Is music getting worse ?

[Ant1972]

On 12/08/2019 at 14:41, Stylon Pilson said:

The situation with TV is exactly the same as with music. Yes, there is good stuff out there if you go looking for it. But if you turn on the television at a random time and flick through all the available channels, 90% of it is awful.

S.P.

Wasn't it always the case though?

I don't think TV has got massive better or worse in terms of its hit/junk ratio (as opposed to music and cinema, which I believe have both got worse... economic models are favouring safe/mainstream content in both cases).

Think TV's hit/junk ratio is about the same as it ever was. Though providers are seeing the popularity of critically acclaimed TV and are making efforts to make more of that content.

But... big growth in number of channels and subscription services means there is more good stuff out there (more bad too, but that is easy enough to ignore.... very few of us are limited to 3 or 4 channels these days, unlike when I was a nipper).

[Ant1972]

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Like the olde f@rt I can sometimes be, when I'm in ASDA I do curse the flaccid pap being pumped out at quite high volume and think current mainstream music is the biggest pile of c@k ever made. Then I come across a random 1976 episode of TOTP on BBC 4 and am forced to change my mind. 

Wait until you get to 1980-1984 TOTP.... golden years of pop (well, British pop synth stuff.... not guitar rock). It goes swiftly downhill in 85-87, then a bit more interesting in 88 (where I'm currently up to), if you like a bit of dancey stuff. All depends what you're into :-)

[Bass_Guardian]

 

[louisthebass]

I have to suffer Radio 1 at work, and the quality of what's out there is pretty appalling. I'm aware that the station in question isn't aimed at a guy in his mid 50's, but I don't hear any real creativity or musicianship going on.

It's just bland, quantised and unimaginative, but that is just my take on it. 

[LITTLEWING]

Half the problem is the radio stations churn out the same old excrement every day and we're all being subconciously brainwashed into thinking it's all normal and all there is simply because they're paid to do it. Look around for less mainstream stations on the interweb and you'll find today's real creative talent. Go out and find the smaller festivals and there will be the new guys and girls playing their feelings and opinions in their own new style and reaching the modern world and connecting.

[Dan Dare]

Yes, it's getting worse. Along with everybloodything else. The world's going to hell in a handcart, etc, etc.

What's that, nurse? Time for my medicine...

[MrDaveTheBass]

Time is a great filter. It strains out all of the crap, so that we only remember the good stuff. Actually, thinking about it, it strains out all of the bland, "meh" stuff, leaving us to remember the good stuff, plus the outstandingly bad - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep anyone?

That said, there was a queue at my local old-git barbers last week, so I ended up sitting in the trendy yoof establishment next door, listening to Radio 1. I was amazed at just how anodyne all of the songs were. Whilst I was in the shop, every song they played sounded exactly the same - some guy mumble-rapping something about how  down he was that his "GF" wouldn't give him a "BJ", over a dull backing track consisting entirely of generic Garage Band marimba samples. By the end, I was so worn down by the suffocating, emotionless blandness of it all, that I wasn't even annoyed when it was time to pay and the hairdresser called me "Babes".

Edited August 27, 2019 by MrDaveTheBass
Typo

[cheddatom]

As I said earlier in the thread I do put Radio 1 on now and again and I've never heard two songs in a row that sound the same

When I was growing up it was Boyzone, Westlife, Back Street Boys, Spice Girls etc. I'm pretty sure they all sounded the same. These days there's all sorts in the charts

[Danuman]

No matter what else, interesting people will always find interesting ways of making music.

[Passinwind]

On 11/08/2019 at 09:19, funkgod said:

I am interested to see how many musicians think music is getting worse, cant just be me. i will be honest i don't know what is in the charts right now, i think as we get older we choose a direction and tend to explore that to the point of it getting so involved everything goes by the way side, i am very guilty of this, on saying this i do believe music is getting worse. here is a vid, i wonder how many people agree with this, and the big question for those that agree  is there a way back ?

i realise this topic is going to open a few cans, so i am going to try add a poll to see if you agree with the vid or not. Be interesting to see the outcome.

The TRUTH Why Modern Music Is Awful.

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

I got a minute into the 2 1/2 minute commercial at the front end. Nope, that's a fail.  And I do believe that consuming music via videos rather than in audio format is the Debbil's Work.   But beyond that, what's on the charts stopped mattering when I hit puberty and gained the ability to buy whatever music I wanted to listen to. From my perspective, I still have acccess to all the old stuff (if it was recorded it's modern in my book) plus whatever new things I happen to find today or tomorrow or next week. I just don't see how that can be construed as being worse.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Passinwind