Is Adam Levine Right About There Being No Bands?

Video Transcript

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Welcome to get offset. My name is Emily and I’m here today to see if Adam Levine has a point when he says or asks, where are all the bands? So Adam Levine from maroon five and the voice, and I guess the super bowl he went on record kind of wondering why there weren’t more bands. Right now. And he’s been getting just beat up a little bit for it.

And a lot of other bands are responding. Like I’m a band. What are you talking about? So I kind of wanted to break down like where I think Adam’s coming from this, whether or not he has a point. And I’m not going to lie. I think he might have a point. Let’s get to it. Let’s get down to the business of it.

So Leviathan Levine, I don’t when Adam discusses Why there aren’t more bands. I really think he’s specifically talking about bands in the cultural zeitgeist bands that people are talking about a lot bands that are on the radio bands that are in the billboard hot 100, because to ask where are the bands is?

Dumb. Obviously there are bands there. I think a band is still the way a lot of performers like. Get started before they hit their solo careers. A lot of young people still have bands. I’m in a band and not a young person. I have a band I’m wearing a t-shirt from a band called YAG. Great, fine. I’m actually drinking coffee out of a rat boys, the band mug.

And I watched last night and we’ll watch today. My favorite band, the whole study do some live stream shows. Yeah just release a compilation. So I’m going to contemplation today with my band Sunday crush, then another band called Susie true had put together. So like obviously there are bands, I think bands are kind of the basis of any like rock.

Seen in any community, a lot of musical genres still very much rely on the band dynamic because especially when you’re starting out, even if you’re like the primary songwriter, the singer, et cetera when you’re starting out, you can’t really afford to keep a band on your on the books. You know, you can’t afford to pay them for every show.

So a way to get around that is to kind of make it more of a collaborative project. So I still think there are a lot of bands out there. I’ve I mean, it’s not a point you can make with a straight face that there just aren’t any bands, but are there bands in popular music right now? Now there are some let’s look at the billboard hot 100 from 2020.

All right. Number one is the weekend is the weekend of band. No circles by postbellum band. No the box by Roddy rich. I don’t think that’s a band. Do a lipo. Don’t start now. Not a band. That’s actually her name. Rockstar the baby featuring Ronnie rich, not a band adore you Harry styles, formerly in a boy band, not a band.

I suppose that he’s talking about boy bands. So I’m not going to talk about. BTS. Just because I don’t think that’s what Adam was talking about. And, you know, for that matter, I don’t really, I guess maybe the vamps are like a boy band that plays their instruments. Life is good future featuring Drake, not a band memories by remit by maroon five and number eight from last year bones by Marin Morris, not a band and someone you loved.

By Louis. Kupol D not a band. So let me just keep looking down. Lots of not bands. I don’t know if tones and I, the song dance monkey. I don’t know if that’s a band. I don’t know if Arizona verb zebras is a band. A Billy Eilish is not a band. The Dan and Shay at 23. Is that a band? Is it like, is that like saying Simon and Garfunkel as a band?

They’re a duo, but are they a band? I don’t think so. Cardi B featuring Megan, the stallion, not a band. Oh, hot girl. Bummer by black bear. That might be a band. I don’t really know. It could just be something like the week. So that’s another trend that I’ve seen a lot more of. Now that this hasn’t been around for kind of forever, but it’s like one person’s project and then they call it a band like Bonnie bear or the weekend, they’re just not using their name.

And that’s fine, but are you considering that a band? I think it’s a band. So I’m just kind of looking through here for like other bands that may be like rock bands. I don’t know if jaw ish, Josh. Oh, that’s, that’s a, that’s a, Josh is BTS Roddy, rich drag, a little baby. Ah, there’s another example of I don’t think a band Biba Doobie.

I think that’s just one person. I don’t think that’s a band. Travis Scott, not a band. Billie Eilish, not a band. And then, so, Oh, black IPS. Is that a band or a collective also like that’s, that’s a group that’s been around for a long time. So how, like, it really serves to define, like, what is a band, is a group or collective different from a band?

