Is it me or is the current music scene CRAP!

[wombatboter]

I used to hear the music I liked on the radio and I saw it appear in the hitparades.. When I was in a shopping mall I heard music I liked. Not everything but still. Robert Palmer, The Police, Joe Jackson, etc cool !
Nowadays I have to start looking for music instead of simply hearing it...
I am confronted now with large doses of Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, Kanye West, P. Diddy featuring his landlord who used to know the butcher of Tupac...
It gets on my nerves and I don't even have a radio anymore since it irritates me.

[spinynorman]

Well, I remember the [s]good[/s] old days, listening to Radio Caroline, with endless repeats of Herman's Bloody Hermits and Roger Whittaker. And The Beatles, who sounded quite good at the time, but now make me want to gnaw my own leg off. A couple of years ago we played on the same bill as Herman's Hermits and there they were, still with their sharp suits and their fixed smiles. Herman, to his credit, seems to have disowned them.

I think, you kids nowadays, you don't know how lucky you are.

[spinynorman]

[quote name='wombatboter' post='463784' date='Apr 16 2009, 11:30 AM']I used to hear the music I liked on the radio and I saw it appear in the hitparades.. When I was in a shopping mall I heard music I liked. Not everything but still. Robert Palmer, The Police, Joe Jackson, etc cool ![/quote]

Yeah, you see, here's the problem. While you were grooving around the mall snapping your fingers, I was gnashing my teeth and wondering when someone would please invent Queens of the Stone Age. Or Deerhoof. Or anything else really.

Our local Somerfield plays quite an interesting selection of music across the ages, even Dylan and Buffalo Springfield. Almost makes Saturday morning pleasant.

[johnnylager]

It all went wrong when Genesis let that bloody drummer sing.

[bremen]

[quote name='AM1' post='463445' date='Apr 15 2009, 10:05 PM']That's exactly what I mean by commercialised. It's not about talent, it's about marketability. The quality is dire...unless you really, really dig around.

All the bands I liked as a teenager are what I'm still listening to! Purely because there's so little around that can match up it in terms of musicality.[/quote]

So what's changed since your parents' generation? The bands they liked as teenagers are probably the ones they listen to now, because no music is as exciting as the music you get introduced to as an adolescent. They probably think the stuff you like is lacking in musicality. [quote]Music isn't about talent now, it's about sex/marketing as others said, f***ing depressing.

I can't remember the last time I listened to a signed band and got excited by what I heard. Probably 1995.

This is a truly crap time for good music, compared to the late 80s/early 90s..[/quote]

And that was a crap time compared to (in my opinion) 1981. We're showing our respective ages here

I'm assuming you're younger than me, of course

[MB1]

[quote name='OldGit' post='463652' date='Apr 16 2009, 08:57 AM']Been down this one before (regularly) - fill the venues with drinking punters and your orginal band will get as many gigs as you want.
Alternatively put on yoru own gigs.[/quote]

MB1.
Or get yourself a lovely Vocoder like Mr Acorn.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='escholl' post='463745' date='Apr 16 2009, 10:40 AM']i remember when all this were fields, mind you...[/quote]

Fields? You were lucky. We only had uncleared forests.

[farmer61]

[quote name='AM1' post='463445' date='Apr 15 2009, 10:05 PM']I can't remember the last time I listened to a signed band and got excited by what I heard. Probably 1995.

This is a truly crap time for good music, compared to the late 80s/early 90s..[/quote]

Rise Against, Biffy Clyro.......fine bands IMO

[Rich]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='463391' date='Apr 15 2009, 09:01 PM']It depends on what music scene you follow..[/quote]
+1000000.
Yet another clash of opinions with, as usual, some of them being dressed up as fact.
[i]"I like Band 1, they're great!"
"Band 1? Nah they're rubbish mate, you should listen to Band 2!"
"Bands 1 and 2? Pah, they aren't a patch on Band 3."[/i]
And on and on and on and on, ad bloody nauseum.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='ARGH' post='463633' date='Apr 16 2009, 08:28 AM']Words spoken from someone that knows f***all about Metal there.[/quote]

Well, those bands do exist in large enough numbers for me (someone who doesn't listen to any metal at all) to be aware of them, so there must be enough truth to it.


