Are the Muppets as popular as they were 30 to 40 years ago?

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Eh, it's scientifically proven that people's tastes in music basically stay the same from the time they're teenagers. So, no matter what, people are always gonna like the music they grew up with, or music that has similar qualities to music they grew up with. Pop music, minus a few exceptions have always been about how to please the easiest to please demographic.

 

[LittleJerry92]

^ truth!

 

[antsamthompson9]

I feel like this exchange from the Muppet Fans Talking guys is relevant to this discussion, where they talk about what the future holds for Muppet fandom after the first news after the TV show was canceled and the first news was a Gonzo bathroom at Disney World.
JD Hansel: What does this mean for us? Are we going back to what it was like before the renaissance where we're a little band of people talking about an obscure property, or are things just gonna keep on keeping on?
Jarrod Fairclough: For my own sake, I'm hoping this is just a lull, this is a like a calm before the storm. I'm hoping something gets announced, I don't think anything will be announced this year, or if it does, I don't think we'll see anything big. But when you're a site that tries to do stuff every day, and especially basically doing it on your own like I am, for the most part, it's just me doing the Muppet Mindset every day, I'm desperate for information, news, something to happen, so I have something to talk about. I think occasionally there's news that's just not worth reporting, I don't think I reported on that toilet, cause I thought "What's the point? I'm not allowing myself to let that be news." I think this lull is a lot more difficult for me than it would've been before I took over the site. Cause the Mindset's a big part of my life now and when I've got nothing to do, I feel like I'm not doing my job, I feel like I'm letting down the people who like the site, I feel like I'm letting down Ryan Dosier, so that's why I'm desperate for news. Cause I don't wanna keep feeling like I'm not doing my job.
Steve Swanson: See, that's interesting, that's the exact opposite of how I feel about it. I mean I agree we're in a lull right now. I don't think we've gone back to the dark ages because, the dark ages was before Disney owned the Muppet property, and I think them owning it opens up a lot of doors. But there's a lull, I agree with that. I do definitely feel the absence of new stuff to talk about, but I don't feel the same urgency, Jarrod, that you probably feel. I haven't done a new episode of the MuppetCast, in fact, I've struggled with new things to do in the show. Lately I've been doing off-and-on the MuppetCast Mailbag Monday shows, which is really just an extended Q&A thing, that at least allows me to talk about the Muppets based on questions that people send, and it allows me to do a Muppets 101 for people who don't know a lot about the characters, and I can decimate a lot of this useless knowledge that I've acquired over the last 10 years now, but I don't feel an urgency to put out a new show all the time, I haven't in quite some time. My creative energy with that, I've talked about all the movies, and TV shows and done a ton of interviews, and are there more people to talk to? Yes, there's always more people to talk to, but until and unless there's a lot of new stuff coming out with Muppets again, I'm good with just letting the website sit there. And all those shows and everything is still there, and I'm glad all that work has been done, but I'm not chomping at the bit the same way most people are to put something new out there. Maybe that kinda makes me a jerk though, I don't know.
Jarrod: No, no, no.
JD: Yeah, in a way it almost does because... Obviously I mean that as a joke, I love ya Steve, but you've set up your website in a different way from the other fansites and I've done the same thing, we don't really do regular, consistent articles, regular, consistent news, we just kinda do stuff when we feel like it's worth doing stuff, which can be very good, cause it means when we release something it's more likely to be a good production, if it goes well, but it also means that we're not gonna have as devoted of an audience, and give them that same sense that there's something consistently good in life every single day or week. So Jarrod, you might feel like you have a responsibility that we feel like we don't have because, you're picking up where Ryan Doiser left off.
Jarrod: Exactly right. Ryan was posting almost every day for 5 and-a-half years. And I shouldn't say I'm doing it on my own, I've got Kieran Moore who writes top 10 lists of songs every Friday, Abigail Maughan who writes really good stuff, Mitchell Stein to a point, although he's busy with the Mickey Mindset. I would like more people on the team, I'd like to feel that responsibility less, but I'm also okay with not doing things on the site for a while. Like between Christmas and New Year, there wasn't much on the site at all, I posted maybe twice. Because I was on holiday, I was enjoying Christmas, I thought "You know what? The site will be okay for a couple weeks." But I feel like a week or so, especially at this point in the year, is the max I can afford to leave it before I feel like I'm not doing the job that Ryan asked me to do.