I would argue that it is, I think a band is a group of people who like have their. Roll. And it’s usually like on an instrument. I think that’s kind of the key element of a band is a interest. It’s like people playing instruments, like a drummer keyboard player, maybe a guitarist, maybe a basis, maybe auxiliary percussion.

Like that’s what I think that’s what I think abandon is. Or like horns. That kind of thing. So part of this is kind of hard for me, cause like I see something that’s not like a first and last name or even just a first name and I’m not entirely sure if it’s a band, the collective or just somebody like who doesn’t want to go by their own name professionally.

Do you know? I don’t know, old dominion song, one man band at 59, getting into some country Yeah, I love that. All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah. Carey is on this list at number 67 for the hot 100 of the year. So that doesn’t really go this that doesn’t really prove anything that there aren’t a lot of bands right now.

I think what we really need to see is where there are a lot of bands, like. 10 years ago. What’s fun about the billboard hot 100 chart. You’re in chart as you can go back. So I want to look at 2010 right now. Live with you all. Well, not live. I recorded this previously. Number one is tic-tac by Kesha, not a band.

Need you now by lady antebellum is a band also. I never want to hear that song again. I interned at a place called skyline music publishing in college. And Mr. Worley, the producer of that song would literally just sit in his office for hours, listening to mixes of the song really loudly. So I’ve heard a song more than you.

I promise. I never want to hear that song again. A Hazel sister by train is a band. California girls, Katy Perry, not a band. OMG usher featuring, well, I am not a ban airplanes. Be Obie featuring Haley Williams. Not a band love the way you lie. I’m an M featuring Rihanna, not a band. We’ve got lady Gaga and we got two towel crews songs.

So really, if I look at it, if we look at the top 10 from this year, we have one band Marine five. If we look at it from 2010, we have two bands. And they’re in the top three, a lady a is what I think they’re trying to be called. Well now, despite that there was, you know, you’ve w w that’s not the time for this and trained, no matter how you feel about those bands, their bands, for sure.

If we keep scrolling down still a lot, still, really, really a lot of solo stuff. Let’s see black IPS. Again, I feel like that’s kind of more of a collective than a band. Lot of m&m the script. That’s gotta be a band I’ll city. That’s not a band. I think that’s just like the guy, isn’t it. Let’s see lady Gaga, not a band or Nelly.

It’s kind of amazing. How many of these artists are still on the hot 100? Like. 10 years later, literally 10 years later. I don’t know what that is. Some of these are just, I don’t remember these songs, which is weird. Th th th th that the let’s see, Oh my God, Kesha, featuring three of three is three or three, a band or a collective.

Isn’t it just the two dudes. Did they play instruments? I don’t know what a Republic. That’s a band. Yes. Still re Oh, there’s there is neon trees, definitely a band in indie band for that matter, maroon five. I feel like there may maybe twice as many bands in 2010 as there are in 2020. And I only goes, I’m not sure this goes back to 2000.

It does not. If I look at like 2007 was the year I graduated high school show my age you got beyond say Rianna was the funny for G T pain. Carrie Underwood, plain white T’s is the first band I see there and plain white. TCIs the only band at the top 10 of the hot 102,007. So that’s the exact same amount of bands.

And kind of around the same spot played my teaser seven, I think maroon five was eight 2020. And if we look farther down a Cod ever Levine, maroon five shop boys, that’s how I was like a collective, I think which, which kind of, it does complicate things because like you think about these hip hop groups and they do seem to be a little bit more collectives and a traditional rock band format with some exceptions, of course.

So like. I don’t really know where you put those. Cause I don’t think Adam’s talking about that. The Autry, I’m not going to count the Austria as a band. Sorry. Soldier, boy, I feel like that’s a collective gym class heroes as a band, the phrase of band. That’s a, that’s a fall a boy’s a band.

Nickelbacks a band full of boys, a band Lincoln park is a band. So yeah, maybe not in the top 10, maybe it’s kind of stayed very similar in scope and the top 10, but I do, I definitely feel like there are fewer bands filling out the rest of the hot 100 than in years past. So do we think Adam, Adam Leviathan Levine might have a point.