While we're here discussing how shallow the music biz has got, can anyone name a successful band with an ugly singer from any other era? Off the top of my head I've got Thom Yorke, Ian Brown and Tom Hingley. And I'm not sure that the Carpets can be classed as successful anyway.

Oh Ian Anderson, we'll have him too.

Now let's hear the list of the bands with good-looking singers...

[MB1]

MB1.
Chris Moyles..... The Saviour of Radio One?.....I've Never listened Since!.

[Twigman]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='463818' date='Apr 16 2009, 12:09 PM']Fields? You were lucky. We only had uncleared forests.[/quote]
Uncleared forests?

You were lucky. We only had molten rock and lava...not even the primordial soup.

[BigBeefChief]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='463832' date='Apr 16 2009, 12:20 PM']Now let's hear the list of the bands with good-looking singers...[/quote]


I'll start.

The Pogues?

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='463673' date='Apr 16 2009, 09:40 AM']PS - I saw Mungo Jerry at The Cartoon in Croydon in 1988. They rocked.[/quote]

No offence intended to Ray Dorset and his unfeasibly large sideburns - and that "In the Summertime" is "sh*te" is just my addled opinion.

But taking 1970 as an example of "pop is always crap" is kind of interesting; some classics and some not so.

Number at end of each line is 'weeks at no:1'

31 Jan 1970 Edison Lighthouse Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) 5
7 Mar 1970 Lee Marvin Wandrin' Star 3
28 Mar 1970 Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water 3
18 Apr 1970 Dana All Kinds Of Everything 2
2 May 1970 Norman Greenbaum Spirit In The Sky 2
16 May 1970 England World Cup Squad Back Home 3
6 Jun 1970 Christie Yellow River 1
13 Jun 1970 Mungo Jerry In The Summertime 7
01 Aug 1970 Elvis Presley The Wonder Of You 6
12 Sep 1970 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Tears Of A Clown 1
19 Sep 1970 Freda Payne Band Of Gold 6
31 Oct 1970 Matthew's Southern Comfort Woodstock 3
21 Nov 1970 Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile 1
28/11/1970 Xmas No 1 Dave Edmunds I Hear you knocking 6

[quote]QUOTE (wombatboter @ Apr 16 2009, 11:30 AM)
I am confronted now with ... P. Diddy featuring his landlord who used to know the butcher of Tupac...[/quote]

My landlord used to know the greengrocer of Biggie Smalls. Liked a nice Conference Pear, did our Biggie.

Edited April 16, 2009 by skankdelvar

[MB1]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='463845' date='Apr 16 2009, 12:29 PM']No offence intended to Ray Dorset and his unfeasibly large sideburns - and that "In the Summertime" is "sh*te" is just my addled opinion.

But taking 1970 as an example of "pop is always crap" is kind of interesting; some classics and some not so.

Number at end of each line is 'weeks at no:1'

31 Jan 1970 Edison Lighthouse Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) 5
7 Mar 1970 Lee Marvin Wandrin' Star 3
28 Mar 1970 Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water 3
18 Apr 1970 Dana All Kinds Of Everything 2
2 May 1970 Norman Greenbaum Spirit In The Sky 2
16 May 1970 England World Cup Squad Back Home 3
6 Jun 1970 Christie Yellow River 1
13 Jun 1970 Mungo Jerry In The Summertime 7
01 Aug 1970 Elvis Presley The Wonder Of You 6
12 Sep 1970 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Tears Of A Clown 1
19 Sep 1970 Freda Payne Band Of Gold 6
31 Oct 1970 Matthew's Southern Comfort Woodstock 3
21 Nov 1970 Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile 1
28/11/1970 Xmas No 1 Dave Edmunds I Hear you knocking 6



My landlord used to know the greengrocer of Biggie Smalls. Liked a nice Conference Pear, did our Biggie.[/quote]
MB1.
Biggie Smalls?...isnt that what you get from drinking too much Guinness?....Coat Beckons!

