RalNCSUBoy
All American
1042 Posts
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I wasn't around to remember when John Lennon's "Imagine" came out, but I remember the late 80's when Tracy Chapman and the pretentious Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs came out with their brand of "protest" songs. And although Tracy Chapman was an instant star/Grammy winner with her first album, as well having an influence on record companies signing a number of women who play guitars and write somewhat intelligent music, all her other albums after that failed to do well as her first one. There was also a time when rap artists were also very political in their lyrics (i.e. Public Enemy). Now it's all about blinging. To sum it up, the novelty quickly wore off.
It's great that artists can write songs that capture the social awareness and issues of today's youth, but the truth is, the record buying public (the ones whom are responsible for some of the dreck you see on the top of the Billboard charts) just want to be entertained; they don't want to listen to someone that comes off as preachy and self-righteous. And yeah it sucks that American Idol winners can sell more albums than a genuinely talented and gifted songwriter/musician who's had to struggle for years, but like other have said in this thread, it's all about the image and money.  5/15/2006 7:07:03 PM
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