Almost every day, someone is trying to invent the next big thing in the industry of music. Though, sometimes what people think is a truly great innovation can become an awful creation.
Autotune
I’ve already written an entire article on how autotune has, for the most part, enabled vocalists to deceive listeners by morphing poor vocal performances into opera-esque masterpieces. This technology, sometimes useful, has come close to destroying real talent in the music industry. Instead of singers having to really hit notes, a computer will fix their mistakes. It’s like a giant slap in the face and completely takes the skill and ability out of the equation. I can’t help but know readers will say that it’s not a terrible invention, so I’ll just say that the OVERUSE of Auto-Tune is really the tragedy. More often than not, overuse is always what’s going on.
The Keytar
Sure, you can argue with me that your Keytar is the best thing since sliced bread. Well, that’s where we disagree. A piano is made to be played like a piano, not a guitar. “Well, it was innovative.” Yeah…innovative in the completely wrong direction! A guitar is a guitar, and a keyboard is a keyboard. The sound a keytar makes is completely horrendous. It just looks extremely dim-witted too.
The Genre of Nu-Metal
Back when I was in middle school, Nu-Metal was all the rage. A slight mash up of hard rock/hip hop, screaming and singing, it dominated the music industry. Not only did this genre bring some mediocre music, but some GOD AWFUL guitar tune. Turn up the bass, set the treble at 11, and scoop those mids baby: KILL ME. Quite possibly the worst guitar tone ever conceived.
I do recall a few Linkin Park songs that I was into, but for the most part any other Nu Metal band I heard killed me. I was willing to Van Gogh both of my ears if it meant the end of this nonsense. Thankfully and rightfully so, Nu-Metal died out shortly after its conception.
Scott Stapp
Pretty much self-explanatory. He’s the lead singer of Creed.
Ticketmaster
You may think that this doesn’t really apply, but it does. Ticketmaster has destroyed the ability for many people to see the musical acts they love due to the fact that some middle man that really does little for a show adds a ludicrous amount of hoops and fees for the consumer. Ticketmaster could be one of the worst things to happen to the music industry in the past century, or ever. They have no business doing what they do. Kudos to the local promotion companies they are keeping shows fee-free with reasonable prices that everyone can afford. I HATE Ticketmaster.
I love music, and compiling this list of disgust was a bit difficult. If you have any inventions to add that we could do without, please leave a comment or a paragraph telling us about an invention that’s musically useless or crippling.
I thought Linkin Park’s tone was pretty decent. Not the best tone out there, but it was something.
The guitar was originally made to be played sitting down as a rhythmic/melodic accompaniment. This, of course, is no longer the case. The same applies to the “keytar” (if that’s what you want to call it) and its evolution from the stationary keyboard. As for its sounds, they’re the same as any keyboard. Your argument that the instrument isn’t the best thing since sliced bread is lacking.
This is coming from a guitar player–just so you don’t think I’m biased towards keyboard instruments.
I hate Ticketmaster too..
I don’t know if this can rate as a “Musical Invention”, but, if Ticketmaster can be included in this discussion, I suppose that this can be too. I think that we all can live without this “invention”, inexpensive/cheap guitars that are manufactured solely for the purpose to make money for the companies that make them. These “instruments” (and I use that term VERY loosely)cannot be set-up, no intonation can be achieved, playability is not possible. There are certain guitar companies that turn these guitars out, particularly around Christmas time, tricking unsuspecting parents and other gift givers into buying what they think is an actual guitar. Now I know that most of us live in a capitalist society, and everybody has a right to make a buck, but for heaven’s sake, some of these “guitars” are even made without truss rods. Please parents, those of you who are thinking of buying your young one a first guitar, save your coins, and try to always purchase the ‘best guitar that YOU can afford’. It use to be thought that since the beginner is just starting, they can get buy with the cheapest guitar possible, just in case they change their mind and stop practicing guitar down the line. Do yourself a favor, do your homework and buy the best guitar you can afford, if not you just might get stuck with a large, but inexpensive paper weight.
Yeah auto-tune works sometimes, but if this weren’t created, some artists would put more effort into their music, and produce better music.autotunetune didn’t exist, I think we would have better songs.