Why is modern music so lazy?

[Blaze163]

Lali ho!

I hve a very simple question for everyone. Why is modern music such lazy generic garbage?

Don't get me wrong. I know music is all down to personal taste and I'm open to considering that this is just my personal opinion. But to me, modern music is almost all lazy, generic, paint-by-numbers crap that all sounds the same and all has damn near the same lyrics. All this 'rap' about how much money somebody you've never heard of has, and how they're such a 'baller', whatever the fuck that means. I get that music, like all art, goes through peaks and valleys. But it's pretty hard to deny that we're in a valley right now. I'm not saying that all old music is good by default, every era has its fair share of utter shite. But the major sticking point for me is this;

Name one song from the last five years that will be thought of in decades to come the same way we all see songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, November Rain, Stairway to Heaven, etc.

Seriously. Name ONE song that people will look back on as a defining piece of music from the modern era. Hell, make it the last ten years to be on the safe side. I've been trying all day and I can't think of a damn thing.

Thoughts? Opinions? Maybe some examples of modern music that WON'T make my ears tear themselves from my face and run for the hills? 'cause in my new job we have the radio on in the office, and if I hear any more songs like 'Bimmer' by Tyler The Creator (arguably weaponized brown noise to reduce the surplus population) then the work radio is going out the damn window.

 

[Link.]

Whether you hate it or love it, there's plenty of music that will be thought of for decades. Everyone has their tastes. I think you should just honestly look at this argument and "Let it Go".

 

[Depravo]

I think you should just honestly look at this argument and "Let it Go".

That's the first song I thought of as well. That and Gangnam Style.

 

[ieatpixels]

I saw an interesting view on this.
Not everything he says is right but there's some good points.

 

[Trill Spector]

>dadrock

Literally every song you posted is extremely formulaic (and stairway to heaven is plagiarized as well)
however a serious response







All of the tracks i posted were mainstream releases last year (plenty of great self released records are also coming out on small labels) that can easily be found if you place the tiniest bit of passion into music as a hobby. Past your rose colored glasses there is a great variety of technically complex and enjoyable music that can be found at a local record shop or by reading music blogs. If you use a radio station as your primary curator of music, don't be surprised that it isn't challenging, as it needs to appeal to the highest common denominator. Older tunes are easier to enjoy/find now since all of the garbage that came out in those decades has been lost in the flow of time, leaving only things that have both critical acclaim and mainstream appeal to stick around in the public's collective memory.

TLDR- music doesn't currently suck, you passively consume content and wonder why it isn't engaging

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

Because that's what people are buying. Blame the record companies. They keep signing on these shit "musicians" because that's what the public wants. Listen to the Top 40 radio, you'll hear a lot of garbage, that people are just eating up. People these days have no idea what real talent is. You ask them if they've heard "War Pigs," "Black Dog," "Comfortably Numb," "Ziggy Stardust," or "Redemption Song," and they'll look at you funny. And don't get me started on rap.... Tupac is rolling in his grave right now.

 

[Trill Spector]

Tupac is rolling in his grave right now.

tupac was a great performer and has an extensive legacy, however artists such as kendrick lamar and kanye west's 2004- 2010 output were both more musically sound.
Also if you go beyond the billboards, rap also has blu, dessa, atmosphere, milo, 2006 joe budden, death grips, 2007 lupe fiasco, mf doom, the roots, chance the rapper, danny brown, elzhi, mick jenkins, open eagle mike, kno, aesop rock (break for the sake of not having 100 artists) all have done great releases that musically and lyrically surpass tupac and have all released an album in the past 10 years

also sidenote that bowie's best album was low tho ziggy was a great album

 

[jubbagee]

No one knows q.o.t.s.a.

 

[m_babble]

Dig deeper. Contemporary music isn't necessarily lazy. Commercial music is. Picking definitives is arbitrary, so none of these can fill those shoes. However, here are a few examples of active musicians pushing the envelope.

 

[Veho]

Why are you too lazy to search for good music?

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

As somebody mentioned, sometimes it's best to avoid the commercialized crap. And it doesn't hurt to search. Music blogs are a good source, as someone else mentioned. Also, if you like a certain band or genre, plug it into streaming services like Pandora or Spotify, and you'll be surprised by what you hear. They'll compile new music based on your feedback (thumbs up or down, etc). I've discovered some good bands that way. Also, ask your friends if they have suggestions. It's not that difficult to find stuff you like. It's really a matter of perspective. I'm like you, I don't like a lot of the popular stuff (the most popular being a majority of pop artists and rappers) nowadays, it's heavily commercialized and jammed down our throats, and I almost never listen to the radio. But that doesn't mean there isn't good stuff out there. You just have to look.

