Not Music To My Ears Essay, Research Paper

Not Music To My Ears

Today?s current music scene has steadily become filled with pre-packaged assembly line bands and singers. This teen oriented pop phenomenon is repulsive. I see the so-called bands and singers for what they really are. They are passing trends made special, just for the teens, with all image and no real talent. For their own good, I can only hope these brainwashed teens will grow out of this horrible phase.

Fabricated bands such as O-Town, N*Sync, and The Backstreet Boys exhibit a minimum level of talent. The Backstreet Boys, referred to as BSB, for example were initially actors trying to get a job in Orlando, Florida, a virtual hotbed for aspiring young stars. None had any musical past history, however they were hired on an audition for a band because they are marketable. As we all know sex appeal has the power to market anything, and teens have money to burn on CD?s and any product containing the bands name. We have all seen teens at the mall buying boy band paraphernalia such as Calendars, mugs, and pens. They will purchase just about anything with the band name imprinted on it. The bands and record companies make their money not in record sales, but in revenue form this merchandise.

An article from the Montreal Gazette written in July 1998 states that boy bands are a ?Mass-marketed phenomenon, manufactured for overnight success.? Not one of the five members of the BSB can play a musical instrument. I went to the official Backstreet Boys website and learned that out of over 40 songs they released, the band only wrote three of them. Is it just me, or aren?t bands supposed to write their own songs and play musical instruments? How they can be referred to as ?boys? in the first place I will never comprehend, they are all men in their twenties. These posers show teenyboppers that it is okay to be uninspired.

Trans Continental president and music producer Lou Perlman has created such ?Boy bands? as The Backstreet Boys and N*Sync. His latest project, an ABC network show in collaboration with MTV called appropriately enough ?Making the band?, has tracked the weekly progress of his latest super group invention O-Town. I have had the unfortunate displeasure of viewing one episode where their voice coach scolds the five men; The coach told the members of O-Town they are ?easily replaceable.? In the same episode, it showed how stylists came in and created brand new images for the members because being unique in real life is frowned upon. The images they portray are of every other boy band before them. Just like the New Kids On The Block of our generation, there are almost always five members to a group, each with his own persona. There is the youngest ?Baby?, The crazy one who dyes his hair every so often to mix things up, The dopey one always wearing a quizzical expression, The sweet one with sex appeal, and the eldest ?Mature? member. Is this what we call originality nowadays? These so called bands and singers play a huge role in the decline of youth culture today.

Part of this deterioration can be tightly tied into the unrealistic, noxious images and standards the bands and singers depict. The singer Christina Aguilera, for example, is a super scrawny Barbie doll. You will never find a teen pop sensation that is overweight, has acne, and a bad hair day. Singer Brittney Spears is a notorious example of provocative imagery. She was rumored to have had breast implants and as a fact the television show E.T. reported she has a tanning bed on her tour bus so she will always ?glow.? Brittney has enraged parents repeatedly, the most noteworthy incident being the MTV music awards 2000. Miss Spears strip teased to her Rolling Stones cover of ?I can?t get no Satisfaction? revealing a tight, skin colored leotard underneath her clothes. Her song ?Oops, I did it again,? containing the lyrics ?I played with your heart/I made you believe were more than just friends… You think you?re in love/But I?m not that innocent?, teaches a horrible message to young girls to use sex appeal to get what you want in life. I ask you, Is this what we want our youth taking in and emulating?

I believe that these boy bands and singers have no true staying power. I wish teenagers had the ability to look past all the glitz and glamour of theese musical imposters and see through the facade for what they are: pre packaged and assembled to the teens, by the teens, and for the teens. I agree with former MTV vee-jay Matt Pinfield when he said, on the Limp Bizkit CD, ?I?m tired of all the lame ass, tame ass, sorry excuses for singers and musicians who don?t even write their own songs… All that disposable crap isn?t going to matter in three months.?