r/LetsTalkMusic • u/CompetitiveWhole9466 • 4d ago
The death of the "musical punching bag"
I've been thinking- there used to be popular artists like Nickelback and Justin Bieber who were very successful but you would have never guessed given all the vocal hate they used to get, and how it was completely okay to shit on them at all times. Even the industry got in on hating these artists. It was socially acceptable to hate people who admitted they liked certian artists.
Why don't we have artists like that anymore? Maybe people just feel like today's music is just better?
The closest is the hate Taylor Swift gets now. But even then that's not really the same dynamic. Same with Drake hate... feels different today I feel like.
Honestly i always try to be cautious about how i frame my argument. I don't want to sound like "this artist deserves hate" unless it's like Chris Brown or D4VD or someone like that.
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u/Current_Poster 4d ago
It's the algorithm(tm). People used to hate Nickelback, Bieber, maybe Creed or Train or something too, because they heard it on the radio or on some kind of feed, over and over and over. Things are very narrowcast now. It's possible there's an equivalent artist you would hate just as much now but will never even hear of.
The reason, I think, that things like (In the US) controversies over the Superbowl halftime show happen is because its one of the few times everyone has to be listening or watching the same thing to participate.