Music of the day....

[RobertScorpio]

Does the music of today really suck? To honest, that's the statement that all earlier generations say. I remember my grandfather complaining about 'modern' music..forever.

"Why," he would say, "what happened to the great ones like Sinatra and Crosby?"

Then my own mom would bag on modern music, "at least we had Buddy Holly and Elvis..."

And now, today, I find myself in the same situation. I can't stand any modern music. Alicia Keys, Smashing Pumpkins, Pink, Green Day..yuck. I mean, we had the Doors, and the Who, even the Police.

So...you young whipper snappers, does today's music suck or am I out of my mind...

Rob

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Does the music of today really suck? To honest, that's the statement that all earlier generations say. I remember my grandfather complaining about 'modern' music..forever.

"Why," he would say, "what happened to the great ones like Sinatra and Crosby?"

Then my own mom would bag on modern music, "at least we had Buddy Holly and Elvis..."

And now, today, I find myself in the same situation. I can't stand any modern music. Alicia Keys, Smashing Pumpkins, Pink, Green Day..yuck. I mean, we had the Doors, and the Who, even the Police.

So...you young whipper snappers, does today's music suck or am I out of my mind...

Rob

The stuff on the radio sucks, for the most part. Never before have we seen such a proliferation of suckiness in mainstream pop music. But there's plenty of new stuff that's worthwhile, and it's much easier to find something that appeals to you than ever before, as well. You know, internet and all.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

It only seems that older music is the best because as the years go by, only the best old music survives and is remembered as the "definitive" music by the general public - all the rubbish old music is long forgotten except by keen enthusiasts, oldies specialists, and aficionados. With today's music, there's no certainty as to which music will last the year, let alone the decades.

Really, there's always been good music and bad music at any period in the history of music - it's only the best good music that people remember and love and use to compare with the new.

Time is the greatest sifter of wheat from chaff.

 

[RoJoHen]

Current popular music isn't terrible, but the problem is that nothing really stands out. It's just okay.

I think it's a great time to be a teeny bopper. Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers are big hits. There just isn't a whole lot on the market for the more mature crowd.

 

[Geckothan]

I think it's more that the tastes of the general listening public have gone downhill than the quality of the music being made. There's still plenty of good stuff being made that just doesn't receive any airplay. 99.999% of the stuff on the charts does suck though, yes. You either get something called "R'n'B" (which doesn't bear any resemblance to the genre "rhythm and blues"), crappy dance music, "gangsta rap" or fake "Indie" rock. Occasionally you get good stuff like Dream Theater in the charts (I remember their last release did quite well), but only because they've built up a fairly large fanbase over the years. When you consider that back in the 70s, stuff like Yes and ELP was in the charts, the state of popular music today is pretty bad.

 

[RoJoHen]

That's the thing, though. Why isn't the "good" music being played on the radio? Why isn't it more popular?

Most of the music I listen to has never been on the radio (or it shows up on the radio and becomes popular 2-3 years after I started listening to it).

 

[Amaris]

I have mixed feelings on the subject. I don't think it's any one thing. For me, Zion Ravescene quite handily sums it up regarding my outlook on past music, and I also share his uncertainty on the future of current music.

Most modern music lends it's existence to the post production system once the artist leaves the studio with his or her entourage. The popularity of Studio Magic is a bit annoying, as I hear it in everything. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it works to great effect, but it's not needed as often as it's used. It's overkill, in my opinion, and it lets mediocre singers become stars. I start to wonder why they don't just pull somebody off the street and throw them behind the mic because post is going to do most of the work anyway. Of course, then I remember that music is about image, for some odd reason, and the star or starlet has to look mighty good for the promotion and music video circuit.

I think major record labels have become their own worst enemy. Let's take food as an example. Sometimes, there's nothing like a delicious apple. It's crunchy, it's juicy, it's full of flavor and you can taste the nuances between varieties of the apple. A business comes along and says they can improve on the apple, and they take to sweetening, reconstituting, processing, congealing and reintegrating the apple into an apple based food product. The end result is artificial, and while for many it can be pleasing, it's still just not as satisfying as a real apple plucked from a tree.

 

[Jetfire]

I like alot of death metal, black metal and what some call nu-metal...however, I also like softer stuff with female vocals.

I don't care about what is popular...I just listen to what I like.

 

[Tom Riley]

All I have to say is that I've been told am very easy to please. I like most any music, including modern music. In fact, Lady Gaga is amazing, and there is not a Fall Out Boy song I don't like. I'm probably not the right person to comment on how good current music is, as 9 times out of 10 I'll like whatever song is on the radio on any given station at any given time.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I have mixed feelings on the subject. I don't think it's any one thing. For me, Zion Ravescene quite handily sums it up regarding my outlook on past music, and I also share his uncertainty on the future of current music.

Just to explain further, the uncertainty of the future of current music as you describe refers to how music was perceived at the time, though. It's easy to see in hindsight that one music act or genre would live on in the future, but at the time it was anyone's guess as to, for example, whether the likes of Freddie and the Dreamers would have as long a legacy as The Hollies or The Beatles, or whether Kylie Minogue would outlast Jason Donovan, whether Menswear and Kula Shaker would be more successful than Blur or Oasis, etc.

 

[CaptainStoner]

The stuff on the radio sucks, for the most part. Never before have we seen such a proliferation of suckiness in mainstream pop music. But there's plenty of new stuff that's worthwhile, and it's much easier to find something that appeals to you than ever before, as well. You know, internet and all.

This. Though I do find it good to give the radio play a listen now and then. Though I tend to listen to it more for its sound mixing/textures than for the songs.

Time is the greatest sifter of wheat from chaff.

And also this, a great metaphor of it. And hopefully, the forgotten wheat finds its way as well. There's the band name of the day: forgotten wheat. Maybe one of Dylan's backing bands.

That's the thing, though. Why isn't the "good" music being played on the radio? Why isn't it more popular?
Most of the music I listen to has never been on the radio (or it shows up on the radio and becomes popular 2-3 years after I started listening to it).

Radio music is so tightly controlled, usually so heavily produced. It's a commercial commodity played in between commercials.
I've often wondered this also about some of the aforementioned classic rock bands. The Doors don't really get played. It's just the same 2 or 3 songs. Only what fits the commercial medium, whether the music was commercial to begin with or not.
Outside of the radio world there is the artistic world of music, a much broader, more varied stream, more wheat, more chaff, more everything. Living and breathing and doing its thing whether anyone is there to hear it or not.

I start to wonder why they don't just pull somebody off the street and throw them behind the mic because post is going to do most of the work anyway

I think this does happen. We end up with people who can't sing, can't play, and are largely a produced, perhaps even exploited, commodity.

I think major record labels have become their own worst enemy. Let's take food as an example. Sometimes, there's nothing like a delicious apple. It's crunchy, it's juicy, it's full of flavor and you can taste the nuances between varieties of the apple. A business comes along and says they can improve on the apple, and they take to sweetening, reconstituting, processing, congealing and reintegrating the apple into an apple based food product. The end result is artificial, and while for many it can be pleasing, it's still just not as satisfying as a real apple plucked from a tree.

Yeah. The McDonald's factor. How Great White Capitalism sucks its own soul and shits on the world.