Proof That Music Was Better 30 Years Ago
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I agree 100% that the music was better 30 years ago! Give me Nirvana or DMB or R.E.M. or Smashing Pumpkins, but whatever rocks your boat!
No. Music was better 50 & 60 years ago.
I'll stick with music from the 1920s to the 1990s. Now with IA, I don't want to imagine what will come next.
There’s plenty of great music being made today, you just need to go out and find it. That’s not to say the music of the past isn’t still great, but I discover new stuff from a multitude of genres all the time.
Yeah I disagree. Tons of good stuff coming out today.
There is excellent music being put out today, but you will not find it on the radio or mainstream, you have to hunt for it
To each their own...
..but that is a boring, generic rock song. Like if there was a Wal-Mart brand rock band.
..but that is a boring, generic rock song. Like if there was a Wal-Mart brand rock band.
Nostalgia helps us forget how much utter crap was being churned out in our formative years.
FYI... Long Read:
For me the 80's was the best decade for music in general. Sure the 50's had some great artists (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, etc.), the 60's gave us the British Invasion (Yardbirds, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Animals, the Zombies, etc.), along with some legendary American acts (Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Rival, etc.), which led the way for so many great bands/artists and guitar hero's in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Eagles, Rush, etc.), which gave way to what we saw in the 80's. The 90's was a progression of the 80's with new genres like Grunge (Green River, Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Melvins, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, etc.) and Alternative Rock (Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Jane's Addiction, etc.), and even Nu-Metal (Slipknot, Korn, Godsmack, System of a Down, etc.), and we saw a re-birth of Country and Country Rock (Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, etc.) but once the 2000's rolled around things became stagnate in my opinion, and nothing really new came about. Some of the genre's died off for the most part along with many of the bands from those genres. Personally I think it was because so many record labels over-saturated the market with lesser quality bands trying to capitalize on the moment. For the me the last 20+ years hasn't given us much in my opinion.
I think most artists/bands from the past 20 years rely to much of other people to write their songs, or they use Pro Tools and over produce an album instead of playing music from the heart and with feeling. There's a reason why songs from the 50's through 80's sound great still today; many albums were done on a minimal budget, recorded in a handful of takes, some recorded live, recorded with none or minimal over-dubs, and they weren't over produced, so what you heard on an album is what you got in concert. Today's music is spliced together from about 100 different takes and you just don't get the same feel.
The 80's had so much variety, and so many great artists in so many different genres (Pop Rock, R&B, Blues Rock, Country, New Wave, Hip-Hop/Rap, Punk, Hardcore Punk, Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary, Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal. With Heavy Metal we saw new sub-genres be born such as Glam Metal, Thrash, Speed Metal, Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Grind-core, and Industrial Metal. If you're a Heavy Metal fan, the 80's were the best.
Here are a few examples of some of the quality bands/artists that were influential in the 80's.
Pop Rock - Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Wham, etc.
R&B - Boyz II Men, New Edition, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Bell Biv DeVoe, etc.
Blues Rock - Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dire Straits, and a rebirth of so many great blues musicians
Country - Alabama, The Judds, The Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, etc.
New Wave - Devo, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, etc.
Hip-Hop/Rap - Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, The Sugarhill Gang, The Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, etc.
Punk/ Hardcore Punk - Ramones, Bad Religion, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Agnostic Front, etc.
Hard Rock - Van Halen, Scorpions, Journey, AC/DC (re-birth), Aerosmith (re-birth), etc.
Heavy Metal - Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, etc.
Glam Metal - Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc.
Thrash - Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament, Overkill, Exodus, etc.
Progressive Metal - Rush, Queensryche, Savatage, Fates Warning, etc.
Power Metal - Manowar, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Riot, etc.
Death Metal - Death, Possessed, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, etc.
Black Metal - Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Mayhem, etc.
Doom - Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Candlemass, Trouble, Witchfinder General, etc.
Industrial Metal - Ministry, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
Again, with all the great bands from the 50's through 90's, my vote still goes to the 80's for best decade of music.
For me the 80's was the best decade for music in general. Sure the 50's had some great artists (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, etc.), the 60's gave us the British Invasion (Yardbirds, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Animals, the Zombies, etc.), along with some legendary American acts (Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Rival, etc.), which led the way for so many great bands/artists and guitar hero's in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Eagles, Rush, etc.), which gave way to what we saw in the 80's. The 90's was a progression of the 80's with new genres like Grunge (Green River, Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Melvins, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, etc.) and Alternative Rock (Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Jane's Addiction, etc.), and even Nu-Metal (Slipknot, Korn, Godsmack, System of a Down, etc.), and we saw a re-birth of Country and Country Rock (Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, etc.) but once the 2000's rolled around things became stagnate in my opinion, and nothing really new came about. Some of the genre's died off for the most part along with many of the bands from those genres. Personally I think it was because so many record labels over-saturated the market with lesser quality bands trying to capitalize on the moment. For the me the last 20+ years hasn't given us much in my opinion.
I think most artists/bands from the past 20 years rely to much of other people to write their songs, or they use Pro Tools and over produce an album instead of playing music from the heart and with feeling. There's a reason why songs from the 50's through 80's sound great still today; many albums were done on a minimal budget, recorded in a handful of takes, some recorded live, recorded with none or minimal over-dubs, and they weren't over produced, so what you heard on an album is what you got in concert. Today's music is spliced together from about 100 different takes and you just don't get the same feel.
The 80's had so much variety, and so many great artists in so many different genres (Pop Rock, R&B, Blues Rock, Country, New Wave, Hip-Hop/Rap, Punk, Hardcore Punk, Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary, Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal. With Heavy Metal we saw new sub-genres be born such as Glam Metal, Thrash, Speed Metal, Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Grind-core, and Industrial Metal. If you're a Heavy Metal fan, the 80's were the best.
