Is the era of the smash hit gone forever?

Seems like even though there are so many more media outlets for music today. the idea of smash hits like that of the AM Radio era will just never be, ever again.

and how about smash LP's....
There's almost too many listening choices these days, for it to happen.
Will there ever be another Dark Side, or Abbey Road LP, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Frampton Comes Alive etc....

And I'm not just talking about units sold, but truly masterful work as well.

Yes. America's no longer one homogeneous group of people that will all go out and buy the same awesome song. Hasn't been like that since the 1970s. Personally I'm glad for it. Choice is good. More choice is better.

The era of a ten-million selling "Dark Side, or Abbey Road LP, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Frampton Comes Alive" is done. Record companies refuse to fund them, for starters. Why would they? The market, like the nation, is far too fragmented. You'd lose money.

And you mention the cause in your first sentence. "AM radio". Nothing on AM these days but hate n' rage talk and Mexican music. When I was a kid, AM used to be the only distribution avenue for music. Now I've got literally 20 different way to buy the same songs. A billion stations at my fingertips. Can't get everyone on the same page if they're all listening to a different station.

Good question, seems these days it's mass-hit

one word: Adele

one word: Adele

+1

Yeah, from what I read, there are still smash hits all the time- I just don't know the songs or the artists!

Most of us are not the right demographic. Tweeners and 18-25 are purchasing the majority of Itune downloads. RAP, Show dance (Beyonce, Gaga, etc.) and Adele / Beiber fever.


My stuff comes from bargain CD's, Music Dispatch or YouTube. Not exactly who is the target market.

- Could be some day, not yet. The US market appears to be going through various
psycho-demographic mood swings...(rap, CD spinning, 1hit wonders Am Idol)

No musicians (by name)....most is drop d chord music..., no great writers

Black Keys are trying to emerge...from a niche market...but, you are right..

Most other sales appear to be in (retro/reissue bands pre2000) ..on MP3

Not sure...........I will be listening....my wife has satellite...I try to listen to new stuff
by end up going to album..stuff

I try to watch Public TV Austin City....sometimes new talent is there, but it appears
that gets pigeon holed too (alt country, alt jam band, alt everything else)

Most of us are not the right demographic. Tweeners and 18-25 are purchasing the majority of Itune downloads. RAP, Show dance (Beyonce, Gaga, etc.) and Adele / Beiber fever.


My stuff comes from bargain CD's, Music Dispatch or YouTube. Not exactly who is the target market.

When those Frampton/Floyd/Stones/Beatles, etc. smash hits occurred, we WERE the right demographic...it's been just as long since those days as it had been since Glenn Miller when Frampton came alive...geezers, we are!

I was gonna say "Ask Katy Perry."

There is good stuff out there, even in the pop world.

I know we are geezers, no less than comparing Mitch Miller with Bieber Feeber.
Wow, still.......as much as you are right about the geezerdom, the music doesn't sound that much different, just worse renditions of what we already did.

What I mean is the musicianship seems to get worse as the studio magic gets better.
You can make anything sound palatable these days with the right computer.
I don't know....certainly part of it is my geezerdom and unwillingness to accept what I view as crap, versus an older catalogue of listening material.

Almost nobody since Nirvana and Sound Garden has really inspired me on the rocknroll side of things. Country is okay if you avoid whatever is for mass consumption. Even the young people I like such as Derek Trucks is so retro when he's not doing World noodle stuff. it's all been done before. When young people are ready to attempt being better than Clapton and Page, only then will music start to improve again. But as it seems now, they are too intimidated to go there, so they just try to go elsewhere.

It's all cool - just saying.....trying to come out with something new, is a noble thing, if it's actually both new and good. But new just for the sake of new....is just that. Is there a fear of young people somewhat to compete?

Of course it's not as common now with such heterogeneous media, but every now and then there comes a song that become a real crossover hit. You know those hits that get played at both hip hop clubs, rock and indie clubs, mainstream radio, etc. These two are the first ones that I came to think about from the last decade:
0J2QdDbelmY
PWgvGjAhvIw

I must be getting old- all that disco/dance music sounds the same to me. As for singers, where did the wavering note come from. I long to here Linda Ronstadt or The Big O sing that last note of Blue Bayou. Aahh, days gone by.

I know we are geezers, no less than comparing Mitch Miller with Bieber Feeber.
Wow, still.......as much as you are right about the geezerdom, the music doesn't sound that much different, just worse renditions of what we already did.

