eh, at the risk of sounding like a pretentious fark, I've long come to the conclusion that the mainstream is shiat. Not that good stuff can't crack the mainstream, but they've been pretty mutually exclusive for some time...

it should also be noted that I think the days of the Beatles-esque, or even lesser equivalents of, will be long gone. I think we're starting to see more acts who just a few years ago would be completely ignored by the mainstream getting at least some lip service as you have to be living under a complete rock not to be able to at least sample said musicians.

FeedTheCollapse: eh, at the risk of sounding like a pretentious fark, I've long come to the conclusion that the mainstream is shiat. Not that good stuff can't crack the mainstream, but they've been pretty mutually exclusive for some time...

Agreed.

BUT, what was the most pirated CD of the year? Since these people who bought this awful CD are obviously stupid, too stupid to steal it.

Everything popular is bad.

CtrlAltDelete: Everything popular is bad.

No. Things that are popular tend to be bad.

Kliffoth: Things that are popular tend to be bad.

And why is that?

CtrlAltDelete: Kliffoth: Things that are popular tend to be bad.

And why is that?

Because people are stupid?

Monkeypillow: Because people are stupid?

Exactly.

CtrlAltDelete: Kliffoth: Things that are popular tend to be bad.

And why is that?

Because popular music caters to the lowest common denominator an overwhelming percent of the time.

The song can't be too long
or too short
or too fast
or too slow
or too complex
or too loud
or too soft..etc

some of my favorites of the year were

Pink: Funhouse
Fallout Boy: Folie à Deux
Jamey Johnson: That Lonesome Song
Lady Antebellum: Lady Antebellum

Kliffoth: Because popular music caters to the lowest common denominator an overwhelming percent of the time.

The song can't be too long
or too short
or too fast
or too slow
or too complex
or too loud
or too soft..etc

I'd be very interested to study that. Ever notice that the earworm hooks in Top 40 R&B is usually the same chord progressions as entire Top 40 adult contemporary (sorry- "modern country music") songs that have the same melodies as nursery rhymes?

People still buy Records?
I don't listen to or buy music much anymore, but Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer was worth it and I just bought Imus's Ranch CD for the kids.
/not my kids, but the cancer kids

Kids these days just don't know good hip hop and rap.

I'll help:
Lesson 1 (new window)

Lesson 2 (new window)

I Said: Kids these days just don't know good hip hop and rap.

I'll help:
Lesson 1 (new window)

Lesson 2 (new window)

hmm. Lesson 2 was not the version I'd hoped for. Well, whatever, I meant the original, which is NSFW anyway.

There are a lot more unit sales of prints of paintings of dogs playing poker in any year than there are of those paintings that will some day hang on museum walls. The music industry wants to sell product, not make art.

I Said: Kids these days just don't know good hip hop and rap.

I'll help:
Lesson 1 (new window)

Lesson 2 (new window)

You forgot one of the best songs out there. (^)

the main problem I have with a lot of the hip hop artists out there is their misogynistic and vulgar lyrics. anyone who has a daughter and listens to this crap knows what I'm talking about. and while I think there are some good lyricists out there they are far too rare in the genre.



/soapbox

Hobodeluxe: the main problem I have with a lot of the hip hop artists out there is their misogynistic and vulgar lyrics. anyone who has a daughter and listens to this crap knows what I'm talking about. and while I think there are some good lyricists out there they are far too rare in the genre.



/soapbox

I don't think they're RARE per se. I am in no way a rap/hiphop fan but I had a friend who very much was. He rapped, created his own beats, and wrote intelligent lyrics. He introduced me to the "real hip hop", the stuff you don't hear on the radio because it ISN'T misogynistic and vulgar.

He played a lot of well written and performed hip hop songs for me. It still wasn't my thing but it was intelligent and artistic.
There's plenty out there but you have to dig for it, because they won't play it on the radio.

The same goes for all types of music.

Okay, so I originally wrote this big post about modern pop music sucking and how it wasn't always that way.

Then I remembered that MacArthur Park and Tie a Yellow Ribbon were Billboard #1 while Zeppelin was touring. So yeah. It's always been complete shiat.

It's not like it got bad reviews. In fact, reviews were generally positive. I don't get it, myself. I like my rappers with more flow. But, the critics and the public like him.

