Top 40 Singers - Then (80s/90s) vs Now (2010-present)

I dont know for sure but it’s my hunch that most of the diarists at Dailykos don’t really listen to today’s Top 40 stations that play ad nauseam the same mediocre pop stars that 20-30 years ago would never have even had a record deal. I was born in the late 80s, and while most of my friends the same age have succumb to the changing styles of music (and the obvious decline in vocal talent on today’s top 40 radio), I refuse to give in to the trash that pop radio has become. I pretty much only listen to music from previous decades. I get a lot of flack for that especially when I’m out driving with friends who want to hear the latest classless Nicki Minaj “song”, but meanwhile I’m bumping to an 80s Whitney Houston ballad or a 90s one hit wonder from name-your-rock-band (does pop radio even play rock music anymore?)

Today it's hard to find a singer who can just stand at a microphone without being half naked or wearing ridiculous costumes, and blow everyone away with their voice, but in previous decades that was the norm and it was expected by the public that singers knew how to sing live. And so in 2014 when someone like Adele comes along, who is a good singer, the media deifies her and over-exaggerates her level of talent because the public has been starved for good singers for well over a decade. As you will see from some of the clips in this compilation, while Adele is a good singer when you compare her to people like Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry, she really doesn't come close to what the public's expectation of singers was in the 80s and 90s. (I just use Adele as an example. I have nothing against her.)

The video is a little biased in favor of my preferred artists, and I’m sure somewhere you can find clips of Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus sounding halfway decent. But the overall point I was trying to make with the video is that there has been an obvious shift away from vocal talent and onto “controversial” performances meant for shock value, and the public seems to be eating it up. It’s not that there aren’t great vocalists out there, but they don’t seem to be making it onto Top 40 anymore.