watch MTv or any of that shit either, I don't really have any idea what's up in the charts now.. .. I usually define the mainstream factor by the position in a line up, the prices of concert tickets and the fanbase.

Edit:
@Invader's Youtube Link
Wow, are Ratatat mainstream?
I saw them once, but it was a very small location with maybe 30 people.

Originally Posted by dajo

Define Mainstream. Because in my book Nickelback and 30STM totally are.

I guess I listen to some... I like Radiohead and Tool for example and they each have a huge fan base and regularly headline the big festivals.

Although I NEVER listen to radio and would guess that most of the bands I really like aren't widely popular or known. And since I don't watch MTv or any of that shit either, I don't really have any idea what's up in the charts now.. .. I usually define the mainstream factor by the position in a line up, the prices of concert tickets and the fanbase.

Edit:
@Invader's Youtube Link
Wow, are Ratatat mainstream?
I saw them once, but it was a very small location with maybe 30 people.

Hardly anyone I know listens to Nickelback or 30STM, so I wouldn't consider them mainstream myself. Guess it's a matter of perspective.

The only way Nickelback could be more mainstream is if they were Linkin Park.

Half the people I know listen to Nickelback.

Surprised noone brought this one up yet...

Originally Posted by Taosaur

The only way Nickelback could be more mainstream is if they were Linkin Park.

I like LP's older stuff... Now it's so generic. >:X

Originally Posted by SomeDreamer

Surprised noone brought this one up yet...

I prefer this one:

Originally Posted by dajo

@Invader's Youtube Link
Wow, are Ratatat mainstream?
I saw them once, but it was a very small location with maybe 30 people.

They are in the sense that they're relatively well known now. That song though, with Kid Cudi, has been a radio hit for a while. Kid Cudi is famous in his own right anyways.

Definitely not a mainstream - radio music kind of person. A lot of the music i listen to is instrumental/electronic: Boards of Canada, Luke Vibert/Wagon Christ, Amon Tobin etc. etc. I also enjoy hip hop but when i say hip hop i mean real hip hop so nothing thats ever on the radio. Examples would be: MF Doom, Cool Calm Pete, Blu etc.

Originally Posted by Puffin

I like LP's older stuff... Now it's so generic. >:X

Isn't it the other way around? xD
30STM and Nickelback are definitely as mainstream as it gets.


But I should probably get my elitist ass out of here and back to Sputnik.

I never listen to the radio anymore, because it's always the same bs, on every station, 24/7, 20 times a day In fact, first thing I did when I installed a new radio in my car was leave the radioconnection unplugged

I went to a Pink Floyd concert last friday (Scandinavian copy band thing) and it was really good. I don't go to many concerts or live events, but this is probably some of the best music I've heard in a long time. They played the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon and then also a lot of other well known songs, like Comfortably Numb, Learning to Fly, Wish You Were Here and so on. Really great stuff

I have had a Digitally Imported subscription for years now; di.fm - check it out, you will never go back to radio.

If it's on the radio, you know it must be bad. I'm convinced that the radios are colluding to play only the 10 worst rappers in the world. I love rap and it's by far my favorite type of music, but you'll never hear any good music on the radio. You won't believe how many people hate rap simply because all they've ever heard is Lil Wayne. If he was the only rapper I heard, I'd hate rap too. It's really alienating people from discovering genuinely good music, which is out there but you have to look for it.

Originally Posted by GMoney

If it's on the radio, you know it must be bad. I'm convinced that the radios are colluding to play only the 10 worst rappers in the world. I love rap and it's by far my favorite type of music, but you'll never hear any good music on the radio. You won't believe how many people hate rap simply because all they've ever heard is Lil Wayne. If he was the only rapper I heard, I'd hate rap too. It's really alienating people from discovering genuinely good music, which is out there but you have to look for it.

Eninem is the only decent mainstream rapper i have heard, although some of his songs are pretty crap. 50 cent, lil wayne and usher are really shit rappers/hip-hop "artists"

Originally Posted by Puffin

Hardly anyone I know listens to Nickelback or 30STM, so I wouldn't consider them mainstream myself. Guess it's a matter of perspective.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but Nickleback and 30STM are some of the most mainstream rock bands you can find - especially in my area.

And I hate...hate...HATE 30STM. All of that high-pitched screaming from Jared Leto. It's like someone is shoving a cat in vice and cranking it with a horse-drawn tether. Ugh. Why?

But anyway, I don't listen to much mainstream, unless it's the rock station, and even that is kind of hit-and-miss. I love when they play some Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, Rage Against the Machine, KoRn, Sublime, Beastie Boys, etc. There are a few newer bands that I might like a single or two from: Nicleback, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, etc. If it's on 101.1 (WJRR), I can pretty much vibe for a while.

Then, there are the mainstream "hip-hop" stations around here, which I think are an absolute joke. Every now and then, they will play something I can vibe to, but mainly...it's all just 45 minutes out of every hour, listening to the same 5 Lil' Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross songs. It is horrible.

Mostly, I just listen to MP3's now, or try to find some lesser-known music, off of streaming net radio sites like Pandora and such. A lot of my taste is underground (Electronic Breaks / Drum n' Bass / Jungle etc), but I do like the classics. A lot of old funk/soul/R&B I can still groove to (my dad was a DJ, back in the day, so I grew up listening to Bootsy, Parliament Funkadelic, Luther Vandross, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, etc), and I will always have a spot for those. But as mainstream music marches on, I find myself becoming more and more detached from it.

My response to the poll was "rarely," btw.

Nothing truly "wrong" with mainstream, radio music. No, I dont listen to it. But I dont like to shit on it either.

IMO, there is just simply better music to be found elsewhere.

Im from New Zealand - any of you guys heard of Shapeshifter? (Dub/DnB group..) They are amazing. Would love to share some songs with you guys..

There's nothing with being mainstream but most of the stuff that makes it into the mainstream nowadays just happens to be puddles of sloppy shit. Everything so generic now - it's like the songs dont even change, just the singer.

Originally Posted by no-Name

I think you have the definition of synthesized wrong. The voice is completely human, producers simply changed the pitch with software.
This is similar to using a vocoder, or auto-tune. It's comparable to using an effects pedal on a guitar, or equalizing an instrument.
Nothing bad about it. Just different. Don't you like different things?

It used to be different, there's hardly anything unique about using auto-tune anymore. What annoys me is the fact that people who can't sing or come up with decent lyrics are raking in a shitload of cash because they're using auto-tune in a totally unoriginal way. Various artists like Tech N9NE use it in moderation and in a way that you may not expect while artists like T-Pain use it and end up creating 50 songs that all sound the exact same.

Originally Posted by Pheenix

There's lots of shit out there. Linkin Park, Seether, MGMT, Paramore, what have you.

I like MGMT. .-. They may not be the greatest but I'd say they're good enough to keep you entertained.

Originally Posted by AustralianFire

Eninem is the only decent mainstream rapper i have heard, although some of his songs are pretty crap. 50 cent, lil wayne and usher are really shit rappers/hip-hop "artists"

Nas? Talib Kweli? Mos Def? ever heard of them... even then I know emcees that could trump eminem any day (but they're underground).

Originally Posted by Nufeather1

Nas? Talib Kweli? Mos Def? ever heard of them... even then I know emcees that could trump eminem any day (but they're underground).

nope, never heard of them, although i am refering to the mainstream rapppers

Originally Posted by AustralianFire

nope, never heard of them, although i am refering to the mainstream rapppers

The first three are pretty mainstream, not as much as some, but they're good. search up Nas-One Love