My Thoughts: Popular Music of 2014

Hello and welcome to this weeks main post. I wanted to focus this weeks on a discussion about what music and the industry brought to the table in 2014 and what holds for the future for 2015 and whether it looks brighter. These are my opinions and I hope you'll understand my reasons for saying specific things and topics. Baring in mind that I'm not a massive fan of popular music these days, but I have to keep up with whats going on purely because I'm in that business. Thank you. 

So, 2014 was certainly an interesting year for music. Whether that be a good thing or a bad thing, there was a lot of diversity in the sense that there wasn't one artist dominating the charts for a specific amount of time. There were a lot of different number ones with the highest number of weeks at number one was 4 held by Clean Bandit, Pharrell Williams and Megan Trainor. Though with number ones, comes trends and I have certainly picked up on a few that those major labels have been wanting to sneak into their songs for a number one slot all year.

The first one is the use of a trumpet or some kind of instrument from the brass or woodwind families (saxophones/trumpets) etc and give them a catchy rhythm line. I've seen this in too many songs this year and I'd like that trend to stay in 2014. I heard it very clearly on the likes of Cheryl Cole's "Crazy Stupid Love", Ariana Grande's "One Less Problem" and Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty". See where I'm coming from? It's just been overdone and isn't creative to be honest. It's just one line over and over again, though what would spice the songs up is a solo from the said saxophone or trumpet etc. 

The next trend that came about in 2014 was just a lot of ass (and no not the music). This to me was the lowest point in the industry in its entire history. Whoever thought that writing a song about girls asses and showing so much of it on a video, just needs to re-think their life. With the likes of Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" and Jennifer Lopez's "Booty" just made me want to crawl into a small space and wait for this to all blow over. Those two songs made my ears hurt, there were so manufactured it wasn't funny. That, can stay in 2014 and never rear its ugly head again. 

Another trend this year for me personally was a lot of let downs by many artists. You know when you love a band for their characteristics, then they announce a new album, so you get really excited about it. Then they throw all their characteristics out the window for the new album and completely let you down with this 'new sound'. Its primarily a lot of big rock acts that are turning into a radio friendly band. I found there were limits made by producers, no boundaries pushed, just boring lackluster music created in 2014. I had this too many times last year with the likes of Fall Out Boy, Twin Atlantic, You Me At Six, Bring Me The Horizon and even Coldplay in some respects. I hope this year some big bands come back with a bang and really impress its fans once again and bring out some stonking albums. 

This year I have noticed in particular that a lot of music in the top 40 have all got electronic or programmed drums. As a drummer, this is very worrying for the future if people prefer to use electronic sounds. Even if the drummer is playing on the recording, the producer will still add that electronic effect. Its not happening in just bands of that genre too, this is happening in rock bands too and it sounds dire. When Uptown Funk came onto the radio, I was thinking "Ahhh its great to hear real drums for once". This needs to change.

On a more positive note, there have been a few artists that have crept into the group of really, really good music. Stuff that gets me excited for the future. Artists such as Paolo Nutini and Beck really impressed me. Rock has been reborn as many people say thanks to Royal Blood's domination in the summer. I've seen the alternative scene coming back again this year with artists like The Districts, Honeyblood and First Aid Kit bringing back that broad, but creative scene. 

With Uptown Funk bringing in the new year with an absolute tune. Its great to hear some funk back at the top and I hope other artists will follow suit (Just no covers of this song, you can't cover something that's already amazing...Fifth Harmony) with creative styles of music. Not this manufactured pile of arse that most artists in the Top 40 are pumping out at the moment. 

Not everyone...I never said that, just looking at the Top 40 now and I can see at least 12 artists that are there purely for money for the big three labels. Nothing to do with creativity or writing their own music. Baring in mind artists like One Direction and Ella Henderson have at least 2 songs in the charts...good for you Simon Cowell.

In conclusion, this year has had a lot of trends that I hope will not continue into 2015's year of music. Though there are some very exciting movements for the industry such as streaming being the new digital download from Itunes and with Beat Music entering the scene, will it beat Spotify off the top spot for streaming services? Stay tuned people. 

Thanks for reading and if you have any views on anything I have said then leave a comment below or send it to me on Twitter or Google +. 

Until next time. 

Lewis

*BONUS* Discussion ~ Rock Vs Pop

Hello, 

Welcome to blog post 30. Today I want to expand on my review I published on Wednesday about the new Twin Atlantic album and how they have moved from a real rock band to purposefully writing 'pop' songs for more publicity.

Personally, I feel this is becoming more of a trend than just a one off thing for bands to do. Now, this is just my opinion, I am entitled to it and if you think I am wrong then that's okay, but I just hope you understand my points I will be making in this post. 

So... when I was around 16/17 I was going through a phase of listening to a lot of rock/punk and sometimes metal. The bands that I would listen to constantly would be Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, 30 Seconds To Mars and Alter Bridge. This to me was how people should rock on their albums. Keeping up high tempo most of the time with a lots of guitar rhythms and catchy lines. 

So after listening to albums such as "Riot" and "Brand New Eyes" from Paramore. When it came around to their new album I was pretty excited to hear what they had to offer considering they were now down to 3 members and the singles "Monster" and "Renegade" before the album 'Paramore' got me pumped. 

When the first single from the album came along called "Now", I was disappointed in the sound. I couldn't hear that driving guitar that was so precious in the albums before. I was hoping the second single would provide more promise. Again, I was let down, another 'pop' sound. There were no rock elements to the album at all and I was so disappointed. Especially when Hayley Williams was saying "this is the album we've always wanted to make". 

This example of Paramore isn't the first time that I have been disappointed with new albums from bands that I absolutely adored in my teens. This is starting to become a regular appearance. Its ruining my excitement for new albums if bands just keep producing pop for the larger audiences. I can understand why they want to do it, but people like myself are just getting fed up with every poxy band churning some pop crap out. 

This happened with the new Twin Atlantic album and personally I didn't think it was possible for them because their album 'Free' was insane and I thought building on the foundations of that album, you couldn't go wrong! Oh how wrong I was...

I don't know if I'm the only one that is noticing so many bands lately with a rock 'nature' about them are just producing songs for the charts, for Radio 1 and nothing for the audiences like myself. Its all about getting coverage these days, getting known, but in completely the wrong way. The only way to do this at the moment is create a happy - go - lucky song with some major chords, some kind of trumpet or saxophone playing a catchy riff and the band shouting "YEAAHH, YEAAAHH" or "WOOAAHH", "WOAAAH"...so creative... 

The day that a rock band makes a solid rock album after their successful first one will be the day I can jump in the air and be happy. Right now though, rock is dying out and pop is taking over badly. I have hope and promise still for a few bands such as The Cape Race (check their review out on my blog) and Mallory Knox who are rocking the Radio 1 playlists right now. 

The Cape Race - 'Home,Truths'

I hope everyone now understands my views and points where I am coming from about this issue. Its been playing on my mind for a while now and I thought this was the perfect time to say something especially with the new Twin Atlantic album being a real shocker. 

Thanks for reading and until next time

Lewis