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koganbotTom creates a graph that shows a long-term trend upward in the percentage of UK singles with a female lead. This is a crude measure (number ones aren't necessarily representative of what's on singles as a whole, and singles aren't necessarily representative of what's popular among music consumers, etc.) and Tom makes no great claims for the chart. But the trend is striking.
Interesting parallel here, though, is that this graph comes close to matching the trends in my taste for contemporary music, with my late '80s veering wildly towards the women (thanks to postdisco and freestyle, and the decline in the quality of postpunk) and the mid to late '00s going even more wildly female (thanks to r&b and teenpop stealing my heart from hip-hop) - but my number is way higher than 50%. Not that during the decades of this graph I was even hearing much of what was #1 in the UK or having exposure to all the main popular styles there. And it isn't as if stuff that was pushing my listening - e.g., freestyle - was pushing British listening. Just that my trend seemed to be happening at the same time as the British chart trend, which is towards music fronted by women and girls.
Tom didn't graph by age, but I suspect that most of the women are young women, though I wouldn't have any idea if the average age would have changed much over the decades. (I'd guess that there are fewer older women, bringing the average age down, but that's a wild guess, my hardly knowing the performers much less the data.)
But anyway, it's disturbing to me how few good songs now are fronted by males (obviously that's comparative, since e.g. The-Dream will likely make my album's list this year)(but I'm not even sure how good a front man he is, just a maker of good music). Just as disturbing is the lack of great music that's fronted by people of any sex over forty. I hope that's not true in the cultures and genres I don't know much about.
So here's a question for you. What male singers over the age of fifty or acts fronted by a male singer over the age of fifty have made great popular music in the last decade? It's got to be a singer (not just a producer or instrumentalist or arranger) and the greatness has to be in the last decade (so not someone formerly great who's carrying on OK). I say "popular music" real loosely, and actually you can list any man whether his music is popular or not. I'll put my own answer in the comments.
Also am curious about your trends, and your speculations as to the reasons behind them.
Interesting parallel here, though, is that this graph comes close to matching the trends in my taste for contemporary music, with my late '80s veering wildly towards the women (thanks to postdisco and freestyle, and the decline in the quality of postpunk) and the mid to late '00s going even more wildly female (thanks to r&b and teenpop stealing my heart from hip-hop) - but my number is way higher than 50%. Not that during the decades of this graph I was even hearing much of what was #1 in the UK or having exposure to all the main popular styles there. And it isn't as if stuff that was pushing my listening - e.g., freestyle - was pushing British listening. Just that my trend seemed to be happening at the same time as the British chart trend, which is towards music fronted by women and girls.
Tom didn't graph by age, but I suspect that most of the women are young women, though I wouldn't have any idea if the average age would have changed much over the decades. (I'd guess that there are fewer older women, bringing the average age down, but that's a wild guess, my hardly knowing the performers much less the data.)
But anyway, it's disturbing to me how few good songs now are fronted by males (obviously that's comparative, since e.g. The-Dream will likely make my album's list this year)(but I'm not even sure how good a front man he is, just a maker of good music). Just as disturbing is the lack of great music that's fronted by people of any sex over forty. I hope that's not true in the cultures and genres I don't know much about.
So here's a question for you. What male singers over the age of fifty or acts fronted by a male singer over the age of fifty have made great popular music in the last decade? It's got to be a singer (not just a producer or instrumentalist or arranger) and the greatness has to be in the last decade (so not someone formerly great who's carrying on OK). I say "popular music" real loosely, and actually you can list any man whether his music is popular or not. I'll put my own answer in the comments.
Also am curious about your trends, and your speculations as to the reasons behind them.
Salseros and Arabs
Date: 2009-07-31 07:18 pm (UTC)El Gran Combo:
Me Libere
Viva Puente
El Matrimonio
Arroz Con Habichuela
No Te Detengas A Pensar
Andy Montanez:
En Mi Puertorro
Se Le Ve
[also based on the quality of his live performance the one time I saw him back in 2003]
Maybe Jose Alberto:
Quiero Salsa
I can’t really think of any other great tracks. Possibly some of his appearances here and there on other people’s projects (he shows up as an important voice on more than one Celia Cruz tribute)
Mohammed Abdo (Saudi Arabia). Live in Kuwait 2001 is my favorite of his releases that I’ve heard (I’m sure I’ve only heard a small percentage of them) from the last decade. This song was a big hit from the 90s, so I don't know when this concert was recorded, though it sounds to me more recent than that (I don't think he was into this trap drums crap back then). I was trying to find something that would make his poppy side more obvious, because sometimes the context is more straight up folkloric/classical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLcB1pozNsQ&feature=PlayList&p=E12E35CB8569AA80&index=2
Maybe Nour Mhanna (Syria) esp. Layali Nour (though this may veer too close to classical music for you to count it). But then, for that matter, Sabah Fakhri could be considered popular as well as classical. (Musically, his work sticks more closely to classical traditions, while Nour Mhanna does some things that are straight up pop, as well as that Layali Nour which is close to the classical framework but with obvious modern popular touches. At least as far as I can discern as a non-musician and non-Arab.)
--Rockist Scientist
Re: Salseros and Arabs
Date: 2009-07-31 07:24 pm (UTC)Male and Female
Date: 2009-07-31 07:54 pm (UTC)Re: Male and Female
Date: 2009-08-01 12:02 am (UTC)Re: Salseros and Arabs
Date: 2009-08-01 12:01 am (UTC)Re: Salseros and Arabs
Date: 2009-08-03 06:35 pm (UTC)More Abdo: this I consider absolutely great for its rhythms and twisty-turny melodies. I have a different live performance on cassette. Of course, I think this is from a while back, not this decade:
classic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trm6iaD6xkk&NR=1)
(Not sure how to create links on this.)
R.S.