Does it seem that all of today’s music sounds the same? Here’s why you might not be wrong.
[This was my weekend column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
Flipping through the radio the other day, my scanning landed on a top 40 station. I decided to leave it there for a while to check out today’s hot hits. Without sounding like Grampa Simpson, I found the exercise disheartening. Was it my imagination, or did almost every song have a sameness to it in terms of production, tempo, timbre and vocal performance?
I decided to listen a little longer. Sadly, the more I listened, the stronger my initial impression.
This wasn’t the top 40 of my youth, a time when all sorts of different music made the charts. I randomly went back through the years and ended up with a list of the biggest singles in May 1985. The number one song that month was Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, followed by Everything She Wants by Wham! and Madonna’s Crazy for You. Also getting substantial airplay that month were Walkin’ On Sunshine from Katrina and the Waves, Smooth Operator from Sade, and Don’t Come Around Here No More by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
I tried again with May 1980 and found even more variety and sonic textures. The biggest hits that month were Call Me by Blondie, Funkytown by Lipps Inc., and Ride Like the Wind by Christopher Cross. A little further down the chart, we had Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) from Pink Floyd, Workin’ My Way Back to You Girl from The Spinners and The Seduction, the sax-heavy James Last instrumental from the American Gigolo soundtrack.
By comparison, today’s big pop hits are simplistic and unoriginal. What’s behind the obvious homogeneity of today’s pop songs? I gave it a good think and here’s what I came up with.
