It’s another ad masquerading as a study–and it’s only for the US–but it’s still kinda fun. Crossword Helper took a look at Google search traffic, breaking things down into the most-searched-for musician in
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For years, rock and pop marched in lockstep in a cycle that ran 12-13 years. When rock was on the ascendent, pop was dropping in popularity. After peaking about six years into the
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Those who study these things notice that there’s a correlation between music and the economy. It basically boils down to this: tough times mean people gravitate towards tough songs and tough artists. When
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I received this email from reader Ted over the weekend: “My wife and I were sitting at the dinner table one day and got into a conversation about rock lyrics. This ended in
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One of the most-read posts in the history of this website deals with a theory that I and other believe about how music has gone in 13-year cycles. (Find the Ongoing History program
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U2’s imperial phase–that period of their career where they could do nothing wrong–extended from the release of The Joshua Tree in March 1987 through to the end of the touring cycle for Achtung
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Once upon a time, it was verboten to include the name of a brand name in any song lyrics. Back in 1973, Paul Simon was yelled at by Kodak for calling a song
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U2 is one of those bands that fans may only like one particular album in their career or a particular phase. In most people my age, it’s The Joshua Tree era. It’s kind
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At first glance, trends and sounds in popular music seem come at us random fractalized bursts. Viewed up close, that’s how it appears. But if you’re to stand back–far back–patterns begin to emerge. And these patterns have held surprisingly true over the last sixty years.
Since rock was born in the 1950s, rock and pop have been locked in a battle. Each combatant is 180 degrees out of phase with the other. When rock is strong and on the ascendant the public’s consciousness, pop is on a decline.
Eventually rock tops out and begins a decline as the public’s attention moves towards pop. Once pop peaks and rock bottoms out, the cycle begins again. This back-and-forth dance has played itself out every 12 or 13 years for the last six decades.
Let me tell you how it’s all gone down.
As the metal guys in the video say, how hard could it be? Not that hard, actually. They’d better be careful or they’ll become the next Panic! At the Disco. (Via Danny) On
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Grimes–Claire Boucher to her mom–has been having a good run. She’s now one of the faces for POP, the new perfume from Stella McCartney. (Via Paste)
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