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='OldGit' post='463651' date='Apr 16 2009, 08:55 AM']Yeah I know very little about metal too. Learning though...

Whatever brand of metal it is they pay at my gym to help the body builders get angry enough to lift 16 tons , I get to hear about 3 hours of it a week.
The English language ones are all about kill kill kill, fighting battles in the Dungeons and Dragons way, my sword is bigger than yours and we will kick your head in. You will know us by the trail of the dead, etc....
The rest I assume to be in Swedish or German.
The musical prowess is clear (especially the drummers amazing bass drum playing) but the music is largely interchangeable between tracks. When a melody breaks out it's quickly squashed.

Mind you it's better than the misogynistic rap that gets played in between ...[/quote]

you lucky b*st*rd! I am so jealous, I wish I could find a gym that played metal!

I had to wear earplugs at my old gym because of the dire 'dance' music that was constantly on rotation.

[Rich]

[quote name='OldGit' post='463651' date='Apr 16 2009, 08:55 AM']The English language ones are all about kill kill kill, fighting battles in the Dungeons and Dragons way, my sword is bigger than yours and we will kick your head in.[/quote]
One of the funniest things I've read in ages. Thanks Si!

[MacDaddy]

Popular music as we know it today, is a regression in terms of musical evolution. The tonalities, harmonies, rhythmic devices, were all going strong 500 years ago. Popular music, has not progressed music in any way.
To talk about how talented popular musicians are today is almost laughable if you compare them to musicians from the Baroque period.

And as for the metal thing, I saw the Anvil film the other night. At times funny, sad, and plain embarrassing, what it does is give false hope to metal bands pushing 40 who should have given up years ago, featuring idiots like this

[51m0n]

Well I dont think I can agree with AM1 on a couple of points.

First that youngsters dont know how to practice.

My son (14) and his band are all members of the local music service. They have been classically trained since they were about 5 or 6 years old, all of them. Singing, percussion, reading, moving on to instruments of choice in orchestras. Now they all do extra 'rock' stuff in their band too.

They are not alone or unusual in this city. I went to a gig a few weeks ago, where his band played in a line up of 7 similar bands. Not one of them sucked, they were all very very good players, with very good musicianship and stage presence. They had good songs, and a great time.

There arent enough chances for them to play out yet, but as they get older that will come.

Second that there are no killer riffs, well there were that night, and lots of styles too, it was really really encouraging to see. These people were not in any way stuck in a copycat stylistic rut, they were playing music they enjoyed and wanted to play.

Oh the average age was about 14 or 15 that night.

Thirdly that Commercial music has ever had a decent percentage of decent stuff in it.

Commercial pop has always been 99% utter sewage. If you look to commercial outlets that is what you will find.

My take on late 80's early 90's is that it was utter rubbish in the charts (and I'm including all the bands you name as high points, and Stock Aitkin blah blah too) I hated it all. If you wanted Janes Addiction, then they werent in the pop charts, or RHCP, or Mr Bungle or FNM, or whatever, beyond one or two songs per album, or couple of years. Rock existed in rock charts even then. It was the time of the death of Indie as a real meaningful title (when Kylie topped the INdie chart I felt sick as a dog!), gone were bands like Alien Sex Fiend, We've Got A Fuzzbox etc and in were a bunch of shoe gazing boring @*(&^$&ers!!!!

About the only bands I really liked then were the Silverfish and Bomb Disneyland, oh and Snuff, they kicked arse!!!

[Adrenochrome]

[quote name='51m0n' post='463906' date='Apr 16 2009, 01:27 PM']About the only bands I really liked then were the [b]Silverfish[/b] and Bomb Disneyland, oh and Snuff, they kicked arse!!![/quote]

Vitriola!

[51m0n]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='463920' date='Apr 16 2009, 01:41 PM']Vitriola![/quote]

My all time fav Silverfish track was TFA, tricky to say what that stood for if you dont know, T was for Total, F was for, well you can probably guess, and A was for bunghoolio. The biggest, baddest riff of all time, best 12" record I ever bought and seeing them at the Zap was in the top three gigs of my life. Total class!!!!

