Friday, May 6, 2011

Baby I'm A Star



As I write this post I'm jamming to one of the greatest musician and artist of all time- Prince [1]. I decided to title this post in accordance to what I was listening to (Baby I'm A Star- From the Purple Rain Album), as it is a perfect fit for what I've been contemplating.

I'm a late 80s baby, but I've grown up with an old soul, a grandfather who played either only NPR [2] or Oldies 98 in his car, and a father who would tell me stories of his first time hearing Parliment Funkadelic and whose vast collection of cds has provided me with the stylings of artists like Rick James, Teena Marie, Steely Dan, Prince, Bootsy Collins, Boz Scaggs, Sade, and of course the Jacksons- just to name a few. I remember growing up spending many an afternoon in front of my father's sound system, putting in cds and listening to them all the way through. I distinctly remember falling in love with Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 cd and wanting to burn Rick James' Reflections album because of the song 17 [3]. Even now my itunes has more old school funk and soul than any of the newer stuff.

There are countless artists from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even the 90s, that will go down as having created some of the greatest and most timeless music. As I get older and increasingly rely on cars to get around,  find myself tuning into the radio stations and being dissatisfied with what's currently popular. With the exception of a few artists like Kanye West, Bruno Mars, B.O.B, Janelle Monae (yall need to get up on her), and Cee Lo Green, I really can't find myself totally loving the music that's out currently. Though I must admit Nicki Minaj finally came out with a pop song that is just too darn catchy to ignore.  Maybe it's because I've grown up on funk, soul, and r&b. The current music fad, however, seems to focus on pop, and I guess it just isn't my thing [4].  But then I got to thinking. Is any of the music we listen to now memorable, timeless? Will Katy Perry's E.T. end up on the Oldies station when we hit 50? Would we even want to listen to that?

I would love to hear what you all have to say about the current music getting airtime.

What recent songs would you consider timeless? What do you think you'll be listening to when you're 50? Any music that you would suggest that won't kill my soul is actually good? What old school music do you still play?

[1] Yeah I said it. And what? Who you got? Tito Michael Jackson?
[2] Car Talk anyone?
[3] This was some scandalous stuff to me when I was 14. 
[4] I admit it. I'm biased against most mainstream pop and I have little experience with the current crap music that's on the radio now. 

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