Pop and the idea of bands

[mostlyconnect.livejournal.com]

I don't really listen to bands or groups. I think poptimists has something to do with this - I certainly don't see many bands featured here, and I think they still get a bad press even among those who have rehabilitated pop to themselves? Maybe even rightly!

Do you? I feel these days like having more than one focus distracts and confuses the focus of music, making it weaker - but then I'll make exceptions for moments like golden-age Girls Aloud, when it sounded like 5 solo artists all recording at once, leading and pulling in different, exciting directions. Or at the very least - you knew who they were.

What do people think?

Comments

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Destiny's Child lead the way once again, with MOP, So Solid Crew, Mis-teeq and Daft Punk (http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/707211.html) :)

I don't think we're allergic to the concept, but then it is a backward-looking poll.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

there was a thread on ILM recently about how music industry trends have been veering away from groups in any case over the past half decade - very few pop-orientated groups have emerged since, say, the Pussycat Dolls, and even fewer have had any success.

personally, obviously it's not a hard-and-fast rule, but I tend to prefer solo artists (or duos) anyway, maybe b/c I think talent and charisma is embodied in the individual. but then this year two of my favourite albums are by Electrik Red and Yeah Yeah Yeahs...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

There's been a fair bit of discussion about Electrik Red of late?

But in terms of UK pop there have just been fewer bands generally - cf the big industry focus on female solo artists at the mo. I'm not intrinsically against the idea of bands at all - but the only UK pop band I am currently interested in monitoring the progress of is JLS (and to a lesser extent Girls Can't Catch/Saturdays but that's mainly car-crash viewing).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Wonder if one problem outside pop is how much people in bands have internalised scripts of "being in a band" and so the real interesting exciting tensions in there get routed down very well-worn tracks.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I think I hardly listen to any solo acts! I like bands because there is more possibility for entertaining personality clashes. Also idk there are more people for me to look at in music videos? Solo acts tend to be a bit self-conscious currently; certainly I prefer collabs to solo songs for the most part.

THINGS WOT I HAVE LISTENED TO TODAY:
-Mastodon (IT IS POP)
-Pussycat Dolls
-Sugababes 2.0
-Brandy
-Sugababes 3.0
-Fall Out Boy
-McFly
-Elektrik Red
-Kylie
-Roots Manuva
-Err, Brand New

V GOOD, TICK. Idk, maybe I am a huge freak. Oh wait, do Eels count as a group? They probably don't count as pop either way.

The Point Of Bands

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

i. Create a gang you want to be in.
ii. Create a package that's more interesting than the sum of its parts.

That's about it, except ii can encompass everything from power-trio improv to the Spice Girls to divorce-drama pop so it's pretty broad.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

(btw if anyone is wondering, I'm going to do a post on the Mercury nominations/Lex 20p indie prize tomorrow)

[mostlyconnect.livejournal.com]

Is a band more of an investment for the listener, as well as the label? I am thinking of the hours spent memorizing the members of kat-tun - it takes far more time than making up a contrarian view for a solo artist?

(Or at least there's a dichotomy - single artist: "I don't want to learn too much and ruin the magic", group: "Knowing more about the dynamic opens new pleasures in the music")

New Band In Town

[koganbot]

Band occurs where band had not previously:

78violet.

(So far I think this is an utterly terrible idea, though maybe it's an attempt to rebrand.)