funeralxempire wrote:
NibiruMul wrote:
I've noticed that many of her harshest critics tend to be rock and metal fans. I get a little hesitant with criticism of pop singers because at times it can come off as thinly-veiled sexism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockism_and_poptimismYou might find these concepts interesting.
I think you're right that sexism is a big part of the scorn a lot of music critics had towards pop music in general. They didn't want to consider it as even being a valid form of music because it wasn't intended to appeal towards them and didn't follow the rules they had arbitrarily settled on for 'authentic music'.
A lot of rock fans hate pop music for not following the same rules as rock music. Two ironic things about that; fans of more underground styles of metal and punk tend to have the same attitude towards mainstream rock, which in the long run seems to have contributed to the decline of mainstream rock. To be fair, the same critics who established the rockist mindset largely hated metal and punk too, because they were aimed at kids younger than them with different preferences. They spent >thirty years repeatedly declaring that metal and punk were dead every time album sales slumped by a little bit.
The second being that hip-hop, industrial, big-beat and some other types of music that are made by producers, rather than bands manage crossover success with rock fans and no one really questions it, while at the same time pop acts that write and play everything on their albums don't get any extra credibility among most rock fans for it.
Sexism, racism and homophobia all play a role in the rockist mindset, although they're not inherent to it. At the end of the day it seems to be a reflection of the preferences of a bunch of straight, white, male critics who liked what appealed to them and dismissed everything else as inauthentic (pop, r&b, disco, etc), or noise made by delinquents (hip-hop, metal, punk).
I had my elitist phase in my early 20’s when I heavily into New wave. The targets of my ire was what is now called “Arena Rock” that we called “Corporate Rock”. They were generic hard rock bands with the obligatory power ballad. Talented groups and very, very successful but boring to me. I am talking about groups like Styx, Kansas, Boston, Foreigner, Toto etc.
As far as my attitude towered todays mega pop stars my attitude is I don’t get them and that is how it is supposed to be. As far as Taylor Swift I greatly respect what she and her fans have done. Us ok boomers love to throw The Beatles at younger generations. They had incredible popularity while changing and being innovative. Their heyday lasted under a decade. Swift’s popularity started in the aughts and has continually grown, and grown, and grown while stylistically changing. From what I read the connection between her and her fans is unprecedented. I have no clue as what that connection is and why is it has occurred and is occurring.
All of the above is a long way of saying that while racism, sexism and other isms/phobias is todays go to explanation for every dislike IMHO the most important reason for “rockist” critics dismissing pop stars is as you mentioned them not getting music not meant for them because they come from a different era. It has always been that way(LOL).
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