No, it's Not Just You: Music has Gotten Worse

[brian64]

The music industry specifically, and entertainment in general, is run by a few narcissistic people/corporations.

Brought to mind Tom Petty's album The Last DJ which is all about the music business.

In particular, the song "Joe":

My name's Joe, I'm the CEO
Yeah I'm the man makes the big wheels roll
I'm the hand on the green-light switch
You get to be famous, I get to be rich

Go get me a kid with a good-looking face
Bring me a kid can remember his place
Some hungry poet son-of-a-bitch
He gets to be famous, I get to be rich

Or bring me a girl
They're always the best
You put 'em on stage and you have 'em undress
Some angel whore who can learn a guitar lick
Hey! Now that's what I call music!

Well, they'll come looking for money when the public gets bored
But we'll fight 'em with lawyers they could never afford
Yeah, I'll make her look like a spoiled little bitch
She gets to be famous, I get to be rich

So burned-out Johnny thinks the books are shifty
What good is that alky to me when he's fifty?
Well we could move catalog, if he'd only die quicker
Send my regards to the gig and a case of good liquor

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

All I know is Taylor Swift is hotter than Britney Spears.
And as time goes on Taylor hasn't gone insane, or at least she hasn't gone insane to the point of losing basic motor function, so by that metric I'd say pop music has improved in the last 20 years.

 

[RookieGuy80]

I remember my folks decrying bands I was growing up with like Alice in Chains and Soul Asylum, I remember hearing my grandparents complained about Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper and those long haired troublemaking young punks from Liverpool my parents listened to in their youths. And I'm really trying to figure out the "music" of my own children. Lo-fi video game music, much sounds like noise with some of the noises coming across as not unpleasant sounds.
To go one further, I remember my grandmother being completely unable to find anything redeeming in Nirvana not 2 hours after hearing stories of her having to sneak in records past her parents because the band was multiracial.

Now I do have a thought for our more experienced members. I'm younger still, so this is born from youth and inexperience. When looking back at art in general, we see the work that stood the test of time. Sinatra, Presley, Lennon/McCartney, The Who, Zeppelin, BB King, Sousa, Springsteen, Madonna, Pearl Jam, Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Here are some of the talented bands/ people we like to point to when saying how bad music is now. But none of those acts existed in a vacuum. All were on the radio or record store shelves alongside lesser known, lesser talented artists (whatever that means to you). My question to everyone, myself included, would be how much of our nostalgia is these bands who stood the test of time? Is Deep Purple only as good as we remember because we're remembering them against Atomic Rooster or the Beaver Brown Band?

 

[bobomatic]

To each generation it's own. But if this generations taste in music is like their social woke philosophy, then what does it say about the soul of their songs? There's a reason why classics from Mozart, Puccini to Led Zeppelin are remembered. I dare say the Beyonces and Taylor Swifts of the industry won't be remembered 100 years from now, except to say they were the largest selling artist of their day. So what. Name one song of this generation that could compete with the heart and soul of Stairway to Heaven. Diddy? Beyonce? Bieber? They'll be forgotten but Freebird, Nessun Dorma and the like will always live on. My two cents.

 

[fireground_piper]

Eh, you won’t remember the songs if you aren’t a fan of the music. Plenty of people can’t name a Led Zeppelin song because simply, they don’t listen to Led Zeppelin. Not to mention they’ve had their own run ins over the years with court cases and articles discussing how much of their music was pulled from other artists. It’s all relative and we choose to remember what we like.

There will be plenty of people in the future who can list the songs they like from the pop music they listen to today. And you can’t overlook what Taylor swift has done from a business perspective in the past few years regarding rights management of her music. Like her or not, what she did should have a major impact for all artists in the future. And good for her on doing it.

Taylor Swift masters dispute - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[JOHN72]

Now there is a lot of fusion, everything is mixed. I stay with the 90's, downwards. You can't compare classical musical instruments with a digital machine, farting atomically, with a trained human voice, to give you goose bumps. I remember in Spain when the damn flamenco fusion was invented. For my taste it was a piece of shit as big as a piano. I agree, it has gotten worse.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Now that we are getting to the nitty gritty with the musicianship coming to the fore this is a great point, your last sentence is what drove me to post this in the first place. Where is the new Mahavishnu Orchestra where were they in the 80s,90's2000,2010's? Can it not be said that Jazz itself has been steadily losing its edge since the hard bob era? If the virtuosos are gone then what about the genius that brought them together with a unified vision? I'm sorry to say but I think this fates poorly for all music and most definitely pop.

