Taylor Swift - Would we have even heard of her if she existed in the 70's?

[DrH. Lecter]

I don’t get Taylor Swift. I can only name one song she’s ever done, Shake It Off. I know that’s my own fault for not knowing others, but it seems like someone with such an immense financial empire right now should have at least a handful or two of songs I recognized without going out of my way to find them. Most other modern artists do. So I respect what she’s done — unprecedented in a lot of ways — but I have no idea how she’s done it.

Totally agree. That is why I started this thread. I really don't get it.

One thing she did not do was to blow up her image by outrageous behavior. That is why I mentioned Madonna. She wasn't happy being good. She had to become controversial. So then you can see others who followed her pattern. Lady Gaga, Miley Sirus and a lot of others. But TS has showed that you do not have to act like an idiot to rake in millions with very average looks and musical talent.

 

[UK82]

Joni Mitchell is straight ass compared to Taylor Swift.

You forgot to add "IMO" to your comment.

 

[UK82]

As a child of the 60s and 70s I have no clue if TS would have made it back then. If she did then I'm guessing she would have transitioned into Disco. I get it, it's a generational thing. I never could understand my parent's music until I got older. Then it clicked. There was some damn good music being made back in the 40s and 50s.

 

[FirewithFire]

Probably not to the extent that we deal with today. Much of her latest success has been due to her handling the ins and outs of her career. That would not have been possible in the past music industry pre 2000.

She is also pretty smart with a 130 something IQ. She finished her junior and senior years in high school in twelve months with a 4.0 while doing music. So she is smart and hard working. Both are in evidence with that tour she put on.

I don't like her music at all, and I shouldn't since I'm not twelve. That said she found her niche and turned her limited vocal talent into a billion dollar asset. Pretty damned good in my book. Her main fault right now is over media saturation. People are getting tired of her, myself included.

 

[Nightwish84]

There are a lot of teenage girls in the world. What/who is her competition?

I don't know about current competition but in the past, Katy Perry. Perry chose to focus more on being a host and having a family. She began as an Alanis type then went pop. Swift began in country, perhaps saw what Perry had done, and followed. I don't think Swift's audience is *only* teen girls though. She's been around long enough for fans to have grown up with her. She has twenty and thirty somethings too. They connect with her music just as I connect with metal.

It helps that TS appears to be wholesome, kind, and hasn't had any screwups. Even when Kanye interrupted her, she stood quietly and let him make an ass out of himself. She's smart while Kanye literally just did another rant about how much he likes Hitler. You'll likely never see that type of stupidity from her. She also appears to be super kind to her fans. All of that is why I get a kick out of guys online who seem annoyed just by her existing.

 

[Nightwish84]

People are getting tired of her

Had to jump on this take because it's false. She recently wrapped up a massive stadium tour that sold out quickly in every location. People were willing to pay thousands of dollars and fans without tickets traveled just to be around the stadium. I did a quick search and found an article from last summer which states her 2024 album was outselling the rest of 2024's top albums combined. So when you say people are getting tired of her, what people?

 

[DrH. Lecter]

Had to jump on this take because it's false. She recently wrapped up a massive stadium tour that sold out quickly in every location. People were willing to pay thousands of dollars and fans without tickets traveled just to be around the stadium. I did a quick search and found an article from last summer which states her 2024 album was outselling the rest of 2024's top albums combined. So when you say people are getting tired of her, what people?

Which goes back to my question.....who is her competition? At least Kitty Purry is naturally smoking hot.

Korean boy bands? K-Pop?

For her thankfully the music industry is a train wreck.

 

[It'saDoneDeal]

I don’t get Taylor Swift. I can only name one song she’s ever done, Shake It Off. I know that’s my own fault for not knowing others, but it seems like someone with such an immense financial empire right now should have at least a handful or two of songs I recognized without going out of my way to find them. Most other modern artists do. So I respect what she’s done — unprecedented in a lot of ways — but I have no idea how she’s done it.

