Cheesy backing tracks and sythns in accordion music

[Ganza]

I've mentioned this in the post someone created called Genres you can't stand:
Why do so many accordion instrumental tracks especially from Europe it seems, still use very cheesy often awful backing tracks, with synth splurges and fake percussion sounds?
Didnt these sounds go out in the majority of music in the 80s? I know indie music often uses synths but they do it as more of a kind of "wash" of sound... And electronic music often uses fake percussion, BUT it sounds more real than those accordion backing tracks?
I was listening to an album on Spotify called Musette Party with great current accordionists like Ludovic Beier, but the backing tracks were like some sad old guy with an 80s casio keyboard out the front of department stores at Christmas.
I really feel this over use of backing tracks contributes to the (thankfully seemingly changing) attitude of many younger people to the accordion in many countries...
What are the reasons for the backing tracks? Is it to save money? Or is it because maybe the synthesiser is not considered to ve that cheesy/a musical faux-pas in some musical cultures?

 

[maugein96]

Hi Ganza,

When the sad old guys who played French musette started passing away I began to lose interest in the accordion. Modern French musette is full of the backing tracks you mention, and even by the early 70s it was a rare event indeed to find a tape or CD that was not spoiled by dodgy backing tracks.

Then there was the issue of "live" performances on French TV when the accordionist simply came on and mimed the tune being played, complete with awful backing. It was often the case that the player was out of synch with the recording, often with amusing results. They also had to cover the accordion manufacturer's logo with tape, as advertising was not allowed on the TV channels concerned,

I well remember watching Lolou Legrand wearing a larger than life toupee, dressed in a gold suit and trying to keep in synch with his own composition being played. His Fratelli Crosio accordion was anonymously taped, or rather it would have been had the grille not been a dead giveaway. At that point I really began to wonder why I had chosen to play French musette on the accordion. It all sounded far better when I first listened to it in the early 50s as an infant, and you couldn't see the garb worn by the players.

The biggest tragedy in the history of French musette was when players like Emile Carrara, Tony Murena, Marcel Azzola, and other "big names" started playing single reed stuff through amplifiers. It sounded awful, but it was the in thing at the time and they sold millions of records.

I fear that the days of the terrible backing track will be with us for a long time yet, as more and more novel sounds are being created by the devices that are capable of playing them. I would reckon that money will play its part, as a machine worth a few hundred of whatever monetary units you happen to fancy will obviously be inherently cheaper than the employment of competent musicians.

 

[Glenn]

It doesn't have to sound cheesy but it always does if it's auto generated with no effort to improve it. Most current popular music is stuffed full with samples and synths but this is done carefully and with skill. A quick band in a box track will never cut it.