Moment when it became like cool to like commercial pop music?

"Poptimism wants to be in touch with the taste of average music fans, to speak to the rush that comes from hearing a great single on the radio, or YouTube, and to value it no differently from a song with more “serious” artistic intent. It’s a laudable goal, emerging in part from the identity politics of the 1990s "

:)

― Raccoon Tanuki, Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:17 (nine years ago) link

i thought we all agreed that the next time the word "poptimism" came up we'd all just lie down and take a nap

― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:19 (nine years ago) link

oh my god you did not just drop the saul austerlitz piece in here oh sweet lord

that dude doesn't exactly have positive feelings toward rap, Ka mention notwithstanding, so idk if you want him as the pushing-40 paleface backing you up

not that that'll stop you when you're on a roll

― search datpiff, you'll find it (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:19 (nine years ago) link

this is a pretty lol xpost now, but:
dude, honestly, the reason people are responding to you with snide gifs is that this board has a long and easily searchable history of pushing back against the idea that "teen girls" are not "discerning music fans" (are teen boys discerning?).

― The question is why, the answer is internet (rob), Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:22 (nine years ago) link

This article is brilliant, and exactly what I've been distilling but in a poorer more convoluted and distracted way

"Rosen is describing poptimism as a reaction to what I think of as “Rolling Stone disease,” whereby Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen were treated as geniuses and the likes of Marvin Gaye and Madonna as mere pop singers. Obviously there should be no test of race or gender in musical immortality. But now the reaction has swamped the initial problem and created a wildly distorted version of the music world in 2014, as reflected in the way it’s covered.

Poptimism now not only demands devotion to pop idols; it has instigated an increasingly shrill shouting match with those who might not be equally enamored of pop music. Disliking Taylor Swift or Beyoncé is not just to proffer a musical opinion, but to reveal potential proof of bias."

Bolded text links into my reasons why the poptimism reaction has swamped the initial problem that is related to corporate control x internet advertising.

― Raccoon Tanuki, Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:23 (nine years ago) link

what work is the word "manufactured" doing in "manufactured pop"

what is the not-manufactured pop. or the manufactured not-pop?

what genres have gone away since the 90s? i suppose polka and latin jazz among others are no longer grammy categories. is this what you're referring to?

― a total laugh package (s.clover), Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:24 (nine years ago) link

"So why is music criticism more or less alone in this affectation? Unlike those other disciplines, it has had to wrestle with the fact that music is now effectively free. Music criticism’s former priority — telling consumers what to purchase — has been rendered null and void for most fans. In its stead, I believe, many critics have become cheerleaders for pop stars.

It is no accident that poptimism is an Internet-era permutation. Obsessive coverage of stars like Drake and Justin Bieber drives Web traffic in a way that more judicious, varied coverage of the likes of, say, the Tuareg guitar wizard Bombino generally cannot. Once, we learned about new music by listening to the radio, reading Spin or watching MTV. Today MTV is largely a reality-TV channel, and most people prefer their iPods or Spotify playlists or Pandora stations to fusty radio programming.

In this way, poptimism embraces the familiar as a means of keeping music criticism relevant."

thisthisthis

― Raccoon Tanuki, Thursday, 20 November 2014 23:31 (nine years ago) link

"Admit It"

Admit it!
Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance
And vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs
You know nothing about art or sex
That you couldn’t read in any trendy New York underground fashion magazine
Prototypical non-conformist
You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo
You adhere to a set of standards and tastes
That appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges (bullshit)
Giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art
Go analog baby, you’re so post-modern
You’re diving face forward into a antiquated past
It’s disgusting, it's offensive, don’t stick your nose up at me

Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself?
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself?
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah

You spend your time sitting in circles with your friends
Pontificating to each other
Forever competing for that one moment of self-aggrandizing glory
In which you hog the intellectual spotlight
Holding dominion over the entire shallow pointless conversation
Oh, we’re not worthy
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people
You chuckle to yourself patting yourself on the back as you scoff
It's the same superiority complex
Shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell
And makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma
You spend every moment of your waking life bitching about

Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself?
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
And I say yeah, what do you have to say for yourself?
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah

'Cause I’m proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar

Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar, yeah

Well let me tell you this, I am shamelessly self-involved
I spend hours in front of the mirror, making my hair elegantly disheveled
I worry about how this album will sell
Because I believe it will determine the amount of sex I will have in the future
I self medicate with drugs and alcohol to treat my extreme social anxiety

You are a faker (admit it)
You are a fraud (admit it)
Yeah, you’re living a lie (hey) living a lie (hey) you’re life is living a lie
You don’t impress me (admit it)
You don’t intimidate me (admit it)
Why don’t you bow down, get on the ground, walk this fucking plank (yeah!)

Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
And I say yeah (what do you..)

Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my..
Guitar, guitar go!

I drift, drift, drift, drift, drift, yeah
I drift, drift, drift, drift, drift, yeah oh

And I am done with this
I wanna taste the breeze of every great city
My car and my guitar
My car and my guitar
So you'll come to be, made of these urges unfulfilled
Oh no, no, no, no, no
When I'm dead I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, lay still
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest