Billie Eilish

OK...but you can hit YouTube and find hundreds of people doing the same thing, at that same, or even better level.
There's nothing really outstanding there, other than that she get the break...while the hundreds/thousands of others still have not, and may never.

That's what modern music is about...getting the big machine behind you, and then you're the "phenomenon".

I never thought that Lady Gaga was anything special...she can sing pretty good, and the rest was ALL image and focused marketing of it.
Same thing with many other Pop stars...but that's how the system works...every couple of years the music industry kicks out a new fashion trend.

I've been listening to a local, and somewhat "underground" station...kinda like college radio, but not as rough around the edges...and the high quality of music and songs that will hardly EVER get the same exposure as some new Pop star, is astounding...but that's how it is.

That's all true, but then isn't that luck what puts all musicians into a higher demand level.
They become put on the bigger stage and dissected and every thing put under a microscope to be hated on or liked.

These days with old aging baby boomers, we talk about "why" we are even doing the music and for what reason over beers.
If its for money and fame, or fun, or boredom.... playing live? or just play at the house might be more fun.
Making money off this hobby?

The Machine for one reason or another tends to help and can make something seem big. But if the artist or band cant put out the goods, I don't think the machine alone can force anything for long.

Theres a Motely Crue book that describes the business and fame and going from nobodys to the top charts....using Gears and Cogs as an analogy. Its really a good chapter and a interesting perspective from one of the band members. How as you get bigger and more famous the cogs/gears spin faster and faster until you/the artist are flung off... burnt out....or able to do it again.
That particular dude was saying the funnest part was the lower level where you can do music full time but not all the pressures and having every drop of blood squeezed out of you because you have a # 1 hit. The Nobody stage was tough too apparently.

I think Billie E and the brother just are a topic. I recall Adeles sweeping years back then and people liked her or disliked her. Taylor Swift's first CD was in my daughters box, and my sons music growing up was enough to start a generation gap...lol
 
I've been listening to a local, and somewhat "underground" station...kinda like college radio, but not as rough around the edges...and the high quality of music and songs that will hardly EVER get the same exposure as some new Pop star, is astounding...but that's how it is.

Totally agree Miro right place at the right time is the difference between incredible success, so so success, mediocrity and complete failure.

You mentioned the underground station and greatness. So true for every success , every "star" we know... there are millions the world will never know ...just the way it is in this crazy illusion we live in called life. Me .....I'm just living the dream, DON'T WAKE ME UP!
 
Theres a Motely Crue book that describes the business and fame and going from nobodys to the top charts....using Gears and Cogs as an analogy. l

I was lucky enough to be born in LA county in my little bedroom community of Covina during the Baby Boom, growing up in modern suburbia and timing was right for some really good rock bands to form all within a 10 mile radius. Van Halen, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Stryper, Great White....and a shit load of ones that were equally great that no one has ever heard of. All the aforementioned played gigs in back yards, small beer bars and cheesy venues BEFORE the fickle finger of fate opened the door and let them out of the cage of mediocrity. I know this for a fact because my band played side by side with them on equal ground... As aforementioned right place right time odds similar to winning the frickin lottery but boy if you win..it comes with a price...No doubt in my case I think I'd of survived but for certain a few of my mates would have not...so maybe not making it isn't such a terrible thing as it seems after all...as we sit at the bar and talk of the good old days and the "I could've been a contender" lines are spoken....LOL

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
Where have you been?
It's alright, we know where you've been
You've been in the pipeline filling in time
Provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'
You brought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school
And you know you're nobody's fool
So welcome to the machine
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
What did you dream?
It's alright, we told you what to dream
You dreamed of a big star
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the Steak Bar
He loved to drive in his Jaguar
So welcome to the machine
 
OK...but you can hit YouTube and find hundreds of people doing the same thing, at that same, or even better level.
There's nothing really outstanding there, other than that she get the break...while the hundreds/thousands of others still have not, and may never.

That's what modern music is about...getting the big machine behind you, and then you're the "phenomenon".

I never thought that Lady Gaga was anything special...she can sing pretty good, and the rest was ALL image and focused marketing of it.
If all you've heard of Stefani "Lady Gaga" Germanotta is her pop stuff, you might not realize what a superb vocal talent she is. People compare her to Madonna but they're not in the same universe as singers.

Check this out - her voice isn't surrounded by a bunch of FX and processing, just a high quality recording with some reverb.




Even more "raw', as a college student before she gained fame.


