Why does music today suck?
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Why does today's music suck?
For the same reason why today's music always "sucks", no matter what the era.
You're looking at a music consumption level in popular culture unfiltered by time.
Throughout our lives, there have always been gobs of sheer and utter crap that people have made when it comes to music. The kind of stuff that makes you want to stab your eardrums rather than listen to another moment of it. But what people forget is that the songs we truly remember (and thus the songs that continue to stay with us) are the good ones, not the crap. So we remember that Sinatra tune. We remember that Fleetwood Mac ditty, or the number by Pink Floyd. But that song by Rupert Holmes? You forgot it five years after it was released, the extant copies ended up in the 25 cent stacks of records in a dusty shop, and time moved on.
After memory has its way, what nostalgia lets us have are the good songs, so it seems indeed like today has a lot more garbage. But trust me, go to a thrift store and sift through the stacks of records and you can see for yourself the forgotten dregs what previous eras foisted upon mankind.
For the same reason why today's music always "sucks", no matter what the era.
You're looking at a music consumption level in popular culture unfiltered by time.
Throughout our lives, there have always been gobs of sheer and utter crap that people have made when it comes to music. The kind of stuff that makes you want to stab your eardrums rather than listen to another moment of it. But what people forget is that the songs we truly remember (and thus the songs that continue to stay with us) are the good ones, not the crap. So we remember that Sinatra tune. We remember that Fleetwood Mac ditty, or the number by Pink Floyd. But that song by Rupert Holmes? You forgot it five years after it was released, the extant copies ended up in the 25 cent stacks of records in a dusty shop, and time moved on.
After memory has its way, what nostalgia lets us have are the good songs, so it seems indeed like today has a lot more garbage. But trust me, go to a thrift store and sift through the stacks of records and you can see for yourself the forgotten dregs what previous eras foisted upon mankind.
I just don't like rap music. None of it seems very good. A lot of the songs seem disrespectful towards women. I feel like that a lot of it is aimed to be degrading to certain people... Generic lyrics a lot of the time. I like to use Rytmik Retrobits to make some music covers.
True, you have a point there, for me though it was a golden age of music that never really died down. Not all music back then was perfect, just had this thing that music today doesn't have like fine wine you know.
The only "music was better back when" thing I have ever seen stand up to scrutiny was my pet theory that no music during the 80's was good if the artist in question was not otherwise established before then. The period had plenty of good music but nobody seems to be able to find some from someone that rose up during that time.
That was 1934 by the way, I know it is more lamenting the decline of society but I will stand by it. I really should replay fallout 3.
With that said there might be something to the notion that popular culture is no longer popular -- how many of you listen to the radio rather than playlists on some streaming service, how many of you routinely play games or watch videos online rather than TV (which does have hundreds of channels compared to the the handful that probably existed for people but a few years older) and how many of you select your venue for a night out by musical style rather than taking whatever comes because it is a night out? I am a fan of this though as the fracturing of it has allowed things to spring up and make a proper go of it that I really enjoy. Somewhat related I was having a chat with some people a few months back and they had only grown up (in the UK, their parents even spending decades in the UK before then) with reggae, Caribbean blues and related musical styles, this meant they were only just discovering a lot of rock and metal, and even American blues, at the time. These people were great musicians, well versed in musical theory and have regular paid gigs but if that can happen in what almost would then amount to isolation then it can not be a bad thing.
That was 1934 by the way, I know it is more lamenting the decline of society but I will stand by it. I really should replay fallout 3.
With that said there might be something to the notion that popular culture is no longer popular -- how many of you listen to the radio rather than playlists on some streaming service, how many of you routinely play games or watch videos online rather than TV (which does have hundreds of channels compared to the the handful that probably existed for people but a few years older) and how many of you select your venue for a night out by musical style rather than taking whatever comes because it is a night out? I am a fan of this though as the fracturing of it has allowed things to spring up and make a proper go of it that I really enjoy. Somewhat related I was having a chat with some people a few months back and they had only grown up (in the UK, their parents even spending decades in the UK before then) with reggae, Caribbean blues and related musical styles, this meant they were only just discovering a lot of rock and metal, and even American blues, at the time. These people were great musicians, well versed in musical theory and have regular paid gigs but if that can happen in what almost would then amount to isolation then it can not be a bad thing.
People don't really care about the quality of music anymore. And there I go overgeneralizing everything again, but it's partially true. Apps like Pandora, Spotify, etc. encourage users to just listen to beats in their ears. Happy for workouts. Sad for breakups. And so on and so on. The only reason that FM radio isn't dead as hell is because of this. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it theoretically could get a lot of decent artists exposure, but sadly this is seldom the reality.
Why music today sucks? It's because it doesn't.