 

[Plstic]

Looks like you're not looking hard enough. There is plenty of good modern music.

 

[Blaze163]

Why are you too lazy to search for good music?

What worries me is that I should have to search for talented musicians while the charts is full of the same generic crap. Did people have to search for blogs to find bands like Queen, G+R, etc? No, it was the industry standard to promote the best because people wanted the best. Now it's the case that the lowest common denominator in society is catered for, they buy whatever they're told is popular instead of having any sort of interest in the art, and now we end up with the airwaves clogged up with the garbage.

Basically the core of the issue is that there are now so many stupid people in the world they've become music's primary marketing demographic.

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

What worries me is that I should have to search for talented musicians while the charts is full of the same generic crap. Did people have to search for blogs to find bands like Queen, G+R, etc? No, it was the industry standard to promote the best because people wanted the best. Now it's the case that the lowest common denominator in society is catered for, they buy whatever they're told is popular instead of having any sort of interest in the art, and now we end up with the airwaves clogged up with the garbage.

Basically the core of the issue is that there are now so many stupid people in the world they've become music's primary marketing demographic.

Exactly. Stupid people buy into the stupid crap. The record companies are making a killing.

 

[VinsCool]

I kinda like older music better.
I have to agree with OP about the charts filled with crap. But good stuff still exists at least.

 

[Veho]

No, it was the industry standard to promote the best because people wanted the best. Now it's the case that the lowest common denominator in society is catered for, they buy whatever they're told is popular instead of having any sort of interest in the art, and now we end up with the airwaves clogged up with the garbage.

The music industry has always promoted what they thought would sell, and quality was always the least of their concerns.
You are comparing the "best of" selection of the last 100 years to last week's pop chart. Well look over the pop chart for any given week of any of the "glory years" of "quality music" and tell me how many of the songs you've ever even heard of, let alone have survived until today. And tell me most of them aren't garbage. The reason you think music was universally better before is the fact only the good music survived, but you're overlooking the other 99% which was, quite frankly, crap.

Like I always say when discussions like this crop up, the the time to judge the music of today is 20 years from now.

 

[The Catboy]

When something sells, people copy the formula to make their own brand sell as well. The same goes for music.
Hell, all eras of music have their lazy periods. Just looking back at The Beatles craze. Once they started making money, bands similar to them started crawling out of the woodwork. We try to credit the past like these things didn't happen, but they've always been happening, we're just starting to notice it more.

 

[Blaze163]

The music industry has always promoted what they thought would sell, and quality was always the least of their concerns.
You are comparing the "best of" selection of the last 100 years to last week's pop chart. Well look over the pop chart for any given week of any of the "glory years" of "quality music" and tell me how many of the songs you've ever even heard of, let alone have survived until today. And tell me most of them aren't garbage. The reason you think music was universally better before is the fact only the good music survived, but you're overlooking the other 99% which was, quite frankly, crap.

Like I always say when discussions like this crop up, the the time to judge the music of today is 20 years from now.

I agree that we should be judging modern music in about 20 years. But my point still stands. What songs from this era will we be looking back on as classics a la Queen or Led Zeppelin? Or whatever your poison is from the past. Hell, maybe you're a fan of the band Poison, I dunno. My point is that there's such a dip in quality in the modern popular media that it's highly unlikely any of it will stand the test of time as anything more than a novelty act. We'll probably remember Gangnam Style for the novelty, Friday for just being pure distilled essence of failure, Let It Go for how bloody long it took to start dying, and maybe Nicki Minaj as the moment we lost our faith in humanity.

 

[Veho]

What songs from this era will we be looking back on as classics a la Queen or Led Zeppelin?

Ask me again in 20 years.

 

[endoverend]

It's easy to look at some music today and call it lazy shit, but you think there wasn't lazy shit when Queen was around? In fact I'm sure there were people who hated Queen just like you hate modern music. I would say "hindsight is 20/20" but that makes no sense, rather in this situation i would say that hindsight is not at all 20/20 and is blinded by nostalgia.