Till My Head Falls Off...The Year Pop Ate Itself

For your listening pleasure: Pop Will Eat Itself – This is the Day…

Well, American Idol has ended… thankfully. I hope the folks at Fox enjoy the ratings, and Kelly, Justin, his hair, Nikki, Tamyra, and all the rest have enjoyed their 15 minutes, because this "phenomenon" is about two years too late. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but the only reason anyone watched this show this summer is because nothing else was on. I'll be impressed if Kelly's record – featuring ridiculous songs like "A Moment Like This" and "Before Your Love" – breaks the 3 million mark. Hey, if it does, God bless her; she had the best voice out of the Top Ten. But pop DIED in 2002, and we'll all hopefully be better off because of it.

I should probably explain what I mean by "pop" before I continue. Actually, I won't. Take a look at All Music's definitions, and you'll get a better idea where I'm coming from:. When I personally think of "pop," I think of songs that are well-produced, melodic and made-for-radio above anything else. To take things a few steps further, many Music Snobs tend to write off all "pop" as shite that has absolutely no redeeming qualities, save for being a guilty pleasure; entertainment over art. Some great artists have produced wonderful pop songs; but the pop of the late nineties/early 2000s is solely of the guilty pleasure variety.

Let's be clear though… I'm not saying there's anything wrong with guilty pleasures. Everyone has one of the following hidden among their CDs, tapes, records or 45s:
- Wilson Philips
- New Kids on the Block
- Great White
- Vanilla Ice
- Damn Yankees
- En Vogue

Shit, I still listen to my Poison Greatest Hits every now and then. For some reason, I LOVE the Dave Matthews Band. I find myself knowing some of the lyrics to "Bye Bye Bye" and "U Can't Touch This." In fact, put American Idol winner Kelly with fellow contestants Nikki, Ryan and Christina in next month's Playboy, and there's a guilty pleasure I have no problem with.

But you have to draw the line somewhere.

It shouldn't be a surprise that pop took such a nose-dive this year. First of all, there's only so far a musical genre can go before the kids tire of it and move on to the next big thing. Second, after September 11th, while some of us wanted poppy songs to make us feel better about things and get "back to normal," the musicians that Americans really sought out were ones that had the potential to strike a deeper chord. Add that to the fact that Michael Jackson's album was FINALLY ready to hit the shelves, and you could just smell in the air that pop was either going to explode one last time or completely tank.

When the fact that Justin and Britney are now single is getting more attention than what will be their next hit singles, and it's pretty easy to see which direction things have gone for pop music in 2002.
Look at all of the late 90s pop darlings:
- N Sync – launched into space, never to be heard from again
- Backstreet Boys – realized they actually WEREN'T very good looking, they turned to substances and are now in rehab
- Christina Aguilera – more interested in finding new parts of her body to expose, than a way to refine her potentially wonderful singing voice
- And has anyone heard from Ricky Martin or the Spice Girls lately?

Michael Jackson's failure with Invincible was just the icing on the cake. I'm not saying it wasn't a good pop album – I happen to enjoy a few songs on it – but it was also a mighty good flop, especially based on the bizarre one's expectations. But, Michael, don't be angry – no need to call Rev. Al – it wasn't your fault. You did the best you could. But we're moving on.

It seems that the kids have started turning to good ol' guitar-based rock music again, and I'm not talking about rap-metal or Blink 182. From Linkin Park and POD on the hard rock side of the spectrum, to the more indie "plural bands" (Hives, Strokes, Vines, White Stripes), the shift is on, and the mainstream fans are finally getting exposed to music created with more than dance beats and pretty faces.

Unfortunately, while I'm grateful for this shift, this is only the first step. There's still a lack of anything very new or innovative in rock, with all of these bands basically searching for elements that have worked in the past, copying them, and calling them their own. I mean, I'd rather see the Hives trying to be the next Rolling Stones, the Strokes trying to be the next Velvet Underground or The Vines trying to be the next Nirvana, than another pop idol named Justin. But a lot of these bands are really pop kids dressed up like rock stars, and they're just in over their heads.

There's still a long way to go, but I think we're heading in the right direction, and I personally can't wait to see some of the more innovative artists rise to the top now that the audience is there, waiting for the next legitimately NEW style of rock to bite them in the ass and make them pay attention. In my opinion, that hasn't happened in around 10 years – since "Teen Spirit" – and it's about damned time someone comes around to do what GnR did last week, and show us what REAL rock idols are all about.
What do you think?
peace. love. moe.

- Matt
Matt's weekly music columns can also be found here at 411Mania.