As a Gen-Xer, Trevor Horn was the producer of all the English pop music that I loved as a teenager. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire interview (see link in comments) as it shed light on so much of the soundtrack of my youth.
I'm not familiar with all of Trevor's work but I loved 'Art of Noise', and his collaboration with Grace Jones on 'Slave to the Rhythm' is still one of my favourite albums.
im japanese.i think are 彼の音楽はart of noiseのclose ,beat box,peter gunn,close up,closed up hop,etc・・・聴いた時点で何か不思議な衝撃が走ったのを覚えてます。30年前の事。並はずれた感性の持ち主の方と尊敬してます。日本のTV番組のベストヒットUSA 2012を観て彼らProducersの活動を知りFree wayを聴いてトランスしてしまいました！！！実はこの曲、キーワードはハイバイブレーションですよね・・・2012.12.22新しい時代の幕開けに備えてます！！！ではまた会いましょう！good luck!
Most pop songs today have zero substance and still become hits. The Lexicon of Love by ABC is one of the best albums of the 80s, and one of the best ever.
Well the song has a subject - sex. Whatever the subject matter, the words still need to resonate with the listener to make the connect (unless of course it's an instrumental piece in which following melody lines has a different context but is still as integral), so the statement is relative. Also it was a hit in 1984, the same year the album 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' was released 😉
He's like 63 or 64 here! He don't look it! He's lookin pretty good! yeah he's got a big gut, but there's guys half his age that have guts just as big! lol
@@JBergmansson Yeah, well, I could name more than five George Martin produced, or five dozen by Frank Zappa. Horn, there’s “Video Killed...” and 90125. I can’t name every track from the latter, ca1983, off the top of my head.
@@pbrsteve5974 Trevor and Geoff came up with 'Into the Lens'. 'Fly from Here' was also written around the time they joined Yes, but didn't make the cut
Sorry, there is no necessary correlation between “a lot of people like it” and “there’s something special”. Today things are “liked” by a billion people because it absolutely conformed to expectation, a perfect copy of some previous record, differences purely cosmetic or trivial.
"The Perfect Song" . In what context? Broadcast radio/FM is NOT the "end all / be all" anymore ....... there's other spaces like internet , satellite radio etc.... So, the subject "hit single" isn't what it used to mean ..... The old record co. /music bizz model may have been fucked up, but at least it was more controlled and streamlined ..., now everything is all over the damn place .......there's no continuity anymore .... recordings / albums DO NOT SELL ...... artists DO NOT make money on units anymore - at least , not like they used to ....... The intimate meaning of songs & people's connection with them has been cheapened ...... most "music" these days is pretty much worthless .....
Agreed. Any kind of art that is bereft of passion is ultimately rubbish. It has to have a powerful message to mean something. Maybe its cause im over 40 now but the vast majority of pop music toaday is formulaic shit and is only relevent when it is parodied as it so often is. Eg 'Bubblebut'.
How many songs have been huge hits without the majority of buyers knowing almost nothing about the intended 'message' he alludes to here. Plenty! Only, later do we analyze them.
Great producer... and sadly, he is right. Ha! There are lyrics written by artificial intelligence that are more coherent and emotionally engaging than most of the rubbish online :)
im a barbie girl in a barbie world..or the spice girls,vanilla ice...nothing special nicki menage all manufactured..all saying nothing...people LIKE songs that say nothing because there are a lot of people who dont GIVE A SHIT..most youtube listeners ..
Horn's ZTT screwed Propaganda in several ways. Because of that the original band split up and never got to it to make a worthy follow-up on the magnificent album 'A Secret Wish'.
That's not a "perfect song" though; that is simply a living example of how far human consciousness has plummeted since the days Horn was writing/producing pop music.
@@amyturner6821 It's not that insidious. I don't think that human consciousness has plummeted. People aren't laughing with Gangnam Style. They're laughing at it. People disingenuously refer to it as a song when it's really just a parody video that became an internet meme or a joke. A great song doesn't even need a video. Can you imagine anyone even knowing what Gangnam Style was if it hadn't been for the video?
There's a difference though, that's purely a 'novelty hit' spawned by a dance craze, novelty hits are something else altogether unexplainable lol Probably more akin to writing jingles for commercials
impeccable irony that the length of this video is the perfect pop song length at 3:33
I like hearing Horn's interviews. The guy is a musical genius.
He truly is. Both as a musician, songwriter, AND producer.
As a Gen-Xer, Trevor Horn was the producer of all the English pop music that I loved as a teenager. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire interview (see link in comments) as it shed light on so much of the soundtrack of my youth.
Very cool...I love Trevor Horn one of the finest ever!
I'm not familiar with all of Trevor's work but I loved 'Art of Noise', and his collaboration with Grace Jones on 'Slave to the Rhythm' is still one of my favourite albums.