What I mean is the musicianship seems to get worse as the studio magic gets better.
You can make anything sound palatable these days with the right computer.
I don't know....certainly part of it is my geezerdom and unwillingness to accept what I view as crap, versus an older catalogue of listening material.

Almost nobody since Nirvana and Sound Garden has really inspired me on the rocknroll side of things. Country is okay if you avoid whatever is for mass consumption. Even the young people I like such as Derek Trucks is so retro when he's not doing World noodle stuff. it's all been done before. When young people are ready to attempt being better than Clapton and Page, only then will music start to improve again. But as it seems now, they are too intimidated to go there, so they just try to go elsewhere.

It's all cool - just saying.....trying to come out with something new, is a noble thing, if it's actually both new and good. But new just for the sake of new....is just that. Is there a fear of young people somewhat to compete?

This makes no sense. You complain that it's all retro, but then claim that when it's not, they are being new for the sake of being new, and ultimately it's because they fear trying to be "better" (whatever that means) than Clapton & Page (who, it could easily be argued were retro for what they were doing as well). :roll:

And what is this competition? :confused:

IMO the problem here is the geezer (you word...) listening to the music, not the musicians making it.

I hear plenty of good, new music, and I place Derek near the top of the heap.

Unfrotuantely, what we call "Music" is no longer the flavour.

This doesn't mean hit records are not being made or selling, thye just don't appeal to YOU (me / us ) so much.

Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Adele, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce and many, many more are selling huge numbers. I don't know about you but I would gladly be in the chain representing / getting a share of any one their profits......

Even The White Stripes, The Black Keys are selling good numbers.

However, I think you are more alluding to the classic artistic endeavours that made the special albums of our generation so great.....and I think that is just a measure of our generation not liking this generations music, much like OUR parents (mostly) did to our music.

Also, I think it is as said above just more a case of splintered and niche markets these days. One markets ground breaking/amazing album won't transfer across as easily as it would have in the past....

Which is the way the whole world has gone in many industries/sports/politics etc....(niche/splintered/narrow focus etc)

I think, might be wrong, that the music I hear today is expressing more reality based themes. Kinda like reality shows of today. No more Dark Side, Quadraphenia,Ommadawn,
Sgt. Peppers, extended reality,mind expanding style music. You might make a case that it was acid that got that going, but seems like the young generation that consumes the music product today has plenty of drug choices available, so I don't know why there is a lack of that old style available. Of course there is a huge mainstream effect of the producing community to release what sold literally yesterday so they are contemporary today. Just some thoughts , no criticism, I have noticed that it all seems dance-able, so maybe we are in an extended new era Disco period. Obviously not talking about Derick Trucks and similar type of music. lol

The Black Key's 'Lonely Boy' is a great song. It's also the most 'pop' and therefore most successful record they've ever made. The general public love simple little songs that don't challenge them. They wait for Simon - ****ing - Cowell to tell them what to listen to next.

Artists make their best work when they're not writing 'hits' and just making the music they want to make.

I'm glad the charts are dead. The whole idea of music being competitive is absurd. To say this song is better than that song - or this band is better than that band is a pointless and meaningless waste of time. It's all art.

But even the cheesiest pop nonsense has merit on some level. Not everyone wants to listen to what we would call 'good' music. Listening to the latest pop is a cultural thing, they want to be part of mainstream society and feel 'normal'. It's just that I could n't be normal if I tried so I prefer 'weird' music. So I've resolved to stop thinking of them as mindless sheep. Music isn't as important to them and that's fine.


[edit]

Hey camatillo I just want to say, I reject the idea that all the great music is in the past.

Trust me - every day kids are falling in love with Sgt Peppers or Darkside for the first time and set out to make their own music every bit as great.

I'd say for every Lady GaGa there are 100 bands playing music you'd love. You just need to know where to look. The internet is your friend.:grin:

And there are just as many acid freaks around as there were in the 60s!

+1 for Adele.

Rolling in the deep is the most compelling tune I've heard in ten years. It leaps out of the radio mixing old school soul, 60s Motown vibe backup vocals, modern hipster flavor and good old bluesy rock and roll. It's a ginormous hit and there's no synths, drum machines or auto tune.

heh, you guys are old. :lol:

I disagree the smash hit is alive and well in pop country!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5GnZYxI4M&feature=relmfu

There will always be hit songs. But the definition of "hit" is different now than it was back in the day because mass radio/MTV is dead. Also, because digital singles are so easily available, a "hit" song doesn't necessarily translate to a "hit" album, like it did in the 80's-90's when singles were not a factor.

