Fight the real enemy

I can't believe how many songs I hate that this guy Dr. Luke has produced... It's kind of amazing. His recent claim to fame is as an "SNL band member turned producer" who worked on many of the most annoyingly ubiquitous radio hits of the past 5 years.. You know, those inescapable ones that just make you want to snuff it when they come across the radio airwaves for the 300th time in the past 7 days...

Once upon a time, Swedish songwriter/producer Max Martin used to work (mostly) alone, and made a name for himself, as well as making millions of dollars for himself, by writing some of the most iconic TRL favorites of the late 90's and during the 00's..

Max Martin wrote "Quit Playing Games With My Heart," "Tearing Up My Heart," "Baby One More Time," "Oops I Did It Again," "It's Gonna Be Me," "I'm Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman," and dozens of other iconic teen-pop favorites, the full list of which is available right over here.

At the risk of burning himself out, in 2004 he called upon the assistance of former SNL-band member "Dr. Luke" for assistance on Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone," which turned out to be an artistic and creative peak for both gentlemen. "The industry took notice," and ever since, this pair have been called upon for a string of very successful radio singles. However, what the industry had not counted on was the inane and infantile direction these songs would veer towards... The most famous of these were "U + Ur Hand," "Girlfriend," "I Kissed A Girl," "Hot + Cold," "Right Round," "Party In The USA," "Tik Tok," "Your Love Is My Drug," and "California Gurls." And they're not done. Not even close. Here's Dr. Luke's wikipedia page.

The same guy? Really?

I shouldn't need to go any further. People who are angry at the artists who sing these songs have been misdirected the whole time. Sinead O'Connor needs to come back to SNL and rip a picture of their former band member... "Fight the real enemy." The Machine (referring to the part of The Machine that keeps people's minds occupied by horribly inane pop music) needs some serious re-tweaking. Once upon a time, there were hitmakers with names such as Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Dr. Dre and Jermaine Dupri, and dudes like Kanye West who are still keeping busy, who don't water down their records by shooting for the lowest common denominator. The whole reason why mediocre artists like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Pink are still around is because after enough time passes, their agents can call upon these guys and be like "hey, we need another hit.." These are singers whose careers all should've dissolved after their first 2 songs, but are still around today, continuing their rampage of annoyance, all thanks to The Machine keeping things in their favor.

The bottom line: This is a clearly talented man using his powers to praise Satan and encourage ignorance. This man must be stopped. But he won't be. The cash-flow will continue, and more and more terrible, terrible songs will flood the Top 40 airwaves for at least 2-3 more years. Maybe we can just ride this out and hope/pray that some new talent can be called upon soon.

Rock music isn't exactly kicking ass right now either... I'm looking into the possibility of conspiracy surrounding the current craze of rock bands using unnecessarily excessive vocal reverb, often turning what might have been otherwise badass rock music into a giant pile of wuss. Stay tuned for more developments as this story unfolds.