Its interesting to think that Mozart was thought of in his day to be way too busy, way over the top, "way too many notes". While he did get the acclaim within his lifetime, he was a completely different style to all else of his day. He probably thought of Bach as a slow and pondering old man.
This is hauntingly similar to how many 60s/70s rockers felt about Frank Zappa, now regarded to be a great composer. If you were a fan of YES or King Crimson, you probably liked him but if you loved Joan Baez I am sure Frank was WAY over the top. Pop music and its interpretation are very much cultural and contextual.
Every generation seems to have its "new music" to embrace. "The Cars", wow, my generation hated that sparse harsh "new wave" music yet liked the production heavy melodic southern rock, the Doobie Bros. Music was going to hell! And then came KISS and POISON, hair bands everywhere. All of us hated that stuff! Give me prog rock, Genesis and Yes or at least Steely Dan.
So now we have Lady Gaga with some incredibly inventive production (Poker Face) and clever compositions. I know for a fact she works incredibly hard to get the record to sound a certain way. She's quite the musician, have you heard her play piano? And we have Katy Perry, 100% a singer, an entertainer, she works hard too. But she's not a musician, composer or writer- she's sings songs other people buy for her. My beef is that some of the songs are OK, but the production is unlistenable on any kind of resolution intensive system. But it sells sells sells and sounds good on $9 earbuds I guess. Since nothing else is selling I guess that's good . Chainsmokers, wow, very good, very unique and different from anyone else. Halsey, also very unique. Lana Del Rey, very interesting and very 60s- but dark and brooding for sure. So there's some good stuff in pop happening a new style emerging.
But know this, there is NO MONEY in modern records, no one is getting rich off them. All the income these days in modern music is in the tour.
Brad
