The Editorials

The Pop Influence

Written by Jeff Krasky

There is no doubting the influence that pop music has had on country music recently. Artists are dressing and acting more and more like pop stars every day. On top of that the music that comes out of Music Row is heavily laced with pop attributes. We're also seeing more artists attempt to cross over into the lucrative pop market where there is a broader audience and a lot more money.

Can you blame them?

There is no easy answer to that question. While country music would never have gotten as far as it has in the last ten years without the help of some pop influence is it a good thing to completely forget our roots?

The pop industry is famous for one hit wonders and short careers. In fact if you have a couple of albums that sell well in the pop genre you're instantly launched to superstardom. We're seeing more of these business practices every day in Nashville. We have a group of artists who sell millions of records. We have another group of artists that have a couple of hit singles and then are rarely heard from again (artists like Sara Evans, who seems cursed to have one hit single on each album and have the rest ignored). But we've also developed a horrid habit of signing artists, letting them put an album together and then delaying or canceling it before they're even given a chance. None of these things have a positive impact on our music form.

You also can't help but notice the impact a heavy pop influence can have on the quality of a record. Now don't get me wrong some of my favorite country albums have a pop feel to them. However, I also can see that there are many albums released each year that are nothing but worthless filler material. Yet somehow through slick promotional campaigns or the brute force of radio shoving stuff as us the material becomes a big hit. The bottom line is many country artists are recording pop music but when it comes right down to it they are just average pop artists.

Artists like Britney Spears have the goods to make it big in pop music. A flashy image, a distinctive pop vocal style (yes there is a difference between a pop and country voice, regardless of how much you might try and convince yourself of the opposite), and slickly produced songs that are fun for awhile but have little replay value. Lets face facts anytime a country artist posing as a pop artist hits the charts they're going to have a short-lived career. It's just a matter of time before a real pop artist comes along and kicks their ass all over the place.

On the other hand you can't help but understand why artists like Shania Twain and Faith Hill want all the added benefits that success in the Top 40 brings. They're in it for the money as well as making music. So you can't blame them for wanting to go where the big money is. I just hope they realize that if you turn your back to far on country music fans they tend to abandon you. Then when the pop fame wears off they have no where to turn to. It's something for these artists to consider.

Is a pop influence in a country album a bad thing? Certainly not. I've gladly laid down my money for a number of releases that fit that bill. Is it good for the country music industry to try and compete with the pop industry for its money? Definitely. It's just a matter of time before some pop megastar is born that smashed any hopes we've got. Country music has got to find a way to blend the pop influence the new generation brought in with the elements that made country music so powerful previously. Without that delicate balance, we might as well kiss country music goodbye.

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