They Don't Write Songs Like They Used To.

[TheSquirrel]

People keep saying this, mainly those lacking in the hearing and intelligence department. Take a look at the other artists members on this site like. Look at the thread about favourite female artists for a start. Then there are the male ones like David Gray, James Morrison, Ray LaMontagne, and personal favourites like James Keelaghan, and Shake Russell. Bands like Pearl Jam and Placebo, although considered rock, write great songs.

If you are thinking about singer songwriters though I don't think there has been a better time to be able to listen to and appreciate them. This has been partly due to the internet and the ability to listen to, and sample all kinds of music for free before you buy. The 60's and early 70's festival spirit was continued by late 70's punk and then the Kerrville Folk Festival, Lilith Fair and a ton of other obscure events equally as important. I believe it is the internet that has carried the flame of the singer songwriter. Without internet acccess, the number of people who could actually get to listen to these wonderful artists, would be far smaller. Sites like this one for instance, although dedicated to one artist, have fans with broad enough tastes to educate others. Thanks to all of you who have enlightened me further to what is out there.

Another trend has been a break away from the big record company contract, resulting in the circle of album, publicity, tour going on and on and on, for year after year. Instead of this we have artists signing to smaller labels or starting their own, where they can have nore artistic control. The emphasis is on quality rather than quantity. Despite my sniping at Sarah McLachlan's writing speed, give me quality over quantity any day. This is not a record company policy. Quantity over quality is the thing. Strike while the iron is hot. If you get a hit, cash in quick and bring out material of any quality, just do it quick before they know what hit them, and before anyone knows how poor the follow up material is.

This is a great time to be a song, and therefore singer songwriter fan. In the past you had to listen to tightly controlled radio stations sanctioned by governments. What you could listen to depended on what you could hear on those radio stations. Just as a few big record companies along with state controlled media had seized back control of the music industry, and what could be heard, the internet opened it all up again in the nick of time. I hope governments and the powerful do not gain control of the internet and regulate it like they do any other media. That is going to be bad for us. Until then we can listen to a greater variety of quality and individual material than any generation before us has been able to. It's a great time to be a music lover.

[Jessel]

"They don't write songs like they used to."
People keep saying this, mainly those lacking in the hearing and intelligence department...

Hey, I DID say that before! Not just once but many times, and honestly I think there's some truth to it. I belong to the 90s generation and honestly (with the possible exception of Nirvana), I can't name a single band from my era who can compare to the likes of, let's say Big Brother & The Holding Co., Jefferson Airplane, or Quicksilver Messenger Service. But then again, you can argue that it's simply a matter of preference...

It's definitely thanks to the internet that I was able to discover great musicians from the past decades and just recently, a few new artists who I believe would make their mark in the industry. Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) is probably the best artist who came out of the UK recently imho. Allison Crowe is a lesser-known Canadian indie artist with very powerful vocal skills (Janis Joplin meets Laura Nyro). Another one is Jim Moray, a British electro-folk artist.

Another trend has been a break away from the big record company contract...

I want to believe that this would be the future "thing" in the music industry. New as well as old artists alike and their respective PA's can now do the advertising on their own through their websites as well as various music blogs in the www. It's cool that some even sell their albums on their own, or via iTunes. If your own staff can do all the legwork without help from some middleman in black suit who only cares about $$$ and doesn't give a damn about the music, then that's a good start. As a fan, I'd rather buy CD/DVDs directly from my favorite artist's own website rather than get ripped by big record companies who are obviously only after hard-earned taxpayers' money when they release compilations of recycled stuff.

I hope governments and the powerful do not gain control of the internet and regulate it like they do any other media. That is going to be bad for us.

