Why Aren”t Songs Durable Anymore ?

John P. Phillips · From: Folkston, Ga. U.S.A., R.I.P.

I keep hearing the old songs played over and over but after they leave the charts, you hardly ever hear any of the new songs. Another thing. You can remember hunning the oldies and I’m all the time having the words to an oldie run thru my mind for days sometimes. It seems that looking and listening to the words nowadays,the writers still write good songs and the singers still perform well but songs don’t last like they used to. Are we just running out of subjects to write about ? Do the singers fail to put expression and feeling in them ?
Here’s another thing. I was sitting at the computer the other day and got to imagining how it would sound if some of the older artists sang the newer music.For instance, Merle, E.T, Ray, Willie, Porter, and Paycheck to name a few. I would inagine that they would be presented more palatable. Could it just be our tastes over the years have changed ? Maybe the old songs are just so ingrained in our memories ?
What’s your take on this topic ?
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Alvin Blaine · From: Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA

Available Choices!!

Last year, just online, there were over 10,000,000 songs available for sell. That's 10 Million songs to chose from.
In 1959 the complete recording industry released 75 LPs, with an average of 8 songs per album. That's 600 songs to chose from.

That is a BIG deference when you only have 600 songs a year to chose what one you like for the week, compared to over 10 million songs a year. That works out to the number of songs that were recorded for the whole year in 1959 are released every 30 minutes today.
In 1959 every single song recorded that year could have spent a week in the top 10. Today you would have to listen to 20 songs per minute, just to hear everything that gets put out a day.
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David Doggett · Posted 28 Aug 2009 7:43 am

Alvin has explained a big part of the problem. Still, we don't pay much attention to most of the 10 million songs released today. The number of commercial hits that a radio listener actually hears on say country radio are not so different from in the past. But things are more fragmented into several markets and types of radio stations.

Also, we tend to remember the great ones from the past that have stood the test of time, and forget about all the rest of the stuff back then. With the current music we hear it all, and the great ones don't really stand out yet. I'm sure there are occasional hits today that will also stand the test of time, for example something like the theme from Titanic.

A similar thing is happening with movies and books and all kinds of art. We remember the great classics from the past, but not all the other stuff from back then. Today we see it all and are overloaded by it, and don't know what today's classics are yet. There is only so much room in the public mind for classics. So given the huge amount of stuff out there today, it will certainly be a very tiny percent that lives on a classics.

Joachim Kettner · From: Germany

Alvin, are you sure about the 75 longplayers? I really can't believe this.

Cal Sharp · From: the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN

I've noticed something like that, too, playing in bar bands over the years. When Tracy Lawrence or Brooks and Dunn or Garth Brooks would have a big hit we'd play it for awhile, but after a year or two it would gradually disappear from our repertoire, and we'd still be playing the Haggard, Price and Jones songs we'd always played. Sheesh, I've been playing "Crazy Arms" for 37 years, but I don't remember the last time I had to play "Friends In Low Places".
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Ellis Miller · From: Cortez, Colorado, USA

Just to add a different perspective...

As Country Music came into its own comercially, the business was run by people who understood the cultural base and were often musicians themselves. Think Chet Atkins when he was President of RCA.

Starting in the 1970s with the sale of WSM and the Opry, the powers that be were neither immersed in the culture or the music. The focus shifted more and more to the marketing aspects.

IMHO this is what diluted the character and durability of Country Music. Instead of a songwriter saying something like "why don't we write a great Country song?" the suggestion would be more like "what do you think the rednecks are buying today?"

Great songs that speak to the people are durable, regardless of the genre. Creations that follow the fads and trends are no more than fads and trends themselves and seldom stay around too long.
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Alvin Blaine · From: Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA

Alvin Blaine · From: Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

I don't know how many LPs were released in 1959--but Capitol alone released over 100 in their standard T series which covered most of their pop/rock/country acts.

Add in all other labels and countries and I would assume there were thousands of LPs released in that year.

However, quite a small percentage would have been country. Who was releasing country LPs on Capitol in 1959? Hank Thompson, Louvin Brothers, Tennessee Ernie, Sonny James, Ferlin Husky, Speedy West, maybe Buck and Wanda? So Capitol may have put out 15 or 20 country LPs that year? It could well be accurate that only 75 country LPs were released in the USA in 1959--there were only 6 or 8 possible labels and some of them had virtually no LP product in 1959. I doubt if Columbia released over a half dozen C and W LPs that year. Mercury none? MGM very few, etc. It was very much a 45 rpm driven market.

45s were introduced in 1949 and from the mid 50s on there were thousands of singles released every year by artists who would never make an LP and they would get little if any airplay. Virtually none of them were hits, but you have a better chance of hearing that stuff today than you did in 1959 due to semi-exhaustive reissue programs, legitimate and otherwise--much of it from overseas labels. Anybody with the inclination can get their hands on 90 plus percent of the lifetime output of hundreds of artists--that was nearly impossible 20 years ago.

I can't recall ever seeing an estimate of the number of songs recorded and/or released in a given year, but I would guess it was well into 5 figures from the mid 50s on and continues to increase. The rise of the 45 and Elvis really broke it open. I imagine 45s have historically outsold LPs by at least 10 to 1, at least into the 70s.

