Thread: Mainstream Vs. Underground

The most popular music heard on the radio, tv, etc. would be considered "mainstream" and I have noticed a trend of "music fans" who seem to stray away from these artists because they think they are "over rated". I know everyone has their own opinions, but how may someone overlook the fact of good music because of popularity? Let's take Lady Gaga for example. She dropped out of college. There has to be some reason she is so famous today. And that reason is because she is talented. Adam Lambert, I see that people either love or hate him. I think he is a good singer. I cannot understand how someone can hear him sing and say that he is not good. What is your opinion on the subject? Do people think it is cool to listen to music that is not as popular as mainstream artists?

It's all opinion. People can like mainstream if they want, and same for people who like bands who are in the underground/ garage band phase.

I personally like to go the underground stage and find bands that don't get as much recognition they deserve, and totally fanboy out on them and show people that there is great music out there that just needs to be searched for.

It's because being a hipster has now become mainstream...hmmm

I like a mixture of everything. I'll listen to something like Adele in the car with my girlfriend, get home and turn up some Pg.99. I like both artists/groups though. I just feel like people who like music a lot tend to shy away from the more popular musicians. Take everything away from Adam Lambert, and just let him sing. It's great.

I doubt Lambert will be famous for much longer. But Lady Gaga I think is a different story. You never stop hearing about her, and it just is not because of her music. It's her whole personality. I think all of this forms a new question though. What is the difference of mainstream and over-rated? Compare Katy Perry to Adele.

Mainstream pop music is determined more by image and an artist's ability to allow themselves to be controlled and "huckstered" around in the media than it has to do with talent. If it was more about talent alone, alot of underground artists would be very well known today and instead of clogging up the radio waves, Lady Gaga would be a wedding singer and Justin Beiber would still be a YouTube nobody. It's nothing new. It's been going on since the music business started. It's all in the value of an artist's marketability. If you can make the little girls scream or want to dress up like you, you're in. Then you can get them to follow you off the cliff and give you all their money.

If all Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, Beyonce or whoever, ever did was just record music and put on concerts, they still wouldn't be half as popular as they are today. It's not the music. Their music isn't anything new, fresh or revolutionary. It's the red carpet events, the videos, the controversy over their sexuality, the "baby bumps", the outrageous publicity stunts, the melt-downs, their relationships, affairs or break-ups with whatever celebrities they're linked with in the tabloids every week, the papparazzi, etc. that makes them popular and mainstream. The average fan of these types of artists couldn't care less about the quality of their music as long as they get to see new pics and something juicy and scandalous to read about them in the entertainment and gossip pages each week. It's all about the character, personality and day-to-day goings-on of the artist. Blame videos and Twitter. It's all this superfluous junk that makes people see them as over-rated. Actually that's a good thing because it means people are seeing through the bs and looking for more artistic content.

I can name at least 100 acts who are alot more talented than any of these mainstream pop stars yet are still trying to get noticed by major labels, still riding around in vans, playing to half empty 75 seat capacity dives in Toledo, Ohio because they don't have a marketable image or they're music is too esoteric or alternative. But a majority of them are just more interested in making music and being able to control their own careers than being media cartoon characters and wearing a dress made out of meat for atttention.