Whether he’s right or wrong, only time will tell. But pop artists, even the ones at Taylor Swift’s level, tend to be more fleeting.
I’m not going to judge her music one way or the other. But I’m getting the impression that she’s this generation’s Madonna, and where is she now?
“And then there was the time that she performed, and nobody cried for more…” - Duchess by Genesis
Madonna is now completely irrelevant. Even though at one time she was just as important to pop music as TS is now. That is just the nature of pop music. Pop music tends to be geared towards people who aren’t really interested in music with any depth to it. And that’s not to say that that person is shallow. They may get very deep into different interests. But pop music is fun fluff that they don’t have to think about and it provides what that fan needs when they need it. But most of the time, they don’t even know what the lyrics are to their favorite song.
Metal fans do tend to be very different in that way. Not better…just different. Maybe more obsessive?? Maybe that’s not the right word. But IMO, Iron Maiden is a more relevant band in the current metal scene than Madonna is to the current pop scene, and that is the nature of pop music and pop culture.
Look, not to argue, but... to argue, I don't think that's accurate. For every pop star that is fleeting, there's an LA Guns that is riding on the one hit from back in '85 like it's a life preserver. Quiet Riot. Ratt. Dokken. They ARE the pop stars of rock/metal.
And even those acts that WERE relevant for a time - Priest, Twisted Sister, Motley - you can't say they are still as relevant now. Motley is a fucking joke, IMO. I love Priest, and they just came out with one of the better albums of their career, but they aren't the pioneers they were in 79-84.
My kid put a LITERAL powerpoint presentation together dissecting the music AND lyrics of Swift's 1989 (contrast: I used to have a book that I would write all the songs and writers and lyrics of my favorite acts - Ozzy, AC/DC, Kiss).
Maybe I'm biased because I see one part of it, but while there's few people in my circle - a coupe of high school friends - that have my musical acumen or could take me in a music trivia event, that doesn't mean their fandom is lesser. I see this music being as important to my kid as Iron Maiden is to me. I see my stepson - who is as blue collar as they come - getting lost in the music he listens to now. And sure, she isn't as big a fan of Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers now as she was then, and he's not as big a fan of Korn as he was, but I'm not as big a fan of Fastway or Queensryche as I was then.
You're not going to tell me that there's not the same people at a Metallica show - there for the t-shirt and to hear "Enter Sandman" - as there are at a T-Swift show.
Music is music, and this notion that one genre has something over on another is as old as music itself, and as wrong as it ever was.
Topic: The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls (Read 583263 times)
