The Worldwide Industrialisation of Pop Music

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it’s happened more locally in Motown and SAW (Stock Aitken and Waterman) but now the hit factory mentality is global, and nearly all of today’s major recording artists aimed at the youth market are pushing the product, and its producers don’t even speak English as their first language.

They are Swedes.

If they are not Swedes, they are Korean, although K pop is still fairly limited in reach, and not fully embedded with Western culture.

This is not an attack on Swedish songwriters, but it is perhaps a requiem for homegrown, more meaningful songwriting reaching the charts, and it says something when a load of Swedish blokes can churn out hit records with their incomplete (yet sufficient ) grasp of English for the Anglophone market.

The talent these chaps have is to have turned the songwriting process into an assembly line. This began back in the nineties, which the Stockholm-based producer Denniz PoP, (Dag Krister Volle) and his Cheiron studio, who worked with Ace of Base (‘All that She Wants… is Another Baby’) and Dr Alban (‘it’s my Life’), and has since worked with Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Westlife and 5ive, before his surprise death in 1998 at the age of 35.

His successors, Shellback (Karl Johan Schuster) and Max Martin (Karl Martin Sandberg), have written songs for Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Adele, Maroon 5, P!nk, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, ‘Tay-tay’, Carly Rae Jepsen, Leona Lewis, One Direction, The Weeknd and a fuckton of other pop cunts you’ve heard on the radio. There is an Polish-American involved in these audio-crimes the form of Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) using the same sort of ‘track and hook’ process. He was accused of sexual behaviour by the American pop <del>slut</del> chanteuse ‘Ke$ha’ but she ended up paying him $, leaving her as just plain old Kesha Sebert.

Rick Beato made a video a few years ago about how pop was lyrically and compositionally simpler than it used to be. The lyric element might be down to the simplistic, purely emotive vernacular the Swedes have adopted for the American and European markets. Either way, the music in today’s charts is made like your typical Volvo; Well-engineered, reliable, child-friendly, but largely uninteresting,

The Globe and Mail

Nominated by: Cuntamus Prime

84 thoughts on “The Worldwide Industrialisation of Pop Music”

  1. The rate Sweden is changing, I would of thought drill music and grime would be more appropriate than pop music..

  2. An entirely novel cunting!
    Excellent stuff, CP.
    I doubt ‘the kids’ are even interested in modern pop music.
    Certainly when we were all young, we’d all judiciously be buying records, usually singles, and having a top 40 actually meant something.
    But neither of my kids (20 and 12) are interested in music and neither are their friends.
    Fuck knows how; they’ve been bought being driven in various cars listening to things like Human League, Adam and the Ants and Yazoo.
    Maybe modern pop music is just bland corporate shit?
    Gadzooks, I’ve turned into my Dad!

      • Hi there GC, I trust you’re well?
        What’s your take of the Tucker Carlsson/ Putin interview, may U ask?
        If nothing else, no-one can deny Carlsson has big brass balls!
        And the way that the mainstream media have instantly come out (pathetically predictably) calling him Putin’s lackey and stooge is highly suspicious.

      • Hey Thomas,

        I am well thank you and I trust you are also.

        Once again we are in agreement. Nobody can question Tucker’s testicular fortitude.

        While I think Tucker is being self-serving and more than a little sanctimonious when stating his position on interviewing Vlad the Invader, I agree with his overall points.

        The MSM has oversold St Volo of Keeeeeeeeeeeve. And since we in the West are paying for this useless war, I think we have the right to see for ourselves what an evil, lying cunt Putin truly is.

        The truth is, regardless of who interviews him, I wouldn’t believe Mad Vlad if he told me the Sun rose in the East every morning.

        Still, we might learn something and indeed we must face Evil if we are to defeat it.

        (There was a published nomination regarding Mr Tucker way back in March of last year. But nothing since. It would be interesting if someone wrote one up either supporting Carson’s “interview” with Putin and belittling the MSM, or otherwise. – Day Admin)

    • Cheers Thommo.

      I saw MNC’s comment about the cuntings getting stale a week or so ago and quite agree. Personally I now try to avoid writing up cuntings that follow a well-trodden theme, so that is a range of things, like the BBC, Immigration (which i’m not too passionate about anyway, just agree it’s out of control), Labour cunts, Climate shit and the Markle twits and a subject i’ve bleated on about enough, modern films and TV being woke.