That is happening right now, but at a much slower pace. I understand record companies' concerns when it comes to officially released material being made available for download online. They have all the right to order the removal of all those stuff, and they're not hard to find anyway so what the hell. But TV shows and unreleased material that most fans don't have access to? I think it's unfair that they're interfering at Youtube: lots of TV performances are being taken down daily and on a regular basis. I hate to say this but this only makes me want to hit them where it hurts them the most: in their pockets. I don't advocate piracy but it amuses me to watch these slimy corporate b******s get ripped off by the same people they're trying to screw. I also hate it when they lurk at fan sites. Remember the last time Nettwerk visited Sarahboards?

[Quincy]

I hope governments and the powerful do not gain control of the internet and regulate it like they do any other media. That is going to be bad for us..

You simply have to look at the spat between Google and China. Whether we like it or not, there must be some control over the internet, otherwise you will have anarchy in one form or another. People, including governments, cannot be left to their own devices to regulate themselves as they see fit. What is "fit" for one is unfit for somebody else. Control for financial gain is another thing entirely. Netwerk's hissy fit at Witchy and Jeff was somewhat churlish and was unwarranted. This is a subject that could rumble on for several months so let's see what others think.

Q

[TheSquirrel]

"They don't write songs like they used to."
People keep saying this, mainly those lacking in the hearing and intelligence department...

Hey, I DID say that before! Not just once but many times, and honestly I think there's some truth to it.

Well thanks for not flaming me! Didn't realise, or had forgotten you said that. But I think you have a point when it comes to bands. I know as far as songs are concerned it's splitting hairs to differentiate between bands and solo artists, but as far as bands go I would have to agree with you. Maybe that is just personal choice. "Happy Trails" is one of my favourite all time albums.I have not really heard anything like it before or since. Maybe the closest was "Electric Music For The Mind And Body." Although I personally did not think that album contained the talent or vision of "Happy Trails." Those albums hardly contain "songs" but the bands you mentioned took music to a point that was, for me, truly sublime. This was music, soul, heart, and talent at a peak. But maybe the spirit of this age is now tuned in to the music of the singer songwriters.

It was more regarding solo artists that my post was referring to. I also think if there are any great new songs written, there is less effect on the social consciousness nowadays. In the past everyone seemed to be listening to and watching the same thing, so a great song had more of an impact. Everything has now become more broken up, with all sorts of influences out there. People are now listening to different kinds of material and artists. This is not a bad thing, but may explain why great songs do not have an effect on people the way they used to.

I think the dawn of the songwriter has arrived. There may be fewer people listening to those songwriters, but they will be the sort of fans who deliberately go out to explore music, and not have it served up on a plate for them. The sort of fans who can tell the difference between hype and talent.

The comments about the Sarahboards visit, and the threatened legal action from Nettwerk have me nodding in agreement. I am just a little more extreme in my disgust. I do advocate piracy myself, mainly because I consider governemnts, and large coroprations as enemies, so I do not mind stealing from them or ripping them off. They steal from us so it's good to steal from them. I do not want to be persona non grata here so I better not say what I REALLY think of Ms McLachlan over the threatened legal action.

[Quincy]

"They don't write songs like they used to."

The comments about the Sarahboards visit, and the threatened legal action from Nettwerk have me nodding in agreement. I am just a little more extreme in my disgust. I do advocate piracy myself, mainly because I consider governemnts, and large coroprations as enemies, so I do not mind stealing from them or ripping them off. They steal from us so it's good to steal from them. I do not want to be persona non grata here so I better not say what I REALLY think of Ms McLachlan over the threatened legal action.

Not overly sure I agree with the piracy thing myself, I can understand your sentiments with those comments but there are bands/artist out there who have paid their dues and worked to get where they are today. SMcL is one of those people. I don't mind paying a "fair" price for music but when I'm asked to pay £15 for a CD of Touch (Which happened 18 months ago) then piracy appears a bloody good option.

As for SMcL legal action...Is it Sarah or Nettwerk?? My money's on Nettwerk (And I'm not normally a betting man. Mugs game if you ask me....Time for my medication I think)

[Jessel]

As for SMcL legal action...Is it Sarah or Nettwerk?? My money's on Nettwerk...