Newsflash: The majority of people who buy music are teenagers. Film at 11

JerseyTim: I don't get it, myself. I like my rappers with more flow.

And less hair:

My favorite album of 2008 was either The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed.

Much better content than anything Lil' Wayne did.

I haven't purchased music in years thanks to crappy music and the RIAA and outrageous prices. I'll stick with my cassette tapes that are twenty years old thanks. Fark the music scene.

cameroncrazy1984: My favorite album of 2008 was either The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed.

Maybe I need to give it another shot. I only really liked the first and last songs. I loved all his other stuff.

It doesn't matter who was the best seller. The point is that the best seller barely cracked 3M sold.

That being said, I'll never purposefully listen to Lil Wayne.

The Icelander: JerseyTim: I don't get it, myself. I like my rappers with more flow.

And less hair:

Nerdcore fans should generally be excluded from all rap threads.

It's not that people don't like rap... it's that they haven't heard of El-P yet.

PacManDreaming: I Said: Kids these days just don't know good hip hop and rap.

I'll help:
Lesson 1 (new window)

Lesson 2 (new window)

You forgot one of the best songs out there. (^)

Bel Biv Devoe and New Edition are R&B, not rap. Wayne's not a new Biggie or anything, but his album was pretty good for a half-retarded midget. Beats another 50 Cent abortion.

Glitchwerks: The Icelander: JerseyTim: I don't get it, myself. I like my rappers with more flow.

And less hair:

Nerdcore fans should generally be excluded from all rap threads.

THIS

How many records did he sell? A milli- a milli- a milli- *COUGH COUGH* Excuse me. A million? Two million? *RTFA* Not even 3 million? Pretty weak for "THE GREATEST RAPPER ALIVE."

Tha Carter 3 was kinda awesome. Funny, creative, original. I was so shocked when I first heard it (after hearing so much ABOUT it) to realize how good it really is. I likes it. Quite a lot.

Lowered expectations, perhaps?

/not a troll
//loves rap

larrimo: Glitchwerks: The Icelander: JerseyTim: I don't get it, myself. I like my rappers with more flow.

And less hair:

Nerdcore fans should generally be excluded from all rap threads.

THIS

Why's that?

Being Famous Sucks: BUT, what was the most pirated CD of the year? Since these people who bought this awful CD are obviously stupid, too stupid to steal it.

Came here to say that.

kwirk: How many records did he sell? A milli- a milli- a milli- *COUGH COUGH* Excuse me. A million? Two million? *RTFA* Not even 3 million? Pretty weak for "THE GREATEST RAPPER ALIVE."

Right. Even Eminem's greatest hits album released two years ago sold more than that. This is just not a particularly crowded year for the music industry.


I actually liked Taylor Swift's album. I'm not a fan of country music, but those songs are really quite professionally produced, and the fact that a teenager wrote all of them is incredible.

The last "new" album I bought was Dethklok. Aren't most bands just iTune of the Week's now anyway? Why bother putting more than maybe 2 decent singles on an album anymore?

Herunar
Even Eminem's greatest hits album released two years ago sold more than that.

Eminem put out a greatest hits album two years ago????

[*rushes out to local cd store*]

lol jk...

hey that reminds me of something...

[my take on an old canuck classic:]

"drove downtown in the snow
11:46 on a wednesday night
just to check out eminem's... greatest hits
call it compulsive call it compulsive
call it insane
[...]
dr. dre, tell me you're not just a pedagogue
cause right now i am..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV2m36ACzxk

This

maybe I'm missing something as well, but how was Lollipop any different from what's going on in mainstream rap? I keep hearing how Lil Wayne is that big of an oddity, but I thought "oh, it's Laffy Taffy pt II..."

oh, and the new Dalek smashes the shiat out of anything belched out by any mainstream rapper. I'm not a fan of the genre, but I'm completely wowed by an act that probably made their album on a much smaller budget, yet it doesn't sound like it was written on a My First Playskool Keyboard.


They have as much in common with My Bloody Valentine and early Swans as they do Public Enemy.

FeedTheCollapse: maybe I'm missing something as well, but how was Lollipop any different from what's going on in mainstream rap? I keep hearing how Lil Wayne is that big of an oddity, but I thought "oh, it's Laffy Taffy pt II..."

