Musical Musings

I turn on the radio nowadays and get pretty pissed off. Kanasai I tell you..

Notice how music nowadays is all about sampling tracks from old classic hits? You take a sample of a riff that used to be a classic, put in new lyrics and songs (preferabbly gibberish rapping and tunes that don't even fit into the song) and turn it into a new classic .... a classic mess.

Take a listen to Jojo's new hit 'Anything' at this URL


Jojo - Anything (ugh)

Or you've probably heard it on radio. Like a few hundred times a day on Hitz.fm, along with all the other songs that are also played a few hundred times because the people at Hitz.fm are afraid that we might forget how all these hits sound like

Now take a listen to the classic hit by Toto called 'Africa'


Toto - Africa

Okaylar please overlook the geek factor ... it was the 80s man.But notice how classically beautiful that piece of music is. I personally believe that the chorus for that song transcends time. Everything blends into the music, vocals, musical instruments and all.

The thing about what Jojo did was that she sampled the most interesting part of the song (the jingle at the beginning) but not the most musical. The result is a melody that doesn't sound resolved throughout, with equally mismatching vocals on top. While I do like her earlier hits like Too Little Too Late .... I must say kanasai to this one.

Jojo ar .... whylar did you murder that song?

To say that the direction in which music is going is disturbing is an understatement ...

How about that song a few years back? Mario Winans's 'I Don't Wanna Know'


Mario Winans - I Don't Wanna Know (eeww)

Notice the background humming? Take a listen to Enya's 'Boadecia'


Enya - Boadecia

Erhmmmm...... Anyone smell 'rip off' in the air?

I must point out to you that if you remove Enya's humming in the background, the song would be tuneless.

There are other countless examples of artistes nowadays lifting samples from old hits and practically destroying them ...

Listen to Jessica Simpson's 'I think I'm in love with you'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHMpaZ90ptQ (can't embed this one sorry, but trust me, you want to click on this link)

And compare this to John Mellencamp's 'Jack and Diane'


John Mellencamp -Jack and Diane

Arrghhh. I knowlar Jessica Simpson's one got chicks prancing around lar. But then ... Sigh .... okaylar no argument there.

And who can forget the classic Police's 'Every Breath You Take'


The Police - Every Breath You Take

And then Sean Puffy Combs aka Puff Daddy aka P.Diddy aka Diddy aka 'the due who changes his name like he changes his underpants comes along and messes it up with 'I'll Be Missing You'


Sean P. Puffy Diddy Daddy Combs Whatever - I'll Be Missing You

There're actually tonnes of others out there but I can't think of them at the moment .....

Maybe there'll be a part 2 ...

Kanasai~!