MovieChat Forums > Before the Music Dies (2006) Discussion > Most of the musicians featured as the 'g...

Most of the musicians featured as the 'good musicans' SUCKED HARD!


The harmonica guy, the Hallelujah boys, the mess that was the black guys with the drums and the white guitarist, what the hell was that? Calixico wasn't bad, Dave Matthews with that screaming song, I couldn't even understand what he was saying.

I know I'll have some know it all sophisticate who fancies himself a real music lover who thinks this garbage is good (or says he likes it because it makes him different) say that I'm brainwashed, but the truth is I LOVE meaningful music. The only music made today that I listen to is real country. it's the only music that means anything these days. it has something to say. Besides that I listen to old music. I'm a huge Elvis Fan, I have an eclectic IPod. The stuff on this movie wasn't good it was just different. Ad if we are just going to call different good, then the music business really is in trouble. I'd rather listen to Britney Spears than this filth.



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Creativity? Sure, because they at least TRY to make something. Most of the prepackaged stuff today is made FOR them as the film showed. But the music and showmanship and all is much better on the prepackaged stuff.

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I'm curious to hear what you listen to that's been made recently. if you look, there are definitely good musicians that make their songs mean something today. Calexico is one, Iron & Wine is another, and the list could go on forever. I will agree with you and say that I don't like DMB all that much, just not my style of music. but to say that there isn't "good" music being put out today is to overlook a LOT of artists.

Even the hip-hop industry, commonly sited as one of the biggest areas where music is dying, still has talent if you look in the right places. Granted, there, too the "industry" has taken over the mainstream, but that , my friend, is the nature of capitalism. If the execs see a market in it, they're going to exploit it. And they're going to exploit it in the way that makes them money as fast as possible.

its all a question of who is making their own music and who is having it made for them. I would rather see the people who actually make the prepackaged music get famous than the harlots who dance around lip-syncing it. And on the same token, I would rather see bands that are making what you seem to call "filth" make it big than see someone like Britney be built into a millionaire on someone else's talent.

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I said I listened to today's music, but as I mentioned it's usually country. I also like the laitn market, and there are a few mainstream or popular artists who have one or two songs I like, but I don't really buy music anymore there hasn't been anyone out there who moves me yet. And I usually hate hip-hop (I even hate that stupid name, hip-hop) so I almost never listen to it even when it's "good".

I also understand capitalism and I look up to the industry. Like you said, if it sells they will try to make it sell more. I also have another post here where I basically say that the masses want this crap music, they eat it up, if there wasn't an audience for it the industry wouldn't bother to work on it. I have no problem with people making money, I have no problem with clearchannle owning as many stations as they want, I just don't have to like what they produce.

I also don't care who makes it big, in fact it's making it big that ruins music for me. I hate when something I like suddenly gets proliferated, I like having what I like be mine. When it gets big it's like you're losing who you are and you're no longer an individual but just like everyone else. You start to look like a follower. Also the music itself (not necessarily the artists you originally liked) starts to become watered down by crap copy cats out to make it big. It loses it's soul. I still love and respect capitalism though, it's not a knock on it at all.

I remember loving country until everyone and their mother (esp. their mother) started to love it too, Andrea BOcelli, Matisyahu, MARC ANTHONY. UGH! e was turned into a pantywaste he was and still is a POWERFUL Spanish language singer but the crossover made him into a Puerto Rican Michael Bolton or something.


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If you like a song, you like a song. If you stop liking it just because it becomes popular that says more about your self-esteem than your taste in music. Have the guts to like what you like, period. You might have more confidence in your taste if you took the time to experiment and give different types of music a chance without dismissing them just because you don't like the name of the genre.

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WHOA WHOA WHOA, first you need to calm down. I never said I stopped liking a song because it became popular. I said that I hate when it gets popular because it calls poseurs and fake people. I continue liking the music. I also hate that the popularity makes the music become watered down, I hate that people come in who make it more appealing to the masses. This is true of everything, not just music. In country we see it with every Tom Dick and Harry with a southern accent (and some without) suddenly decide to sing country. They leave the steel guitars and banjos and fiddles behind and bring in the electric guitar, the drums and the make crap songs that try too hard to be sappy and heartbreaking instead of being that way without effort.

