What Has The Mainstream Industry Come to?

Perhaps I’m being a bit pretentious here when I ask the question, “Where has the mainstream music industry come to?”  “Oh this music has a good beat!” is one of the frequent responses that seem to blurt out of people’s mouths, which is valid, but is music just meant to get us up and dancing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, everyone knows that I love a great tune to dance to in the car (or bus I don’t care if people stare!) but isn’t music meant to make us think about things or relate to our emotions at least some of the time?

Yeah songs like “Panda” are fun to listen to when you’re trying to get up and dance but what about some real thought provoking stuff such as What Sober Couldn’t Say by Halestorm.  Definitely, an emotional song as the singer/songwriter tells a story about finally being able to get something off of her chest and how she doesn’t like the current situation she’s been putting herself through.  Stone Sour’s Through The Glass is also a song where Corey Taylor is looking at the music industry and saying, “Wow, what have we come to?”  The song has taken on another meaning with fans (including myself) being that you are looking at yourself and shouldn’t judge too harshly.  Either way there are a couple important messages there that should be thought about and we should challenge the norm in today’s music industry.

Are there exceptions to the rule?  Yes, is the answer to that and there are two bands that stick out in my mind to be thought provoking.  My Chemical Romance is a band that has been a Pop Punk band from the beginning and has released many albums with fantastic music, pushing their limits since day 1 and continuing to adapt throughout the years to make themselves a group to remember.  Another Pop artist that I’ve really gotten to know has been Passenger and they have songs that make you feel something with Let Her Go being their most known.  So my faith in the modern popular music industry hasn’t completely gone away but it seems to get more and more difficult to find bands that are thought provoking and meaningful.

My final thoughts on the issue?  Music is a beautiful thing and is subjective to the listener but we as consumers must know what we want out of music and be careful about the music we buy.  If we tend to buy more thought provoking emotional music, more of artist who create this music will be on the rise.  If we buy music that has a good sound but no real substance then those artist will get more and more attention.  Simply know what your buying or listening to and figure out what works for you.

Chris Huss
474theMiX Rock Radio
Station Promoter/Blogger