Are there major class/racial divides in the way we consume modern music?

[Sin Agog]

There are all these mega-mega popular peoples called things like 2chains and Lil Yachty who ratchet up hundreds of millions of listens, and yet none of us have ever heard of them, let alone heard them.  Just wondering why ostensibly open-minded types who try to embrace popular music in all of its forms are living in an entirely different universe to whoever's making this or that Trap or Soundcloud Rap star ultra-famous.  My closest connection to that world is bloody Nardwuar.  Just looking through some of the most-listened to artists gave me an eerie feeling that the internet has enabled us to create a segregated world for ourselves without the need for Marcus Garvey or the KKK's help.

[alan nagsworth]

I'm a fan of Lil Yachty and I have almost zero black friends soooo I guess I win? I win the game of life and my brain is the best

[rue the polywhirl]

I would say that there are no divides in the way we consume modern music. Everything is out there if you want to listen it it. The only limit is your imagination. You take the blue pill and stick with your suggested listening or you take the red pill and use the search bar or browse the what's trending section. Any inkling of a divide is down to youth as opposed to class or race but otherwise there is no divide.

[Twed]

Lil Yachty did a "corporate" at E3, stuff is more mainstream than you think. It's just not streamlined into one single chart show like in the past, so you miss stuff that isn't in categories that you follow.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

You just be old.

[Johnny Yesno]

As I mentioned in the Best Goth Songs thread, I was amazed I had never heard of Heilung until this New Year despite their videos racking up so many views (13,732,583 as of this post):

Heilung | LIFA - Krigsgaldr LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRg_8NNPTD8

I mean, I don't expect to have heard of every popular act, but I would expect this to be pretty niche.

And then there's Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. 150,042,685 views, yet she barely made a ripple in the UK, as far as I am aware.

きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ - PONPONPON , Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PONPONPON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

Whatever the truth of the thread title, I think it's safe to say we're in our own national filter bubble.

[purlieu]

Plenty of middle class white teenagers I know online* are into all this stuff. It's absolutely age. Loads of us on here can rave about all the contemporary pop music we like, but it's always the stuff that sounds like Pop Music Did In The Good Old Days. Myself included.


*being loosely connected to the vaporwave scene makes this sort of thing happen. I'm not one of those pedos or owt.

[Chriddof]

And then there's Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. 150,042,685 views, yet she barely made a ripple in the UK, as far as I am aware.

きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ - PONPONPON , Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PONPONPON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

Oh, PONPONPON! That was big a few years ago in some parts of Youtube I browse. Fucking love that, and the video. My sister has a mix-CD in her car stereo (it's an old car) with that one on.

Another J-Pop related thing I really love and that hasn't made a massive splash in the UK (yet?) is Plastic Love.

[Johnny Yesno]

Oh, PONPONPON! That was big a few years ago in some parts of Youtube I browse. Fucking love that, and the video. My sister has a mix-CD in her car stereo (it's an old car) with that one on.

It's absolutely age.

Perhaps I'm wrong about it being to do with nationality, then, but I remember a time when you couldn't avoid a piece of music if it was popular. I think I'm quite pleased about that as it was a kind of purgatory, like the Christmas one we still have to endure but constant.

On the other hand, it is a little unsettling not knowing about something so many people are aware of.

[lazarou]

And then there's Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. 150,042,685 views, yet she barely made a ripple in the UK, as far as I am aware.

Yeah there's a lot of this with asian pop. Over in KPop where they market much more aggressively to international audiences 150M would be unsurprising for a big single from a popular group. A viral smash like Momoland's Bboom Bboom can easily shoot past the 300M range and a true big hitter like TT by Twice is currently building itself up to a solid half a billion.

I've been to enough live shows to take a decent stab at the cultural divide in this case. As far as western fans go, they skew very heavily female, typically teens to mid-twenties. This has been broadening out in the last few years but they're definitely still the majority.

It's been creeping towards the (american) mainstream lately, you'll hear Blackpink on mainstream radio now and find a couple of albums for sale at your local Target and the like. Though only really for the more western-influenced, less cutesy stuff. Twice for example seem strangely absent despite being easily one of the biggest girl groups on the planet right now and currently playing a sold-out US arena tour.