[jmstone]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='463920' date='Apr 16 2009, 01:41 PM']Vitriola![/quote]

Silverfish were great:

You kill what you're afraid of
Are you afraid of me?
Hips tits lips power..
Big bad baby pigsqueal...

Fantastic stuff!

And my opinion is the (alt) music scene is better than ever now - more accessible and more innovative thanks to those evil downloads that put the fear of god into the oldschool industry,

James

Edited April 16, 2009 by jmstone

[The Funk]

[quote name='AM1' post='463379' date='Apr 15 2009, 08:46 PM']Yeah - as the question goes, is the music scene at an all time low??[/quote]

Yes. There's no money to be made from music now, which should be liberating artistically, except everyone's desperate to be as big as Elvis and The Beatles. Those days are gone. Just write a good tune FFS and consider it a bonus if just one person who's not shagging you or related to you likes your music. And get a real job. Music is not an excuse to waste your life doing f*** all.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='The Funk' post='463984' date='Apr 16 2009, 02:57 PM']Yes. There's no money to be made from music now, which should be liberating artistically, except everyone's desperate to be as big as Elvis and The Beatles. Those days are gone. Just write a good tune FFS and consider it a bonus if just one person who's not shagging you or related to you likes your music. And get a real job. Music is not an excuse to waste your life doing f*** all.[/quote]

Hmm. Well...

I do agree that fame is something separate. A lack of it wouldn't (and doesn't!) stop me wanting to make music. Money is a similar story - it doesn't necessarily follow that people should give me money for doing it, so I don't mind if I don't get any. I'm more interested in making something and showing it to people and having them tell me it's rubbish. Telling me it's good would be nice too, but you can't have everything.

I think some musicians are of the opinion that they should be globally celebrated purely on the merits of their instrumental prowess. The fact is if you're not an engaging raconteur, or gorgeous, or preferably both, it's probably not going to happen. And that's been the case since the 1950s at least.

[jmstone]

[quote name='The Funk' post='463984' date='Apr 16 2009, 02:57 PM']Yes. There's no money to be made from music now, which should be liberating artistically, except everyone's desperate to be as big as Elvis and The Beatles. Those days are gone. Just write a good tune FFS and consider it a bonus if just one person who's not shagging you or related to you likes your music. And get a real job. Music is not an excuse to waste your life doing f*** all.[/quote]

Not sure it is just music there's no money in at the moment.....

In my opinion, a lot of the profits from music industry were generated by people who decided what music people wanted to listen to, marketed it by altering the name/line-up/image etc. of the band (or even just concocted a "band" out of nothing more than some fresh faced young boys/girls) then forced it down everyone's throats through radio stations that were basically completely under the control of the major labels.. Majors got twitchy once the rug was pulled out under their feet in terms of only letting the public hear what they wanted them to hear - with the explosion of the internet, net radio stations etc... I really think that was what killed record sales (or sales of the "top" albums) rather than mp3s per say.. People could hear what they like, and buy it direct from the artist (or pirate it.. whatever floats their boat). Personally, I have never really thought downloading illegal mp3s was worth the hassle - seems much easier (and less stressful) to buy from places like emusic.. Although I'm not in the industry, I'm still pretty sure there are some solid business models for bands to make money - just different than before, and thankfully not involving the major labels.

But this is beside the point.. I really think there are some really great new bands now (at least in the alt/indie/rock/whatever scene).. great ways to listen to them (podcasts, myspace, emusic).. easy ways to source rare and previously hard-to-obtain albums (amazon. emusic, itunes (to a certain extent) etc.)

Also, there is the retrospectoscope, which I think has already been mentioned with regard to the Beatles. Thinking back to the early 90s, which was when I really started getting into music, bands like Nirvana and Stone Roses were great, but also they were just another band - they didn't really stand out then to me as being the ones that were so fantastically better than any of the others at the time. In fact, I probably preferred other less (now) famous bands like Pavement, Field Mice and The Wedding Present..

So, I see no need to be so morose, but perhaps in the genre of Rawk things are less rosy?

James

Edited April 16, 2009 by jmstone