My musical tastes are varied to say the least. On my iPod you’ll find KRS-One nestled next to Rammstein, Johnny Cash rubbing elbows with Cole Porter, and David Bowie hand in hand with Ruben Blades. I prefer not to isolate myself like some folks do, refusing to go outside their comfort zone because of some misguided fear. People like that remind me of children staring at a new piece of food and declaring loudly that "they don’t like it" without ever even trying it. Music is one of those art forms that I can appreciate from its classical roots to its sugar pop present, open-mindedly enjoying all the different flavors.
Even so, there are some things that I miss. Not so much out of nostalgia, but from a desire to experience an earlier purity that seems lost. Today I spent most of the day listening to a streaming radio station called The Sound of the Strip, who according to their site "salutes the Rat Pack sounds of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and more." I dig a lot of the old school crooners and lounge singers, world weary singers giving great performances with a microphone in one hand and a cocktail in the other. Transported back to an era of standards, I got to enjoy the beauty of music in a way I haven’t in a long time. Not only did I find myself going "OH! I love that song", but also spontaneously smiling while listening. At the same time, it made me a little sad, not for a lost moment in history, but for the purity missing in music nowadays.
Don’t get me wrong, I love modern music—huge techno head—but when it comes to someone singing I find many of the studio tricks being employed recently distracting and diluting of the musical experience. The more I heard Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra, the more I wanted to strip the bullshit away from many newer acts, exposing the over-hyped frauds they are, held up only by the technology of their producers and not the talent of their vocal chords.
Here are some of the things I wish would be removed from music:
- Auto tuners – I can understand trying to make slight corrections on a less than perfect take, but when the entire performance is massaged, tweaked and shoved into the correct notes with no attempt at authenticity, that pisses me off. If that little bit of technology weren’t available, I could almost guarantee many acts we see today wouldn’t exist.
- Pre-recorded vocals aka Lip Syncing – If you’re a drag queen, you can get away with it, but if your career is based on the sound of your voice then this is total bullshit. Sadly, this isn’t even exclusive to the pop music realm with Luciano Pavarotti being a notable example. It’s a case of bait and switch, you come for a live performance from an artist and instead you get the CD pumped over the sound system. For that you could save the 40 bucks (or in some cases the 100+ bucks) for tickets and spend it on a better home stereo.
What I would like to see again:
- Artists using their voice as an instrument, not as a gateway to movie roles, fashion lines or magazine spreads. Talent stems from your god given vocals, not the clothes you wear or the bling you floss.
- Personality in a performance. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. sang standards, which meant the song was well known and done many times before, yet they were able to put their own stamp on it—through personality—making the performance truly unique. Johnny Cash did it when he sung "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. The heart he poured into it turned an industrial song into his own personal ballad.
I haven’t seen any of examples of this lately and indie rock douchebags strumming on their acoustic guitar don’t count. The only ones that come to mind are surprisingly from America’s Got Talent.
One is Barbara Padilla, who’s soulful singing gives me goose bumps every time.
The other is Lawrence Beaman, who gave his absolute ALL in that performance. The man knew he only had one shot and gave it everything he could.
In both these cases you have raw TALENT, unobscured by studio trickery, naked for the world to genuinely appreciate. I’m not asking for pop acts to disappear or modern music to take a step backward, but I would like the industry to remember its roots and possibly LEARN something from the amazing talents that fueled it not too long ago.
Am I being an old man, shaking his fist angrily at the kids on the lawn or are you too tired of studio creations devoid of actual ability?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow – thanks for linking to Barbara Padilla. I’ve just spent the last half hour listening to her and being blown away.
I agree, I listen to pop stations and to music today, and I just don’t get into them like older music. Is it just a matter of taste? I don’t rightly know.
Twitter: gabrielnovo
September 28, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@Jewel – Thanks for swinging by and taking a peak at my slice of the web. I’m glad you liked Padilla, her voice was simply breathtaking. Hopefully she can parlay this TV appearance into a record deal. Those pipes need to be recorded and shared with the masses.
I’m actually a fan of modern music from hip hop to pop and everything in between, but I feel like it’s turned into junk food. Enjoyable for the moment, but not satisfying and lacking any lasting flavor. Older music has a life injected into it that’s sadly missing from a lot of what’s on the radio.
BTW I dig your blog especially the slick header image.
If you like older music, if you find the sound of Barbara Padilla’s operatic soprano breathtaking and like the music of “O mio babbino caro” – an aria from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi, maybe you should spend about half an hour on YouTube listening to operatic music and maybe viewing scenes from operas? There are many of those on YouTube. There is a whole world of beautiful music and beautiful singing out there if you but give it a chance. Sure, there may be an opera you don’t like or find boring, but I’ll tell you a secret: I am an opera fan, and I don’t like every single opera.
