Justin Timberlake: Justified Boredom?

Is pop music boring?

Pop music is synonymous with the radio. Without mainstream play over the radio (and television) waves, pop music cannot exist. By definition, pop music is a genre of easily accessible repetition. Not only is each individual song an object of repetition, but the genre of pop music as a whole is based in repetition.

Okay, okay…arguably, repetition is the staple of any genre – there must be a common theme which unites. But whereas some genres such as ‘alternative’ or ‘punk’ exhibit a familiar sound shared by their artists, these are genres which also pride themselves on creating distinctness or even defamiliarizing themselves from the genre itself (in this sense, could we call Bjork a situationist?). At least, traditionally this was often the goal – the lines seem to be blurring a bit now that indie bands are becoming mainstream. But in comparison to other genres of music, pop thrives solely in familiarity, recognizability, and adherence to the status quo. Its goal: radio play. And this cannot be accomplished without normalization of its lyrics, themes, and sounds – if it doesn’t fit, it won’t get played and ceases to fall under the category of pop.

As we have discussed in class: repetition can be boring – and pop music, as I have explained, if full of it. Secondly, a search for meaning that doesn’t exist can also be tedious. Those of us who actively seek out meaning in pop music usually fail to find it. For the person who desires intellectual stimulation from their music, pop disappoints them – their effort in seeking meaning quickly turns to boredom as the search is revealed to be futile. Pop = aesthetic = boring. As Debord would probably say, pop music is the spectacle; it encourages passivity and is therefore a bad thing (granted, Debord would probably say it in a much more intellectual manner sung to the tune of a Britney Spears song).

But on the other hand, many would argue that pop music is the opposite of boring. Its upbeat and catchy tunes provide an immediate stimulation to drag us out of our boredom-induced stupors. Also, maybe we just perceive that we are overly familiar with pop music. Perhaps we need to look at it in a new light (like Sherlock Holmes does with the everyday) to find meaning. There is no rule that pop music must be devoid of meaning – maybe we just need to look harder to find it. In this case, listening to pop music seems like an even more dynamic activity than listening to other genres. Besides, there is also no rule that says we inherently need to find meaning in political or socially conscious bands – sometimes we can listen to Radiohead just as an escape, without even thinking of the significance of Thom Yorke’s lyrics.

As Susan discussed in one of her recent posts, it is sometimes the unknown which produces boredom. To those of us who are not politically aware of the world we live in Rage Against the Machine’s lyrics would be infinitely boring. The unfamiliarity of Rage’s themes would create even more passivity in the listener, as they would not even have access to the issues being discussed. In a sense, the music would cease to be political, the lyrics would fade into the background, and Bulls on Parade would just be another catchy tune on par with 50 Cent’s P.I.M.P.

But non-pop music can become boring in other ways as well. Motivation to get heard is a major factor. The Black Eyed Peas, believe it or not, actually used to make good music. Before they sold out, before they added some big-breasted tart to their group, and before they used loops of Justine Timberlake for their choruses, the Black Eyed Peas collaborated with the likes of De la Soul, Jurassic 5, and Mos Def to create an original sound (sorry for ranting about this, but the Black Eyed Peas really piss me off nowadays – they are a fine example of what I like to call “hip-hop-ocrisy”). BEP essentially became pop.

Non-pop can also become boring when a band produces the same re-hashed sound over and over. Coldplay may have continued to deal with important, thought-provoking themes, but their sound became so familiar that fans began to associate their music with the repetition of pop music. Radio stations latched onto this as well. Coldplay’s own repetitive techniques caused them to be perceived as pop, even though they may not have technically been “pop.” Essentially, they could have been placed under the heading: alternative pop.

Lastly, the repetition of one or two tracks from an album can give the perception that a band is boring. Usually, the singles that are played on the radio are the most pop-esque songs on the album – the songs that are most similar to other singles in the same genre. This forms a perception in the minds of people who never actually bother to listen to any of the band’s other music. Examples include the singles from Rage Against the Machine’s third album, or the numerous top-40 Kanye West songs. Even though the tracks may not be a wholly accurate representation of the band, they are the only ones that many people actually hear.

Conclusions:

I would argue that the reason that non-pop music can become boring is directly related to the mass consumption of pop music. Either the music becomes incomprehensible to its listeners (Rage), actually becomes pop itself (BEP), creates its own sameness-based subheading of a greater genre (Coldplay), or is overplayed and disregarded as pop music (Kanye West). Each of these transformations is in relation to pop music – not only does radio play offer an ultimate goal for struggling bands, but the over-exposure to this repetitive genre has dulled the minds of our youth, teaching them to be passive in their music listening.

The solution: obliterate pop music from Aaliyah to Jay-Z. Then, I think we would gradually move away from the urge for music to be a product of global mass consumption (granted, for this to work we would also have to destroy all capitalist ideology in order to stifle pop music from rising up again). In a world without pop music, some music might still be boring, but I believe it would be a much less dangerous sort of boring. I think the Situationists would be with me on this one. To quote Dead Prez: “Turn off the radio! Turn off that bullshit!”