The year 2014 was full of some obvious trends, some good (like anything and everything Young Thug did) and, well, many bad. At the risk of whining enough that you whine about my whining in the comments section, here's a list of recent music trends we could live without in 2015.
Don't forget to head to our Best of 2014 section for more coverage of 2014's top releases.
Top 10 Trends We Could Live Without in 2015:
10. VHS music videos:
A real music video favourite in 2014 was mimicking the '90s VHS aesthetic. Everyone, from Mac DeMarco-aping indie bands to modern house music experimenters to hip rappers made their videos look like Tim & Eric outtakes. Admittedly, it still looks kind of awesome to have warbly colours, messy tracking bars and constant visual distortion, but we're getting to the point where nearly every single person on earth has done a VHS video. Where can we go from here? When you all get sick of VHS videos, are you gonna make your clips look like looping DVD menu screens?
9. Covers:
Everyone with an internet connection seems to have a musical project, an album release and a social media campaign underway, so it can be hard for a musician to break through the noise. But one thing that's growing a little tiresome is the use of the cover as a means of bloggable content. Chvrches, for example, have covered practically every song with English lyrics in the western world between album cycles, and received plenty of coverage for it. And while music sites are fertilized with half-baked content, it's a little old to give us your hot take on some folk classic, winking ironic pop cover or obscure gem. Time for a new tactic, guys.
8. Record Store Day releases:
There's no better example of milking music fans than the twice a year garbage pile that is Record Store Day. The event, which takes place in April (and, in a true testament to its blindly consumerist nature, on Black Friday), may have started off as a half-assed attempt to save independent record stores, but it's quickly been co-opted by major labels and, er, whoever's behind Call of Duty soundtracks. While there are still some decent exclusives amidst the RSD clutter, the event has quickly become an excuse for randos to fight over 5 Seconds of Summer seven-inches and poor record store clerks to further question their purpose in life. Plus, the glut of releases means that pressing plants are slammed twice a year — and the backlog means your favourite indie label hasn't been able to put out a record on time for the last two years, at least.
7. DJ Mustard beats:
Roc Nation producer DJ Mustard has made a beat for just about everyone in the world this year. From YG to Iggy Azalea to Jordin Sparks to Fergie, everyone's got a "Mustard on the beat, ho" tag on their new single. It's at the point where I'm pretty sure I've even rapped on a DJ Mustard beat, and I've never rapped in my life. While his simple, formulaic sound, with its single-note keyboard runs, "hey"-punctuated beats and hard-hitting bass, is certainly worthwhile, the sound will forever be cemented as a distinctly 2014 one. Here's hoping Mustard expands his ideas or, dare to dream, that artists seek variety over homogeny in 2015.
6. Reunions and comeback albums:
Remember, even about three years ago, when you used to dream of the idea of your favourite band squashing their beef, getting back together and releasing that unfinished album, or playing one last show? Well, practically every act, big or small, has done just that. This year continued the trend, with new releases coming from everyone from Aphex Twin to the Muffs. And while the results were varied (sometimes in a good way — Aphex Twin, for example, didn't do bad for himself), it still felt like fan service. How are we supposed to move into the future if we're still just pining for the past? Or has music entered its remake era?
5. NSFW music videos:
There's nothing quite as thirsty as the not-safe-for-work music video. Whether showcasing a single, dimly lit booby or engaging in actual porn (as Coolio did), there's nothing that cries "I'm desperate for attention online" as the "NSFW" tag on a music video. Whether or not people actually care about your music is unknown, but putting some unclothed females in your music video (or, you know, the odd penis) is a surefire way to drum up some attention. And, sad to say, we've got the analytics to prove it.