In fact while undeniably extremely talented, Barbara Padilla’s singing is still not quite at the level of the top opera singers today. And when you go to opera, you get to hear real voices without any electronic enhancement – in opera there are no microphones.
Sure, our tastes are all different, so you may prefer Barbara Padilla to other singers. But aren’t you guys at all curious to hear how Barbara Padilla compares to the best singers of her genre and if you liked one opera singer, maybe you’d like others? Singers like, for example, Angela Gheorghiu. Or Renee Fleming. Or Anna Netrebko. You can find each of them singing “O mio babbino caro” on YouTube. Or you can listen to Stephanie Blythe doing it on stage of the Met (subtitled, so you can see the words). Or the greatest opera stars of all times – Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Montserrat Caballe, Beverly Sills, Kiri Te Kanawa, Renata Scotto. Or other scenes from opera – e.g. Rigoletto or La Traviata or Carmen. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSdgbuP7HSo
Just wanted to add something – about Pavarotti’s sound being pre-recorded in these concerts he did at the end of his career and that this means this type of stuff is not limited to pop realm. I don’t think this is entirely the right conclusion: when Pavarotti started to crossover and perform in these huge concerts sung in arenas with microphones, his opera career was almost over and his voice wasn’t what it used to be. Plus, the whole meaning of crossover is crossover from one genre to another, i.e. an opera singer performing popular folk and classical songs and arias with a microphone i.e. in a pop genre. Maybe he wanted to preserve his voice a little longer. Whatever the reason, even though Pavarotti was a great opera singer, the concerts he did at the end of his career were really pop concerts that featured some classical music rather than strictly classical music concerts. Hence they followed rules of pop genre – including sound amplification and using pre-recorded sound. BTW – I am taking your word that this was done; I have no knowledge in the matter. In fact, I had a priveledge of listening to Pavarotti live when he was still at his prime – once at the Met, once in Chicago Civic Opera and once in Italy, in Arena di Verona. Not only in all of these venues, I heard the live sound, I heard this sound unamplified. This was great.
As you undoubtedly know, there are no microphones in opera theaters; so you do hear live voice, and there is no possibility for lip synching. Even in places where the acoustics isn’t great or outdoors, opera singers often stand at a distance from the microphone rather than putting it into their mouth and occasionally walk away from it. Like, for example, Anna Netrebko does in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_kaOYC_Fww of an aria from operetta (hence the dancing).
As to young singers — look up 16 year old Nadine Sierra singing the same aria Barbara Padilla did on AGT. Or Met documentary “The Audition” trailer.
Twitter: gabrielnovo
October 22, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Kitty,
First of all, thank you for not just one, but two very well written and extremely informative comments. I have a cursory knowledge of opera with Pavarotti, The Three Tenors and Andrea Bocelli summing up most of it. You have given me a wealth of names, links and recordings to track down. I look forward to listening to many of the recommendations you’ve been kind enough to share.
I have not had the pleasure of going to an opera performance just yet. I can only imagine how breathtaking Pavarotti must have been in his prime. Talent like that is an incredibly rare gift and to enjoy it live is a memory forever treasured.
To be clear, I’m not disparaging Pavarotti in any way, merely pointing out that he too had been guilty of the “lip syncing” sin in his career. The first time was a bad decision on his part, but the second time was completely understandable. Here are some links to further explain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip-synching_in_music#Luciano_Pavarotti_at_the_2006_Winter_Olympics
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/07/pavarotti-lipsynched-last_n_95502.html
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/pavarotti-revered-even-when-lip-synching/
Thanks again for swinging by my little slice of the web and dumping a bucket load of musical knowledge on my head. I hope to see you around here again =)
You are very welcome. Thanks for the info about Pavarotti. I agree with you there – if it’s a recording, it can be listened to at home. I understand why he did it, but it’s unfortunate for people who bought the tickets. Just ignore the comments when you view the videos – there are some fans with very strong feelings… .
I do hope you’d enjoy listening to singers who do sing in opera theaters today rather than just in pop concerts. I only mentioned a few names, there are more – greatest singers of the past, present, as well as some young aspiring singers – most of whom would never make it in a very competitive world of opera.
Listening to recording doesn’t give the full impression of how an unamplified voice sounds like, but it gives some idea. Also – as with any music, one can like one opera and dislike another, one can like one singer and dislike another. Sometimes people listen to an opera and find it boring; yet if they had listened to another opera they would’ve loved it. My favorite is La Traviata.
I will visit your website from time to time as you seem to have interesting thoughts on different subjects. I do agree, by the way, about older music. I also like old musicals, old songs, old musical movies and European operetta – a genre which is a bit like a musical – funny, with dialog and dancing – but with almost operatic singing. It’s more popular in Europe than in the US. I like some YouTube videos from Moscow operetta, but don’t want to overwhelm you with links.