I'll start by saying I stillcl enjoy contemporary jazz. However, there was a hard shift during the early to mid 70s that really changed the genre for good. Even the traditionalists weren't producing anything near what we saw in the 50s and 60s. Sure, the capabilities and technical abilities were there - but what was lacking ? 80s and 90s were a weird time for the genre, though the turn of the century started taking a turn for the better. Then things got progressive - like anything else.
I've noticed mainstream jazz now is very progressive - fusion is an understatement. The traditional trio sounds of the past seem to be more of an underground scene these days. Really takes some deep diving to find anything close to what used to be.
I won't even start in on other genres. I think we're in for a rude awakening as technology advances, though my pessimism may be naive. I just don't have high hopes.
What people view as "virtuosic" today (per any genre) is truly baffling to me, and saddening. I shouldn't get mad, but the praise for these B or even C list musicians just urks me to no end.

 

[vosBghos]

This is a good take on it. I want to add that post-production has made it so that every artist is "perfect." The problem with that for me is I like those little imperfections that make a piece of music really special. Sadly, in the mainstream especially, that seems to be gone...for now.

Yeah if you can clean it up in post or track 10 improvised solos and then cut and paste them together into one phenomenal solo why bother writing and being able to play a phenomenal solo in the first place? The way we approach even making music has completely changed.

 

[vosBghos]

I'll start by saying I stillcl enjoy contemporary jazz. However, there was a hard shift during the early to mid 70s that really changed the genre for good. Even the traditionalists weren't producing anything near what we saw in the 50s and 60s. Sure, the capabilities and technical abilities were there - but what was lacking ? 80s and 90s were a weird time for the genre, though the turn of the century started taking a turn for the better. Then things got progressive - like anything else.
I've noticed mainstream jazz now is very progressive - fusion is an understatement. The traditional trio sounds of the past seem to be more of an underground scene these days. Really takes some deep diving to find anything close to what used to be.
I won't even start in on other genres. I think we're in for a rude awakening as technology advances, though my pessimism may be naive. I just don't have high hopes.
What people view as "virtuosic" today (per any genre) is truly baffling to me, and saddening. I shouldn't get mad, but the praise for these B or even C list musicians just urks me to no end.

I'm completely with you on this seems like "slick" became the flavor of the 80's, not only in overall sound but the playing style itself and a lot of soul was lost and hardly ever is it found anymore.

 

[vosBghos]

All I know is Taylor Swift is hotter than Britney Spears.
And as time goes on Taylor hasn't gone insane, or at least she hasn't gone insane to the point of losing basic motor function, so by that metric I'd say pop music has improved in the last 20 years.

MK Ultra has been perfected with Taylor I'll grant you that

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

Tell me when the apex was?

 

[jpberg]

You old guys sound so old.

 

[jpberg]

“Yeah I’m 35/45/55/65 and there’s just no good new music!”
Will you fucking listen to yourselves?

 

[keith929]

I don't listen to much "pop" music these days.
I prefer the music the music I grew up with 40s/50s/60s 70s.
I try not to knock today's "pop" music because it wasn't created for my generation.
To each his own. That being said, in the words of Duke Ellington "There are really only two types of music good and bad".
I prefer good music regardless the genre.

 

[prairiedruid]

I could start singing at which point you would realize today's music really isn't that bad.

 

[brian64]

I could start singing at which point you would realize today's music really isn't that bad.

But that's just it you see...today they can make your singing sound good in the studio, and then you can just lip-sync at your concerts and no one will care.

 

[autumnfog]

Now there is a lot of fusion, everything is mixed. I stay with the 90's, downwards. You can't compare classical musical instruments with a digital machine, farting atomically, with a trained human voice, to give you goose bumps. I remember in Spain when the damn flamenco fusion was invented. For my taste it was a piece of shit as big as a piano. I agree, it has gotten worse.

Rap metal.

I rest my case.

 

[LeafErikson]

“Yeah I’m 35/45/55/65 and there’s just no good new music!”
Will you fucking listen to yourselves?

I’d expect nothing less from a bunch of grumpy old pipe smokers haha

 

[bobomatic]

I’d expect nothing less from a bunch of grumpy old pipe smokers haha

Now get off my lawn...

 

[LeafErikson]

Now get off my lawn...

You gotta give me a minute. My dog’s not done taking a crap on it.