Max Martin: Evil Genius

You know who Max Martin is. You might think you don't, but you do. He's a music producer from Sweden who has had his hand in elevating a myriad of popstars into the limelight. When I found out how many of the hit songs that he has written since the 1990's I was in complete shock. Even though I hate a lot of the song, and know that they are unashamedly pop drivel, I can't help but admire this man. He has tapped into what pop music is. He has been able use all of your favourite pop acts as his puppets to churn out hit after hit after hit. He's basically averaging a number one single every year for the last fifteen years, and that doesn't even include all of his top ten singles.

You're All Jealous 

I would love to completely hate this guy for everything he has done to the music industry, but I don't. If what he does is so easy then why don't we all do it? He clearly has musical talent, but unfortunately he uses his powers for evil. It's hard to believe he started out as the lead singer of an 80's glam-rock band. That was all put behind him, however, when he started working with another producer Denniz PoP. That guy saw Martin's pop writing talent and got him working on an album for a new boyband. That band was The Backstreet Boys. It was Martin who wrote "I want it that way", "Everybody" and "As Long As You Love Me". After that the dude was on the map.

Boybandilicious

In 1998, Martin wrote what is perhaps his best known song, but nobody knows that it was his. He was called in to work on an album for a new, 17-year-old artist named Britney Spears. He wrote her first hit song "...Baby One More Time" and it is still her best selling single to this day. You can thank Max Martin for us having Britney (bitch) in our lives. I don't really know if that's a good thing, but fair play to them both. They collaborated on Britney's next album too, and both party's were a major success.

Martin eventually set up his own production company and it blossomed. He changed up his style from what he did with Spears, The Backstreet Boys and N'Sync, and began working with Kelly Clarkson. He wrote and produced songs like "Since You've Been Gone" and (fairly recently) "My Life Would Suck Without You". This man can just keep churning out the hits and it doesn't seem like it's ever going to stop. He's worked with P!nk. He's worked with Bon Jovi ("It's My Life"). He's basically written every one of Katy Perry's hits (Maybe he actually kissed the girl). Max Martin is a juggernaut in the music industry. I mean, even artists who we think write their own music actually are working with him. He co-wrote "We Are Never Getting Back Together", "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "22" with Taylor Swift. I'll bet she never says that in any interviews. The music industry is so sneaky sometimes.

OK, I don't like the majority of the songs that Martin has written. If I was rating the songs they would get a Fucking Shit rating, but for the fact that Max Martin has been consistently able to reach the top of the charts for the last fifteen years without going through a rough patch, I'll bump him up to being Just Shit.