I haven't been back home in a good 5 or 6 years, so have no idea if any of this has penetrated over to the UK & Ireland. BTS and maybe Blackpink I'd guess, alongside Your Pal On Twitter Who Never Shuts Up About It.

[Icehaven]

At a small, local, virtually free music festival I recently attended a rap/grime artist that was due to play attracted thousands more people (largely teenagers) than anticipated which apparently created a safety problem, so his and a few other acts' sets were cancelled and the tent shut down for the rest of the day. On the inevitable fb post-mortem thread later there was such a clear divide between people saying ''How could they have put such big artist on such a tiny stage?!'' and others saying ''Lol what? Never heard of him!!'' I'd say it's probably largely due to age (a lot of the rapper's fans were suggesting he should have been moved on to the main stage, which would have disrupted either Reef or Feeder's sets, which is probably of little concern to anyone under 35), however it does make it hit home that there just isn't the same cultural osmosis there used to be, when however much you were uninterested in or downright disliked something, if it was fairly popular with a good fraction of society you'd at least have heard of it.

[lazarou]

Another J-Pop related thing I really love and that hasn't made a massive splash in the UK (yet?) is Plastic Love.

A rare case of YouTube's algorithm as a force for good there. It seems to have kickstarted a bit of a City Pop revival in a few places, with songs like Yubin's clearly drawing influence from it. Apparently that one was set to have a b-side that was pulled at the last minute when their legal people realised it was a little too close to the source.

My favourite J-Pop thing going these days is probably FEMM but sadly they never seemed to get much traction despite performing everything in perfect english. They came close with FxxK Boyz Get Money a few years back though.

[popcorn]

I've had four or five people send me Plastic Love in the last year. They all think it is a special unique thing they have uncovered through their idiosyncratic YouTube browsing, and they all go "oh, popcorn lives in Tokyo, he will like this song".

Well I think it is boring.

[checkoutgirl]

Do people consume modern music?

[checkoutgirl]

At a small, local, virtually free music festival I recently attended a rap/grime artist that was due to play attracted thousands more people (largely teenagers) than anticipated which apparently created a safety problem, so his and a few other acts' sets were cancelled and the tent shut down for the rest of the day. On the inevitable fb post-mortem thread later there was such a clear divide between people saying ''How could they have put such big artist on such a tiny stage?!'' and others saying ''Lol what? Never heard of him!!'' I'd say it's probably largely due to age (a lot of the rapper's fans were suggesting he should have been moved on to the main stage, which would have disrupted either Reef or Feeder's sets, which is probably of little concern to anyone under 35), however it does make it hit home that there just isn't the same cultural osmosis there used to be, when however much you were uninterested in or downright disliked something, if it was fairly popular with a good fraction of society you'd at least have heard of it.

That's interesting. Also you didn't name the too popular rap and act but you did name Reef. I mean Reef are a nostalgia act by now surely?

[Sin Agog]

I've had four or five people send me Plastic Love in the last year. They all think it is a special unique thing they have uncovered through their idiosyncratic YouTube browsing, and they all go "oh, popcorn lives in Tokyo, he will like this song".

Well I think it is boring.

Seiko Oomori is my favourite J-Popper going at it right now.  Started out as a slightly more sprightly female Jandek sort, before discovering her pop muse and neatly stepping into Shiina Ringo's place since she went all jazz siren.  Just adore everything she's done for years now. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n5JpkliDTC8

"Oomori-san is the type of person who, if there's a whole cake, rather than cutting it up for each person, will give each person a whole cake."

EDIT: City Pop, however, always sounded to me like Rick Astley for people too cool to listen to Rick Astley.  Drear elevator swing.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It's absolutely age.

My brain melted for a sec and I thought age was being used like an adjective.

Age as fuck, bro!
Dude that was aaaaaaaaaaaaaage

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Hello Hugh! Do people consume modern music?

Naaaah!