There's a lot more music today, so you'll have to wade through a lot of crap before you find a piece of gold. And why is all the classics back then so good? Because they're classics, they wouldn't be classics if they weren't good to begin with.
We have no idea which songs or groups today that will be considered "classics from the 2010s" in the future.
Somehow I don't think there will be as many classics from now, just because of said vast amounts of music, exponential numbers of genres, sub-genres, styles, and songs. It won't be because of the quality, the writing, or anything like that.
ABBA - Mamma Mia, a classic pop song loved by millions. What makes it that much better than Taylor Swift - Shake It Off?
Production quality? Lyrics? Singing voice and instrument playing? I think the only reason Shake It Off won't be considered a classic is because of all the other hit songs now. People have a short attention span today, want the next good song, and leave it at that.
An now for a comment about "dubstep". There's loads more to dubstep than wubwubwubwub and Skrillex's transformer porn, Take one of my favourite songs from this decade for example, the jazzy Submotion Orchestra - Sunshine (from 2012):
But there's plenty more music, and I want to spread some here.
Or so called "Electronica", this one also slightly jazzy. Bonobo - Stay The Same, with vocals by Andreya Triana, (from 2010):
The later folky songs from Bright Eyes, he has been compared to Bob Dylan, played with Springsteen. I do love his earlier stuff though, but it's certainly not for everyone. Old Soul Song (from 2005):
Icelandic post rock from 2002, Sigur Rós - Untitled #4. I cry everytime I watch Vanilla Sky and this song pops up.
Or for the retro feel, with an AMAZING well choreographed music video, Belle & Sebastian - Perfect Couples (from 2015):
Enjoy the music!
Oh, and what about Thai Funk?
Khruangbin - A Calf Born in Winter (2013):
There's a lot more music today, so you'll have to wade through a lot of crap before you find a piece of gold. And why is all the classics back then so good? Because they're classics, they wouldn't be classics if they weren't good to begin with.
We have no idea which songs or groups today that will be considered "classics from the 2010s" in the future.
Somehow I don't think there will be as many classics from now, just because of said vast amounts of music, exponential numbers of genres, sub-genres, styles, and songs. It won't be because of the quality, the writing, or anything like that.
ABBA - Mamma Mia, a classic pop song loved by millions. What makes it that much better than Taylor Swift - Shake It Off?
Production quality? Lyrics? Singing voice and instrument playing? I think the only reason Shake It Off won't be considered a classic is because of all the other hit songs now. People have a short attention span today, want the next good song, and leave it at that.
An now for a comment about "dubstep". There's loads more to dubstep than wubwubwubwub and Skrillex's transformer porn, Take one of my favourite songs from this decade for example, the jazzy Submotion Orchestra - Sunshine (from 2012):
But there's plenty more music, and I want to spread some here.
Or so called "Electronica", this one also slightly jazzy. Bonobo - Stay The Same, with vocals by Andreya Triana, (from 2010):
The later folky songs from Bright Eyes, he has been compared to Bob Dylan, played with Springsteen. I do love his earlier stuff though, but it's certainly not for everyone. Old Soul Song (from 2005):
Icelandic post rock from 2002, Sigur Rós - Untitled #4. I cry everytime I watch Vanilla Sky and this song pops up.
Or for the retro feel, with an AMAZING well choreographed music video, Belle & Sebastian - Perfect Couples (from 2015):
Enjoy the music!
Oh, and what about Thai Funk?
Khruangbin - A Calf Born in Winter (2013):
Last edited by Issac,
Pop music is bad.
Only a few songs a year are good.
Post-Hardcore <З
Or Screamo or any other "Scene" music yay.
Only a few songs a year are good.
Post-Hardcore <З
Or Screamo or any other "Scene" music yay.
The "absolute best of" selection of music from the last 50 years is better than the unfiltered cross section of all music being made today? Quelle surprise.
There was as much bland boring generic shit back then as there is now, but we only know of the stuff that has withstood the test of time. The best time to judge today's music is 20 years from now.
Also there's the subjectivity.
On the other hand, it has been scientifically proven that music has been getting worse.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/science-proves-pop-music-has-actually-gotten-worse-8173368/
However this only applies to pop music, which basically means it applies to fuck-all. "Pop" is a well-defined genre with well-defined rules and constraints and at any time there is a ton of other music being made.
What it boils down to is that music today doesn't suck, your ability to search for music sucks.
Sturgeon's Law says 99% of everything is shit, but there's more music being made today than ever before, and 1% of that volume is still more than you will ever be able to listen to. Quit whining and get searching.
There was as much bland boring generic shit back then as there is now, but we only know of the stuff that has withstood the test of time. The best time to judge today's music is 20 years from now.
Also there's the subjectivity.
On the other hand, it has been scientifically proven that music has been getting worse.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/science-proves-pop-music-has-actually-gotten-worse-8173368/
However this only applies to pop music, which basically means it applies to fuck-all. "Pop" is a well-defined genre with well-defined rules and constraints and at any time there is a ton of other music being made.
