Did beautiful people all of a sudden become talented musicians? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Alexander]

Driving through the city and suburbs of Atlanta as I do everyday w/ my job, I notice these huge larger than life billboards promoting the newest fresh-faced musical talent all in the same vein as Brittney, Usher, Jessica Simpson, Beyonce, and a number of other new acts ranging from solo artists to boy bands and girly group acts. The one thing that they all seem to have in common? Beauty and attractiveness in a sexy kinda way.

It's like the music promoters from the record labels follow this formulaic pattern that appeals to our visual senses, telling us that beauty and cutesy attractiveness = TALENT. With young people 12-25 yrs. old being the marketing target audience (with no end in sight), is the "pretty face" performer the way of the future, or is this just a lingering fad?

 

[Mark All]

I don't know. However, I'm over 25 and most of the musicians I like have been butt-ugly for a long time now.

On the other hand, I wonder what Keith Richards would look like if he had the TV show type extreme makeover treatment applied to him...

 

[Seth--L]

Sex sells.

There really isn't anything more to it. You don't really think Britteny Spears is popular for her voice?

 

[Kevin Alexander]

True, but should everything be decided on whether or not someone has the right "look"?

As Mark All alluded to, I wonder if Keith Richards and the other Rolling Stones would make it today as new artists w/ their looks? Personally, I would like to think so.

 

[Seth--L]

Kevin,

You make it sound like their are rules to what is allowed to sell. Labels have discovered that a lot of people care much more about the singer than what they're singing. That's just the reality of the marketplace.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Yeah, it's annoying when singers build an audience because of beauty or sex appeal. Elvis, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant,...

Anyway, how is this a fad, when David Cassidy was around 30 years ago?

 

[Kevin Alexander]

I never said this whole concept was new and unheard of. You have to agree Mike that it is nothing like it is today. All of the people you mention above had real talent. Today, there is no talent - only pretty faced vocalists singing to computer generated music effects. There is no talent involved in that at all. That's why you see so many celebrities and even models crossing over (or attempting to) into the music biz. They do it because it's all about prettiness first, and skills later.

 

[Marc Colella]

I never understood that.

She's popular because she looks nice (by most accounts), and her image helps get her publicity to sell more CDs.
So by that logic - her looks are helping her to sell CDs.

But I can't believe people who are buying her CDs don't like her music. Her looks don't play a factor when the CD is spinning.

So wouldn't it be more accurate to say that sex "promotes", while the music sells?

 

[Rachael B]

Clearly, in the past there were way more "flawed" looking musicans that got so far as hit songs. i.e. - Tiny Tim, LuLu, Canned Heat, Janis Ian, Fat Boys, Root Boy Slim, Mama Cass, ect.

Clearly, there always was junk music but now almost everything that "they" promote is junk music. Sign me, sick of plastic pop by bitches who've had nose jobs, are anorexic (coked out?), have the mandatory navel ring, bleached hair. and whom, if handed an acoustic guitar or a seat at the piano, cannot even play!

The music world has become upside down! Talented people are excluded because they're not so easily yo-yo'ed by the suits. Songs with any political message are generally forbidden too.

Popular music isn't even popular anymore....

 

[Joel Fontenot]

Pop music has been full of pretty faced people with session musicians and other people writing the songs for them ever since the Ed Sullivan Show. It only seems like there's more today because for the past decade or so record companies have been trying harder to have the next biggest act sell the most before everyone downloads the MP3's from the net for free. They don't care to "cultivate" recording artists, pretty or otherwise, anymore.

Joel

 

[Mike Broadman]

Maybe Kevin, but quite honestly, I don't pay attention, so I don't notice it. I'm into my own thing.

Maybe it's not the music that's changed, I think it's the marketing around it. There's just more of everything and it's louder.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Screw you guys! With the new Victoria's Secret commercials, I find Bob Dylan sexy again!
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Still waiting for a pukey smiley from somewhere.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yup! Teen idols have been around forever. Think back 40 years and I'm sure people'd be bitching about the Monkees and many others who now inspire lots of positivity...

 

[Yee-Ming]

Dome:

 

[DavidLW]

A big difference between now and then is that back then we mainly listen to the music on the radio. Most of us back then only saw the artist on the album covers. Now a days, thanks to MTV, most people see the music on TV. These people can't hear the song without visualizing the video. When my young nieces listen to or sing a song they like, they imitates the dance moves the artist does on the video. Music to them is more visual than audio. If singers like Spears, Simpsons, Aguire, Lopez, Beyonce and the likes had to sell their talent only on the radio, they wouldn't make it in the music world.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Great point, and true.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Actually, I think Beyonce would make it in a radio-only world, as well as Aguilera (it would probably help because she can sing, but that persona she's trying to sell is pretty skanky).

 

[Dome Vongvises]

My Asian brother with wisdom.

 

[Grant B]

A good portion of the population uses music as background and really don't care to get much deeper then "I'll give it a 9 since it has a good beat and you can dance to it".
But then there are some people who care about it so much that they take the time to visit this and other forums and know ever little detail about artists that matter to them.

Once upon a time I thought the 1st group were low life trash that jumped on every spur of the moment bandwagon and made major stars out of no talent puppets who never had an original thought in their life
I no longer try to judge people by their crappy music tastes...see how frickin nice I am now? I even fight the urge to take peoples albums from their house and burn them on their front lawns (it was years ago and no proof was ever found...)

 

[Robert Powers]

It makes you wonder how much talent there is out there that never gets a chance because they are too ugly to promote. I'm sure there are bands out there that if we heard them play we would be blown away. It is sad that we may never hear what could have been our favorite bands.

When I listen to music I don't give a rat's butt how good looking the musicians are. Music is supposed to be for the ears only. I have a few CDs that I absolutely love that don't have pictures of the band. I have no idea nor do I care about their physical beauty.

But the physical beauty thing applies to everyday life not only music. People are judged by their appearance. Sad but true.