Favorite music genre

Originally posted by FMF
For an evening of singing with you? I really could not say. I have no idea what your tastes are.

Being that we're discussing "commercial music", or at least music with widespread appeal.

Suppose you've been hired to arrange an evening of singing for people in a typical middle class suburb in the US. Since the songs will come from the past few years, the crowd will be mostly younger people. What songs would you choose?

Originally posted by Melanerpes
Suppose you've been hired to arrange an evening of singing for people in a typical middle class suburb in the US. Since the songs will come from the past few years, the crowd will be mostly younger people. What songs would you choose?

I suppose I would choose the most commercially successful, singable songs.

Originally posted by FMF
I suppose I would choose the most commercially successful, singable songs.

and which of these songs would you specifically choose?

Originally posted by Melanerpes
and which of these songs would you specifically choose?

The ones that some young earphoned part-time worker for my Party Organizer company told me to.

So you can't personally think of any such songs that would be suitable?

Originally posted by Melanerpes
So you can't personally think of any such songs that would be suitable?

How much hip-hop is sung around a campfire?

Originally posted by Melanerpes
So you can't personally think of any such songs that would be suitable?

My personal tastes in music is not "commercial", so songs that I personally thought were suitable would probably be off-target for the purposes of the party.

That's why I'd find out what had been sold by the truckload and get further advice from an aficionado of some sort. The party isn't for me, after all, is it? It's for youths who buy/download/consume current commercial music.

Sonhouse is clearly not an aficionado of contemporary commercially successful music. Nor are you. And nor am I.

My point all along has been, why worry about what is and isn't commercially successful if (1) you don't care for it anyway, and (2) seeing as there is so much fantastic creative innovative passionate expertly realized music available in the world?

Originally posted by sonhouse
How much hip-hop is sung around a campfire?

If I were interested in hip-hop, its trends, innovations, variants, sub-genres etc. I'd be happy as larry. But I am not. And this (to me) monolithic genre, lumbering like a dozy diplodocus, munching on tasteless vegetation, juggling such a severely restricted musical vocabulary, for the last 30 years, THIRTY YEARS... AAGGHH my entire adult life! ...has tragically sucked investment, attention and opportunity out of the world of music. If it had been a 3 to 5 year phenomenon that influenced different stuff that followed, like punk and new wave and new romantic and brit pop were, then I'd be a happy camper. But the evolution of hip-hop has been so slow, tedious and risk-averse, it has worn me down and defeated me, even with my open mind and musical curiosity. A personal opinion.

Originally posted by FMF
If I were interested in hip-hop, its trends, innovations, variants, sub-genres etc. I'd be happy as larry. But I am not. And this (to me) monolithic genre, lumbering like a dozy diplodocus, munching on tasteless vegetation, juggling such a severely restricted musical vocabulary, for the last 30 years, THIRTY YEARS... AAGGHH my entire adult life! ...has tragicall ...[text shortened]... orn me down and defeated me, even with my open mind and musical curiosity. A personal opinion.

But it did influence stuff after it (although maybe not too much). Trip-hop, for example, which in turn influenced much of the downtempo electronics of the previous decade.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
But it did influence stuff after it (although maybe not too much). Trip-hop, for example, which in turn influenced much of the downtempo electronics of the previous decade.

Point taken. But, regardless, 30 years is to long. Well. Disappointing for me, I mean

Originally posted by FMF
Point taken. But, regardless, 30 years is to long. Well. Disappointing for me, I mean

So you are saying it's basically a dead end musically.
Hasn't it also lead to the 2000 watt car stereo systems where you hear the bass thump 2 blocks away and given the auto body industry a shot in the arm because of the destroyed auto bodies shaken loose by such vibrations?

Originally posted by sonhouse
So you are saying it's basically a dead end musically.

According to my own personal musicology. I am, however, aware that billions would beg to differ with me.

Originally posted by FMF
According to my own personal musicology. I am, however, aware that billions would beg to differ with me.

I don't know billions but a form can hang around for a long time basically unaltered, regardless of any objective merit. So we will see how much of this is listened to in 10 years when a new batch of youngsters reach teenage years. I just hope these kinds of music does not add to the stress of growing up, leading to violent behavior as some forms of music has proven to.

hip hop is still one of genres that seems to have the most potential to produce truly interesting and truly new stuff. But I do share FMF's frustration over the failure of hip hop to break out of the narrow range of cliches it seems to be stuck in.

Things that I would like to see more of.

1. Hip-hop groups. Back in the 80's, you had the Run DMC model and hip hop often involved two or three people working together. But it seems like almost all hip hop is just some solo rapper. Let's get back to groups - and let's have some large groups. I want to see hip hop groups with like 8 people in it.

2. Hip-hop bands. It could be sort of like the standard rock band except that the vocals consist of rap and other "hip-hop" forms - but it could also incorporate other types of instruments like horns or fiddles or unusual instruments from non-European countries.

3. a couple established rock artists and a couple hip-hop artists could combine together, form a super group, and put out an album together. Maybe Jon Bon Jovi and Carlos Santana could get together with Diddy and Snoop Dawg and see if something interesting comes out of it.

4. hip hop country music. I liked some of the things that Cowboy Troy did a few years ago.

5. hip hop doo wop - I have no idea what this would sound like, but it would probably be a lot of fun.

So much potential ground to cover, and so much of it not covered after 30 years. Very frustrating.

Originally posted by Melanerpes
5. hip hop doo wop - I have no idea what this would sound like, but it would probably be a lot of fun.

So much potential ground to cover, and so much of it not covered after 30 years. Very frustrating.

I can think of many ways in which to describe the concept of hip hop doo wop - and none of them contain the word fun. Instead, try 'abomination'.