4. EDM festival overdoses:
There were few things as truly depressing this summer than waking up each morning to report the news about who overdosed at which major EDM festival. And while it's easy to wag fingers at the turnt-up nature of ass-shaking, neon-lit, decidedly mainstream EDM festivals, there's nothing funny or deserved about the spate of deaths that struck this year. Blame it on overzealous teens who didn't know their limits or bad batches of party drugs, but something needs to change if EDM's going to be the outing of choice for the masses in the summer of 2015. It's simply not okay for these preventable deaths to be taking place at music festivals.
3. Trolling in an album rollout:
Of the many, many stupid things he said, Ariel Pink called Grimes a "stupid retard" in his album rollout. Then Eminem threatened to rape Iggy Azalea and said some horrendously violent things about Lana Del Rey in the lead up to his Shady XV LP. There were some dumbass white dudes saying some incredibly dumbass, privileged things in a year that could've used some added sensitivity and composure. Ariel Pink's album ended up with critical acclaim, while Eminem's defenders basically said, "It doesn't matter what he's saying, just listen to how fast he's saying it!" And yet few things had us sighing, groaning and rolling our eyes like the desperate pleas for attention coming from "edgy," "unfiltered" rockstar types. Yeesh.
2. Everything gets reissued:
We're a world obsessed with the past. That's why albums that are still readily available in discount bins and/or our respective dads' record collections continue to get repackaged and rereleased. Are you a record label looking to milk those last few dollars out of a bona fide classic? Slap a "remastered" sticker on it and put it out on the record shelves. Better yet, want to milk some more sales out of an album that was already released earlier in the year? Wait like three months, add two bonus tracks and call it the "deluxe" version.
1. Hashtags as band names, songs or tours:
Look gang — if you wanna use Twitter to promote your shit, that's totally fair. But if you name your song, project or tour with a hashtag built in, that's a little #obnoxious. Sure, there's the built-in marketing of someone typing your project's title into the Internet and thereby offering it some free promotion, but that's some seriously sneaky, messed up trickery. Hell, there was even a wildly popular (and truly terrible) EDM song called "You Only Talk in #Hashtag." As with any rule, there was one exception — the gloriously stupid Soulja Boy sex anthem, which was incorrectly called "Hashtag #" which, in its own wonderful way, was kinda awesome.
Don't forget to head to our Best of 2014 section for more coverage of 2014's top releases.
Top 10 Trends We Could Live Without in 2015:
10. VHS music videos:
A real music video favourite in 2014 was mimicking the '90s VHS aesthetic. Everyone, from Mac DeMarco-aping indie bands to modern house music experimenters to hip rappers made their videos look like Tim & Eric outtakes. Admittedly, it still looks kind of awesome to have warbly colours, messy tracking bars and constant visual distortion, but we're getting to the point where nearly every single person on earth has done a VHS video. Where can we go from here? When you all get sick of VHS videos, are you gonna make your clips look like looping DVD menu screens?
9. Covers:
Everyone with an internet connection seems to have a musical project, an album release and a social media campaign underway, so it can be hard for a musician to break through the noise. But one thing that's growing a little tiresome is the use of the cover as a means of bloggable content. Chvrches, for example, have covered practically every song with English lyrics in the western world between album cycles, and received plenty of coverage for it. And while music sites are fertilized with half-baked content, it's a little old to give us your hot take on some folk classic, winking ironic pop cover or obscure gem. Time for a new tactic, guys.
8. Record Store Day releases:
There's no better example of milking music fans than the twice a year garbage pile that is Record Store Day. The event, which takes place in April (and, in a true testament to its blindly consumerist nature, on Black Friday), may have started off as a half-assed attempt to save independent record stores, but it's quickly been co-opted by major labels and, er, whoever's behind Call of Duty soundtracks. While there are still some decent exclusives amidst the RSD clutter, the event has quickly become an excuse for randos to fight over 5 Seconds of Summer seven-inches and poor record store clerks to further question their purpose in life. Plus, the glut of releases means that pressing plants are slammed twice a year — and the backlog means your favourite indie label hasn't been able to put out a record on time for the last two years, at least.
