Please allow me to introduce myself....

What the hell's with music these days?!? (you may now picture me with thin hair, false teeth and a cane).

Back in the day (read: 80's & 90's), you knew who was singing a song because the band/singer would usually have a distinct sound (think Rick Astley, really could you confuse him with Howard Jones?, No.  Pearl Jam and Nirvana sounded distinctly different too, although both were grunge).

Even if the bands were similar in sound/genre you could tell one from the other (New Order/Depeche Mode/Erasure).

Nowadays in order to make sure your audience knows it's you singing, you apparently have to state your name (at some point) during the song for identification purposes.

Examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elueA2rofoo  Britney Spears Gimme More.  Apparently if she didn't inform me that "It's Britney, bitch", then I wouldn't be able to pick out her over processed voice out of the hundreds of other singers who speak more than sing.  Thanks Brit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM  Shakira's Hips Don't Lie.  This was the first song that I recall doing the whole naming who it is.  Since I don't listen to her music I did need the prompt to know who it was. But really Wyclef, did you have to say "Shakira" 10 times in 3:39?  That's once every 34 seconds!

Usher, you rock my socks.  However, you've reached the level of fame where you don't have to introduce yourself to us.  Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dvTjK_07c and Pitbull needs his 10 seconds too.

That said, Mr. Pit (or is it Bull or Mr. Worldwide which he refers to in every song he's featured in), does the same thing for both JLo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4H_Zoh7G5A and Enrique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9_n8jakvWU. 

Enrique gets two entries due to this one too (and the fact that I think he's kinda hot.  Shut up, it's my blog): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UecPqm2Dbes and Ludacris gets double whammied with this ditty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SI2EDM6Lo.  Really makes you wonder if anyone has their own career, or if the music industry has become so incestuous no one just works on their own music anymore.


David Guetta has pimped himself out to just about everyone these days.
Flo Rida  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgM3r8xKfGE
Nicki Minaj
LMFAO (with Fergie too)
Akon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hazmsUxrM
Rhianna
Just to name a few.
Ever notice how much he looks like Ken Paves of Jessica Simpson's hair fame?  Strange. And Owen "penis nose" Wilson.

I don't recall the Beatles introducing themselves.  Or Duran Duran, Nine Inch Nails, U2, Elvis, even Michael Jackson didn't need to introduce himself (and between his face and falsetto he could have been mistaken for any number of his siblings).

The Stones did, but at lease they tried to make a game out of it.

Seems to be an interesting time for collaborative music. Hopefully someone with a distinct enough sound/voice will come along who needs no introduction. In the mean time, it makes it easier to download songs from iTunes when you know who the artist it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE66txjCJYM  because it's stuck in my head and should be in yours too!

Mel

(Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel) Just in case you didn't know =D