 
If all you've heard of Stefani "Lady Gaga" Germanotta is her pop stuff, you might not realize what a superb vocal talent she is.

I said she can sing pretty good...but I never thought she was anything special once you strip away to "image" stuff...ands really, THAT is what made her.
If it was just up to her voice and singing talent...well, until she became "Lady Gaga"...she wasn't getting anywhere, just another voice in a sea of voices.
 
Something freaky about a bunch of 50 + year old guys groovin' on teen female songsters, just sayin'...

Personally I couldn't even get through the single B.E. song I was assured I'd like. Whispery vocals, people stubbing cigarettes out on her face. It's all too studied and marketed for me. It's all style, not much substance. Maybe that wasn't the right song to listen to, but it was enough. I'm sure she wasn't counting on my streaming her stuff though, so that's OK.
 
I said she can sing pretty good...but I never thought she was anything special once you strip away to "image" stuff...ands really, THAT is what made her.
If it was just up to her voice and singing talent...well, until she became "Lady Gaga"...she wasn't getting anywhere, just another voice in a sea of voices.

Exactly - I can find you a million singers who can sing as well or better than Lady Gaga, if you want to coldly analyse it - but she found a marketing niche and a market, and good for her. Vocal talent isn't the core reason for her success, however.
 
Something freaky about a bunch of 50 + year old guys groovin' on teen female songsters, just sayin'...
.

There shouldn't be problems if people are respectful. I would hate to limit my listening selections to other 50 year old guys. We are appreciating musicians and artists, not sex partners.

Elvis knew , we are caught in trap.



It would be wrong to listen to something you like and not appreciate it.
 
Sometimes its hard to know if the stage persona is the same as the real person. I'm sure there are people out there who let things take over their lives, and they "become" that person. There are others for whom the stage persona is just an act.

Case in point, Alice Cooper. He freely acknowledges that the "Alice" personality was an act that he enjoyed playing. It would be like an actor on a Broadway stage playing Hamlet every night. Once the lights go down, they go back to being themselves.

On the other hand, there are people who get so caught up in the role that they become that person. Is being a hard driven, drug fueled, drunken rock and roll singer a role to play, or is it their real life. There have certainly been a lot of stars for whom the image was real life. I don't know if Lady Gaga, or Billy Eilish are in that camp.

Time will tell whether Billie will be a flash in the pan, or be cranking out music 40 years from now.
 
Quote Originally Posted by brassplyer View Post
If all you've heard of Stefani "Lady Gaga" Germanotta is her pop stuff, you might not realize what a superb vocal talent she is.
I said she can sing pretty good...but I never thought she was anything special once you strip away to "image" stuff...ands really, THAT is what made her.
If it was just up to her voice and singing talent...well, until she became "Lady Gaga"...she wasn't getting anywhere, just another voice in a sea of voices.
To each their own, to me where she really shines is on more solidly melodic material without the FX. On that duet with Tony Bennett she reminds me of Keely Smith, who you may not be familiar with.

Being "special" is relative. There are a lot of really good singers so being a really good singer doesn't make her unique per se but it's a relatively rare talent compared to the population at large - as a trip to any karaoke bar will demonstrate - lol.

Not all good singers even try to seek fame as singers. This is an "amateur" singer I ran across on a karaoke site who I regard as far superior to Billie Eilish.

JJsamples]SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds
 
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Something freaky about a bunch of 50 + year old guys groovin' on teen female songsters, just sayin'...
On what do you base your assumption of the ages of people chiming in?

Personally I'm on the topic of examples of who I consider to be good singers vs not that good.
 
On what do you base your assumption of the ages of people chiming in?

Knowing how old most of them are because they've been here forever, like me, and they've revealed their ages over the years.

I probably should have said 60+. :laughings:

No humour to be found here then... I'll come back in another few months.

Howdy TAE & miro and everyone else I know. :cool:
 
I find it bizarre how people bring sex into things like this. I'm 61, and oddly, I like music. I'm not childish enough to even think about the person producing music. Often when I eventually see faces for music producers I like I'm surprised. To be fair, I'm usually amazed by the weirdness of them visually, but I remember the Beatles wearing bizarre stuff too.

It's sad people find the idea of young people 'groovin' on' other young people NOT freaky? If people do this at ANY age, I'd think them very strange. I often like young composer and singer's music. Music should be independent of "isms" - we are free to hate death metal and love the soppy stuff, or we can think rap the most amazing genre, hating anything melodic. Music is just music. The world has changed, perhaps not quickly enough, but it has. What is weird is that young people now demand the right to say whatever they think on any subject, yet get offended when older people try to join in. There you go, an oldies opinion.

