Claire (Lauren Ambrose) and Ted (Chris Messina) from Six Feet Under.
I originally posted this as a facebook status, but as I added additional commentary it started to sound like a blog post, so I thought I’d turn it into one!
Reading through end-of-year music roundups, it’s amazing the amount of pretension and “if it’s on mainstream radio, it must be bad!” present, especially in the responses. For years, I’ve considered myself a student of pop culture, which includes listening to mainstream radio and taking it at face value – it has good songs and bad. I always liked what the character of Ted Fairwell (played by Chris Messina) said to Claire Fisher (played by Lauren Ambrose, and a bit of a music snob) about top 40 in Six Feet Under, while a Kelly Clarkson song blared from his car speakers: “Sometimes, it just sounds so good.”
I finally found one person who shares my viewpoint, in the comments of this article:
“There’s one thing they’re not as confused about in Britain as we are here:
Folks, it’s okay to like pop music. Take a deep breath. Really, it’s okay. Some of it’s crap and some of it’s brilliant, just like indie.
Let’s not do this “Adele is grown up… Katy Perry is pop crap” thing.
Adele, with a straight face, has sung the following lyrics countless times:
“Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.” If there’s a more juvenile lyric in the last 2 years, I haven’t heard it. (Several could tie for the award, but no one can outdo that one.)
Next, Katy Perry has some great pop songs. Get over it:
‘Firework’, ‘The One That Got Away’, and ‘Hot ‘n’ Cold’ are great pop songs.”
-from a post by Redistribute Wealth At This Time
As a songwriter, I work very hard to craft melodies and hooks that will get stuck in people’s heads. I try to never sacrifice sincerity or creativity to do so (in fact, the catchier the song, the more creativity it generally required – it’s far more difficult to condense and refine melodies than not), but at my core I’m a “pop” songwriter… And I can guarantee if I ever do become popular, music snobs will HATE me.
And I’m ok with that. 🙂
Hope you all had a great holiday. Be safe as you ring in the new year!