I think we will continue to see phenomena like "Dark Side of the Moon" - great records selling massive numbers over the course of years and decades. Sales like that are based on quality and word-of-mouth - things that will always matter.

I do not think we will see anything like "Thriller" again - a record that sells massive numbers (compared to the size of the market) relatively quickly. With all of the options out there, people don't have to listen to radio/MTV anymore, so they aren't force-fed what the industry wants to sell (although for the record I think "Thriller" is a great piece of work).

People say that the last Adele record saved the record industry - and it sold about one fifth as many as "Thriller." Records rarely get near the 20 million sales mark these days, and all things considered that is probably a good thing for music fans.

Remember when MTV was a music channel?

Google is your friend. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas seem to be doing OK.

Over 7 million copies
"I Gotta Feeling", The Black Eyed Peas[3]
"Rolling in the Deep", Adele[4]

Over 6 million copies
"Boom Boom Pow", The Black Eyed Peas[5]
"I'm Yours", Jason Mraz[4]
"Irreplaceable", Beyoncé[7][8]
"Just Dance", Lady Gaga[9]
"Poker Face", Lady Gaga[11]

Over 5 million copies

Katy Perry is the first singer in history to have five songs that sold 5 million copies in the United States.

"Apologize", Timbaland featuring OneRepublic[12]
"Bad Romance", Lady Gaga[13]
"California Gurls", Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg[14]
"E.T.", Katy Perry featuring Kanye West[10]
"Firework", Katy Perry[10]
"Hey Ya!", Outkast[17]
"Hot n Cold", Katy Perry[14]
"Love Story", Taylor Swift[20]
"Right Round", Flo Rida featuring Kesha[10]

^
The $ sales = success thing has been done a million times. Different era, more kids (and younger ones) with more money buying more music, and don't even have to leave the house to do it.

Relatively speaking, it's easier to sell 5 million records than it ever was - once you're mainstream.

At one point in the UK in the 1990s , Byan Adams was at the top of the chart for something like 40 weeks with that cheesy ballad from that Robin Hood movie.

IT MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!

You can keep him, Canada.

Katy Perry kicks all kinds of a@@.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/how-katy-perry-s-hot-100-record-stacks-up-1005321792.story (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/how-katy-perry-s-hot-100-record-stacks-up-1005321792.story)

Drubbing said: "Relatively speaking, it's easier to sell 5 million records than it ever was - once you're mainstream. "

What does this even mean? Relatively speaking? Because of population growth?

From the NYT:

Consider the record labels’ plunging sales since the music-sharing service Napster made large-scale piracy easy a decade ago. Album sales, including digital singles added up into album equivalents, fell from 755 million in 1999 to 458 million last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The top album in 1999, “Millennium” by the Backstreet Boys, sold 9.4 million copies. The top 2011 album, Adele’s “21,” sold 5.8 million.

"A recent Columbia University survey found, in fact, that 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they had bought, copied or downloaded unauthorized music, TV shows or movies, compared with 46 percent of all adults who'd done the same."

Looks like it is a lot harder to sell 5 million copies due to pirating.

So these folks are way more popular than their sales suggest.

This seems to be about kids not buying what you like, not that hits don't happen.

I'm just not seeing the difference between "She Loves You", "Stop in the Name of Love", and "California Girls" and "California Gurls" by Katy Perry.

I DON'T LIKE Katy Perry. But I'm not a teenager.

Lady Gaga is a great performance artist. I don't care for her music. But I used to watch movie musicals as a kid (i.e. treacly, cornball crap). I never listen to THAT music by itself but if I DO hear something from the "Sound of Music" (for example) I can immediately see the scene in my head. Maybe kids like Gaga because she is both visual and audio.

BTW my son would rather stick hot pokers in his ears then listen to Katy Perry. (Maybe not so much with watching her dance.)

But he listens to EDM (electronic dance music) and punk ska. (???)

He can wax on endlessly about the subtle differnces of trance, dub, drum and bass, jungle, glitch, house, acid jazz, etc.

Much like we point out all the subtle nuances between the Beatles, Stones, Who, Zep and Beach Boys.

