Composition today

Im not going to bother trying to read through every single post to see if someone has mentioned this...so forgive me if the subject has already come up.

Sex Sells. You realise that a large majority of 'composers' and 'artists' that are around today, are incredibly beautiful/handsome? People take one look at them and go 'mm mm Yummy'...sometimes without even realising how much they really suck.

I dont know ANYONE (personally) who has said "Mm mm, Beethoven was a babe" or "I'd tap Rachmaninoff".

In everyday conversation, I hear (seriously) "Mm Mm, Justin Timberlake is soooo hot" and "Jennifer Lopez's butt makes me hor..." (i wont finish that).

Also, look at these lyrics:

[Will.I.Am]
It's funny how a man only thinks about the...
You got a real big heart, but I'm looking at your...
You got real big brains, but I'm looking at your...
Girl, there ain't no pain in me looking at your...

[PCD]
I don't give a...
Keep looking at my...
'Cause it don't mean a thing if you're looking at my...
I'm a do my thang while you're playing with your...
Ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha
(Pussy Cat Dolls, 2007 Interscope Records)

-and-

I'm busy throwing hints that he keeps missing
Don't have to think about it
I wanna kiss and
Everything around it but he's too distant
I wanna feel his body
I can't resist it...
After waiting patiently for him to come and get it
He came on through and asked me if i wanted to get with him
I knew i had my mind made up from the very beginning
Won't miss this opportunity so you and me could feel it
(Sugarbabes, 2007 Universal Records)



See how sexual these songs are. Sure, i did choose the most promiscuous songs they have ever written, but you get my point? People hear these words (well, sometimes they dont even realise it) and they love it. The video clips gets people off as well.

If i were to put Art Music on MTV for a day, i can GUARANTEE that their viewer count would drop dramatically (and would spike for the now cliched Moonlight Sonata and Fur Ellise (sorry for all those fans and beethoven fenatics))

Anyway. Does anyone else agree with me that sex is the reason why pop music is so poooopular.

Elvis was sexual too *thrust thrust*.


- Another reason pop music may be so popular as well could be because of the constant excitement built up in them, with strong rock beats and cliched I IV V VI chords. I appreciate the rock composers that incorporate traditional writing with rock stuff...Nightingale something something do it...i cant remember their band name.

Originally Posted by QcCowboy

Come to think of it, more than half his "hit" tunes are stolen from Mendelsohn, Puccini, Brahms, etc...

You know, I thought parts of La Boheme sounded very modern when we did it here....

who else thinks that alarm will sound kicks ass, especially with the renditions of aphex twin music? 'cock ver10' and 'meltphace6' being my favourite

YouTube - Alarm Will Sound

Originally Posted by pliorius

who else thinks that alarm will sound kicks ass, especially with the renditions of aphex twin music? 'cock ver10' and 'meltphace6' being my favourite

YouTube - Alarm Will Sound

I do! Although nothing beats the originals.

i think meltphace6 sounds very very fresh and good in their rendition. it could be said about cock ver 10 (or simply call it a dick ). the first impression i had hearing AWS playing aphex twin, was - it couldn't have been such a free compositions - what i mean - electronically the sound is much more connected, very tight, while on acoustic version it's very sparse. but - somehow - it works, it gives sense of spring to it, sense of 'to paradise with chaos'. though drums on st michels mountain could've been much stronger.

I think its really impressive the way they can emulate the electronic versions so well, especially with all the weird noises and such that Aphex puts in his music. But I wonder if the guy who had to shout out the sample in 'Cock ver 10' felt a bit awkward afterwards.

espiacialy when it's not acid afterwards... anyway should work very well shouting that to a usual audience front row i assume there's lots of elderly ladies there

Yes, in general the avant-garde of yesterday is dead. No one is interested in advances to the musical language. Audiences want a piece of music that they enjoy listening to no matter what style of music they listen to. A composer should always begin by writing the music s/he enjoys writing and then try to find a way to get other people to enjoy it. What classical music needs is an audience interested in new composers' works. But they won't be interested if there is nothing in it to enjoy. Penderecki is dead if only metaphorically.

So music that seeks to explore something new and music "in which there is something to enjoy" are mutually exclusive?


P.S. One thing gives me quite some malicious joy every time though: All of Penderecki's later work is generally ignored. Apparently his modernist works actually are a lot more impressive to the general public than his later "neo-romantic" works So you've got a once very modernist composer writing a lot more traditional pieces, but the "audience" sticks with the modernist ones. Kind of goes against what you said, hm? Kind of funny how he's (in your words) dead now, that he's no longer the avant-garde composer he used to be. But I personally like his earlier work much better too!

Actually last week I heard Penderevski's 8th Symphony which was largely... boring in the most general sense of the word... So I will agree with Gardener pretty much!