Staff Editorial: Artists focus on money rather than talent

In every decade, there is an artist or a genre of music that defines that generation.

In the ’50s it was Elvis; in the ’60s it was the Beatles. The ’70s had the disco kings and Kiss. In the ’80s were the hair bands, Boy George and Duran Duran. The ’90s brought about grunge and the infamous Nirvana.

Yet in our generation, it seems that artists are more worried about the almighty dollar than about their craft.

With the music scene dominated by acts that are spawned from reality TV, it seems that the public is stuck listening to artists who are looking only for commercial success instead of influencing listeners.

For the week of April 3, Billboard Music released its top 100 songs. Topping the charts were several songs that showcase the need for commercial success over artistic integrity.

While the songs are catchy, they lack a certain amount of creativity in their lyrics. It’s the same phrase over and over. While that makes it easy to pick out a ringtone from the chorus, it does not show any kind of stretch by the writers.

What happened to actual talent by artists – artists who wrote their own music and played their own instruments? Have mediocrity and the next biggest thing replaced true talent?

Let’s face it, many of the biggest artists of the past few years – artists such as Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and most of the “artists” who come from American Idol and America’s Got Talent – would not even have been given recording contracts in another time.

When did it become acceptable to be just a moderately attractive individual who can sing the same annoying thing over and over for 14 songs?

While every artist wants to make as much money as possible, even from decades past, there still was a standard.

But now, with sales slumping, many artists are turning to product placements in their videos to help boost the amount of money they are making. In the new Lady Gaga video, there is hardly a moment that goes by that she is not surrounded by products, from bread to shoes to cell phone providers to pastries.

The almost 10-minute video is the epitome of consumerism.

All of the Top 10 songs on Billboard follow the same recipe: Catchy beat with a mildly sexual theme to the lyrics, at least half of the song repeating the same phrase over and over again. It kind of sounds like other songs by that artist, but slightly different.

By allowing this mindless drivel to flood the airways, we are telling producers and artists that we think it is OK not to try to do better.

We are saying that we, as consumers, are impressed only by things we already have heard before and keep buying it.

What will people think about our generation when they look back? That we allowed ourselves to be swayed by mediocrity and called it achievement, that we cared only about commercial success and celebrated artists who managed to be in the most commercials, played on the most cell phones, the most movies?

When we continue to support artists who sell themselves out, we limit the number of actually talented individuals who can showcase their talent. The opportunity for change is staring right at us. We just have to be willing to take it.

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