Here are a few examples of some of the quality bands/artists that were influential in the 80's.
Pop Rock - Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Wham, etc.
R&B - Boyz II Men, New Edition, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Bell Biv DeVoe, etc.
Blues Rock - Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dire Straits, and a rebirth of so many great blues musicians
Country - Alabama, The Judds, The Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, etc.
New Wave - Devo, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, etc.
Hip-Hop/Rap - Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, The Sugarhill Gang, The Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, etc.
Punk/ Hardcore Punk - Ramones, Bad Religion, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Agnostic Front, etc.
Hard Rock - Van Halen, Scorpions, Journey, AC/DC (re-birth), Aerosmith (re-birth), etc.
Heavy Metal - Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, etc.
Glam Metal - Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc.
Thrash - Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament, Overkill, Exodus, etc.
Progressive Metal - Rush, Queensryche, Savatage, Fates Warning, etc.
Power Metal - Manowar, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Riot, etc.
Death Metal - Death, Possessed, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, etc.
Black Metal - Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Mayhem, etc.
Doom - Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Candlemass, Trouble, Witchfinder General, etc.
Industrial Metal - Ministry, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
Again, with all the great bands from the 50's through 90's, my vote still goes to the 80's for best decade of music.
Yeah, old stuff was better.
Or this banger from 30 years ago...
Other better music from 30 years ago includes:
Hanson - "MMMBop"
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
Aqua - "Barbie Girl"
Sugar Ray (any song, just literally pick any of them)
Limp Bizkit...
Or this banger from 30 years ago...
Other better music from 30 years ago includes:
Hanson - "MMMBop"
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
Aqua - "Barbie Girl"
Sugar Ray (any song, just literally pick any of them)
Limp Bizkit...
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60's, 70's and early 80's for me. Except for a few high points its been downhill since then. Im sure there are more hidden pockets of good stuff but I was too busy to look for them. I think we typically view the best stuff as what we listened to when we were young. On the whole I feel sorry for todays youth being exposed to so much disposable "Music".
Homophobia had been fostered and somewhat ingrained into my consciousness and when things became androgenic I lost contact with most 'new' music after the 70's. I was born in '48, so I had been exposed to the best 20 yrs of recorded music to that time. It took me till I was in my 40's, and a serendipitous encounter with a cover band at Universal Studios in Orlando, during Halloween Horror Nights, to which I'd taken my two kids to experience, to realize the value of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, because Freddie Mercury threatened my manhood. ( i had a similar response when i first saw Rod Stewart, before he opened his mouth, in '69)
As others have said, there's lots of great music being put out today but it's hard to find. The minute I find myself over-listening to 70's/80's/90's music is just a moment before I realize I need to broaden my horizons to current music as well as other genres.
Jazz is cool but I can only take it in small doses. And I was a jazz percussionist through high school. I like it but I don't connect with it.
My listening habits tend to be influenced mostly by my mood. Sometimes I need metal (Tool, SOAD, Metallixa, Maiden, Pantera, Helmet). Sometimes trip hop (Portishead, Zero 7, Massive Attack). Classic Rock, Grunge, Country, Punk, Postcore, Industrial (NiN, Ministry), and Indie.
One good way to start conditioning yourself to find new music is to look at the discography of an artist you like.
Take Queen. Most people only listen to the typical Queen standards (Bohemian, Bicycle, AOBTD, Killer Queen, Break Free, Somebody to Love, et al.) but they have some other great ones you probably haven't heard. It's more than just listening to a B-side. It's exploring the whole catalogue.
"It's Late" has a great 70s rock riff.
"Fight From the Inside" - sounds like it could have been on Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album. Great riff.
"It's a Hard Life" - heartbreak song
"My Melancholy Blues" - jazzy number
Most of the obscure, great new music I've found was through SiriusXM - channel XMU. Then I take odd artists of a song I like and plug them into Pandora and it starts playing more obscure music.
Also, believe it or not, watching Yo Gabba Gabba when my son was young. They would have indie artists on every show and I would look them up on Youtube afterwards and found some great music! The Faint, Chromeo, The Shins).
Also check out NPR's Tiny Desk concerts on Youtube. Amazing artists.
Jazz is cool but I can only take it in small doses. And I was a jazz percussionist through high school. I like it but I don't connect with it.
My listening habits tend to be influenced mostly by my mood. Sometimes I need metal (Tool, SOAD, Metallixa, Maiden, Pantera, Helmet). Sometimes trip hop (Portishead, Zero 7, Massive Attack). Classic Rock, Grunge, Country, Punk, Postcore, Industrial (NiN, Ministry), and Indie.
One good way to start conditioning yourself to find new music is to look at the discography of an artist you like.
Take Queen. Most people only listen to the typical Queen standards (Bohemian, Bicycle, AOBTD, Killer Queen, Break Free, Somebody to Love, et al.) but they have some other great ones you probably haven't heard. It's more than just listening to a B-side. It's exploring the whole catalogue.
"It's Late" has a great 70s rock riff.
"Fight From the Inside" - sounds like it could have been on Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album. Great riff.
"It's a Hard Life" - heartbreak song
"My Melancholy Blues" - jazzy number
Most of the obscure, great new music I've found was through SiriusXM - channel XMU. Then I take odd artists of a song I like and plug them into Pandora and it starts playing more obscure music.
Also, believe it or not, watching Yo Gabba Gabba when my son was young. They would have indie artists on every show and I would look them up on Youtube afterwards and found some great music! The Faint, Chromeo, The Shins).
Also check out NPR's Tiny Desk concerts on Youtube. Amazing artists.