Creating Music Parodies

Lately I have been seeing a ton of music video parodies going up on YouTube, with some of them giving the original video creators a run for their money.

There are some real life parodies such as this one from Bart Baker which basically take the mickey out of everything in a music video as well as praying on the artists stereotypes, and while I find these interesting, I feel that there are better types of parodies out there.

 

Then there are the other types of parodies, which are not real life, but in a game, these game parodies are quickly gaining ground against the real life parodies, and even though it may seem that they are fairly easy to do, some can take months, and can arguably take more talent to create than real life parodies.

A fantastic example of this is the Minecraft parody of Usher's 'DJ got us falling in love again'. Created by a cast of extremely talented people and fronted by Captain Sparklez, the parody, titled 'Revenge' has gained 115 million views, and this makes it more popular than the original video!

 

 

 

I have even created a Minecraft music video parody myself, and to date it has garnered 14,000 views on YouTube, and has been recognised by the current lead coder of Minecraft, Jeb. I currently have another in the works, due to be released in the next week!

 



 

I'd say that this is a pretty convincing case for musical parodies, and I believe that they should be more widely accepted.

Off the rails?!

In recent weeks we've heard loads about different artists doing weird things that are completely unlike them. We've heard Miley Cyrus doing inappropriate things at the VMAs, to Katy Perry wearing weird things to music award ceremonies.

And, even weirder, Lady Gaga has turned somewhat normal?!

Does this mean that the fame is getting to these 'celebrities'? For example, Miley Cyrus was Disney's golden girl as Hannah Montana, being a huge role model for a generation of young girls, was she given too much influence over people?

I honestly believe that we dump too much fame and power on these young 'stars', which causes them to often go off the rails, I mean Justin Bieber, the teen heartthrob, was recently seen spitting on his fans.

Why do teens idolise these horrible people, forcing them to go close to insane?!

Being Original

One thing missing in the current music industry is originality, and it's something that is needed for the music industry to continue being as prominent as it currently is.
I have seen far too many videos of someone dancing around, in skimpy costumes, and quite frankly it makes me want to turn off more than I want to watch it.

A good example of originality is Ylvis' newest contraption 'The Fox', which is something unlike I've ever seen before, and I believe it is a very good example for other music artists in the future, so come on...

What does the fox say?!

The Fox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

The Repetitiveness.

In today's world, we see new artists popping up left, right and centre, most of them dying out after one song, but a couple hanging on to their fledgling audience.

As more and more songs are beginning to get more repetitive, it really begs the question of WHY people actually like the music. Let's take an example.

One Directions's new ultra-popular song the so called 'Best Song Ever' was heralded as the... well, best song ever by their 'fans' - which surely stands for fanatics - and when it emerged that One Direction actually stole the beginning of their song from The Who's 'Baba O'Reily', most of their fans reacted angrily saying that the Who had actually copied One Direction.

Best Song Ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_v9MY_FMcw
Baba O'Reily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2KRpRMSu4g

Another example, this one possibly even more worrying, Katy Perry's new single 'Roar' is topping the charts currently and people are saying it's the new 'Teenage Dream', well, they are actually right...
Roar uses the exact same chord pattern as Teenage Dream, and, when played together at the same time, they sound identical. Running out of ideas Katy?

Teenage Roar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr3ziQGHaFA

Has the music business run out of steam?!

COME ON GUYS!

Sexism in Music

As time is passing, I find more and more of the 'popular' music which is released has been getting more and more sexist, especially in devaluing the female population.

A good example of this is the questionably popular 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke, Pharell and T.I., which contains enough sexual references to make anyone cringe or at least feel uncomfortable. Not only is the video awfully explicit, but the lyrics are as well, for example 'I know you want it' which is repeated many times throughout the song, and, although somewhat vague, anyone with half a brain can work out what he is implying.

It's not only the 'male' artists which are doing this, but it seems the female artists are beginning to do it themselves, for example Miley Cyrus' 'We can't stop' and 'Wrecking ball' are just as bad at portraying women, and it just begs the question: Why?!