Is music getting worse ?

[grandad]

An interesting video, thanks for posting.

I honestly haven't got the time to listen much contemporary music, I'm still discovering and rediscovering stuff from the early 1900's.

Since retiring from being a weekend warrior and joining an instrumental Jazz quartet I'm delighted to have the opportunity to learn and play some wonderful tunes such as 'Blue Skies', (Irving Berlin 1926), 'After You've Gone' (Turner Layton 1918) and many others. More modern stuff is also included but most does seems to be from the early 1900's onwards and then tailing off after the 60's.

On the other hand, the music club I help run which is really a gathering of the hasbeens and wannabes seems to regurge 50's, 60's & 70's songs with the occasional original folkie/grungey on a bad night.

My particular preference is country/folky/rock JJ Cale sort of music and this has led me to listen to a lot of CW stuff this year and to read about it, what a minefield that is.

It's time consuming sorting the wheat from the chaff. I like live music that can be performed by one or two or a few folk getting together and plugging in. Oh, not too shouty either.

So to answer the original question, I think the video tells the truth in that commercial music has become more a product now than it ever has been.

Edited August 11, 2019 by grandad
Poor punctuation, repetition and spelling.

[chris_b]

Is music getting worse?

If you grew up with the likes of Grandad by Clive Dunn, Mrs Mills and Agadoo etc peppering the charts you wouldn't think so.

[skankdelvar]

I'd like to say that now - right now - is a golden age of music with an unceasing flow of new stuff that will please the ear.

But that would be a lie.

Commercially produced music (and I include popular classical music) is currently in a trough so deep you'd need a bathyscaphe to explore it. Let's try, anyway.

Pop music is basically split three ways between (i) Large-bottomed ladies shrieking 'I'll suck you better than your girlfriend does' (ii) pallid, wistful, acoustic guitar-toting young men consumed by unrequited love (iii) stuff that's even worse, e.g., reunited Boy Bands on Zimmer frames. Or Christine and the Queens.

Rock music is either re-packaged compilation albums or un-listenable tripe performed by old men or un-listenable tripe (in a different way) performed by young men. Heritage acts dominate the touring circuit; Metallica and the Foo Fighters are applying for their bus passes. Young rock acts perform in toilet venues to two barmen and a dog but it serves them f*cking right because they're either copies of bands from the 1970's or their material is un-listenable tripe.

Minority genres like folk and jazz survive in their little bubbles of devoted acclamation. No one else gives a sh*t.

Contemporary popular classical music is best exemplified by Mr Ludovico Einaudi, a baldy man who plays repeated minimalistic arpeggios on a piano while someone else sketches out a rudimentary violin part, all of it shoved through a cavernous reverb. Classic FM won't stop playing Einaudi or his similarly gormless cohort Mr Karl Jenkins.

There are probably some areas of musical endeavour I've forgotten but who cares? Certainly not me and my cold, black heart.

It's all sh*t. Stupid music for stupid people who like music for people who don't really like music. 

Now go away.

Edited August 11, 2019 by skankdelvar
Issues of capitalising.

[ezbass]

Just now, chris_b said:

Is music getting worse?

If you grew up with the likes of Grandad by Clive Dunn, Mrs Mills and Agadoo etc peppering the charts you wouldn't think so.

This is the point I made earlier, although this time with some real toe curling examples; it’s always been dire one way or another.

[Cat Burrito]

As much as I love artists like the Rolling Stones & Elvis Presley, there are some great newer acts out there. If you haven't already, I seriously recommend you all check out some of the newer acts like David Bowie and The Clash. 😹

[knirirr]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

It's fairly obvious that most of us like the music from our formative years and nothing compares to it because we are no longer that age, sadly. 

It does seem to be true for most people.
Somehow, I seem to have ended up being an exception; I recall that all the music I heard around that age was either unpleasant to hear, or simply boring. It took until university to hear something I actually liked.

[sykilz]

35 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

I'd like to say that now - right now - is a golden age of music with an unceasing flow of new stuff that will please the ear.

But that would be a lie.

Commercially produced music (and I include popular classical music) is currently in a trough so deep you'd need a bathyscaphe to explore it. Let's try, anyway.

Pop music is basically split three ways between (i) Large-bottomed ladies shrieking 'I'll suck you better than your girlfriend does' (ii) pallid, wistful, acoustic guitar-toting young men consumed by unrequited love (iii) stuff that's even worse, e.g., reunited Boy Bands on Zimmer frames. Or Christine and the Queens.

