Why were bands so much more prolific in this period? I mean,take a group like the Temptations. They put their debut out in 1964,and by the end of the decade had 11 albums to their name. Or even the Beatles,whose albums would have required a lot more production hours than soul artists,still averaged almost 2 albums a year. But even in the late 70s,bands like the Jam and the Ramones were still prolific but eventually there came a point where it was extremely rare for an artist to bring out an album a year. I'm not really sure it's down to albums being more complex now,would it really take longer to record new albums than Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds? I don't think new artists are workaholics like they used to be in the 60s.
Why were bands so much more prolific in this period? I mean,take a group like the Temptations. They put their debut out in 1964,and by the end of the decade had 11 albums to their name.
The artists in the 60s/70s were more prolific because their record companies forced them to, Smokey. And apart from the 2 albums a year they also had to come up with a hitsingle every three months. But in hindsight you can say that was a good thing. In those days bands might've been slightly exploited, it at least kept them on their toes and maintained their momentum. Unlike today's artists who, instead of three months, take three years to come up with a new album. The lazy buggers. It's very difficult to keep your momentum when you need three years for new product.
In fact, I think that's a serious problem. This way popmusic is developing at the speed of a snail. Don't get me wrong, 2010 was a very fine year, but, apart from some production improvements, the majority of albums I heard could have been made 5 year ago. Or 10. Some even 15 years ago, go figure. What the current music scene desperately needs right now is a REAL musical revolution that puts everything on its head.
Why were bands so much more prolific in this period? I mean,take a group like the Temptations. They put their debut out in 1964,and by the end of the decade had 11 albums to their name.
The artists in the 60s/70s were more prolific because their record companies forced them to, Smokey. And apart from the 2 albums a year they also had to come up with a hitsingle every three months. But in hindsight you can say that was a good thing. In those days bands might've been slightly exploited, it at least kept them on their toes and maintained their momentum. Unlike today's artists who, instead of three months, take three years to come up with a new album. The lazy buggers. It's very difficult to keep your momentum when you need three years for new product.
In fact, I think that's a serious problem. This way popmusic is developing at the speed of a snail. Don't get me wrong, 2010 was a very fine year, but, apart from some production improvements, the majority of albums I heard could have been made 5 year ago. Or 10. Some even 15 years ago, go figure. What the current music scene desperately needs right now is a REAL musical revolution that puts everything on its head.
I could not agree more, I have been waiting for that game-changing moment for years now. There is no reason why what is good cannot also be mainstream and that was the case back in the 60's where you had about a 50% correlation between the two. Now you have mainstream music that is horrible and a belief that anything that is considered good cannot be mainstream. Is there an album that can blow this notion out of the water and change the face of popular music???
I've thought about this question a lot. The best answer I can come up with is that in the wake of declining CD sales, artists need to make the majority of their revenue from ticket and merchandise sales. Virtually no acclaimed artists can do what the Beatles did in the 60s, when they stopped touring entirely and focused on releasing lots of studio material because anything they put out would sell millions of copies.
As for modern prolific artists, Bradford Cox has put out tons of music under Deerhunter and Atlas Sound over the last five years. Also, The Fall and Sonic Youth have both been releasing consistently good albums since the 80s, showing longevity that most 60s/70s artists failed to match.
