My Views On Mainstream Music.

Hello flower,

Today is day six.

My Views on Mainstream Music


This is a bit of a tricky one.

Firstly I'm not sure entirely what is meant by 'mainstream' music.  I see mainstream to mean something that is normal or conventional, but this can apply differently to different people.

For the sake of argument, I am going to talk about music that is in the charts.

Each morning I wake up to the radio alarm playing BBC Radio One, so I always have a good feel for what is in the charts at any given time. The music that is played by the station is what I would call 'mainstream,' and I think that the music they play is popular for a reason. As a semi-proffesional musician, I love listening to popular music because I can often work out the hooks that make the song work, and I find it interesting doing so.

For example: Maroon 5's Payphone is popular at the moment.

The reason I find I think this song is so addictive and popular is the chorus. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the melody for the line "I'm on a payphone" is beautifully written, the interval leap is what makes it pretty much perfect and it is that tune for that line that makes the whole song work. The Inner Game of Music is a wonderful book that, amongst other things,  explains why certain melodic lines please us as humans.

Newton Faulkner's cover version of Payphone takes that beautiful melody and exploits it to the best of its potential.

I much prefer Faulkner's version. 

What I want to achieve with these examples is to demonstrate why I love mainstream music. I use it as a little game for my musical mind. 

Of course, I like some songs, I dislike others. I LOVE some songs, and I HATE others. 

Love and peace,

Heppy xxxx