TAXI.com

Here's the listing:MODERN POP/ROCK SONGS a la Rob Thomas, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, Natasha Bedingfield, etc. are sought after by a Nashville producer who still needs to find several tracks for a couple of artist projects he's working on. He's looking for very radio-friendly material with big chorus hooks and accessible lyrics. He would like to hear more of a lean toward rock than pop, but he's primarily interested in catchy melodies and memorable hooks. He's open to songs for either male or female artists, so either lyric/vocal perspective will be just fine. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. Submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received by July 28, 2008. TAXI #S080728MPHere's the song:http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... trueHere's the critique:Music, Musicianship and Lead Vocal got 8'sEverything else got 7'sGood song structure, good melodic ideas in the vocal melody. Song has a classic rock vibe/arrangement - update your sound here and bring this tune closer to a current modern pop song.Style:Not close enough to what the listing asked forNot "current" soundingSong has a classic rock vibe which is a distinctly different sound than modern pop.Overall Comments:Hi Barry, overall, you have a good feel for writing but your arrangement is a bit in the past - consider your instrumentation choices and sounds, and your part-writing and bring this song up to date and give it more of a modern pop vibe. Classic rock has a male audience for the most part and modern pop has a young female audience - so the lyrics and melody need to be compelling for these girls to sing along to. Keep writing and continue to develop your ideas. Good potential here.The main reason(s) you were or were not forwarded for this listing is:Return - good ideas here but the song has a classic rock vibe which is a different genre and audience than modern pop.Here is my question:Does this sound like a "classic rock" song to you? If so, man, I need to update what I think is classic rock. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't write the song specifically for the listing so it may not be as "pop" as they were wanting, but because the listing said the producer was looking for songs that leaned more towards rock than pop, I thought it might fit. I also know it would have helped to have a female lead vocal on the song but that wasn't a possibility at the time and the listing said that either perspective was fine. I personally feel like the song has a Kelly Clarkson vibe to it but maybe I'm wrong. I submitted this to another similar listing, so I'll be curious to see what happens with that one. Oh well... write, submit, repeat.- Big Blue

BBB do you have a link?

Dude...give us a link so we may judge you properly.

Sorry about that, got in a hurry. The link has been added to the original post.- Big Blue

Yeah, I think the screeners wrong about this being closer to classic rock than modern...How many classic rock songs have that type of drum machin-ish eq'd thingy going on?Those type listings are so tough, I don't even bother with them anymore.I liked the tune.Edit: Barry, you might want to check out the "Forwards" forum as it looks like RLC got a forward on this listing.

Thanks for the heads up RLD, I'll go check it out!- Big Blue

hi big man--fwiw, i dig it, think it's quite current sounding, and compared to allot of what i hear, it's Better Than That!!!!!!the best,warren

thanks Warren, I really appreciate that! - big blue

Hey Hey Blue!.Maybe the screener is in another dimension that is 20 years on the future. Maybe thats why it sounds like classic rock to him.I thought this song was very modern feeling. I can even hear a country/pop crossover here.Im not sure what the screener was talking about.Great song. I could definatley hear some American Idol kid singing this.Matt

Hey Big Blue, this certainly isn't classic rock . . . the only possible reason I could see for the connection would be the vocals, and I'm stretching for that. I'm like RLD on this & i think these listings are impossible. Throw in the word "Nashville" and you've just added another level to that impossible bar (although I see you're from Tenn. so you may have a better chance that most of us!)