Current Bollywood Music and Lyrics- Deteriorating? - Page 4

Originally posted by: shehzaadi91

when I was a kid I used to hear lots of older people say that our music is nothing compared to their music. now me and my friends say that today's music is not as good as the 90s. btw what is considered "our generation"...when we're kids or when we're young adults?

ps. which one of those 3 pujaris is you? 😛

Originally posted by: oldblackjoe

well.. "our generation" refers to the period where we enjoyed music of a certain era.....

i'm not in the pic, but i am definitely a rafi saab pujaari.

Originally posted by: CrossroadsJoe

It's all about variety in every walk of life. You cannot wear a three piece suit every day. You got to wear your jeans once in a while. You cannot eat daal makhani every day. Once in a while you got to have pizza or pasta. You cannot listen to soft rock all the time. You got to listen to a hip-hop number to loosen up a little.

Hmm, yes I do agree, variety is a spice of life. But just because you're not wearing the three piece suit everyday, doesn't mean you shouldn't have one in your closet. Its okay that you put on jeans more often than the fancy suit, but once in a while you should throw on that fancy suit and amaze the world. Plus, wearing the same pair of jeans day after day ain't doing anyone any good. You gotta wash your clothes and buy new ones. Right? Sorry, taking your analogy too far there, but I think the point is made.

That said, commercial music is all about - you guessed it right - money. If it sells, it will be made. If it doesn't sell, it won't be made. The next question you should be asking then is - how is it selling and who's buying? Well, it all depends on which age group the music composers are targetting the most. It also depends on who the song is picturized on. For example, with Hrithik, I expect a good dance number because Hrithik is good at dance. I expect a romantic number with Shahrukh. And then there are exceptions. What kind of a role is the actor playing? If it's Aamir and if the movie is Sarfarosh, you expect classy numbers like "Hosh waalon ko khabar kya, bekhudi kya cheez hain". If it's Aamir and if the movie is Ghulam, you expect a tapori number like "Aati kya Khandala". So yes, it's situational, it's customized and it's targetted.

Well Mallika Sherawat sells too, does that mean Kajol should stop acting? Or that Kajol should stoop to her level of business? Absolutely not. Business requires competition, and there's no competition between one low-class genre of music. Its perfectly fine that you expect good dance numbers from Hrithik's songs, but that doesn't mean that good dance numbers can't have decent lyrics, does it? All these examples you mention are fine, songs are situational, but why is it that the only "situations" that we're having these days are tapori-style-so-called-western-beats-with-rotten-english-lyrics?

Lyricists and music directors are not the same most times. For Delhi 6, for example, Prasoon Joshi is the lyricist. ARR is the composer. They also have inputs from the other team members. It's a team effort. Rakesh Mehra will have his say. The actors will have their say. I heard that actors like Aamir and Shahrukh heavily influence the music of their movies. So let that sink for a moment.

If so many people are part of the music aspect of the movie, then I personally think it should be a better deal. Don't get me wrong, the other day Maskakalli (Oh geez, I don't know what the name is) of the song was playing on the radio, and it was quite catchy. Didn't make sense but the song was pleasing. So am I saying that all songs in the modern era are bad, no absolutely not, but there is something lacking somewhere, and we can't deny that.

The end product is what you listen to. You cannot quickly blame one person or one entity for the perceived deterioration in quality.

Not blaming one person actually, blaming the ENTIRE musical fraternity of bollywood. 😆😆 And there's most definitely not a "perceived" deterioration in quality --- the deteriorating is there --- its just that some are okay with it and accept it as the modern era and other's don't. 😊

Originally posted by: chutneyx4404

The west has heard, and it is laughing. but really, i show these songs to my english-speaking friends, they laugh so hard, especially to zara zara touch me and songs that out of context just sound ridiculous. btw, i am procrastinating too :)

oh, and i don't get what ai pappi means either, and if people like the "beat", there's no beat to it either. but really, pritam is a bad example to look at. but shankar essan loy...and the song maa. any generation would agree that those are some pretty darn meaningful lyrics. khuda jaane is good too. aao milo chalo. i mean you can find some bad old songs too like "my heart is beating, keeps on repeating." what does that even mean?

you just have to discriminate between the good and bad :)

Originally posted by: *Woh Ajnabee*

Zara Zara Touch Me is a funny song to listen to. Perhaps you should show them the music video with Katrina Kaif then they'll have a better context of the lyrics. 😉😆 Kidding.