Same here. I'm 100-150% sure it's Nettwerk and I don't think they even told Sarah about this. Witchy posted every track and I remember they asked her to remove only Captive and Temptation, but they didn't give a s**t about Madness (which is a much rarer track than the other 2 since the latter exist in bootlegs) and the rest of the tracks. That alone is more than enough to arouse suspicion. If I am Sarah then I'd be more worried about Madness being leaked online more than anything else; that is, if she's worried at all, which clearly isn't the case

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the studio versions of both Captive and Temptaion are going to be included in the upcoming Rarities, B-sides, & Other Stuff 3 sometime in the near future...

[Crazylitstudent]

This may not make me popular but I don’t believe that we are living in a great age of music just yet.

.........

Oh I do think we are getting there but we just need to get rid of the corporate fat cats that control the mainstream and say to people “just listen to what you want!” At the moment we have a problem where people’s musical taste is dictated by a set “lifestyle”. If you’re a pre-teen girl you are expected to love boy bands and “divas” or if you are a twenty something guy then you better like male indie bands or rap. And this is what record labels want because then they can dictate what gets on the front page of itunes or the deal of the week in HMV. This isn’t what music should be about!

The internet is an amazing tool for freeing people from the “lifestyle” shackles. Here we can find whatever music we want and are free to like it no matter what a major label or people like Simon Cowell feel about it! Music should be about the freedom to discover something that changes our personal world the first time we hear it. But sadly a world where music is truly democratic and based on personal choice doesn’t exist just yet.
We nearly had that world in 90s where Lilith showed that people did love music from women that wasn’t dictated to them. But then came “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and everything went to pot. The attempt to crack down on online music sharing created a corporate monster that pukes out the same thing again and again in a desperate attempt to control what we love.

Netwerk’s attempt to shut down Jeff’s downloads makes me sad because in the 90s the company was amazing and creative but I guess becoming a really big company and the money that came with it corrupted the company

[TheSquirrel]

This may not make me popular but I don’t believe that we are living in a great age of music just yet.

.........

Oh I do think we are getting there but we just need to get rid of the corporate fat cats that control the mainstream and say to people “just listen to what you want!” At the moment we have a problem where people’s musical taste is dictated by a set “lifestyle”. If you’re a pre-teen girl you are expected to love boy bands and “divas” or if you are a twenty something guy then you better like male indie bands or rap. And this is what record labels want because then they can dictate what gets on the front page of itunes or the deal of the week in HMV. This isn’t what music should be about!

The internet is an amazing tool for freeing people from the “lifestyle” shackles. Here we can find whatever music we want and are free to like it no matter what a major label or people like Simon Cowell feel about it! Music should be about the freedom to discover something that changes our personal world the first time we hear it. But sadly a world where music is truly democratic and based on personal choice doesn’t exist just yet.
We nearly had that world in 90s where Lilith showed that people did love music from women that wasn’t dictated to them. But then came “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and everything went to pot. The attempt to crack down on online music sharing created a corporate monster that pukes out the same thing again and again in a desperate attempt to control what we love.

Netwerk’s attempt to shut down Jeff’s downloads makes me sad because in the 90s the company was amazing and creative but I guess becoming a really big company and the money that came with it corrupted the company

I've quoted the whole post cos I agree with every word. A well thought out post. That's another thing music companies don't like - intelligent argument and opinion.

[Crazylitstudent]

Thanks Squirrel. I'm very passionate about people finding their own way in life and this extends to music. I want people to go out and discover great new music and get passionate about it. I'm not saying that people shouldn't go out and buy the latest Lady Gaga CD but I would rather them buy it because they love her music rather than because of the commercial pressures of the record companies and media.

My advice to everyone:

Celebrate what you personally love and encourage others to do the same. Don't let some faceless fat cat dictate what music you listen to just because its "popluar" and don't be afraid to be the only one listening to the music you love on your street!