  3. I gave up listening to chart music in early 2000. it’s all a pile of shit. was listening to Tom Jones ‘I who have nothing’ last night, what a banging song and what a voice! can you imagine ed sheercunt singing that😱😱😱😱 music is dead now. Good Morning gents💋

    • Morning Jill.
      Corporate shite is dead, I agree, apart from beige wank like Ed Sheerhan.
      But there are thousands of new individual artists and bands in my genres uploading new music all the time on Youtube and Spotify knowing full-well that they’ll never make any money out of it; they’re just doing it for the love of music.

      • YouTube is the perfect window for young musicians to show what they can do.

        I don’t mean singers, because any cunt can sing. I mean those kids who can play a mean guitar, keyboard, bass or drums.

        You can’t hide behind autotune with an instrument (although I guess anything is possible these days of AI). But I’ve seen kids in their early teens thrash out some Van Halen (Ain’t Talking ’bout Love), BTO (You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet), Rush (YYZ), and even the guitar thrash at the end of Freebird and Clapton’s “Layla”.

        At the other extreme I saw a 12 year old playing “Cavatina” on Spanish guitar; Mason Williams’ and “Classical Gas”. Plus I seem to recall a quartet of schoolkids playing “Take 5” on drums, guitars and piano.

        Total respect to these guys. But they never hit the big time because its all about vocal talent. And that’s all the TV channels are bothered about.

        Amazing stuff and a good following of fans that just might get them noticed by record labels.

      • Yeah I always have to hold my tongue when people make out that Ed Sheeran is some sort of poet or voice for their generation.

        He writes songs that people play at weddings.

    • Another one who stopped listening in the noughties, and a bit ealrier than me.

      I think the last Bands of the time I bought albums by were Hot Chip and Kasabian. There was a guy from a bit later who composed weird electronic music called Squarepusher. I like strange stuff like that.

      In general, I find the four-piece guitar and four chord formula is a bit played out.

  5. I work with teenagers and apart from the odd rap shite (usually an attraction because of bad language and depictions of violence) they are usually in to older stuff.
    I even know a 17 year old lad who sports a Bad Manners T-shirt.
    Modern music, they themselves declare, is mostly shit. Which is fairly at odds with the BBC’s odd obsession with Taylor Swift.

    • And could it be, that after such a long renaissance, popular music has reached a point similar to the smart phone?
      What else can be done to make the next necessary model exciting and different?
      Or is this it?
      Surely there’s finite limit to arranging chords, looking and sounding different, being able to shock?

    • The BBC love tay tay because they think it will rejuvenate their viewership, which is heading into retirement age (62 average).

      Deluded cunts.

  6. I have no interest in the bland, autotuned warbling that passes for music nowadays.

  7. The Troggs, Pretty Things, Stones, Kinks. Then Zeppelin, Hendrix, Nugent , Hawkwind, Amon Duul……

  8. Late 70s to early 00s, were my favourite years for music.

    Prog Rock, NWOBHM, hard rock, Thrash, House, Garage, Trance, and yeah, a little bit of Britpop (Oasis, Blur, Pulp).

    All turned to shit now of course. But then I suppose most older generations slag off “modern moozik” and vice versa. I know I certainly did when I was a teen and having to put up with Abba, Johnny Mathis, Perry bleedin’ Comma, Jim Reeves and Shirley Bassey.

    However, I must confess to liking all of them now that I am in my mid years. They could really belt out a sing, and none of that auto-tune bollocks either.

    • Late sixties to early noughties, but very electic within that era. I’m of the opinion that the charts has always been full of shite, no mstter what era you point to.

  9. Sabbath,Hawkwind,Motorhead,High On Fire with some 70s Fleetwood Mac thrown in..

    Says it all when autocorrect on me phone wants to change Motorhead to Motorola..

    Good morning.

  10. My grandkids favourite songs are from the 60s to the 90s they think modern “music” is crap, anyway I’m surprised the Swede’s have music anymore, surely the enriching hoard only allows call to prayer these days!

  12. I fucking hate Ace Of Base as nearly as much as I hate the fucking Lighthouse Family – both the Devil’s sperm. Right – off to buy a gun.