Ahh, you're procrastinating too? Good, you're my new best friend then. We'll whine together. 😆 Haha, procrastinating over the weekend is killing me this week, I'm so stupid for having done that.

Yes, we're all kinda lost on the Ai Pappi lyrics, wonder if the lyricist knows what he wrote, or the singer knows what he sang, since apparently the MD doesn't know what he composed. 😆

I agree Maa and Khuda Jaane are two of my all-time favorite songs, I love them with a passion, the composition, the lyrics, the singing is out of the world. Not kidding. You have great taste for mentioning those two songs. So, I am in no way implying that there isn't any good music these days.

ARR, SEL, and VS are doing a good job with some of their tracks. Even Pritam's rip offs are decent to some extent, or they used to be --- ie Gangster --- and then there was a sudden downfall when his demand started increasing. I guess its that whole supply vs. demand issue there (haha, am I crazy for trying to tie things into a bigger perspective there?😆)

Having said that, we can't deny that these useless numbers are overpowering the occasional good pieces that come out and enlighten us once in a while. 😊

Originally posted by: CrossroadsJoe

Is that right?

Let me ask you a couple of questions first.

"english-speaking" is way too broad. Care to narrow it down? I am "english-speaking" too and so is my grandma. We also speak a bunch of other languages. Did you mean Whites? Blacks? Chinese who could speak English? Indians born outside of India?

BTW, how did you "show" songs to your aforementioned "english speaking" friends? You showed them the song lyrics? You showed them videos? You made them listen to an audio?

Depending on your answers, I could give a better reply.

For now, I would say this much: the song that you mentioned from Julie is a fantastic song with great lyrics. I don't know what you didn't understand with the following:

My heart is beating, keeps on repeating
I' m waiting for you
My love encloses a plot of roses
And when shall be then our next meeting
Cause love you know
That time is fleeting, time is fleeting
Time is fleeting

May be you just stopped listening after the second sentence, threw your arms up and said to yourself "this doesn't make any sense". In that case please read/listen a little bit more carefully. It's easy. Quite a simple, straight forward song. Not rocket science.

While you are in the process of understanding the lyrics from above, ask your "english-speaking" friends whether they have heard any rap songs from popular artists like Ludacris, Jay-Z or Snoop Dogg. Ask them what they think about them lyrics. If you want help, I could cut and paste a few songs. Matter of fact, I will copy/paste one gem for your benefit. This one is by Ludacris.

I gotta big weed stash, pocket full of cash
Just seen a big ol ass, its saturday
Sticky, icky, icky, icky
Sticky, icky, icky, icky
System on blast, cops just pass
Just seen a big ol ass, its saturday
Sticky, icky, icky, icky
Sticky, icky, icky, icky

[verse 1: ludacris]
Grease dont pop on the stove no more, moved on up
Double shot hennesey fill my cup
Luda choke smoke in a big black truck
Should I wild out, what the f**k? !
Act like my rims aint clean
How you gonna ack like my neck dont bling?
Haters get sprayed like aftro-sheen
But they dont never really wanna pop them thangs
Cane, cane sugar man luda dont go
And I stop at a light, pull off so slow
But Im out for the night, so pass that dro
So, daddy come home in a cadillac brome, cadillac brome
Now dont it sound absurd
Claim college park where they flip them birds
Trick car alarms, then bend them curves
Chop chop, chunk it up fat man herb

Who's laughing now?!

Originally posted by: *Woh Ajnabee*

Well, my goal here was to discuss Bollywood and to compare its past and present. Hollywood is a completely different industry. American music comes in all shapes and sizes, and its just not a fair comparison. But Bollywood music isn't the same way. I don't understand, do you not agree that songs like Ai Pappi have awful lyrics and are completely foolish "beats"?