Gen Xers - Do you find Taylor Swift’s music bland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the young boys listening to these days?

90s rock. Foo Fighters, Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, The Smiths etc for mine.

lol no.

Well what are yours listening to? I’m reporting from the trenches, having two teen boys.

My friend’s 9 year old son loves grunge and wants to be a rock musician when he grows up.

[Anonymous]

It’s funny seeing people with turntables in their homes connected with a usb cable going “ah, the depth and roundness of analog, it’s so much better”.

[Anonymous]

For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP won’t play 90s rock for their kids but 70s rock is fine. Hmm:

Well I'm upper-upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all

I've got big balls
I've got big balls
They're such big balls
And they're dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
(But we've got the biggest balls of them all)
And my balls are always bouncing
My ballroom always full
And everybody comes and comes again
If your name is on the guest list
No one can take you higher
Everybody says I've got
Great balls of fire

Not exactly my cup of tea either (stupid song).

I didn’t play songs with the f word in them, or much profanity. It isn’t that hard. I don’t think seeing toddlers say fu?k is cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious as to what TS has done that’s unprecedented. This seems to be a claim by a lot of Swifties. There’s this notion that she is uniquely successful, influential, etc.

It’s not record sales. Among artists that started in the 2000s, Rihanna beats her. If you take Eminem (1999 start), he does too.

It’s not cultural impact. Madonna and MJ were enormous in their heyday.

It’s not impact on the music industry. The Beatles arguably began the notion of the rock band, had the first concept album, first major merchandising contracts, first stadium tour.

So what is it?

I disagree on cultural impact. A couple of months ago my husband and I who are both in our late 40s were telling our daughters about the night Michael Jackson first performed the moonwalk. And what a different time it was because the next day all of our classmates and teachers were talking about it.

It’s just so much harder in today’s pop cultural landscape, with kids maybe looking at TikTok and having their own streaming profile, and parents being on a totally different social media platform and a totally different streaming profile. We are all watching different shows, listening to different music more on our own little devices.

You can get on a plane and watch whatever you want, versus years ago it was one movie being shown. So I think it’s not just Taylor but the general landscape, it’s kind of crazy all the generations seem to know her and how much attention she gets.

Taylor’s vinyl album sales are also pretty insane for this day and age. Yes 30 years ago you would not have blinked, but the fact that there are so many young kids actually buying vinyl records because of her is pretty impressive.

Clearly there’s lots of other artists and pop culture figures who’ve had a huge impact and maybe even the same or similar or more, but she is definitely up there with them.

Vinyl sales went up before she started to really hit it big. Yes, she has had good vinyl sales, but part of that is because she puts out so many editions of her albums.

I think of her as a contemporary version of Madonna or another diva. I simply don’t see where she’s breaking new ground.

I love Madonna, and have been to some of her concerts. I just don’t see people talking about or reacting to Madonna concerts the same way they react to Taylor’s. The Eras tour seems a little unprecedented to me. Of course other artists have had hugely successful tours, I’m not trying to say they haven’t, but I guess I just don’t understand what we’re arguing about. Taylor is big and popular. I don’t understand why that’s controversial or even subjective.

I’m not disputing her success.

I’m wondering why her fans say she’s uniquely successful. I’m wondering why she was voted as one of the top guitarists of the last 20 years.

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/taylor-swift-8th-best-guitarist-of-last-two-decades/#:~:text=Red%20Hot%20Chili%20Peppers'%20John,a%20new%20poll%20by%20guitarguitar.

If you consider that Taylor has put the guitar as instrument on such a prominent stage, maybe it'd be OK to include her on a '20 TOP guitarists of the last 20 years' list. But 8th BEST guitarist? Ah, hell no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

We’re not saying she’s insignificant. We’re questioning the claim that she’s uniquely impactful.

It’s like you all can’t see anything but the extremes. It’s either she’s the best or she’s the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

We’re not saying she’s insignificant. We’re questioning the claim that she’s uniquely impactful.

It’s like you all can’t see anything but the extremes. It’s either she’s the best or she’s the worst.

It's a form of defensiveness. You only see it in people who are obsessed with her as opposed to people who are like "yeah she's one of several artists I enjoy" or "I don't like everything but I love Red and TTPD." People with those types of opinions of Swift don't assert that she's the very best musical artist of all time and no one can hold a candle to her. And they also don't get mad if someone says "I don't think she's the best musical artist of all time." Like who cares? You like her or you don't. It's fine either way. This is most Swift fans.

But the obsessives can't tolerate anyone saying anything negative about her because they over-identify with her as a person. So any criticism is a personal attack. It's not healthy. Of course there is plenty to criticize Swift about just like you could criticize pretty much anyone at that level of megastardom. Some of the criticism is misogynistic but some of it is valid. Getting upset by valid (and often mild) criticism is a sign you're in too deep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

Well said, pp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

We’re not saying she’s insignificant. We’re questioning the claim that she’s uniquely impactful.

It’s like you all can’t see anything but the extremes. It’s either she’s the best or she’s the worst.

But who is claiming she’s uniquely impactful? I don’t think she’s ever said that? Most of her fans aren’t. They’re saying she is impactful on them. Now. The Beatles don’t speak to them because their music, while awesome, is no relevant now. TS speaks to the feels and time that people are experiencing now. Why is this so hard to understand or appreciate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

We’re not saying she’s insignificant. We’re questioning the claim that she’s uniquely impactful.

It’s like you all can’t see anything but the extremes. It’s either she’s the best or she’s the worst.

