Staff Editorial: A letter to pop music: We've had enough!

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Posted: 6/16/09

Dear Pop Music,

Please stop assaulting our ears. We've had enough of your oligopolistic control of the airwaves. Everywhere we look, whether it is television, radio, the Internet or our classmates' ring tones, we just can't seem to get rid of you.

In economics, an oligopoly is when a few firms - or, in our case, bands or record companies - dominate the industry. They create "barriers of entry," which means that they have so much power in the industry that it is nearly impossible for anyone else to enter the market.

Bands like Hinder, Buckcherry and Nickleback are especially ruining things for anyone trying to enter the world of rock 'n roll. How many times can you write a song about trying to get your woman back or life on the road? And yet they sell more records than any rational music lover could find feasible.

This week on the Billboard Hot 100 list, the top 10 artists are The Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Keri Hudson, Jeremih, Lady Gaga (who has spots 5 and 6), Shinedown, Beyonce, Sean Kingston and Jamie Foxx. There is only one rock band on the list, and most rock music listeners would agree that Shinedown isn't really a rock band; more of a pop band trying to be edgy without it really working.

This whole concept is blinding the "MTV generation" into thinking that, if a band has tattoos, black hair and wears their guitar at their knees, they're worth listening to.

Before the movie Twilight came out, how many people really listened to Iron & Wine, Mutemath or The Black Ghosts?

The situation boils down to this: it is now nearly impossible for bands like Charleston's pop rock band Firesky Future, to break into the industry, even though they're good enough to have opened for bands like New Found Glory. And though their predecessors - like Green Day and Blink 182 - have a huge following, the whole genre of pop punk rock seems to have become one big joke.

"If you're trying to be a musician that plays pop punk music there just isn't a whole lot of enterprise. That's sort of what the whole record is about," said Andy Long, bassist for Firesky Future, in the April 17 issue of the Daily Eastern News. "Local Tragedy" (the name of their album) is about people that I know that I feel there is so much lack of support. It's nothing against them, but they just don't understand. It's almost as if people can't wait to see you fail. It's not exactly easy telling Mom and Dad, 'Hey I'm going to be in a band.'"

When will it stop? It won't until big record companies remember why they began in the first place: to allow the public to hear some small town's best-kept musical secret. Music shouldn't be about the money. It should be about the invocation of moods and the application of creativity and artistry in a completely unique way.

The editorial is the majority opinion of The DEN editorial board. Reach the opinions editor at: DENopinions@gmail.com.