Man, music eh no gone tru......................alyuh getting old. As stated above, Machel and others supply a major part of the market. There are many good soca and calypso out there. In every era you an find "crap music".
Look at the movie industry - Will Ferrel comes to mind - you can say the same thing. It's just a different period in history with different requirement as to what constitute entertainment.
You tryin tuh tell me that sh!t them boy singin is soca ?? sttuueeppppssss! soca ded since super blue start wid dis "wave yuh rag" bullsh!t.
The thing is, "Get something and wave" is a classic, with a story and lyrics to match any song you put forward. What happened is that it got distilled down to the "wave" part. So on the one hand, you can trace it back to him, but you can't Superblue for the subsequent lack of quality.
The music has never been better, so you have to also look at the songwriters. We have been blessed in the past with outstanding and prolific song-writers, and these guys have stayed in the business a long time churning out hit after hit. Now we have a new crop, that are just as good, and I think that must be acknowledged as well. What is different is the large numbers of riddim riders and fete singers, that we didn't see before. This is, I feel a natural outcome of better economic opportunities for soca singers. It attracts a wider cross-section, and dilutes the quality.
The thing is, in a fete, I don't care that a song is a brilliant expression of the mood of the country after the coup. I just want to get my rag and wave it. What we must not forget is that songwriting is still alive and well. Technology is making it easier to find and hear these gems, but there is still a long way to go.
Breds, you could never convince me in a million yrs that this " slop" they callin soca is just as good musically or lyrically than what we had. the late great cecil humes/ maestro produce some of the best musical and lyrical mater pieces that would put this "show yuh rag" generation of soca artiste to shame ah 1,000 x over!
fellas like duke , nelson, shot shirt, kitch, terror, bomber, sparrow, maestro , blakie just to name ah few all jumped on it and produced some master pieces, especially the shadow and IMO should have the title "king of soca", BC he put out some wickedest beats with lyrics to match.
i remember when soca first came out, and the old ppl was very unkind to it, they wanted to stick wid the traditional kaiso beat like what yuh would hear in the tents along wid the social commentary, but after a few yrs they all warmed up to it BC in reality, soca didn't stray too far from the calypso beat.
IMO, this shyte they callin soca is synonymous wid what them young jamaican artiste callin reggae. all of it is techno! BC that's what the shyte sound like , and yeh it more marketable, but iz it real soca? remember , soca is the beat, not what you sing and call it soca.
jazz iz jazz BC of the beat, and so is the blues, and so iz country, and so is R&B. music is identified by it's beat, call me old fashion, but this ting them young boy callin soca is techno, BC it have ah techno beat.