Limited number of instruments, small tonal range, no vocals whatsoever... 1/10, absolute garbage.
What it boils down to is that music today doesn't suck, your ability to search for music sucks.
Sturgeon's Law says 99% of everything is shit, but there's more music being made today than ever before, and 1% of that volume is still more than you will ever be able to listen to. Quit whining and get searching.
this whole "X is better now" idea is IMO very wrong in a lot of cases. especially "music is better now". we're not experiencing music from the 80's the same way we experience music from today. today we hear all of the music. a lot of it is shite. but so was a lot of music in the 80's. it's just that the shitty music from the 80's failed and didn't make a lasting impact.
as soon as a few years have passed you only remember the good songs and you forget the shitty songs. UNLESS its really shitty, so shitty that it's memorable (e.g. friday) but then it becomes a "cult classic" or nowadays a meme.
the same is true for the 50's,60's,70's,90's,00's.
and then of course there's also the whole nostalgia effect. determining if music was better then or now is pretty much impossible til "now" is in the past itself.
as soon as a few years have passed you only remember the good songs and you forget the shitty songs. UNLESS its really shitty, so shitty that it's memorable (e.g. friday) but then it becomes a "cult classic" or nowadays a meme.
the same is true for the 50's,60's,70's,90's,00's.
and then of course there's also the whole nostalgia effect. determining if music was better then or now is pretty much impossible til "now" is in the past itself.
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Well it's because everything yo--ppffff-u hea--ppppfft- sounds like sh-PFFFFFFTTTT *shit comes out of mouth*
LOL south park reference out of the way. Yeah. it all sounds like shit now
LOL south park reference out of the way. Yeah. it all sounds like shit now
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Agreed with this, i cannot find good french music i could use to master my french language, it's hell complicated, i cannot find anything more than rap or hip hop or electronic music whose doesn't have lyrics to start with...
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Because it follows a set formula, lots of sings are written by the same people I'm sure, not the performer themself. Not always the case as that Taylor Swift broad writes her own songs, but they follow the formula.
If you wanna make a hit mainstream song, sing about the following:
Boys, girls, love, heartbreak, summer, partying, ass, titties, sex, drugs, booze, money, and how cool you are. Also make sure that the music sounds exactly like the first 8 songs that was played and the next 20 songs.
Also, you got good taste in music, OP.
If you wanna make a hit mainstream song, sing about the following:
Boys, girls, love, heartbreak, summer, partying, ass, titties, sex, drugs, booze, money, and how cool you are. Also make sure that the music sounds exactly like the first 8 songs that was played and the next 20 songs.
Also, you got good taste in music, OP.
/thread
Going off-topic here to post this:
Stumbled upon it someday and really liked it. Not sure how good it is compared to other french music, and I don't understand french at all. Regardless, I liked it.
Actually, there was "Elle me Dit" which we listened to in French class, then had an assignment to translate the lyrics. It's actually not that terrible of a song. There were a few others but I'd have to dig around to find any of them.
I came here to say this. Thank you. For every Beatles or Rolling Stones, there was a bajillion crap bands that were charting during that era but time has forgotten.
Indeed today music sucks, most are then are stolen samples from older classic's and allot off those "1 day fly" numbers.
I'm 32 years old, I like many kinds off music. But I like Death Metal,Metal,Hardrock,Punk to most.
But I grown up in the hole "Grabber/Happy Hardcore hype in the 90's, and now I hear those songs in special hour on the radio that called Nummers van het foute uur (hour of guilty pleasure music).
And for some reason I like them to hear them again after so many years
Those are the numbers what I mean:
(small detail they used some kind off Zelda 64 promo stuff in this song)
I think that is a nostalgia thing
I'm 32 years old, I like many kinds off music. But I like Death Metal,Metal,Hardrock,Punk to most.
But I grown up in the hole "Grabber/Happy Hardcore hype in the 90's, and now I hear those songs in special hour on the radio that called Nummers van het foute uur (hour of guilty pleasure music).
And for some reason I like them to hear them again after so many years
Those are the numbers what I mean:
(small detail they used some kind off Zelda 64 promo stuff in this song)
I think that is a nostalgia thing
Last edited by DaFixer,
Justin beebs, Nikki Minaj, Kanye and a bunch of people need to be smited off this planet for giving Music a bad name. In a few years I'll have my own kid and I can't give them anything in this day and age that is worth listening or dying for.
If there's anyone to blame for this horrible uprise in music, its the younger generation.
Like holy shit, I miss when music ACTUALLY had lyrics.
If there's anyone to blame for this horrible uprise in music, its the younger generation.
Like holy shit, I miss when music ACTUALLY had lyrics.
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