The invisible elephant

[koganbot]

I never did get around to writing about Tom's excellent Decade In Pop piece when it finally emerged, though I was throwing in my two cents whenever he asked for advice in the run-up. The piece's obvious weakness - lack of hip-hop and not enough r&b - wasn't an oversight but was due to Pitchfork's having a separate hip-hop piece. And country's another country, for Tom and for Pitchfork too. But nonetheless, there's an Elephant In The Room.



It's not one of these big elephants that everyone knows about and reacts to but pretends isn't there; it's a big elephant all right, one that everyone knows is there but that they pretty much don't notice and they forget to talk about. Anyway, the elephant is adult contemporary. Also its cousins urban contemporary and smooth jazz.

And markets and formats not existing in isolation, the AC market is crucial to bolster the success of acts that also hit elsewhere. Back in '99 Britney and *NSync and the Backstreet Boys were getting plenty of AC play; about late 2000, early 2001, those groups lost their AC and Top 40 spins, partly, I think, because there was so much attention being paid to teenpop as a genre. And one thing the confessional girls like Michelle and Pink and Vanessa C. and Avril did was to bring AC back to the teens, or vice versa. I think one reason Pink's and Avril's careers have been so resilient is that they've maintained AC support. And rock bands like Daughtry and Hinder have been helped by AC.

Current AC chart:

1. "The Climb" Miley Cyrus
2. "You Found Me" The Fray
3. "I'm Yours" Jason Mraz
4. "Come On Get Higher" Matt Nathanson
5. "Her Diamonds" Rob Thomas
6. "Love Story" Taylor Swift
7. "Better In Time" Leona Lewis
8. "Love Remains The Same" Gavin Rossdale
9. "What About Now" Daughtry
10. "You Belong With Me" Taylor Swift
11. "Hot N Cold" Katy Perry
12. "1, 2, 3, 4" Plain White T's
13. "Please Don't Leave Me" Pink
14. "Here Comes Goodbye" Rascal Flatts
15. "Come Back To Me" David Cook

Comments

[koganbot]

Probably should have called it "urban AC"; I'd think it would have an effect on straight-up urban, helping the balladeers. At the moment, Maxwell sits atop both.

(As for what the effect is, on the one hand there are some radio stations that it's a flip of the dice as to whether they're urban or urban AC, just as there are some as to whether it's a flip of the dice as to whether they're urban or hip-hop/r&b. But my guess is that if an act's career is borderline, having more than one market can keep them in business.)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i guess it's the presence of smooth jazz outside its own realm i'm interested in, just because have no idea at all if it has any

[koganbot]

Neither do I, really, though I'll bet there's crossover to urban AC. The smooth jazz stations play mostly oldies, in my little experience with them, and you're way more likely to hear Smokey Robinson than Miles Davis.

Here's the chart of recent stuff; the only thing I've heard on it is Whitney Houston's "I Look To You," which is a straight-up ballad, not particularly jazz, something of a call-and-response in the middle eight, doesn't go for the big payoff of a power ballad but ends smooth. My guess is that the "You" of the title is God, though this is not made clear. Her voice is more wooden than in the past, but I don't hate this track, just don't care.

1 WALTER BEASLEY Steady As She Goes
2 BERNIE WILLIAMS Go For It
3 RICHARD ELLIOT Move On Up
4 GEORGE BENSON Living In High Definition
5 DARREN RAHN Talk Of The Town
6 PAUL HARDCASTLE The Circle
7 JESSY J Tropical RainPeak/CMG205
8 MELODY GARDOT Who Will Comfort Me
9 JACKIEM JOYNER I'm Waiting For You
10 BONEY JAMES Send One Your Love
11 PETER WHITE Bright
12 CRAIG CHAQUICO Songbird
13 PAUL TAYLOR Burnin'
14 RICK BRAUN Tijuana Dance
15 VANESSA WILLIAMS Just Friends
16 ERIC DARIUS Because Of You
17 EUGE GROOVE Slow Jam
18 BONEY JAMES Touch
19 CANDY DULFER On & On
20 NAJEE Sweet Summer Nights
21 PAUL JACKSON JR. Easy Like Sunday Morning
22 TORCUATO MARIANO So Far From Home
23 JOYCE COOLING Grass Roots
24 WHITNEY HOUSTON I Look To You
25 SHILTS Broken Silence
26 MAXWELL Pretty Wings
27 JEFF GOLUB Nikki's Walk
28 SEAL Stand By Me
29 CHUCK LOEB Between 2 Worlds
30 PIECES OF A DREAM Sway On
31 TIM BOWMAN High Def
32 NILS Soul Mates
33 NICK COLIONNE The Big Windy Cat
34 CINDY BRADLEY Bloom
35 JEFF KASHIWA Meet You There
36 EUGE GROOVE A Summer Night's Dream
37 JOE MCBRIDE Crazy
38 PAUL BROWN & MARC ANTOINE Brother Earl
39 MICHAEL LINGTON Ocean Drive
40 GEORGE BENSON Family Reunion
41 CLONING EINSTEIN I Still Haven't Found What
42 KYLE WOLVERTON Can't Stop The Feeling
43 BEN TANKARD Heavenly Vibes
44 SPENCER DAY Till You Come To Me
45 DIANA KRALL Walk On By
46 ALEXANDER ZONJIC From A To Z
47 MARION MEADOWS Let The Top Down
48 GREG ADAMS Survival Of The Hippest
49 WARREN HILL Mojo
50 AVANT Sailing

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

I've heard a couple of these. Maxwell's boring "Pretty Wings" actually scored pretty well on Singles Jukebox, though I have no use for it myself. And Avant's "Sailing" (which I do like) is actually an r&b cover of the Christopher Cross song!

Just for kicks, here is the current playlist of Austin's (public, I think, more or less) Grown Folks R&B (I call it -- not sure what they call it: maybe *this* is urban AC?) station KAZI (which I listen to fairly often, though mainly during their Southern Soul speciality shows, on Tuesday and Wednesday nights I believe.) Anyway, there's some crossover with that smooth jazz chart, though not a lot -- I like how they helpfully state which genre each of the songs is:

Mary J Blige Stronger R&B
Choklate The Tea R&B
Letoya Luckett Regret R&B
Ledisi Goin Thru Changes R&B
Whitney Houston Million Dollar Bill R&B
Amerie Heard Em All R&B
Goapele Milk & Honey R&B
Ryan Leslie Ice Cold R&B
Mint Condition Back In Stride R&B
Johnta Austin Burlesque R&B
Brian McKnight What I've Been Waiting For R&B
Usher Cruisin R&B
Eric Roberson The Power That Kisses Hold R&B
Trish Andrews On My Mind Neo-Soul
Calvin Richardson American Dream Neo-Soul
Maxwell Stop The World Neo-Soul
Rena Scott In This Life Neo-Soul
Lisa Zure' Tongue Tide Jazz Vocals
George Benson Family Reunion Jazz Vocals
Oli Silk Solarity Jazz
Streetwize Here I Stand Jazz
Dwayne Kerr feat Kirk Whalum Being With You Jazz
Mali Music Avayable Gospel
Kathy Taylor I Believe Gospel
J. Moss I Gave It Up Gospel
Jah Cure You'll Never Find Reggae
Mick Boogie Stay This Way Hip-Hop
Bavu Blakes On The Cool Hip-Hop
Dead Prez Helpful Hip-Hop
Nappy Roots/Anthony Hamilton Down N Out Hip-Hop