Rock music is either re-packaged compilation albums or un-listenable tripe performed by old men or un-listenable tripe (in a different way) performed by young men. Heritage acts dominate the touring circuit; Metallica and the Foo Fighters are applying for their bus passes. Young rock acts perform in toilet venues to two barmen and a dog but it serves them f*cking right because they're either copies of bands from the 1970's or their material is un-listenable tripe.

Minority genres like folk and jazz survive in their little bubbles of devoted acclamation. No one else gives a sh*t.

Contemporary popular classical music is best exemplified by Mr Ludovico Einaudi, a baldy man who plays repeated minimalistic arpeggios on a piano while someone else sketches out a rudimentary violin part, all of it shoved through a cavernous reverb. Classic FM won't stop playing Einaudi or his similarly gormless cohort Mr Karl Jenkins.

There are probably some areas of musical endeavour I've forgotten but who cares? Certainly not me and my cold, black heart.

It's all sh*t. Stupid music for stupid people who like music for people who don't really like music. 

Now go away.

This is my favourite post about anything ever.

Luckily for me I'm a huge Iron Maiden fan and they're still fundamentally the same as they were in 1983 when I first heard them, so I have no need to listen to anything else and that suits me fine. 👍

[Mykesbass]

2 hours ago, FinnDave said:

There's great music being made currently for people who are 40-50 younger than me! My listening preferences are music from my teens and early 20s. Sadly, those days are long ago. I am rarely subjected to modern music, as my children have long since left home (and both prefer older stuff anyway!) and am not exposed to radio or television.

I'm 55. I've recently come across Fantastic Negrito, White Denim, and solo material from Britney Howard of Alabama Shakes. All with roots in the Blues and Classic Rock. And there's plenty more where they came from. Give Fantastic Negrito a whirl Dave - might just be the right thing for you.

[ambient]

My dad’s just watching the bee gees on TV. No, music is no worse now than it’s ever been.

[DoubleOhStephan]

The bee gees were a great group, wrote some epic songs in their time 😉

Over 1000 songs as it turns out!!! 

https://www.beegees.dk/brmlist.htm

Edited August 11, 2019 by DoubleOhStephan
Googled bee gee songs. Was shocked!

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, Jus Lukin said:

They used to believe dog-headed people lived somewhere in the east

What do you mean by 'used to'?

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 3, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[ambient]

1 hour ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

The bee gees were a great group, wrote some epic songs in their time 😉

Over 1000 songs as it turns out!!! 

https://www.beegees.dk/brmlist.htm

That’s my point, what one person considers to be a great band, causes someone else to leap across the room to hit the off switch on the radio.

[gjones]

The stuff that gets airplay is manufactured pap (mostly). But it's always been that way; from the fifties until today.

But young people are coming out with great music in the 21st century, you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.

Two examples of bands from around my neck of the woods are Miracle Glass Company and Honeyblood. Both, in yer face guitar bands, that write songs with big catchy hooks.

 

[DoubleOhStephan]

8 hours ago, ambient said:

That’s my point, what one person considers to be a great band, causes someone else to leap across the room to hit the off switch on the radio.

Aye, hense the 😉

What I didn't realise until after I made the comment (which piqued my own interest) , was quite how prolific they were. I knew they wrote for other people, but a catalogue of over 1000 songs is unbelievable, which is why I edited the comment with the link. 

I guess that suggests that, even if someone hates the bee gees, I bet they like a song they've written. 

[ambient]

19 minutes ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Aye, hense the 😉

What I didn't realise until after I made the comment (which piqued my own interest) , was quite how prolific they were. I knew they wrote for other people, but a catalogue of over 1000 songs is unbelievable, which is why I edited the comment with the link. 

I guess that suggests that, even if someone hates the bee gees, I bet they like a song they've written. 

Didn’t they write for other artists too?

[cheddatom]

When I was 10-14 I used to listen to a lot of gangster rap, and religiously listen to the Radio One Rap Show every week. In my later teens I listened to Muse, Incubus and RATM, pretty much exclusively. When I went to uni I listened to The Mars Volta, Deftones and Tool. Then I went through a pretentious phase of listening to nothing but my own music. These days I listen to something new every day. I really enjoy a lot of the jazz/hip-hop fusion stuff going on at the moment, but there's loads of other good stuff around. Every so often I switch the radio in my car to Radio One to see what's "happening". Yesterday I caught the end of a terrible electronic pop tune, but then they played something brand new picked up through BBC Introducing that I quite liked. Then there was a Miley Cyrus track which was just good old "paint by numbers" pop music - not my thing, but it's basically the same sort of tune you play at weddings to get people dancing.