    • The bloody Lighthouse Family. I found it much more interesting to sing ‘Fisted, Fisted, I’m going to get Fisted today’ to the tune of Lifted’

      Having grown up in the late 70s and 80s music seemed to completely die about 5 years into this century. Mass produced corporate shit like Sheeran or awful bloody rap with a chorus lifted from an old song.

  13. Sabbath live in Paris 1970, if that’s not one of the best sets to appreciate a well honed, focused and awesome display of musicianship then I’m the new Sam smith 🤮…. themselves along with zep, purple, Jethro tull etc…musicians who could actually play awesome riffs and with frontmen to match, throw in Stevie Marriott, thin Lizzy etc and that’s what music is for me….my daughter’s also in general also are in agreement about today’s bile…. Stormzy? more of a puff of wind 😖

  14. I couldn’t name a single act or artist in the charts for the last 25yrrs..

    I don’t think id like Korean music anymore than I’d like Korean food.

    What the fuck does Korean pop sound like?

    Mel and Kim Jong un?
    Kim Jong il Wilde

    • Same for the swedes.
      What the fuck do they know about music?!!!

      Get back in your hot tub
      You blonde cunts

      • Shame.
        Nice looking people the swedes.

        But when it comes to music it’s got to be British.

        Only country in the world can make pop music,
        Bar the yanks to a lesser degree.

        Can’t see Beatlemania springing up in Korea!!

        Fuckin dogeaters

  15. No no

    No no no no

    No no no no

    No no

    There’s no lyrics.

    Must have taken weeks to write that masterpiece.

      • No CP.

        I’m very much a low-fi alternative scene kind of deity, with an ear for bluegrass, folk and anything a bit different.

        Formulaic repetitive shite is not really something I appreciate.

  16. Very prescient (to me), I was considering a similar veined nom on autoshite tune and the void of talent pumped out of the stations today, in particular, Heart Radio. I have one customer whose workplace has this playing in the lobby and I’ve begun wondering if these shows are actually pre-recorded and played on a loop, occasionally re-arranging the content to add the illusion of variety.
    Ed Sheercunt for example, we all know of him, we all know he churns out facsimilepop at a record rate, musak full of beats and tempo yet all he turns up on stage with is a charity shop banjo and a muggy ginga swede. Lewis Crapaldi likewise, but with a jumbo bag of Greggs sausage rolls and a spare chin.
    There’s a simple test for what constitutes good music and that will be, what still gets remembered and played in 100 years time, like Beethoven, Little Richard, Stones, Pistols. As it stands, the Adele’s and any other of the dross I cannot recall or care to will be considered a success if they persist buzzing in our ears for 100 days.
    All and any semblances of quality are being sacrificed on the altar of ‘gimmees’ and mediocrity, the dumbing down continues apace, first the tv, then the education shitstem, now the music. Welcome to the New Age, eat shit, live shit and die.
    Have a great weekend Cunters, exorcise those grumbles with a few hit and runs.

  17. The Danes have some good taste in music when I was over there for 3 months last year.

    De Forbanded (spelling?) Old school garage.
    Steller Blackrose – rock
    Berserker – Rock

    And a few others who’s names I can’t quite recall/spell, but played some great non-pop music both on commercial and indie Danish radio and TV.

  18. My kids are of the current pop generation and a largely disinterested in current pop. Because they can play real instruments they can appreciate that it’s talentless plastic shite pedalled by grasping cunts. My 10 year old can knock out near perfect Bernard Edwards and Stuart Zender bass lines and would not allow his ears to defiled by Taylor Swift or some talentless twat talking shite about how many bruvvers he’s knifed over another talentless twat hitting a drum.
    Thank fuck there will at least be a few musicians and singers remaining in decades to come, not they will ever be able to make a living amongst a buying public fed a diet of X Factor for years.

    • My brother is a drummer snd used to play for a band of mates who went quite far in local competitions, winning the chance to play with the Lightning Seeds and Supergrass. Unfortunately, that is as far as theyvwent. The band’s lead singer and main songwriter (and multi-instrumentalist) wanted to go more prog/experimental and not stoop to the level of covers. They all had women and one went off to Sweden/Norway with his missus and the others sort of broke the band up but remained mates. My brother got his drumming/performance fix and £hundreds per gig( by playing for heavy rock/metal covers bands but ended his stint when his first kid came along. Wuite a few of his musical mates have played frstivals and had music used by zSzky and Channel 4, but never in the charts or anything.