I kind of think he does, but it’s the onus. On the bands or is the onus on the labels for not signing or promoting the bands as much? Is it on the radio for not playing bands for playing like solo artists? And I, like, there are a couple of reasons. I think that all of this might be like happening. I think it’s harder to control a band of people and say like, this is the kind of music you need to release.

It’s it’s a tale as old as time, like kind of. Management or the label coming into a band project, pulling out the front person being like you’re the real star here and kind of breaking up the band that happens a lot. It’s easier to control one person than a group of people. It’s also easy to ego bait one person compared to a group of people so that I think that’s kind of one reason.

And that sort of feeds into something else that we don’t really talk about a lot, but like gossip, magazines. Feed drama and people are going to get mad at me for this. I think NASCAR is a soap opera. I think formula one is as much. I think these, these, these, these events are as much so Barbara’s, as they are actual sporting events.

And I feel that way kind of about the pop world. Sometimes. Like you get reclusive pop stars sometimes, but a lot of them it’s like they’re in the news. Katy Perry is feuding with Taylor Swift. Like. Brittany versus Christina, like you see these individuals kind of paired up against each other and sort of battling each other and it’s like, it it’s gossip, it’s a soap opera and it’s keeps people’s interest past the music part.

And I do wonder if like, That sort of is one of the reasons we’re not seeing as many bands in the the 10, 11 to hundred part of the, the top 100 right now, because it’s a little bit harder to feed that kind of drama with an entire band, like is Eve six feuding with the guy from third eye blind, kind of.

But again, those are like the front people that you’re kind of making fight with each other. It’s a little bit harder and it’s a little bit like, it takes more effort to see a band and develop a personal relationship with them because you got to learn who the members are. I don’t know. I think there’s a lot at play there psychologically, but you know, you also look at bands, especially like boy bands, like the Beatles.

That’s going to make somebody mad. And people can like pick out their favorite one and that’s, that’s, that’s popular. Like Backstreet boys was the. My boy band, when I was growing up, I was a big Kevin Richardson fan, but like, you could put your, like, almost mirror your personality with one of them. And like, I like that one, but I, it takes a little more effort because you have to learn about the band.

As we get older, we don’t like learn the band members’ names as much. We have a lot of other stuff going on. But yeah, I, I th I think that the guy from maroon five has a point. I think that for, for whatever reason, and I don’t think it’s the band’s faults. There are as many bands and the top 100, and we know it’s not the fault of like, Guitar companies.

I mean, how many, how many times have you seen like an article about the decline of guitars in popular music? I think it was min Wendy Melvoin from formerly the revolution of like Prince and Wendy and Lisa. She, she made some comment like, like she’s gotten calls from like. Producers over the past, like 20 years, 10 years and more and more.

She’s like, I can’t lay a guitar, track that on the song because there’s just not room for it. Instrumentally speaking. So then you have another kind of side note where like what’s big and pop music doesn’t necessarily have room for like guitars and the traditional sort of bad instrumentation, but then you listen to people like Lizzo and then you’re like, Oh, there’s definitely a very obvious guitar funk part in there because it’s more retro, even Beyonce tours with guitarist plays with guitarists.

But you know, she can probably make more money being the same solo act. So I don’t really under, I don’t, I think the appeal of being a solo act, if you can like do it all, then you can do it all. I also think that being able to do it all makes a better and easier press story. Like, Oh, they wrote all these songs top to bottom or they’re the star just talk about them.

So there’s a lot of play there and I think that it’s just kind of making it harder. It’s harder as a band to have that kind of story because no matter what your publicist is going to focus on, like. The story is the principal songwriter. There aren’t a ton of there have never been a ton of bands where everyone in the band wrote songs kind of on an equal place.

I think like queen is maybe the best ever example of that. I think that every person in that band wrote a top 10 head, of course, that was, you know, the seventies and the eighties, largely speaking. So I think that popularly speaking bands were a bigger deal. But, you know, the music industry changes, it evolves and things, you know, different things are in Vogue right now.