7. DJ Mustard beats:
Roc Nation producer DJ Mustard has made a beat for just about everyone in the world this year. From YG to Iggy Azalea to Jordin Sparks to Fergie, everyone's got a "Mustard on the beat, ho" tag on their new single. It's at the point where I'm pretty sure I've even rapped on a DJ Mustard beat, and I've never rapped in my life. While his simple, formulaic sound, with its single-note keyboard runs, "hey"-punctuated beats and hard-hitting bass, is certainly worthwhile, the sound will forever be cemented as a distinctly 2014 one. Here's hoping Mustard expands his ideas or, dare to dream, that artists seek variety over homogeny in 2015.
6. Reunions and comeback albums:
Remember, even about three years ago, when you used to dream of the idea of your favourite band squashing their beef, getting back together and releasing that unfinished album, or playing one last show? Well, practically every act, big or small, has done just that. This year continued the trend, with new releases coming from everyone from Aphex Twin to the Muffs. And while the results were varied (sometimes in a good way — Aphex Twin, for example, didn't do bad for himself), it still felt like fan service. How are we supposed to move into the future if we're still just pining for the past? Or has music entered its remake era?
5. NSFW music videos:
There's nothing quite as thirsty as the not-safe-for-work music video. Whether showcasing a single, dimly lit booby or engaging in actual porn (as Coolio did), there's nothing that cries "I'm desperate for attention online" as the "NSFW" tag on a music video. Whether or not people actually care about your music is unknown, but putting some unclothed females in your music video (or, you know, the odd penis) is a surefire way to drum up some attention. And, sad to say, we've got the analytics to prove it.
4. EDM festival overdoses:
There were few things as truly depressing this summer than waking up each morning to report the news about who overdosed at which major EDM festival. And while it's easy to wag fingers at the turnt-up nature of ass-shaking, neon-lit, decidedly mainstream EDM festivals, there's nothing funny or deserved about the spate of deaths that struck this year. Blame it on overzealous teens who didn't know their limits or bad batches of party drugs, but something needs to change if EDM's going to be the outing of choice for the masses in the summer of 2015. It's simply not okay for these preventable deaths to be taking place at music festivals.
3. Trolling in an album rollout:
Of the many, many stupid things he said, Ariel Pink called Grimes a "stupid retard" in his album rollout. Then Eminem threatened to rape Iggy Azalea and said some horrendously violent things about Lana Del Rey in the lead up to his Shady XV LP. There were some dumbass white dudes saying some incredibly dumbass, privileged things in a year that could've used some added sensitivity and composure. Ariel Pink's album ended up with critical acclaim, while Eminem's defenders basically said, "It doesn't matter what he's saying, just listen to how fast he's saying it!" And yet few things had us sighing, groaning and rolling our eyes like the desperate pleas for attention coming from "edgy," "unfiltered" rockstar types. Yeesh.
2. Everything gets reissued:
We're a world obsessed with the past. That's why albums that are still readily available in discount bins and/or our respective dads' record collections continue to get repackaged and rereleased. Are you a record label looking to milk those last few dollars out of a bona fide classic? Slap a "remastered" sticker on it and put it out on the record shelves. Better yet, want to milk some more sales out of an album that was already released earlier in the year? Wait like three months, add two bonus tracks and call it the "deluxe" version.
1. Hashtags as band names, songs or tours:
Look gang — if you wanna use Twitter to promote your shit, that's totally fair. But if you name your song, project or tour with a hashtag built in, that's a little #obnoxious. Sure, there's the built-in marketing of someone typing your project's title into the Internet and thereby offering it some free promotion, but that's some seriously sneaky, messed up trickery. Hell, there was even a wildly popular (and truly terrible) EDM song called "You Only Talk in #Hashtag." As with any rule, there was one exception — the gloriously stupid Soulja Boy sex anthem, which was incorrectly called "Hashtag #" which, in its own wonderful way, was kinda awesome.