A lot of it comes down with the end of monoculture with the rise of the Internet and digital music. When I was growing up in the 90s what kids listened to was so narrow. Even if you were really into music, there were probably like 20-30 bands you routinely listened to or just one or two styles most really got into or followed. Evidenced by all the oldheads just posting played out 70s FM radio songs 95% of the time in any music thread. But kids today have such easy access to hundreds and hundreds of different artists and all sorts of varying styles all over the spectrum. So basically, there's just exponentially more stuff that gets popular and a hell of a lot more ways for stuff to get popular and be digested than the local FM radio station.

But yeah, you basically admit it in your post, but it's laziness as well. I would think most of the people who have posted here have never actually sat down and listened to a full record of hers. Make a coffee and put on Folklore and give it your attention.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

If I ever spoke to her, I'd like to ask who her songwriting influences are/were.

 

[ukcatz12]

I use "The 70's" as a catch-all because it is universally considered the Golden Era of music.

Everyone I've ever met who has said this has no idea where to find good, modern music. People always look back on music from past eras with rose colored glasses because of survivorship bias. You remember the classic music from that era but have forgotten all the shit that also came out then.

There is some incredible and much more diverse types of music available today, you just need to put in effort to find it. It's largely not on the radio.

With the internet everyone can find there own genre specific bubbles for things they like and stay in it, so it's harder for musical groups to break out into the mainstream. But the music within those bubbles is incredibly good.

 

[ukcatz12]

Well, since the 1970s was pre-AutoTune, I'd say she may have made a name for herself by writing songs for someone else to perform. But, I don't think her voice is good enough to make it on its own.

Yeah, Bob Dylan would never have been popular in the '70s, his voice wasn't good enough.

 

[ukcatz12]

Folklore is a great album and isn’t bubblegum pop.

I dont know what kind of music you like, but she hooked up with Aaron Dessner from The National for those two albums. If you liked that kind of sound you might want to give The National a listen, particularly their run of albums of Boxer, High Violet, and Trouble Will Find Me.

 

[Jeff Drummond]

Totally agree. That is why I started this thread. I really don't get it.

One thing she did not do was to blow up her image by outrageous behavior. That is why I mentioned Madonna. She wasn't happy being good. She had to become controversial. So then you can see others who followed her pattern. Lady Gaga, Miley Sirus and a lot of others. But TS has showed that you do not have to act like an idiot to rake in millions with very average looks and musical talent.

Great point. Not that this is a big issue with me -- dress how you want, live and let live -- but you don't see her in provocative attire every time she's in front of a camera.

 

[christophero]

She's okay. Her songs seem to mostly follow a certain pattern, but clearly she is good at what she does. I saw her in concert with a friend who likes her. My sister is a Swiftie too. But she's everywhere you look; I don't get the narrative that you are a misogynist if you are tired of her. Overexposure is a thing; just ask the Bee Gees. (who are great BTW)

 

[BMoore2]

I don’t know. She is talented, but her music would not have fared well in arguably the greatest decade for rock ‘n’ roll. She would probably have done fine, but I don’t know if she’d be a solo artist on the level of Elvis or Michael Jackson in that decade.

 

[DrH. Lecter]

A lot of it comes down with the end of monoculture with the rise of the Internet and digital music. When I was growing up in the 90s what kids listened to was so narrow. Even if you were really into music, there were probably like 20-30 bands you routinely listened to or just one or two styles most really got into or followed. Evidenced by all the oldheads just posting played out 70s FM radio songs 95% of the time in any music thread. But kids today have such easy access to hundreds and hundreds of different artists and all sorts of varying styles all over the spectrum. So basically, there's just exponentially more stuff that gets popular and a hell of a lot more ways for stuff to get popular and be digested than the local FM radio station.

But yeah, you basically admit it in your post, but it's laziness as well. I would think most of the people who have posted here have never actually sat down and listened to a full record of hers. Make a coffee and put on Folklore and give it your attention.

