when did image become more important than music?

[Spellbound]

when in your opinion did image become as important or more important than the actual music?

for example in this day and age the record label will go out of their way to let you know that destiny's child and beyonce look good (physically).

destiny's child's music may suck, and most of their music and ideas are stolen but at least they look good right?

going through disco 12" and disco album covers while record browsing i notice that many of the covers have nothing to do with the actual music.

for example a lot of disco 12" covers will feature women on them. so obviously there was still a focus towards image back then but to a lesser extent, but not to the point where all of the disco artists (studio and live acts) would be forced to take actual pictures of themselves for the sole purpose of generating sales for their music.

in popular music today it is almost a necessity and a requirement.

many of today's house music 12" covers are plain non picture covers. but house music is underground and nowhere near as mainstream as disco in terms of popular music.

what is your opinion on this?

[Eurodancemix]

It's my most humble opinion that so much of today's music is void of talent. Thus, the promotions folks will do their best to take your mind off the music by opening the sex floodgates.

Heck, look at Usher. The boy can't sing and the songs have no melody whatsoever (have you ever tried humming an Usher song?...you can't, there's no melody!). True, he can hit a note whereas I can't, but he's not really singing and there are truckloads of unquestionably talented people out there who truly deserve to be in the spotlight. But, hey, he's kinda cute, the girls are gaga over him and when he takes his shirt off, even some boys go crazy. So you're not really buying an Usher album for the music, but for the idea that Usher is one hot piece of meat and that, if he were in his right mind, you just KNOW he'd fall for you in a big way.

Style over substance has always been. And it always will be. Is it more so today? Probably not, just seems that way because the record labels are so blatant about pushing sex as opposed to "just" weird outfits (remember the 80's New Wave fashions).

Even current talented artists (Whitney, Jessica Simpson, Celine) have great voices but perform absolutely rotten material because the record companies focus on the look to bring in the money.

It's a shame really. We, as a music buying public, deserve so much better.

[QUINNY]

Disco was possibly the start of it all, as a lot of the product was producer driven and hence viewed as a commodity to be marketed. Not so sure that image was everything back then, but as you've mooted, why use image so heavily to enhance the products chances?
The real sea change happened when videos started to happen in the early '80s, and the MTV generation was born.

[Funky Dude]

Spellbound wrote:

for example in this day and age the record label will go out of their way to let you know that destiny's child and beyonce look good (physically).

destiny's child's music may suck, and most of their music and ideas are stolen but at least they look good right?

I bloody well agree with you there mate!!!!! I HATE Destiny's Child and Beyonce Knowles's music it all sucks plumbers crack :evil: !!!!! Their music doesn't just suck plumbers crack, it sucks cracks of all fat repairmen and fat construction workers with jackhammers with loosely fitted pants :evil: !!!!! What's worse is in my area we only get shitty top 40 radio stations like I98 FM and Nova 96.9 and at my workplace those stations are blaring out the exact same songs everyday for months and months which include Beyonce Knowles's "Naughty Girl" and Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath" and it pisses me right off and each time they come on I say out loud "**** SONG!!!!". Fortunately at work my boss is a top bloke and we're allowed to listen to our own portable CD/MP3 decks while we work though still can hear the top 40 swill over our music. Beyonce's "Naughty Girl" is the most pathetic sampling of Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby" and her "Sexy AIEEEEEEEEE" irritates the **** out of me and Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath" I LOATHE because I often have it stuck in my head overriding a good disco song I'm thinking of and that really sucks, it sounds very much like they are saying "lick my crack" instead of "lose my breath". Plus the top 40 swill hosts all of these other Spice Girl wannabe girl groups that do **** songs but look sexy and their sexiness wins them their Grammy's. And also there's the sex-image solo no-talent artists like Britney Spears who do songs that are just as **** as girl group songs, Britney may as well be with a sex-pop girl group. Girl groups are just as bad as boy bands, both have no talent at all :evil: !!!!!

Whatever happened to live bands?????

__________________________________________________ ___
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! OI OI OI!!! :D :D :D

[Videoskooter]

Absolutely, whatever happened to live bands???

That's the painfull question. Groups like the Ohio Players or The Bar-Kays also put hot girls on their covers but they had talent. They wrote SONGS and they were REAL on stage.

Image was always important but nowadays I get the impression that image is all there is. People dragged me to a Spears-concert (concert???) last year and I was really disgusted by it. Everything was fake and I don't pay that amount of money for something I can listen to at home! I saw Mr. James Brown a few weeks ago and in december I'm going to Maceo's concert and probably next year Prince will be touring in Belgium. That's the real thing.

[Spellbound]

What's worse is in my area we only get shitty top 40 radio stations like I98 FM and Nova 96.9 and at my workplace those stations are blaring out the exact same songs everyday for months and months which include Beyonce Knowles's "Naughty Girl" and Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath" and it pisses me right off and each time they come on I say out loud "**** SONG!!!!".

somebody needs to be held accountable for this

over here every day it is the exact same **** as well

[QUINNY]

Has radio ever been much different? It's always played the hits in some sort of rotation. Hence POP was born and charts came into existence to reflect the power that radio plays had in converting a much heard record on the radio into record sales.

You younger guys crack me up!!! You'd all live on a remote island with a population of 1, if you had your way with things. That way you could be assured that nothing else would detract you from what you like.

HITS........can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Id say it all went down hill in the very begining of the 90s...and today..we're screwed :o

[Sami M]

Spellboun wrote:

many of today's house music 12" covers are plain non picture covers. but house music is underground and nowhere near as mainstream as disco in terms of popular music.

Well I've seen plenty of pure 70's disco in plain company covers. :P Me thinks that there's not much change in that respect, comapred to house music. Disco 12 inchers targeted for djs, had about as much plain covers as the house 12 incehrs of today. They are even more so targeted for the dj's! The record players are not much used elsewhere. I've also seen quite many house 12" with picture covers as well.

Furthermore I just can't see house music as undeground thing, it seems to be everywhere (maybe not to the extent of disco BITD, but still)... but that's another topic. :roll:

[K-Bee]

I'd say the obssesion with image over musical quality was probably started by the invention of the music video.

Looking like the great mr. Watson is sadly not suitable for today's audiences :lol:

[originalbigm]

I'd agree that it really imagery began in earnest with the advent of MTV

From Allmusic,
"One of new wave's most charming singles, the Buggles' prescient 1979 hit "Video Killed the Radio Star" is also one of the most knowing and ironic: A pop song about pop itself, it celebrates the golden days of radio with shiny, futuristic synths and then-contemporary studio techniques. The irony was complete when the song's video became the first clip aired on MTV. Fortunately, "Video Killed the Radio Star"'s ironies -- intentional or otherwise -- work in the song's favor. With its broadcast-quality vocals and bouncy rhythm, the song plays like an extended jingle, delivering hooks and sonic flourishes at every turn, appropriately enough for the story of a singer made obsolete by TV. The breathy, girlish backup singers, twinkly synths, and other intricate layers in "Video Killed the Radio Star"'s arrangement and production also foreshadow Trevor Horn's evolution into a first-rate producer. Subsequent covers, most notably by the Presidents of the United States of America, removed the song's poignancy and focused on its novelty appeal. But just as the song looks back on the radio songs of the '50s and '60s, now "Video Killed the Radio Star" can be looked on as a perfectly preserved new wave gem. It still sounds as immediate as it did when it was released, however, and that may be the song's greatest irony.