I get young kids coming through my studio all the time, playing instruments, and writing their own songs. A lot of it's terrible, but there are some real gems

Given that music is subjective, how could it possibly be getting worse?

[DoubleOhStephan]

10 minutes ago, ambient said:

Didn’t they write for other artists too?

They did yeah, have a look at the link below (just of the best ones not including covers), but also have a look at the link I shared yesterday to all their songs, it also gives the recording artists. 

http://www.rebeatmag.com/the-10-best-songs-written-by-the-bee-gees-that-became-hits-for-other-artists/

[Guest oZZma]

15 hours ago, funkgod said:

 

The TRUTH Why Modern Music Is Awful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII

Modern music isn't awful at all. Mainstream music is. Getting more and more stupid, uninteresting and annoying, while a long ago it was more variegated and sometimes decent.

[DoubleOhStephan]

11 minutes ago, oZZma said:

Modern music isn't awful at all. Mainstream music is. Getting more and more stupid, uninteresting and annoying, while a long ago it was more variegated and sometimes decent.

Yep

[daveybass]

There is some decent new stuff out there, but the problem is that you have to search and search for it and that's what we as musicians must do to satisfy our cravings, the radio and the likes of Spotify and iTunes are still ruled by the record companies who "know" what the mainstream want - and if that happens to be bawling primadonna's, pouting boy/girl bands (who don't have any musicality whatsoever and were found on a tv show) and acoustic singer/songwriters who were discovered on t'internet - then that's what they'll get.

The best way I've found in the last few years is to just get out to gigs and pay more interest in the support bands - ridiculous amount of talent out there, just have to find it, and there's nothing wrong with saying sod it I'm going to listen to classic era Yes for the rest of my life either

It's music, will always be subjective

[leftybassman392]

Crikey! Is it that time of year again already?

Dear OP:

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No. You're getting old.

Even longer answer: No. You're getting old, and you're asking the wrong question.

Edited August 12, 2019 by leftybassman392

[ribbetingfrog]

If the question were “is chart music getting worse?”

whole different ball game.

There is a lot of great music around, more than ever with modern technology opening up music to everyone, you just have to look for it.

Twenty One Pilots are my current favourite, superb band and have a huge following.

[still-young]

Music is just as subjective as any art is, so no, it's not getting worse.

[Unknown_User]

13 hours ago, spongebob said:

Today.....souless, sanitised....I think there was a turning point around the early 00's.

I think there's something to this.  A lot of things seem more professional these days than they were.  Perhaps with better technology, processes becoming more mature, etc..  Which can mean things get tied down a bit more which may leave less room for maverick creativity.

12 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Rock music is either re-packaged compilation albums or un-listenable tripe performed by old men or un-listenable tripe (in a different way) performed by young men. Heritage acts dominate the touring circuit; Metallica and the Foo Fighters are applying for their bus passes. Young rock acts perform in toilet venues to two barmen and a dog but it serves them f*cking right because they're either copies of bands from the 1970's or their material is un-listenable tripe.

You definitely have a point about the biggest rock acts being people who were around 20/30 years ago.  Which is a shame.  There's always been that but if you look at festivals and the like, they seem to be full of these heritage acts whereas 20/30 years ago it was mostly new bands with the odd golden oldie thrown in.  Perhaps promoters are now playing more safely with acts they know will bring in the punters rather than helping bring new artists into the fold?

Rock music does have a population problem.  So many bands writing so many rock songs over so many decades, there's only so much room left for manoeuvrer and reinvention.  There are still numerous good new rock acts, just don't expect them to be radically different from something you haven't heard before!

12 hours ago, knirirr said:

It does seem to be true for most people.
Somehow, I seem to have ended up being an exception; I recall that all the music I heard around that age was either unpleasant to hear, or simply boring. It took until university to hear something I actually liked.

I'm similar.  I only really got into music when I was around 14 and most of the albums I go back to now are the ones I got into when I was around 17 to 22.  Until then it was stuff I was passing through on the way to finding something I really enjoyed.