[BlodwynPig]

I'm a fan of Lil Yachty and I have almost zero black friends soooo I guess I win? I win the game of life and my brain is the best

Checkout Gryphon's Pastime with Good Company...its a real banger

[Gregory Torso]

My brain melted for a sec and I thought age was being used like an adjective.

Age as fuck, bro!
Dude that was aaaaaaaaaaaaaage

Haha I thought exactly the same thing. Well age, mate

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That was age.

I mean that actually probably was age.



..... Age like Donkey Kong!

[popcorn]

In my view it isn't proper J-pop if it isn't from a crap 90s anime and full of Korg M1 sax.

[NoSleep]

Do people consume modern music?

Like a beer or a cigarette. Music is no longer engaging.

[Icehaven]

That's interesting. Also you didn't name the too popular rap and act but you did name Reef. I mean Reef are a nostalgia act by now surely?

I can't even remember the rapper's name, needless to say I'd never heard of him before. Yeah Reef are a nostalgia act of course, I didn't even think they still existed, never particularly liked them in the 90s tbh. It was Coventry Godiva festival if that's any help.

[checkoutgirl]

Like a beer or a cigarette. Music is no longer engaging.

For me modern pop music is treated the same as pop music when I was a kid, with complete disdain. It would be a mistake to think I'm not with it because I ignore modern pop music. It would be correct to think I'm not with it because I ignore modern underground music, which for the most part is true.

I remember a few years ago my teenage sister said she went to a gig by Macklemore. And I was like "Who?" Then she said he couldn't do the gig because his laptop broke and I was just disgusted. Not that he used a laptop but that he had no backup laptop or way of doing a gig without a laptop if there was an emergency.

I suppose the internet and a complete lack of CD/LP shops with physical items you can purchase to listen to has fragmented the whole thing pretty much to the atomic level. When there were still shops at least you could see a poster of Macklemore and wonder for a microsecond who the fuck that is. Then either investigate or not. Now you get a Youtube sidebar that might be tailored to your interests and filters out all sorts. Not that I'm knocking the youtube sidebar, I've found loads of good stuff on there, old and new.

The last actual band I saw was Foals in 2010 so that shows how out of the game I am. Although I'm going to see the Divine Comedy in October so that should be good.

[checkoutgirl]

I can't even remember the rapper's name, needless to say I'd never heard of him before. Yeah Reef are a nostalgia act of course, I didn't even think they still existed, never particularly liked them in the 90s tbh. It was Coventry Godiva festival if that's any help.

The rapper is probably called Chance, Chance the Rapper, in case you were confused about his job description. The funny thing about Reef is they were a nostalgia act 10 years ago. Now they're probably classed as Dadrock or somesuch.

When the sixties came around, the 15 year old rock'n'roll tunes like Elvis etc was classed as Golden Oldies. But that itself was 50 years ago now. How do we categorise all this shit in the present? Even Future Sound of London would be classed as Double Golden Oldies using that criteria.

[earl_sleek]

Do people consume modern music?

Like a beer or a cigarette. Music is no longer engaging.

People have always consumed popular music like this, since it was invented. It's only ever been a fraction of people who took it more seriously, for everyone else it's just another entertainment option.

[NoSleep]

People have always consumed popular music like this, since it was invented. It's only ever been a fraction of people who took it more seriously, for everyone else it's just another entertainment option.

Which ends up being a wish fulfilment. You can engage with stuff that's both entertaining and not entirely serious and the internet makes it possible for that to be a two-way exchange rather than simply product that's being fed in one direction (not the band, but a good example); "This is what they want."

[Satchmo Distel]

The rapper is probably called Chance, Chance the Rapper, in case you were confused about his job description. The funny thing about Reef is they were a nostalgia act 10 years ago. Now they're probably classed as Dadrock or somesuch.

When the sixties came around, the 15 year old rock'n'roll tunes like Elvis etc was classed as Golden Oldies. But that itself was 50 years ago now. How do we categorise all this shit in the present? Even Future Sound of London would be classed as Double Golden Oldies using that criteria.

Time has slowed down regarding stylistic changes. Infact it might have stopped completely and everything now is old wine in new bottles.

[NoSleep]

Kids playing the same music their grandads did.