It's a form of defensiveness. You only see it in people who are obsessed with her as opposed to people who are like "yeah she's one of several artists I enjoy" or "I don't like everything but I love Red and TTPD." People with those types of opinions of Swift don't assert that she's the very best musical artist of all time and no one can hold a candle to her. And they also don't get mad if someone says "I don't think she's the best musical artist of all time." Like who cares? You like her or you don't. It's fine either way. This is most Swift fans.

But the obsessives can't tolerate anyone saying anything negative about her because they over-identify with her as a person. So any criticism is a personal attack. It's not healthy. Of course there is plenty to criticize Swift about just like you could criticize pretty much anyone at that level of megastardom. Some of the criticism is misogynistic but some of it is valid. Getting upset by valid (and often mild) criticism is a sign you're in too deep.

dp But, it isn't healthy to be this obsessed with her. Taylor Swift doesn't care if you don't like her! She is living rent free in many hater's heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious as to what TS has done that’s unprecedented. This seems to be a claim by a lot of Swifties. There’s this notion that she is uniquely successful, influential, etc.

It’s not record sales. Among artists that started in the 2000s, Rihanna beats her. If you take Eminem (1999 start), he does too.

It’s not cultural impact. Madonna and MJ were enormous in their heyday.

It’s not impact on the music industry. The Beatles arguably began the notion of the rock band, had the first concept album, first major merchandising contracts, first stadium tour.

So what is it?

I disagree on cultural impact. A couple of months ago my husband and I who are both in our late 40s were telling our daughters about the night Michael Jackson first performed the moonwalk. And what a different time it was because the next day all of our classmates and teachers were talking about it.

It’s just so much harder in today’s pop cultural landscape, with kids maybe looking at TikTok and having their own streaming profile, and parents being on a totally different social media platform and a totally different streaming profile. We are all watching different shows, listening to different music more on our own little devices.

You can get on a plane and watch whatever you want, versus years ago it was one movie being shown. So I think it’s not just Taylor but the general landscape, it’s kind of crazy all the generations seem to know her and how much attention she gets.

Taylor’s vinyl album sales are also pretty insane for this day and age. Yes 30 years ago you would not have blinked, but the fact that there are so many young kids actually buying vinyl records because of her is pretty impressive.

Clearly there’s lots of other artists and pop culture figures who’ve had a huge impact and maybe even the same or similar or more, but she is definitely up there with them.

Vinyl sales went up before she started to really hit it big. Yes, she has had good vinyl sales, but part of that is because she puts out so many editions of her albums.

I think of her as a contemporary version of Madonna or another diva. I simply don’t see where she’s breaking new ground.

I love Madonna, and have been to some of her concerts. I just don’t see people talking about or reacting to Madonna concerts the same way they react to Taylor’s. The Eras tour seems a little unprecedented to me. Of course other artists have had hugely successful tours, I’m not trying to say they haven’t, but I guess I just don’t understand what we’re arguing about. Taylor is big and popular. I don’t understand why that’s controversial or even subjective.

Madonna was bigger vs TS back in the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the folks who are sticking in their heels about cultural and musical impact - if she is so insignificant, why are you here fighting about it? Honestly.

If there was nothing to see here, there would be no conversation about her or her music. But there is lots of conversation about her, her music. Her music sells. People rebound the music they already owned from her to support the sale of her new masters. She is selling out stadiums all over the world. Her movies and media sell.

Are you mad that she’s that savvy to make it happen for herself, when you want to convince yourself that she’s just basic?

Who cares if she’s not the Picasso of music. She’s killing what is making her rich, and living her best life. Her art is speaking to people. So much so that even though you claim to hate her, you can’t stop yourself from talking about her. That’s savvy as heck.

We’re not saying she’s insignificant. We’re questioning the claim that she’s uniquely impactful.

It’s like you all can’t see anything but the extremes. It’s either she’s the best or she’s the worst.

But who is claiming she’s uniquely impactful? I don’t think she’s ever said that? Most of her fans aren’t. They’re saying she is impactful on them. Now. The Beatles don’t speak to them because their music, while awesome, is no relevant now. TS speaks to the feels and time that people are experiencing now. Why is this so hard to understand or appreciate?

If you don’t see Swifties saying she’s had impact no one else has had, then you’re not paying attention. It’s happened on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the young boys listening to these days?

90s rock. Foo Fighters, Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, The Smiths etc for mine.

lol no.

Well what are yours listening to? I’m reporting from the trenches, having two teen boys.

My friend’s 9 year old son loves grunge and wants to be a rock musician when he grows up.

That’s cool. I daresay that one is parental suggestion OR an older sibling, though. 9 yos aren’t generally unsupervised on the Internet to find their own stuff (or shouldn’t be).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the young boys listening to these days?

90s rock. Foo Fighters, Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, The Smiths etc for mine.

lol no.

Well what are yours listening to? I’m reporting from the trenches, having two teen boys.

My friend’s 9 year old son loves grunge and wants to be a rock musician when he grows up.

That’s cool. I daresay that one is parental suggestion OR an older sibling, though. 9 yos aren’t generally unsupervised on the Internet to find their own stuff (or shouldn’t be).

I was surprised because his parents aren’t really into that music and he doesn’t have an older sibling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the young boys listening to these days?

90s rock. Foo Fighters, Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, The Smiths etc for mine.

lol no.

Well what are yours listening to? I’m reporting from the trenches, having two teen boys.

My friend’s 9 year old son loves grunge and wants to be a rock musician when he grows up.

That’s cool. I daresay that one is parental suggestion OR an older sibling, though. 9 yos aren’t generally unsupervised on the Internet to find their own stuff (or shouldn’t be).

9 yr olds aren’t roaming the internet to listen to music they are probably on Spotify.