I doubt if more than 5% of recorded music ever hits major commercial radio, especially in the last decade or two. Just as well. The longer I listen, the more inclined I am to think that the cream usually (I say usually) finds its way to the top. Most of the 95% that are largely unheard shoulda stayed on the John Deere.

Andy Jones · From: Mississippi

I'd like to comment on this topic,from my perspective.I'm a fireman,so flame away,I can take it.I will only comment on the country music front,because that's where 95% of my listening time is spent.

I believe you gentlemen are correct in stating that there are so many songs to choose from today.I've been listening to country music as long as I can remember(I'm 57),but I can't recall a period like the last 25 years or so when there was so much"music" and so little worth listening to.(Don't get all bent out of shape,this is JMHO).

As for female vocalists,most of them sound alike and probably never would have gotten where they are now,if not for their youth and good looks.

As for male vocalists,most of them also sound alike,but I don't know what got them where they are.A big cowboy hat,western attire and several days of missing a shave,I guess.

Here's JMHO about the music:the tunes of the songs sound like monotonous droning to me.None of the tunes really stand out like so many great songs of the past.

The lyrics are just plain stupid.Some of you are probably thinking about some stupid lyrics of earlier songs,but at least they had some great melodies.Many of the country music hits of the past 25 years or so will never be heard again,unless you have copies of them.They just will never stand the test of time like so many of the great,timeless hits of the past.JMHO,so flame away if you'd like.

Andy--living in the past,which is not so bad,musically speaking

Barry Blackwood · Posted 29 Aug 2009 6:36 am

It's kinda like cable or satellite TV - literally hundreds of channels now, and nothing to watch. I think today's audience has a very short attention span resulting in the relatively short shelf-life of programs, or in this instance, songs.

By the way, Cal, I would consider myself fortunate not to have to play 'Friends in Low Places' anymore... Laughing

Ellis Miller · From: Cortez, Colorado, USA

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Young people became the driving force when Elvis started selling milions and millions of records. Before that, each genre was out to capture and cultivate their own particular demographic. But when Elvis' sales topped ten million in only a few years, and when it was obvious the young audience did that, everybody jumped on the "how do we appeal to kids" bandwagon. The McMusic machine was on the move and rolling fast. Record companies adopted the mass-market stratgies of Madison Avenue and the American business model. Why foster and coddle 20 artists who try and sell 50,000 records each when we can build up just one artist up so big that he or she will sell a million?

"McMusic", limited flavors with super-fast service and ultimate convenience, was here to stay.

Joachim Kettner · From: Germany

If the artist is good for you, and you listen to his latest offering, as many times as you did listening to your old favorites, the songs will stay in your mind just the same.
I know it is not that easy, but I think it's part of the phenomenom.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Personally, I think you've all missed the real answer: lack of memorable melodies. A combination of melody, rhythm (and last, harmony) make a up a memorable tune. IMHO, things have been skewed toward the rhythm part of the equation for many years now.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

I think Andy's right... even the quickest listen to 70's pop radio compared to today's "hits" shows a remarkable lack of melodic content. But there's something lacking on the lyrical end as well- on the way home from a gig the other night I tuned into our local country station's "mega-hit countdown".

The first song I heard was the latest from Montgomery Gentry:

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

All of the good songs have already been written - there's nothing more to say. Crying or Very sad

What more can you say, actually, about "love?" Or "beer?" Or your truck, or your job... the song forms are bankrupt, which is why I listen to instrumental (new) music almost exclusively.

Country music is like opera, or rap, or heavy metal these days - I honestly can't tell when it's being parodied, because the real stuff sounds just like the parodies. "Rockin' the beer gut...." - Life's too short, kids. Our country is turning into a "D"-grade cartoon, but I don't have to memorize it, or participate. Alien

Ellis Miller · From: Cortez, Colorado, USA

It is all because nobody writes old songs anymore Very Happy

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Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

"God is Great, Beer is Good & People are Crazy"
has a good melody and is well written.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Have you considered the very real possibility that music producers don't want to produce "durable" songs now for the same reason that electronics manufacturers or computer hardware/software manufacturers don't want to produce "durable" products anymore - planned obsolescence to make sure there's a market for "new" stuff in a year or two.

How the hell are you gonna sell someone the latest and greatest if they stay warm and fuzzy about what they already have for years on end?

I don't disagree with some of the other points made - especially Andy Volk's point about the dominance of rhythm over melody. But I think the modern business model is radically skewed to planned obsolescence. Have you noticed that all almost electronic repair policy is now "replace under warranty - after that, it's a paperweight."? That is official policy of many electronics manufacturers. I think pedal-steel homeboy favorite Peavey is an exception.

BTW - I completely disagree that all the great songs have been written. We have barely scratched the surface, IMHO. There are still plenty of songwriters out there writing good stuff, but who cares? Not many, unfortunately.

James Cann · From: Phoenix, AZ

I, too, sign in with Andy. Melody has suffered badly, as has poetic energy in lyric. You can feel these forces, along with that of cadence, in the old stuff, even when the rhyme schemes weren't that close--"real good time in the bright sunshine" stuff.

Very difficult, if not impossible to experience now-- and were that not enough, it seems there's more refrain than verse.