      As ii said to him it’s not that they are a bad musicians, it’s just the industry changing; the charts is full of teenagers who started their careers singing to music in their bedrooms rather than the way legions of acts before them who learned to play instruments snd gig

  19. I don’t think Modern kids deserve good music anyway.

    Fuck em.

    As a generation of bedwetting, mobile phone sucking,
    Sooty loving little commies,
    Who get confused about gender they deserve Korean pop music.

  22. Fuck these cunts never heard of any off them, I only listen to gold or greatest hits non of these wankers are played on either. I also have never mind the bollocks on the cd in the car.

    • Both a bit samey for me. Both seem to repeat the same playlist everyday.
      They should merge and rebrand as Goldfish FM.
      Often the DJ will say ‘coming up after the news we have hits from the Eurythmics and Depeche Mode’, and you know it will be Sweet Dreams, There must be an Angel or with DM it’s always Just Can’t Get Enough.

  24. Its funny how your music taste changes, however, madness, the specials, prince buster and all ska is my go to place, but now things like pink floyd is alongside, along with “isnt it a pity” by george harrison. Other stuff being marty robbins, trance music, some classical bits like the planets, some modern stuff is ok but most is shit. Thank heavens for boom radio.

    • I tfind myself listing to music from the mid-19th to early twentieth, composer such as Holst, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Liszt, Scriabin and Grieg. It’s probably because they were huge influences of Hollywood film composers that I found them.

    • Those cunts Lennon and McCartney turned down ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ and ‘All Things Must Pass’. George then wrote ‘Wah Wah’ about what a pair of cunts they were.

    • Nail on head. Boom plays some cracking stuff that has been overlooked for decades and has some good informative interviews too. The Global stations are dire and repetitive. Maybe its just my age but I really do feel younger when the proper old school DJs are on rather than some dopey ‘celebrity’ reading nothing more than a script.

  25. I despised S/A/W. Their songs were formulaic shit and none of their acts could sing. They also inflicted us with the diabolical Kylie and Jason (I also hated Neighbours as well).

    But the coming of the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays gave us an alternative, and bands began to thrive again. Only now it’s all shit. Autotuned cunts with backing dancers instead of a backing band. The annual Top of the Pops cuntfest at Christmas doesn’t have a drum kit, guitar or bass in sight. They are all soulless fuckers. Be it ginger gargoyle Ed Sheercunt (the ugliest and most dull pop star ever), Adele (sounds like a spaz crossed with a Speak and Spell toy), and Katy Perry is still doing fluffy teen pop when she’s 40 this year.

    And as for the ‘great’ Taylor Swift? Re-did her catalogue just to make more money out of gullible knobheads (artistic integrity my arse). Probably sold her soul (if she has one) years ago. Only thing she hasn’t auctioned off is her own turds. She’s not that bad? Look at the link below. And, no, it’s not a fake or a wind up. She’d bottle her own piss and flog it,

    https://www.mags.guru/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/we-love-taylor-swift-at-home-crafting-guide-2023-440×600.jpg

  26. Fucking despised Ace of Bass.

    Crappy Pigeon Street style reggae with horrible pan pipes, with that silly tart croaking over it.

    Fancied giving Whigfield one though, mind,

    • Pan pipes and xylophones in pop music. It might sound right for the song but both make me laugh. Pan pipes add a twee feeling (‘My Heart Will Go On’) and xylophones just make me think that somewhere there is a skeleton dancing to the song.

      • Only good song with a xylophone type sound is the mighty Under My Thumb. With Brian Jones on marimbas.

  28. An interesting and thought provoking nomination.

    Modern pop music is very similar the MCU and Netflix et al’s constant churning out of soulless beige offerings.
    Don’t think. Just consume product. Until next product is made.
    Rinse & Repeat.

    ‘Ere’s a song for ya!
    https://youtu.be/xXFdL_UC0jY?t=30

  29. It’s still better than that fucking Noah Kahan shitdirge that’s been plaguing number one for the last month.

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