Lollipop was his big pop hit single, but it's the album cuts and especially his mixtape songs that people are talking about. He has a kind of free-associative flow on a lot of his songs that's a lot more abstract and weird than most rappers tend to get. And it's just kind of strange since anyone who follows rap remembers Wayne when he was just a little kid on one of the worst record labels in history, so it's interesting to see him become one of the biggest stars of the year.

The best-selling album of 1964 was Hello, Dolly!, Original Cast Recording.

The best-selling album of 1967 was More of The Monkees by The Monkees.

The best-selling album of 1975 was Elton John's Greatest Hits.

The best-selling album of 1976 was Frampton Comes Alive, by Peter Frampton.

The best-selling album of 1979 was 52nd Street, by Billy Joel.

The best-selling album of 1981 was Hi Infidelity, by REO Speedwagon.

The best-selling album of 1987 was Slippery When Wet, by Bon Jovi.

The best-selling album of 1991 was Mariah Carey, by Mariah Carey.

The best-selling album of 1992 was Ropin' the Wind, by Garth Brooks.

The best-selling album of 1994 was The Sign, by Ace of Base.

The best-selling album of 1995 was Cracked Rear View, by Hootie and the Blowfish.

The best-selling album of 1997 was Spice, by Spice Girls.

The best-selling album of 1998 was Titanic Soundtrack.

The best selling album of 1999 was Millennium, by Backstreet Boys.

The best-selling album of 2003 was Get Rich or Die Tryin', by 50 Cent.

The best-selling album of 2006 was High School Musical Soundtrack.

Dan Le Sac v' Scroobius Pip

This album sits comfortably in my top 20 of 2008, something I can listen to over and over. Self described "intelligent hip hop" but I tend to agree. Some highlights?

The Beat that my Heart Skipped Link (new window)

Thou Shalt Always Kill Link (new window)

Letter from God to Man Link (new window)

EvilEyeBall: It's not that people don't like rap... it's that they haven't heard of El-P yet.
I would like to throw Aesop Rock and Atmosphere in there as well

Roblmw241: EvilEyeBall: It's not that people don't like rap... it's that they haven't heard of El-P yet.
I would like to throw Aesop Rock and Atmosphere in there as well

Why is it when a rap thread comes up everyone suggests all these white rappers? Pick up a Scarface album for Christ's sake.

AgentOrangeDrink: Roblmw241: EvilEyeBall: It's not that people don't like rap... it's that they haven't heard of El-P yet.
I would like to throw Aesop Rock and Atmosphere in there as well

Why is it when a rap thread comes up everyone suggests all these white rappers? Pick up a Scarface album for Christ's sake.

Because they're good? Fark cares about their skin tone, Aesop has one of the best flows in rap to go along with an absurdly wide-open rhymebook. Want a list of some black, mainstream rappers to listen to along with Scarface that won't make you think a 9th grader wrote every track?

Common (last album was mediocre tho)
Lupe Fiasco
The Roots
Outkast (put out a farkin new album already!)
JayZ (sometimes, anyway. he can get very stale, very quickly when he doesn't work hard at it)
Ghostface

/list not comprehensive by any and every stretch of the imagination

AgentOrangeDrink: Bel Biv Devoe and New Edition are R&B, not rap. Wayne's not a new Biggie or anything, but his album was pretty good for a half-retarded midget. Beats another 50 Cent abortion.

Yeah, we were being facetious.

submitter: The best selling record of 2008 was Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. R.I.P. music industry

Al Sharpton, is that you?

Kliffoth: CtrlAltDelete: Kliffoth: Things that are popular tend to be bad.

And why is that?

Because popular music caters to the lowest common denominator an overwhelming percent of the time.

The song can't be too long
or too short
or too fast
or too slow
or too complex
or too loud
or too soft..etc

Uuuuhhhhhh, on the contrary it's normally "not loud enough".

See : why your albums sound like crap now. Link (new window)

I bought a handful of records... new Sevendust, new Disturbed, new Extreme, new GNR, the new live Rush album/blu-ray, and the new Flogging Molly. That was really it. There was just not that much appealing music last year for me.

Hopefully, this year we'll get the new Coheed and Cambria (if we're lucky) and the new 30 Seconds to Mars. Also new KMFDM is coming (BLITZ is being released in the next few months), new Static-X and a few other ones are being released. This year is already looking much better for me.