There is an entire underground scene around EDM that is "tribal." Very different but same spirit as hippies. Kids seem to be doing the same things we did just not with our stuff.

Just for some historical perspective.

I can remeber my mother dragging me to listen to Barbershop quartets on Lawrence Welk. Oh the beautiful harmonies. Too bad the Beatles and Beach Boys took those harmonies and ruined them. Compared to the barbershop greats they can't even sing. Ever seen live Beatle footage where they can't even hit those harmonies consistently. They were all studio trickery. Whereas "Your Father's Mustache" can go out on stage and nail it every time.

Of course my mother was just an old fogey. She didn't realize what a stunning musical achievement "Little Old Lady from Pasedena" was.

First of all, it's "all been done before" has been true for a long, long, long time.
Since I am a geezer and God-willing, the teens,20's 30's etc. will also be geezers someday, they will someday long for their youthful smash hits and badmouth the music of the day.
I know their are "smash hits" out there because my 11 year old grandson downloads them on his ipod all the time. I don't like the Black Keys much, but my parents didn't like the Rolling Stones either and my mom loved music. Technology always changes music. The Beatles were highly praised for running recordings backwards and adding them to the mix.
Some geezers get miffed if a Hip Hop Artist "samples" a portion of a track from another era artist. To me that's a compliment. Anyaway, enough of my rant. There are lot's of smash hits out there...I just don't listen to a lot of that new-fangled kind of "so-called stuff these kids call music" :wink:

I think smash hits live in today's market, but smash albums are few. I think the new model is going towards EP's. Release four songs every three quarters.

I agree with Fezz. But that is because kids don't care about "albums".

In a similar vein, why isn't anyone producing smash hit piano rolls for our player pianos anymore? Oh right...

I love complete, well thought out albums where the song sequence tells a story. But I come from that generation.:grin:

I would say it's ONLY smash hits (singles).
The main record buy demographic (14 - 24) doesn't really care about 'albums'.

On the nose Ken.

Actually, now that I think about it it is not a bad analogy. Where are all the movie musicals? You have the occasional one that comes along. But an "art form" that Ameicans created (kinda weird too - people bursting into song for no discernable reason) and was wildly popular has basically dried up. Now we look at them as sometimes enjoyable period pieces. Not much different from classic rock albums. I sure the occasional"hit album" will come along. But maybe that particular art form is passe.

What I find interesting is my son plays me stuff where it is not the actual song but a remix of someone else's remix of the original song (that was also full of samples of other people's songs (that may have been remixed)). He thinks nothing of this and thinks the DJ is the "artist". If I occasionally hear a "classic rock" sample (although they mainly sample each other's stuff) and say "hey that's so and so" the response is usually "yeah, whatever."

I would say it's ONLY smash hits (singles).
The main record buy demographic (14 - 24) doesn't really care about 'albums'.

What he said.

That demographic buy single downloads for their iPhones and iPods in the millions. And what a great product to sell- record it once and distribute millions of copies with virtually no unit cost. The companies use these people as their focus groups (through Idol, X Factor, etc) to narrow down the field of "which product they will push", and the punters lap it up.
After all, they picked the product.

I don't think it's a case of "...They wait for Simon-****ing-Cowell to tell them what to listen to next..."
The "Simon-****ing-Cowell"s of the music biz listens to what the punters will buy and provide it to them.

It's the circle of life...

If there is any justice in the world, this would be a smash hit:

KeqYskPmVcI

Anything that gets my wife shakin' it is great in my view.

Where are all the movie musicals?

Actually, movie musicals generally are derived from Broadway musicals. Broadway is still doing OK...

I for one think it's a good thing that the focus is back on the single rather than the album.

If there is any justice in the world, this would be a smash hit:

KeqYskPmVcI

Anything that gets my wife shakin' it is great in my view.

I agree. It's got all the ingredients and... an anti-hero country bad boy for a marketing hook.

Thanks M. It's on the iTunes if ya feel like spendin' a buck.:lol:

Great...I'll get it. Believe it or not, my grandson who is 11 will probably love it.

... an anti-hero country bad boy for a marketing hook.

Nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.:cool:

Thanks M. It's on the iTunes if ya feel like spendin' a buck.:lol:

I'll buy one less beer this week.:grin:

I know we are geezers, no less than comparing Mitch Miller with Bieber Feeber.
Wow, still.......as much as you are right about the geezerdom, the music doesn't sound that much different, just worse renditions of what we already did.