 

[DarthGonzo]

We can't forget TMS, MT, TM2015, and that new Muppets series! I mean, the 3rd mentioned show was produced for ABC, a Disney owned network, and the 4th mentioned one was gonna be in production at some point.

TMS=The Muppet Show
MT=Muppets Tonight
TM2015=The Muppets (2015)

I’m not forgetting any of that stuff. I just don’t think we’ll see any of it.

 

[D'Snowth]

D'Snowth is right. I think music went downhill once pop stars like Britney Spears and Hilary Duff and boy bands started coming onto the mainstream, because all they really had to do was rely on an eccentric Swedish songwriter to help write most of their material. I'm not saying all today's music is bad, but I think we've reached a point where much of mainstream pop and rock music has become very prosaic, it just doesn't seem too original, catchy, or even most importantly, distinctive. That was one of the good things about music that came out of the 60s and 70s; it was a lot more distinctive and experimental. Today, especially with rock and metal, it seems like EVERY lead singer has an Eddie Vedder-esque voice.

I don't remember ever singling out Britney or Hilary - let alone ever mentioning them - but yes, there are some very rare exceptions where more modern pop songs kind of stick, and really aren't that bad. Anything by Train, for example ("Hey Soul Sister," "Play That Song"), "Break Even" by The Script, "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, and "Sugar" by Maroon V are some of the only more contemporary pop songs that I've genuinely enjoyed (the latter of which was stuck in my head for the longest time years ago).

I have to say, even "Cheap Thrills" by Mushroom Hair (I mean Sia) has grown on me, even though it suffers from one of the main problems that almost all modern pop music suffers from: repetitive lyrics. But again, this is attributed to Americans apparently having such short attention spans these days, that lyrics have to be repetitive so people will remember them better.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Eh, it's scientifically proven that people's tastes in music basically stay the same from the time they're teenagers. So, no matter what, people are always gonna like the music they grew up with, or music that has similar qualities to music they grew up with. Pop music, minus a few exceptions have always been about how to please the easiest to please demographic.

I actually somehow evolved from a hard rock AC/DC/Zeppelin/Sabbath fan in my teenage years into a "wussy" Carpenters one as an adult; you could just say I'm a fan of '70s music, but I prefer the songwriting to be a little more complex. I'm definitely not as easily amused as I was as a teen.

Since Snowth used Train as an example, I think Meet Virginia and Drops of Jupiter are some of the best songs I've ever heard, but can't stand anything post/including Hey Soul Sister; Hey Soul Sister was one thing, but the new stuff is absolutely unbearable... different strokes for different folks I guess.

I was honestly thinking the other day that the era defines the artists and not the other way around, cause there are some legendary acts that have put out horrible stuff that has reeked of trying to imitate whatever's popular atm; on the flip side, I'd be keen to hear what Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga would sound like if you dropped them in the '70s. Of course every era has its duds, but to me, Train is a prototypical example of an era defining an artist.

Typically, I like music you can listen to any time of day; sometimes I walk into work tired af and something like 'Welcome to the Jungle' is blaring over the PA, and I'm just like "turn this **** off" . It doesn't help that they play that song everyday. Nothing against GnR, but the rare best songs are genre-less and suit any mood: 'Solsbury Hill' by Gabriel for example.

 

[Prof Bunsen]

'Solsbury Hill' by Gabriel for example.

Peter Gabriel is the quintessential example of good music. So is one of my all-time favorite albums. It would be great if we saw him on Sesame Street or having a cameo in the "next" (in quotes because we don't know if Disney will seriously consider a sequel) film.

 

[D'Snowth]

I would also point out that my taste in music continued to broaden and develop beyond my teen years. Or, at the very least, I listened to certain genres more and more as I got older than I did when I was younger.

 

[ConsummateVs]

How on earth did we get so off-topic here?

 

[D'Snowth]

Because we are MC, which is CM backwards.