You apparently are ignorant of the music industry and market then vs today. The radio station was your cloud based provider. It was simply different analog equipment bringing you your favorite music genre. Even in the 90's with 20-30 bands, they were producing albums with 10 or 12 songs each. Some singles and a lot of filler.

Do you think that a record label would today, gladly pay for a concept album by a up and coming artist? Would there ever again be a "The Wall?"

Top Concept Albums that would never be made today:
Dark Side of the Moon
Sgt. Peppers
Ziggy Stardust
The Wall
Tommy

Those were not made in order to have the A&R guy hear a single. The singles market today is driven by TikTok, Produce singles for steaming. Deep cuts do not make it to TikTok.

 

[DrH. Lecter]

She's okay. Her songs seem to mostly follow a certain pattern, but clearly she is good at what she does. I saw her in concert with a friend who likes her. My sister is a Swiftie too. But she's everywhere you look; I don't get the narrative that you are a misogynist if you are tired of her. Overexposure is a thing; just ask the Bee Gees. (who are great BTW)

The BeeGees were a perfect fit for the Disco Era. Disco became overexposed so they probably paid the price because of the "Disco Sux" blowback.

 

[gamecockcat]

Yeah, Bob Dylan would never have been popular in the '70s, his voice wasn't good enough.

Yeah, there's a lot of people who believe Taylor Swift is as good a songwriter as Bob Dylan (said no one ever). By the time the 70s rolled around, Dylan was already an established icon. In today's music scene, how would someone like Dylan be marketed? Would his record company allow him to go electric? Would they AutoTune his vocals to make them sound 'better'?

Your snarkiness is lame. Would BD be the icon he is today if he'd started in the 70s? I would highly doubt it. And his non-traditional voice would not have been a positive in subsequent eras after the 60s, imo. He was allowed to grow and evolve and sing his way because he was a voice in a relatively unexplored medium, i.e., pop music and FM radio.

You like Taylor Swift - great. You sound like another Internet music snob that believes all one has to do is spend hours and hours digging up obscure artists who no one has ever heard of for the most part and then you'll see how great music is nowadays. In the 60s, 70s, all you had to do is turn on the radio.

 

[ukalum01]

Everyone I've ever met who has said this has no idea where to find good, modern music. People always look back on music from past eras with rose colored glasses because of survivorship bias. You remember the classic music from that era but have forgotten all the shit that also came out then.

There is some incredible and much more diverse types of music available today, you just need to put in effort to find it. It's largely not on the radio.

With the internet everyone can find there own genre specific bubbles for things they like and stay in it, so it's harder for musical groups to break out into the mainstream. But the music within those bubbles is incredibly good.

100% accurate.

 

[ukcatz12]

You like Taylor Swift - great. You sound like another Internet music snob that believes all one has to do is spend hours and hours digging up obscure artists who no one has ever heard of for the most part and then you'll see how great music is nowadays. In the 60s, 70s, all you had to do is turn on the radio.

I actually don't really like Taylor Swift. I've probably listened to maybe an hour of her music in the last year.

And it's not that the good music is obscure, it's that that's just how the music industry is set up these days. There are tons more genres of music these days than their used to be, so everything is just more fragmented by nature. And you don't need to be signed to a big label to get your music out there like you used to be.

 

[DrH. Lecter]

I finally went to see for myself

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[DrH. Lecter]

I actually don't really like Taylor Swift. I've probably listened to maybe an hour of her music in the last year.

And it's not that the good music is obscure, it's that that's just how the music industry is set up these days. There are tons more genres of music these days than their used to be, so everything is just more fragmented by nature. And you don't need to be signed to a big label to get your music out there like you used to be.

Exactly. You can set your iPhone on the table and hit record. Then upload to TikTok or countless other social media. They to get your music pressed onto vinyl. Are there even radio stations with DJs who have influence over what makes the airwaves? To break thru back then without video.. it was the music alone that made you stand out. Today it's what you look like and can you dance.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Idk, she seems pretty talented, smart also. She's a product of her time. If she wss born in 1949 she'd be making music that more so fits in the 60s and 70s.