A true artist doesn't write music to cater for popular taste, he writes it to create something special and influence the masses,
I love this man.
im japanese.i think are 彼の音楽はart of noiseのclose ,beat box,peter gunn,close up,closed up hop,etc・・・聴いた時点で何か不思議な衝撃が走ったのを覚えてます。30年前の事。並はずれた感性の持ち主の方と尊敬してます。日本のTV番組のベストヒットUSA 2012を観て彼らProducersの活動を知りFree wayを聴いてトランスしてしまいました！！！実はこの曲、キーワードはハイバイブレーションですよね・・・2012.12.22新しい時代の幕開けに備えてます！！！ではまた会いましょう！good luck!
I will find the one person that dislikes this. Literally the one dude. One single dislike. He’s high
love it. The master.
Trevor is my music god...
The eagle still flies irregardless of the hits.
Most pop songs today have zero substance and still become hits.
The Lexicon of Love by ABC is one of the best albums of the 80s, and one of the best ever.
So cool
THE Michael Mann of music!?...
brilliant comparison. i am onboard w/ that.
I guess you should've examined the 1983 hitsingle 'Relax' before making this statement.
Well the song has a subject - sex. Whatever the subject matter, the words still need to resonate with the listener to make the connect (unless of course it's an instrumental piece in which following melody lines has a different context but is still as integral), so the statement is relative. Also it was a hit in 1984, the same year the album 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' was released 😉
Clever
Any idea when the full lecture will be available?
He's like 63 or 64 here! He don't look it! He's lookin pretty good! yeah he's got a big gut, but there's guys half his age that have guts just as big! lol
What Trevor says. Period.
Trevor should do a follow up song Reality Killed Video Star..... I wan't video's back on MTV......
Technically he did as a Producer for Robbie Williams 'Reality Killed The Video Star', even if in title only
Without looking on google or any part of the net. Name 5 songs by Trevor Horne or Buggles.
Name 5 songs by any one producer...
1.) Video Killed the Radio Star
2.) The Plastic Age
3.) Kid Dynamo
4.) Clean Clean
3.) Elstree
All the Buggles, all the same album, all excellent
I was just going to say Drama, but I'm not sure how many of those he wrote
@@JBergmansson Yeah, well, I could name more than five George Martin produced, or five dozen by Frank Zappa. Horn, there’s “Video Killed...” and 90125. I can’t name every track from the latter, ca1983, off the top of my head.
@@pbrsteve5974 Trevor and Geoff came up with 'Into the Lens'. 'Fly from Here' was also written around the time they joined Yes, but didn't make the cut
Sorry, there is no necessary correlation between “a lot of people like it” and “there’s something special”. Today things are “liked” by a billion people because it absolutely conformed to expectation, a perfect copy of some previous record, differences purely cosmetic or trivial.
Or morseo because of paid promotions, that's how you really get seen & heard these days, why let's ask the experts at RUclips! 😉
What kind of speakers are those big bad-boys?
Looks like Genelec monitors., maybe 1038.
"The Perfect Song" . In what context? Broadcast radio/FM is NOT the "end all / be all" anymore ....... there's other spaces like internet , satellite radio etc....
So, the subject "hit single" isn't what it used to mean .....
The old record co. /music bizz model may have been fucked up, but at least it was more controlled and streamlined ..., now everything is all over the damn place .......there's no continuity anymore .... recordings / albums DO NOT SELL ......
artists DO NOT make money on units anymore - at least , not like they used to .......
The intimate meaning of songs & people's connection with them has been cheapened ...... most "music" these days is pretty much worthless .....
Agreed. Any kind of art that is bereft of passion is ultimately rubbish. It has to have a powerful message to mean something. Maybe its cause im over 40 now but the vast majority of pop music toaday is formulaic shit and is only relevent when it is parodied as it so often is. Eg 'Bubblebut'.
How many songs have been huge hits without the majority of buyers knowing almost nothing about the intended 'message' he alludes to here. Plenty! Only, later do we analyze them.
Come for the music, stay for the lyrics. True dat.
Great producer... and sadly, he is right. Ha! There are lyrics written by artificial intelligence
that are more coherent and emotionally engaging than most of the rubbish online :)
im a barbie girl in a barbie world..or the spice girls,vanilla ice...nothing special nicki menage all manufactured..all saying nothing...people LIKE songs that say nothing because there are a lot of people who dont GIVE A SHIT..most youtube listeners ..
ABC, Art of Noise, Propaganda, Seal, Miss Grace J., FGTH...
Horn's ZTT screwed Propaganda in several ways. Because of that the original band split up and never got to it to make a worthy follow-up on the magnificent album 'A Secret Wish'.
gangnam style, anybody?
That's not a "perfect song" though; that is simply a living example of how far human consciousness has plummeted since the days Horn was writing/producing pop music.
@@amyturner6821 It's not that insidious. I don't think that human consciousness has plummeted. People aren't laughing with Gangnam Style. They're laughing at it. People disingenuously refer to it as a song when it's really just a parody video that became an internet meme or a joke.
A great song doesn't even need a video. Can you imagine anyone even knowing what Gangnam Style was if it hadn't been for the video?
There's a difference though, that's purely a 'novelty hit' spawned by a dance craze, novelty hits are something else altogether unexplainable lol Probably more akin to writing jingles for commercials