Any country-western or old-school soul fans here?

zimbach · Post by **zimbach** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:28 am

I ask because in the AMVs I've seen at conventions, there has been an apparrent strong bias toward heavy metal and album rock, with slightly less strong showing of dance-pop, top 40 pop, and novelty songs, plus a smattering of instrumentals.

I hardly ever see other musical styles used in AMVs. Where's the jazz, the R&B, the progressive rock, the zydeco? What about the incredible pop music hits of the Middle-East and South Asia? Or the rich diversity of the Latin music styles?

Do you like anything besides Linkin Park? Where is the variety?

Cardinal.jpg · Post by **Cardinal.jpg** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 4:27 am

The problem is not as many people are exposed to these styles of music and of they are then not enough of it. I would love to see AMV's with radically different types of music but it isn't likely to happen just like these styles of music wont be played on the radio frequently or shown on video shows either.

zimbach · Post by **zimbach** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:43 pm

Cardinal, I don't know what the radio market is like in Australia, but the record sales statistics in the United States do not bear out your theory.
Here is a list of the top 200 albums by sales, updated weekly:
http://www.billboard.com/billboard/charts/bb200.jsp

You'll see lots of country, rap, and R&B in the upper levels, with the pop and album rock actually selling less in many cases.

starwire · Post by **starwire** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:55 pm

Well, who's making AMV's? Not to stereotype, but young, middle/upper-middle class people, mostly between 15 and 30 I'd guess. Sure, lots of people are buying world music, jazz, and soulful R&B, but they're not us. There's a definite generational gap here, one that fades as people grow up and get exposed to new things, but it's definitely real.

kthulhu · Post by **kthulhu** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:56 pm

I'd like to see someone make a good country AMV.

Cardinal.jpg · Post by **Cardinal.jpg** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:13 am

zimbach wrote:You'll see lots of country, rap, and R&B in the upper levels, with the pop and album rock actually selling less in many cases.

I didn't say there wasn't country, rap and R&B on the radio, I said there wasn't radically different music. The mentioned music is quite popular and not terribly unique. I was more talking about various types of world music, which I think is a very broad group in itself as this genre encompasses everything from the rest of the world that doesnt qualify for another genre.

zimbach · Post by **zimbach** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 12:52 am

starwire wrote:Well, who's making AMV's? Not to stereotype, but young, middle/upper-middle class people, mostly between 15 and 30 I'd guess. Sure, lots of people are buying world music, jazz, and soulful R&B, but they're not us. There's a definite generational gap here, one that fades as people grow up and get exposed to new things, but it's definitely real.

You say not to stereotype, then you proceed to stereotype. Good going! I'll not deny that the demographics skew greatly in that direction, but that's no reason for this population to have noticibly indistinct musical taste.

One would hope that AMV creators, if they take their craft seriously, would be actively seeking new and and diverse music that inspires their video collage. To limit one's self only to familiar genre seems not only uncreative, but immature.

If you're only making these for yourself and your little circle of friends, by all means, stick with what you know and like. But, if you are submitting your video to exhibitions and contests where there are hundreds of other entries, you need to do something to differentiate your work from the crowd. Unique, high-quality music can be the thing that makes your video stand out!

One needs a spirit of adventure to find really good music. Explore those corners of the snooty independent record stores that you never think to look in. Go to a night club or all-ages dance hall and buy a CD from one of the bands playing there. Type random words into the search engine at MP3.com. Listen to the local college radio station to get ideas. Go to a foreign-language record store and pull something at random from the discount bin. Be ambitious with your music selections! 8)

Alucard_FoN · Post by **Alucard_FoN** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 2:32 am

kthulhu wrote:I'd like to see someone make a good country AMV.

Impossible in my book, since I dislike country. If someone made one, I know I wouldn't download it, even if everyone else said it kicked ass. Country music makes me want to shoot myself in the head.