the best songs ever

[gabrielle]

(06-09-2016, 09:38 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(06-09-2016, 07:41 PM)gabrielle Wrote: Here is a song from that window of time you consider a void of creativity in popular music.  It has as catchy a tune as any Millennial pop song; its mood just as simple and upbeat (though if you listen closely to the lyrics they seem better suited to the Nomad's more ambivalent childhood/youth experience).

The 3T was not a void; I just say it was not as good. It has even more lousy pop than usual (all eras have lousy pop), and the best of it was not as good; as I heard it. Your post is interesting, though. That's a nice try. It's not bad, and has a good rhythm; but the problem for me is that the mood and melody of the song lacks something hard to describe. It wanders, and does not strike fire in my heart. I think that's an attitude of those times. Like other New Wave-era pop it avoids the grand and the dynamic in favor of something else hard to describe. I don't know exactly what a more positive term for it would be. Ambivalent, maybe. Reflecting a bored rejection of the scene they grew up in; preferring an "OK, whatever" attitude to the boomer passions.

Quote:This is also what I would consider "kid's music."  It was our kid's music; my particular cohort (I was probably 11 or 12 when this song was released) was the audience for this type of pop--New Wave synthpop.  It was mainly teens and tweens buying this music in the early to mid 80s, often in cassette form to listen to in their Walkmans.  But to my knowledge, this music did not appeal to core Boomers, at least not to any great extent.  They had simply outgrown this sort of thing.

Really? It didn't strike me as kids' music. Of course, the "New Wave" aspect might be the problem for me, as it tended toward the bland and aimless. But the synthpop part appeals to me; "Good Time" is of course a later example from that same genre. For me, the synthesizers I turned to in the 3T were of course in the New Age genre, rather than the New Wave genre.

Quote:Not that there's anything wrong with liking simple, upbeat pop music as an adult!  I just think it is a type of music that usually tends to appeal more to children.  Perhaps I was being too harsh calling the Owl City song "awful."

That's right. Although in the case of Good Time, it did also appeal to adults.

I'm pretty sure my parents thought of New Wave pop as "kid's music," lol.  But they tolerated it.  They certainly didn't call it "lousy" as you do.  They even liked some of it.  They both liked Michael Jackson, for example--both his music and his dancing.  (He might not have been "New Wave" exactly, but he was a pop musician from the same era.)  

"It wanders, and does not strike fire in my heart. I think that's an attitude of those times. Like other New Wave-era pop it avoids the grand and the dynamic in favor of something else hard to describe. I don't know exactly what a more positive term for it would be. Ambivalent, maybe. Reflecting a bored rejection of the scene they grew up in; preferring an "OK, whatever" attitude to the boomer passions."

That is the Boomer narrative, yes:  that Generation X was bored and cynical, that they rejected the admirable visions and passions of their elders.  Since there is no logical reason why anyone would reject such obvious righteousness, there must be something "bad" about Generation X.  Yes, you guys think really highly of yourselves.  Remember, we grew up watching you.  Grew up watching the counter-culture revolution getting dropped the moment the draft was, and the idealist generation settling into complacency and materialism.

"Scratch any cynic and you'll find a disappointed idealist."  --George Carlin (1937-2008)

"All cynicism masks a failure to cope."  --John Fowles (1926-2005)