So who’s not to say that in a couple years, we’re not going to be like championing bands again, because if you look at like what’s big in like indie right now, there are a ton of bands that are just kicking so much ass. Like we have like soccer, mommy and Charlie bless Rat boys. I think we have speedy Ortiz.

Like they’re, they’re really a lot of bands out there doing great work and making great music. And I think it’s kind of just, I, I hope that they all sort of like come into popularity like the next couple of years. So it just. Things ebb and flow. I think that you can’t really put the, like the nail in the coffin on having a ban.

I think, especially as you’re like coming up and coming into your own, even if you can do it all. Like you can learn a lot from being in a band. You can like there was a situation where I was sort of the hired gun for guitars for a woman and she wanted to be like the, her name band, and she was younger and I was just kind of like walking her through like, okay, this is kind of how this works is kind of how that works.

So you’re having different influences or just like experience levels. Getting people together, I think is where a lot of magic happens. And when you’re younger, you don’t have. Like, as you get older as a solo artist, a lot of that you’ll probably have like more confidence to like, have your own ideas and just kind of roll with them or you’ll have producers making suggestions instead of the band.

Yeah. They’re just, it’s so much going on. I also had the, it was going to pull up the list of Grammy nominees to see how many. They were nominated. Let’s look at record of the year. Beyonce black Pumas. That’s a band. The baby, not a band. Those are cat. I don’t think a band, Billie, Eilish, and a band. Do a LOPA, not a band, a post Malone, not a band.

Megan, the stallion, not a band. So one band is nominated for record of the year. Let’s look at an album of the year black Pumas and Coldplay and hot high Hames. So that’s a three bands nominated for album of the year. People are gonna be like who cruise booth. The, I do shut up a song of the year being on.

Okay. These are just the songwriters. I actually don’t really know. Oh, there is Beyonce Roddy, rich Taylor Swift. Postma do a little bit Billie Eilish, H her no song of the year nominees for bands, best new artists. I don’t know if any of those are bands. Pop, no vans, pop duo performance. These are all Dubose.

I think these are all doers. Like none of these are not the there’s no groups in the group performance. Very nice. A traditional pop vocal album. Who cares pop pop vocal album, no bands, dance, electronic music. I don’t, I wouldn’t know. Contemporary rock is Fiona Apple. Big thief is a band. Haim is a band, two vans and best rock.

Best metal is body cow. That’s a band. I think those might all be bands. Yeah, I think those are all bands. So go metal. Best rock song. Taven. Paula is a band. Big thief is a band since two best rock album. Fontaine’s DC, I think is a band and the strokes are bands that’s too. So when you look at like the hot 100, not a lot of bands.

If you look at the Grammy nominees, Those sets seems to lean more heavily in into bands. So it’s an interesting kind of breakdown. It’s, they’re both the billboard hot 100 and the Grammys are very different things. Billboard hot, 100 is based on streams. Radio spends purchases and the Grammys are all nominated by people within the industry, so that doesn’t lean as heavily into sales.

So if you’re looking at what people are. Playing on the radio streaming buying that seems to sway away from bands. But if you look at what the people, the musicians and the industry professionals are really favoring, it seems to be a more even split between bands and solo performers. I kind of think that’s where I’m going to end.

It does Adam Levine, Levine. Why don’t we know how to say his name? He’s been famous as I was like 12. You think I would learn that by now, but I haven’t. Oh, just sorry. That really got away from it there, but basically. I obviously there are bands out there I’m in one. So they crashed checkup. Check us out a real sensation out on donut sounds vinyl coming very soon.

You should on NPR, all songs considered. But just keep tracking. I really hope that bands kind of come back into the pop favor really soon. It it’s like it’s cyclical. It really seems to be cyclical. I think that to say that there’s like a death in bands is premature, but just keep, if you’re in a band, keep doing your thing.

If you’re a solo before we keep doing your thing, don’t really worry about what seems to be working. Just work on yourself and if, if it connects with people, then you’re going to, you’re going to do okay. All right. Thanks for watching. Thanks for understanding, please like comment, subscribe below until next time.

My name is Emily goodbye.