Where is Ocean Avenue?

Ah, it's surprising that I've found time to blog even though I still have 2 years of Chemistry to revise in 4 days. Screw it, I'm totally not in SPM mode now, I'm guess everyone else are too.

I've been writing songs lately, I don't know what's wrong with me, it's like all the sudden these fragments of melodies are starting to bug me in my head and I can't concentrate on studying. It's like a bloody jigsaw puzzle, very very annoying indeed.

So I started to transcript those into music score, and while at that was listening to some old songs, probably from 5-6 years ago, for inspirations. I found out that most of the songs in my music folder were dated within the period from 2002 to 2007.

Hmmm....I dunno, I guess this is a sign that I'm getting old LOL! Trying to relive old memories by listening to those songs. But I have to say, the pop/rock songs from that period were probably at its peak. The ideas were quite original, the lyrics were creative and beautifully written, the melodies were nice and catchy.

The most played song in my PC were probably those from "Ocean Avenue" by Yellowcard. No matter how many times I listen to this album it just never gets old. Then I have my personal jazz favorite Jamie Cullum. Michelle Branch, an underrated country singer, also one of my favorite. Last but not least, Green Day(sort of self-explanatory).

I noticed the calibre of the pop songs being played on air in recent months, maybe years, have been going downhill. In other words, it's becoming crap.

Artistes lost their soul, driven by fame and money. More and more untalented people are being packaged nicely by agencies and turned into money-cow. They don't make their own songs, they have not much skills in music whatsoever, and they're being marketed like a pair of bloody Nike shoes. I despises these peoples, both the artiste and the agency or whoever helped those artistes along the way. It just makes no sense.

I can show you some cases:

Lady GaGa - No talent in music. Not good at singing, mind you, whatever you heard on radio or in TV was edited and mixed in the studios. She sucks at live performances. He songs are meaningless, only sing about brands and moneys and stuffs. 

Miley Cyrus - Does have some amazing stage presence and I admire that, but her songs are suckish, not really her ideas, I bet his father did most of the songs (I like his father though). Again, the songs doesn't really interests me, doesn't catch my ears, no nothing. Her musical fanbase is a direct import from her Hannah Montana fanbase. People don't really listen to her music because it's good, it's because she's good at acting in her TV series, which wasn't really a big deal anyway.

Taylor Swift - Good music, noob lyrics. Again, I repeat, NOOB LYRICS!!! I can't believe she had such a good melody line for her songs and she had to spoil it with those childish lyrics. Come on la, the WHOLE album dedicated to your love story ah? I listen also feel muak already, the reoccuring theme is just too much for me to bear. =_="

All the active rappers from the States except Eminem - Overused rhythms and rhymes. Meaningless songs. Here's a quote that pretty much sums up the rap industry - "There are only one simple rule in making a hit rap song. You must talk about money, cars, drugs, guns, sex and blings in your song!"

All the winners of American Idol - The only one that is worth your time and money is Kelly Clarkson, to be honest her vocal is just too awesome. Carrie Underwood had some nice songs, but her style is country and not of the general public's interest. The others are...uh...wait...who? 

And the list goes on and on...

Frankly speaking, I used to turn on MTV and find myself enjoying some great songs. Now, whenever I try to even dissect and digest the songs, I puked, this is what I think about the pop music of this era. Pure marketing, no substances. There are exceptions but you don't see that often.



Hmm... Does make one wonder, when will someone come into the scene and finally save this sick industry from becoming more ill-stated?

By the way, what do YOU think? Comments are appreciated!

Till next time, cheers~