Something I notice about mainstream "modern rock"

There is a local radio station that plays nothing but commercialized modern rock. I never listen to the station, though of course I often do come across the station when I am in a feeble attempt to tune-in to something I can actually tolerate. Untimately, I usually end up listening to either NPR or talk-radio.

However, I notice that a lot of the mainstream modern rock I hear shares one common trait, and that is the production is like that of a really bad Hollywood movie. You have this painfully clean, sterile, compressed sound that is clearly the product of Pro Tools or something very similar. Of course all depth is lost in the process, and like a Hollywood movie, the music is very sleek, though it lacks any real emotion or depth.

To me, this applies to almost all mainstream modern rock bands, including Tool and System of a Down, who people in these forums seem to rave so much about. I think the overdone production heard in much of this music is so uninspiring and downright bland, much more so than the redundancy and lack of creative ideas often found with these bands to begin with.

Someone started a thread very similar to this topic in the old forums - which I found to be very interesting - but it didn't get much of a response.

What is your take on this?

 

I agree.. luckily, my antenna fell off and I only get one station, 105.9 The Rock, Classic Rock that Really Rocks! on the Ride Home with Joe Elvis!!! If the weather permits, I usually get NPR, too.. Noah and I listen to classical music when he's sleepy. He dances to everything. It's cute.

Anyway, everything is overproduced bullshit now. That's why everyone was so blown away when Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin started working together. 99% of them had never heard anything that real and raw before and it freaked them out. I loved it. But they couldn't handle the quality... I think it made their thinkers hurt. Pop is just easier....

 

I do agree with you on the production element Matt, although I disagree with you on the quality of Tool's music. I like what I've heard of this band very much, and do think that they are original in a sense. They clearly have influences in groups like King Crimson, yet they fuse this with a darker, more ominous, visceral sound. Tool isn't one of my favorite bands by any stretch of imagination, but I think that they are quite great, personally. Lateralus is a great album.

I definitely can't say the same about System of a Down, though. Like Tool, they seem to have influences in progressive rock and whatnot, but their sound, like you said, is just so boring. I borrowed their album Toxicity once from a friend, and most of the songs sounded exactly the same in comparison to one another. They all rely on the same formula of Serj Tankian's shrieking voice, annoying staccato guitar lines, and loud volume. There were a couple songs on this album that weren't so bad, such as "Prison Song", "Chop Suey!", and "Aerials", but for the most part, I didn't like them much at all.

But yes, all of this mainstream modern rock has far too slick of production. I think that this overtly processed approach to the recording is a huge contributor to the overall lame quality of bands like Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit, Creed, Linkin Park, Nickelback, etc. With Tool though, the production doesn't really affect the quality of the music, which was already great.

 

Yeah I know exactly what you mean, all pop media (music & movies) has been reduced to nothing but superficial pre-packaged corporate-influenced crap. It really sucks because it tends to overshadow and dominate over some bands that actually have talent. And in 20 years people are probably going to remember late 90s-early 00s music?? Will Nickleback and Korn be played on every Classic Rock station? I fucking hope not, I dont want my kids thinking my generation grew up listening to that shit..

And and to HappyHahaGirl, hell yeah 1059 is the shit!! I love when they do threefer madness and the 4:20 smoke break But lately they've been playing alot of bad 80s bands..

 

I love bad 80s bands! They finally started Mandatory Metallica...everywhere I've ever lived has had it, with the exception of Nashville. But they have this new dj, Mark something, that plays it now. It just started like last week. I think. Maybe I just haven't noticed it all this time... I don't know. But it's oh so good.


I love Proud Mary.... she's so sexy.

 

too many big words in your thread for me to reply....

 

I agree. Checking out some of the indie-music sites, I'm amazed at how slick many of the songs sound, as if they were crafted in a white room with sterilized gloves. The same can be said for that mainstream rock sound, which is of course what those indies are striving to imitate.

But the material itself is hollow, packaged, bland, a rehash of a rehash. We need to get rawer, more organic, more creative......

 

get out of the mainstream...

 

subvert the mainstream don't get out of it.

I agree with this thread mind, and i really cannot understand how the music buisness can say that they are losing money on downloads when the real reason they are losing so much money, is by over-producing overhyped bands. Your never going to get a return when you spend 5 or 6 million ironing out all the bits that might make some of these bands actually interesting. You cannot polish a turd, as someone should have told both Nickelback and Korns record companies before they wasted so much money.

 

I stopped listening to the radio years ago...

 

such is life....

 

We all live then we die. I've got bigger fish to fry!

 

What if your a vegetarian?

 

Then you should kill yourself and not let anyone else suffer your presence any longer. How's that?

 

What do you mean? It was an observation.

 

I agree with you on that Chris! And I also love Aenima... I can't stand some of their songs though, I don't like the ones that sound too hard and angry... In general I hate modern metal.

About general modern rock, I hardly know any commercial modern rock band... because I never listen to the radio, or at least since I've moved to Spain, in France there are some really great stations but not here... here it's Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and Britney or some flamenco with gipsys who can't sing at all but yell. There is good traditional Spanish music but that doesn't go on the radio... anyways that's not the topic. All these bands like System Of A Down I never even heard them once! Or if I did I didn't know it was them... someone told me I would hate them tho and I trust that someone (it's Nick )

 

The base problem is that producers take a sound, and concentrate it, and package it for mass consumption, and it's no longer appealing to origianal fans. It's kinda like the difference between pot and hash, of the cocoa plant and cocaine.

 

I just mean if you don't like these bands, don't listen to them, although I do sympathize with having to listen to shit whenever you turn on the radio. I personally don't like tool, or that other one, and I'm not a big fan of most chart music. But a lot of people who like mass produced pop music grow out of it, and if they don't, or end up liking tool or whoever, then it's their loss.
It's sad that a lot of popular music doesn't tend to be good music these days, but I quite like the challenge of discovering good new bands. Saying that I think in this country at least, its getting better. There are the really poppy crappy local radio stations which must be avoided at all costs, and then there are some quite good ones. I don't think I've ever heard tool on the radio.

 

I agree that most mainstream stuff now sounds unbearably sleek and sterile.

I notice some bands seem to do the exact opposite... they produce their records to sound as dirty and gritty as possible. I think this can sounds great, except when a band sounds like they're trying a bit too hard to be cool (Slanted And Enchanted, etc.).

 

I agree with you baby