Not even just the Western World - one of my suppliers in China, after five years of buying gear from them just discovered my age, and suddenly has started being more deferential and respectful in their communications and apologised for not realising I was older. Funny how their culture has parents and grandparents as people to rspect more, not less?
 
Would Billies music sell if some fat old man with balding hair sang it?
Of course not. And there's also no such thing as a newbie older person in the pop realm.

Billie Eilish's material is anchored on her basic persona - the impression her outward youthful appearance and youthful voice makes.

Johnny Cash got accolades for covering a Nine Inch Nails song but only because of his established status and the fact that it was obvious he was near the end of his life.

Trumpeter Miles Davis lived off a similar cachet for much of his career - he put out a lot of dubious material that people hailed because it was Miles, it would have been ignored had it been done by an unknown.
 
Of course not. And there's also no such thing as a newbie older person in the pop realm.

And that's why I refer to her style of music (and that of some other Pop stars) as "Juvenile Pop".
It's about marketing to the young teens who are always looking for the new trend of their generation...but it's also why that music is generally forgettable and has little if any long-term staying power.

Now...a Johnny Cash tune...or Miles...that shit is as golden today as it was back when it was new...and that's not just with the fat old guys, but with the younger generation that has gone beyond the "Juvenile Pop", and is looking for something with a bit more substance.

Look...most teens can write something that is "hip" to another teen...but then, that's kinda where it dies off, and if they don't get out of that mold, their music remains in that yesterday world of "back when"...and it doesn't progress and carry them into adult hood.
Sure, if you're a really big Pop star...like a Swift or Cyrus...etc...you can still be singing to the teen set when you are in your 30's...but really, is that what passes for quality music, or is it just the Pop image that is carrying them.
I mean...look at Beiber...is he really relevant to anyone anymore...? People will still go to his concerts, I'm sure...but just so they can go to a "Beiber" concert.
He's not doing anything of any real musical value...yet there is still that Pop "hipness" that carries him along...the image, and not the music.
 
Mariah Carey was always a hot number even today. So meaty, and bouncey. Christina Agulaira , after the baby, MMmhmmm mighty mighty.

I just looked at her, Billie, I did not see anything identifiable as sexy. Put her back in the oven , she aint done yet.

Wait, they want to be sexualized right, to sell records? That is what the woman's movement was all about, being the girl with 'the most cake'? No? Bigger piece of the pie? Im out.
 
Time will tell whether Billie will be a flash in the pan, or be cranking out music 40 years from now.

I wont be around to tell...

I do see a trend of old disliking the music scene direction, more so than the young dissing on the old music.
Has it always been this way? Ill guess yes.

I admit I like the Bond song but the other stuff isn't something I am going to put on my old man play list.
The big thing for me was the Bedroom Production angle....and of course these days theres youtubes and podcasts and smartphone video interviews, and while the content can seem more real....the quality at times seems to be much less required.(watched a smart phone interview that was like watching a bad home video)

Someone mentioned flash in the pan? Adele did the big sweep of the Grammys, her earlier album is holding some # 1 spot still on Billboard chart, but she isn't even mentioned in the recent charts and in the news only for some weight loss garbage media news. So if I was gambling, I would bet Billie E and Brother Finneas do fine, but wont be sweeping the Grammys again. But still what they did in music is like winning a big lottery ticket....

the bedroom studio kicks ass at the grammys…. AT2020 on sale at Amazon for $99, used on the Billie E massive selling album? orwhatever we call them now? streaming collections? The SM7b got the MJ fame.... will the AT2020 become a new mic to the Home Recording Bedroom world?
will it take 40 yrs? 10yrs?

is Billie E's AT2020 better than MJ SM7b? ...its cheaper!

sorry gearhead jokes...well..maybe attempt at gear jokes...nevermind
 
Cool Coolcat! Personally I'll take my sm57's I bought for $60 25 years ago over anything.....A very good article at Sound on Sound on Billie and her bro. This one with a lengthy interview with Finneas, how they came to be, how they go about doing what they do... very insightful into the phenomenon they are. Really liked his very insightful perspective / thought process of why he chose for them not to be presented as a duo. Smart and very talented, driven artist. Also liked and very much agree with the tip from his Dad's mastering engineer friend...lending itself to my garbage in garbage out mantra.....or coolcats signature Harvey Gerst quote....if it's not happening in the room, it ain't gonna happen on tape
 
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