Musical Standard

People constantly ask me do I listen to this artist?, have I heard this song?, and are completely baffled by my dislike of what is considered mainstream music and artist. I can't help it if I have musical standards, I grew up listening to the masters of he craft in backseat of my dad's car: Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Temptations, Billy Joel. I got exposed to Michael Jackson early in life via my big brother. Other exposure to greats like Nirvana, Aerosmith, U2, Madonna & Metallic came from lots of time spent w/ a favorite aunt. My own explorations brought me to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and J5/the Jacksons. With standards like that, how can I buy into the flash in the pan acts of today? These artist who seem to have come from nowhere and suddenly are "the it shxt" of music? Or these artist who can only ever sing about sex, partying and money....oh and let's not forget the ever popular "I'm so flashy...I'm the bomb... I'm so good in bed... You wish you could be me" songs.

Where did artist with a true passion for the art go? I understand that the music industry is a business, I don't hate on people making money, everybody's got to make some. But. That's all artist are about these days, or so it seems anyway. You didn't see Michael Jackson "popping bottles of Cris" or "making it rain" in his videos. His talent, passion and vision was always enough. Sure Michael had phenomenal stage shows with plenty of flash & boom...but it added to the presentation... it wasn't THE presentation. You can strip away all the extra and be content w/ just Michael, his expression through movement and music would captivate you without any of the extra. But there are artist today, who I won't name, that seem to be lost in the theatrics and take drastic effort to be dramatically different.

And worse yet, some of the few veteran artist, that ARE WORTH THEIR SALT, seem to be influenced and or threatened by some of these theatrics and the sudden popularity of a new artist. You need not be, you've proven yourself, we know you can sing, we know you've got talent. There's no need to stoop and try the tricks of the flashy new artist. Trust me, you don't want to be them.

I don't know what the future holds for some of these artist. My guess is that they're come and go artist. There's a certain cute teen that people hail as the greatest thing since sliced bread. And all I can think is... excuse me? and WTF? I'm not a fan or a hater of this particular young artist, but please realize that he's still in his first 15 minutes of fame.. who's to say he won't be replaced when the next child star arrives, who may or may not be any more talented but just cuter...? Seems like for a couple years I couldn't take a step without walking into something Jonas Brothers, but now, where are they? Certainly not as relevant in the mainstream as they were before that new young sensation came bursting out of the internet.

All that being said, there are some artist that I will mention. These artist are the ones I spend my money on, the records I buy. Sure there may be a single here and there from the "flashy artist" that I like..but nothing that makes me want to swipe my debit card. The following artist have been out since the 90s and are still current, still recording and touring. These artist, I'm sure you won't completely agree with because the majority of listeners seem easily swayed by "the cool kids" and move on when told... but if you're a fan of real singers, harmonies, good song writing and musicians...then you should forget about the flashy new guys and stick to "old reliable".... Artist like, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Hanson, John Mayer & Jason Mraz. All of the mentioned artist are still recording and touring acts...and have only gotten better at their craft over the last decade or so. You won't be disappointed vocally from any of them. And while groups like Backstreet Boys and Hanson may not be as popular as they once were, its only because the mainstream tells you not to listen to "boy bands"... get over it and give them a listen. You won't be disappointed.

But then again, some of you, a lot of you will always prefer the flashy new toy than the old tried and true. I suppose that's your loss. As for me, I'll stick to my musical standard.