What I mean is the musicianship seems to get worse as the studio magic gets better.
You can make anything sound palatable these days with the right computer.
I don't know....certainly part of it is my geezerdom and unwillingness to accept what I view as crap, versus an older catalogue of listening material.

Almost nobody since Nirvana and Sound Garden has really inspired me on the rocknroll side of things. Country is okay if you avoid whatever is for mass consumption. Even the young people I like such as Derek Trucks is so retro when he's not doing World noodle stuff. it's all been done before. When young people are ready to attempt being better than Clapton and Page, only then will music start to improve again. But as it seems now, they are too intimidated to go there, so they just try to go elsewhere.

It's all cool - just saying.....trying to come out with something new, is a noble thing, if it's actually both new and good. But new just for the sake of new....is just that. Is there a fear of young people somewhat to compete?

That was perfectly explained......It's exactly how I feel about it... Thank you.... R

I think Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are just about the best younger artists out there.
Neither was afraid to take and learn from the brilliance of their predecessors and grow it even better.

But then they aren't all that young anymore either, younger than me for sure.
They took the crafts of very great musicians that came before them, ones that inspired many.
But also in the style of artists that had almost God-like worship, but just made themselves better because of it.

Not to compare, but I think Derek has surpassed Duane Allman in Duane's old position in guitardom, or is at least closing in. You can't really seperate Duane from Greg Allman and the whole band. Derek teaming up with Susan was brilliant I think, because Derek, like Duane, needs a vehicle to do his thing. He needed more than the Allman brothers, because that was the ground Duane laid.

He needed Susan Tedeschi - what a perfect match. I don't think there could be a better husband and wife team in music today, not for my taste anyway. Together they are making music that will last and last.

I think Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are just about the best younger artists out there.
Neither was afraid to take and learn from the brilliance of their predecessors and grow it even better.

But then they aren't all that young anymore either, younger than me for sure.
They took the crafts of very great musicians that came before them, ones that inspired many.
But also in the style of artists that had almost God-like worship, but just made themselves better because of it.

Not to compare, but I think Derek has surpassed Duane Allman in Duane's old position in guitardom, or is at least closing in. You can't really seperate Duane from Greg Allman and the whole band. Derek teaming up with Susan was brilliant I think, because Derek, like Duane, needs a vehicle to do his thing. He needed more than the Allman brothers, because that was the ground Duane laid.

He needed Susan Tedeschi - what a perfect match. I don't think there could be a better husband and wife team in music today, not for my taste anyway. Together they are making music that will last and last.

Agree, but they're not going to have a smash hit.

The era of smash hit isn't over, not by a long shot







The era of good smash hits however, is probably as dead as a doornail


(but I'm an old 35, so take that fwiw)

"Almost nobody since Nirvana and Sound Garden has really inspired me"

Nirvana and Sound Garden!!!...that's young person music, turn in your geezer badge. Anything after 1975 doesn't count and you know it!

At a time when the average young person has several thousand songs loaded on their portable mp3 player (I read somewhere that 8000 tracks is an average number), what are the chances he/she even knows every song in the collection, much less has a few intensely loved favourites?

I suspect part of what has happened is that music has become muzak for many young people - it's just sort of a background noise, and there isn't much focussed interest on any specific song. The generic sound of most music today certainly isn't helping to change that. Quantity matters more than quality, hence the 8000 songs on each iPod/ iPhone/ iThingy.

Incidentally, if you add up the price of several thousand legally purchased mp3's and compare that to the disposable income of the average teenager or young twenty-something, it also becomes obvious that most of those 8000 songs were illegally obtained.

I think in a world of seven billion people there will always be room for a million-seller, but even a million-seller today no longer has the broad cultural impact that it had forty or fifty years ago.

-Gnobuddy

I think, might be wrong, that the music I hear today is expressing more reality based themes. Kinda like reality shows of today. No more Dark Side, Quadraphenia,Ommadawn,
Sgt. Peppers, extended reality,mind expanding style music. You might make a case that it was acid that got that going, but seems like the young generation that consumes the music product today has plenty of drug choices available, so I don't know why there is a lack of that old style available.

MGMTs "Congratulations" was just that imo and pretty much completely ignored. Its a fantastic album though that may take a few listens to get in to (as many of my favorite albums have turned out to be) and I think its a creeper for future "classic album" status..