Every decade for the last 7 or 8 decades have had a rather significant sound in the musical landscape. Starting from the 1920's with tapping and swinging beats to the 1990's with its grunge rock and teeny bopper pop sounds. Most satelite radio channels have stations dedicated to each and every decade of musical styles. My personal favorite is the 90's but I know how people are with the "classic" stages of music, aka the 60's, 70's and 80's. Lord forbid anyone listen to anything past 1989. ;)
Despite all of these distinctions in the different musical styles, it appears that since the early 2000's, our culture is slowly fading away from these distinctions. What can we truly call the 2000's? What does a song from 2006 really sound like? Uh, good question! I can say that club jams and rap music certainly have advanced in the last decade, almost filtering into any genre imaginable. While I love crossing genres (it's impressive), it can also grow tiring when every song you listen to sounds the same.
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Case in point: Every new Usher song sounds just like every Lady Ga Ga song mixed with the new form of Enrique Iglesias's songs. When I hear a song like "Like a G6" by the Far East Movement on radio today, I have no idea who that artist truly is. I half expect Pitbull, the pathetic 30 second spot rapper, to bust in and annoy me with pointless lyrics. I realize that we're only a year into the new decade but so far I see no one new coming in to really push the envelope and create a distinction between what we've heard and what we're going to hear from now on.
One of my favorite genres, alternative rock, had a huge climax in the middle of the last decade thanks in large part to Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and even Yellowcard for a while. The sound for each of those bands was distinct yet familiar and bridged a dynamic that people either loved or hated. But a dynamic that is slowly fading into nothing today. Two of those bands (P!ATD and Yellowcard) are set to return in 2011 with new albums and I'm interested to see if they'll keep their older sound or try to break ground on something new and unique. It's always a changing landscape in music but recently it seems to be changing into one central sound. And that sound is dull club beats or electronica rock.
Another grand example of a band trying to sound like themselves but switching to a more stylized, slick club-sound is Good Charlotte. They used to be a bit more punk and a whole lot less pop. Their transition started on their last album but if you've heard their newest single "Like It's Her Birthday" you can easily tell this band loves catchy choruses and high production values. Is that wrong? Of course not. It's them being apart of the culture of today, but it saddens me that few people today try and push toward something different.
It's not like all bands "conform" to what's popular today. Look at Radiohead. It would appear they don't conform but actually set the bar where it needs to be in regards to what is musical art these days. Their last album "In Rainbows" was something to behold and it was rather unique in 2007 compared to dumb techno beats that still surround the radio. I'm not saying this band is the key to saving music, hell no. But I am stating that Radiohead isn't afraid of trying something new on every album and sometimes I get the feeling in this next decade, the only thing new we'll be hearing is an increase in even more auto-tuned songs.