My comment on hip-hop's name steered you away from my point. I hate hip-hop because most of it is just stupid. I dislike the genre because most of it isn't appealing to me. I also remember saying that i did like SOME rap, or something to the affect. The comment on the name was an aside.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

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First of all DMb is a 100 times better than this paris hilton and lindsey lohan prepacked *beep* "Where are You Going" is so much better than a lot of this *beep* on the radio today.

On the side note, I thought this was a really good documentary. I stumbled upon it yesterday and was actually quite enjoyable. (p.s. Eric Clapton is awesome :D)

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it's obvious to all that, just from this thread alone, you can get into a pretty heated argument when it comes to personal music tastes. but, that aside, what i like about this doc is it does a fairly thorough job of doing what its stated goal is: to explain why the "music" business is endangered by the "record" business.

it doesn't purport to tell us why there's so much "bad" music being made today; only why so much of it is being aired on our radio waves.
i've been around for over 40 years. started listening to music on a little am radio back in the early 70s. i can attest to the fact that there was a dramatic diff. between radio stations and the music they played then (onwards thru the 80s and 90s...), and what both are like today. actually, that's not entirely true, because i stopped listening to commercial radio regularly in the mid-80s. my samplings of it since have been distasteful, to say the least. it really does all sound the same. but, the doc tells you all that...
what i like is how it tells us who's responsible, and at least gives clues as to how we can avoid a future of homogenized, bland, non-challenging, monothematic pop drivel. it's a question of business/commerce and art. in the past (that they bring up repeatedly in the doc), the 2 were able to coexist in a much more harmonious way. now, business has taken over.

now, too, what i don't like about this documentary: they don't really talk about many diff. types of music (and marginalised artists). branfored marsalis mentions ornette coleman, but otherwise there's no discussion of other jazz musicians (who've always been on the periphery of american music popularity, anyway), or electronic musicmakers, subgenres of rock like art rock, prog rock, metal (made by 'real' musicians), reggae (especially dub music), etc. while i appreciate the plight of the musicians they do feature in this film, i guess they're supposed to stand for those underappreciated and dispossessed musicians of every musical persuasion. and, i'd just like to have seen more represented specifically.

as a music lover (who's made music at diff. times in his life), i will say that i think the movie is inspirational, and should be taken as the warning sign that it is, to help us prevent a future where the free avenue of musical expression (the radio) is taken over by people who're only interested in capital.
they say it...listen to college radio, the internet, cds, ipods, etc.

gregory 022008

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yeah i totally agree with you, this movie was inpirational
it was a movie for people who are too lazy to find real music

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They were as generic as they come. No wonder they were irrelevant. You expect a blues artist to sell millions? Come on...
And Dave Mathews Band? They are a punchline. Like Phish. Altough I do have respect for the man for sticking to his convictions.

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You expect a blues artist to sell millions? Come on...


If said blues artist were pushed by a large established imprint of one of the Big Three music conglomerates as hard as, say, Amy Winehouse was when she was alive and signed to Sony, then yes, said artist would sell millions of records. It's just a matter of willpower on the basis of the Big Three to promote said artist-for example, right now, Universal has signed a great lady singer who plays guitar called Priscilla Ahn (https://www.priscillaahn.com/), but other than setting up a website for her, there's not much that's been done with her at Decca Records (and the same goes for ladies similar to her like Regina Spektor (signed to Warner Music), Santigold [real name Santi White] (also signed to Warner Music) and Bat for Lashes (real name Natasha Khan, signed to Capitol/Universal.)

As I said, all it would take for the people I mentioned (and for the blues artist mentioned in the movie) to get pushed is guts, as well as a willingness to see beyond short-term profit. But many of the executives at The Big Three seem to have none of that anymore, and (North) American radio is no help at all-it loves pop stars to death like most men love beer.

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