Music of Twenty-Ten and Back Then

Let’s be honest; 2010 has been a bad year for the music industry.

As pop stars take over the main stream of music , it is difficult to turn on the radio and hear anything but “California Gurls” by Katy Perry  or “Baby” by he-who-shall-not-be-named (not Voldemort). This shows us that we, the fans, have changed our taste. Take a look back to the mid 90’s – The Red Hot Chili Peppers were on the top, 2pac wasn’t dead yet, along with “alternative rock” becoming the new trend for artists.

Back in the day.

When we hear the word “music”, what do you think of? If we go to the year 2000, Sublime would come to mind, along with Jay-Z and Eminem. Their music had meaning; nowadays, it is hard to not hear a 16 year old boy who-shall-not-be-named whining over “One Less Lonely Girl”. You’re a little boy. Shut up please. Talk about pizza or about how your day at school was. Lady Gaga- I understand that in order to be recognized as an artist you need to be different, but you take this to a whole new dimension. When you wear a dress made of 100% raw meat (2010 VMAS J), you know you’re just a little over the line.

Whatever floats your boat.

Obviously you can see that I, as a critic, am very conservative as I don’t like to see good things go even if it is for the better sake of our world. Not all of our modern music is bad- An album I really like that came out this year was Drake’s “Thank Me Later”. I have always loved alternative rock bands such as 311, Sublime, and Nirvana but Drake and Lil Wayne have made me a bit of a hip-hop fan. “Miss Me” along with “Up All Night” had really nice beats and I thought the lyrics fit them.  Eminem, a seasoned veteran in the music department, came back from drug problems to release a well named album of “Recovery”

Drake (sitting) and Lil Wayne (Rapping)

As we all know, it is not 1999. Dr. Dre isn’t on top, Red Hot Chili Peppers aren’t jamming out (without back problems) and he-who-shall-not-be-named isn’t 5 anymore. But I sure hope 2011 is a resurrection of “real” music, with Dr. Dre hopefully releasing "Detox", along with a scheduled album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Red Hot Chili Peppers of 2010. Not the same, huh?

-HAT