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The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory | John Seabrook
11 posts | 4 read | 7 to read
There's a reason hit songs offer guilty pleasurethey're designed that way. Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a "hook," but todays songs bristle with them: a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers, modern songwriters have discovered the musical "bliss point." And just like junk food, the bliss point leaves you wanting more. In The Song Machine, longtime New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook tells the story of the massive cultural upheaval that produced these new, super-strength hits. Seabrook takes us into a strange and surprising world, full of unexpected and vivid characters, as he traces the growth of this new approach to hit-making from its obscure origins in early 1990s Sweden to its dominance of today's Billboard charts. Journeying from New York to Los Angeles, Stockholm to Korea, Seabrook visits specialized teams composing songs in digital labs with new "track-and-hook" techniques. The stories of artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna, as well as expert songsmiths like Max Martin, Stargate, Ester Dean, and Dr. Luke, The Song Machine shows what life is like in an industry that has been catastrophically disruptedspurring innovation, competition, intense greed, and seductive new products. Going beyond music to discuss money, business, marketing, and technology, The Song Machine explores what the new hits may be doing to our brains and listening habits, especially as services like Spotify and Apple Music use streaming data to gather music into new genres invented by algorithms based on listener behavior. Fascinating, revelatory, and original, The Song Machine will change the way you listen to music.
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Melismatic
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A whole chapter devoted to #KPop — a specialty of mine. I took this photo of #GirlsGeneration (who is the focus of this book‘s Kpop chapter & was the “biggest” group in the genre at the time - 2011). I saw them and many of their labelmates at Madison Square Garden - the majority of the artists I saw haven‘t been back to New York since. 😭 Also, many of the members of the group have since left the company. Photo is of the original 9 gal lineup.

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Melismatic
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The more I read/hear about Lou Pearlman —the man who “put together” #NSYNC & the #BackstreetBoys & went on to defraud them of hundreds of millions of $ — the old feelings of anger I felt as a teenage superfan of NSYNC come right back up. What a monster. Even his quotes in this book make him sound like a sociopath. 🤬

Anyway - reading about the rise of #boybands made me want to find this photo I took of NSYNC on tour in 2000. I was 12 then. 😭💃🏻

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Melismatic
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Here we goooooooo...

If you‘re a nerd for pop music/90‘s baby, this book will be right up your alley. I know so much music trivia already, but getting let “backstage” so to speak is super amusing & interesting. Did you know Ace of Base got their first big hit bc their demo got stuck in their future producers car radio, driving him nuts hearing it over & over until he came up with a new arrangement? 😂 Next up: BSB & Nsync. Hello, childhood.

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Melismatic
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Me, summed up. This is gonna be golden.

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Jessicav
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"It featured a fuzzed-out guitar vibe, and hip-hop-style scratching on the chorus, which makes Da Doo Ron Ron sound like Shakespeare." Oh MMMBop. You will never die. (Read this book in one hand with YouTube on your phone in the other. Trust me.

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Jessicav
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I picked this up because life is too short not to listen to pop music, and I don't shy away from the fact that it's more of a science than an art at this point. Plus there's a whole chapter on Kpop and SM Entertainment and that's my life.

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nikirtehsuxlol
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Pickpick

I'd read a separate book on Lou Pearlman's (aka. Big Poppa) Shakespearian betrayal of The Backstreet Boys! Book is mainly about how the music industry has changed over the years through pop music examples. Reminisce about Ace of Bass all the way up to Rihanna. A great behind the scenes look 🎶

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nikirtehsuxlol
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savage

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nikirtehsuxlol
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Using the word "orbs" for eyes is just as off-putting to me as moist or panties. Remove these words from the English language! ? But still an awesome book. Learning about k-pop

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nikirtehsuxlol
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I LOVE the quotes at the beginning of books ☺️☺️☺️

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nikirtehsuxlol
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🎶 The process behind today's pop music. Let's manufacture a hit! 🎶