What's happening to our music?

[BiscuitTrouser]

Back in my day music was played in concert halls quietly with written music sheets for the pianist. He was quiet, controlled and well manored. Now them folk down the tavern are playing sinfull music on the piano, some jumped up young man by the name of Amadeus, playing without ANY sheet music, not even written pieces! Just from his head it is. Music is going downhill. What grim times for music.

This is you mr OP. Generations ALWAYS hate every next generations music. Remember when all parents HATED rock and roll 40 years ago? Remember that? Well now youre them. It might suck for you but its the future, and as hard as it is you have to remember change is inevitable and its foolish to assume the change is globally "bad" because you dont like it. I hate the change too, but ill be dead by the time its finished and ill ALWAYS have my classics so its all good. Music is constantly changing and as sad and as rightious as you feel defending classics and decrying new "crap" music, you are the same as EVERY SINGLE generation before you. And equally as wrong.

 

[Hipster Chick]

Of course we think "classic" music is so much better than what we have today: the awful songs that were playing at the same time as them didn't get filtered down to us, so we're left with only the cream of the crop to base our opinions on.

 

[Jazoni89]

I think it has more to do with the fact that good artists are not getting enough limelight, than music in general.

There is still great music around, you just have to find it. It also boils down to taste as well, if you are a Rockist, or a Metalhead then I guess there isn't much around nowadays to shout out about, but if you like Electronic music, Hip-Hop, or Experimental Indie then you are pretty much in heaven at the moment.

Also, the mainstream has always been shit, that's why pirate radio was such a big hit in the 60's. Simple music, for simple people and all that.

 

[MickyD47]

This happens with everything. Games, music, movies whatever. People always say that things are always getting worse when things are just different.

 

[Vault101]

*sigh*....music...good..bad...now...then it doesnt matter

just find stuff you like, regardless of who did it or what era its from..I dont pay any attention to whats playing on the radio, I like what I like

I think it has more to do with the fact that good artists are not getting enough limelight, than music in general.

There is still great music around, you just have to find it. It also boils down to taste as well, if you are a Rockist, or a Metalhead then I guess there isn't much around nowadays to shout out about, but if you like Electronic music, Hip-Hop, or Experimental Indie then you are pretty much in heaven at the moment.

Also, the mainstream has always been shit, that's why pirate radio was such a big hit in the 60's. Simple music, for simple people and all that.

yeah, Ive been getting into alot of elcetronic latley (I seem to go through phases) theres some cool stuff there, new and old

when talking about music with my sister she asked "well...is anyone going to remember dubstep in 20 years time?"

I wondered "why not?"...mabye not dubstep....but daft punk, Glitch mob..theres great stuff out there

but yeah, you shouldnt judge music by whats popular...thats just stupid

 

[Vault101]

Well, it's not particularly fair to say I like dubstep and that's a new and original genre (Been around since 2002 or so, people), but yeah, I'm happy with music at the moment, except for:

RAPPERS - godammit, someone please explain why this shit is appealing? Generally, you can't hear what they are actually saying, especially now that some rappers have the cheek to take dubstep tracks and rap over them - and then call it "grime". Yes, it is grime. It is literally grime. Can rappers all please go away? They are ruining all pop songs (Not all pop is the spawn of Satan, but my god, rappers are making it unbearable) and now they are creeping into my beloved dubstep

you have obviously never heard good rap

 

[Vault101]

I'll just say this much, it's become trendy to have little to no vocal talent in the industry.

Autotune has been in use for a long time, and until recently it was used for it's intended purpose for correcting pitch. When somebody can't sing and they use autotune, it becomes horribly obvious, and the sound it makes is just that, horrible.

You see a lot of shitty bands today abusing the shit out of autotune, shitty bands like Black Eyed Peas. Retards today just love that crap to death, so they keep on making crap like that. Man, even Nickelback is leagues ahead of this BS.

I've kind of realised...as peple have been saying here

it doesnt matter

I mean seriously, with the internet..whats "popular" or "on the charts" doesnt have to mean anything, I couldnt name a popular song from 2011...I just seek out stuff I like, Beiber or ke$ha dont bother me at all...I dont listen to them

also black eyes peas arnt that bad.....(except for that one song "I gotta feeling")

 

[Broady Brio]

Can't say that Nubstep appeals to me either. I avoid it, replace it with Sara Bareilles and presto! I r a happy boy.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Nobody's more out of touch with "today's music" than me.

Honestly, I still listen mostly to stuff that was around in the early and mid 90's. But I still feel like nothing's changed. There's always been really bad music. The only thing that's changed is which music becomes popular. And today it seems like the worst shit becomes the most popular. And that says more about the people who buy music and the people who market it than about the musicians, I think. I mean, it's not really Lady Gaga's fault that she's popular. Yes, she makes appalling "music", but like I said, there have always been people doing that. Some asshole in a suit decided to make her shit popular, and the sheep eat it up because that's what they've always done. It's just that in the past, the sheep were given better crap.

 

[Aurgelmir]

Music evolves. You don't hear a lot of Rock Bands that sound like The Beatles any longer, a few years ago all I heard on the radio was Timbaland *twitch* so yeah music changes...

 

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

I listen to Genre from Black Metal to Avant Garde , Goth(metal and rock) to death and doom...and Doom/death gah! too many subgenres.... So yeah don't see much change in my favorite Genres...

 

[StBishop]

Huh?

Music is just as awesome as it always was, but now there's so much of it that you get swept up in all the crap that can also be released.
Genre's split and sway, but the original genre is still there.

COUNTRY :3

That was amazing.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

OT: I don't care enough to be honest. I understand that as a (an aspiring?) music professional you have a much larger stake in the music industry than someone like my self who's willing to just listen to the same shit that I liked in high school.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

In terms of punk and pop, they have fallen victim to the hideous beast that is the MAINSTREAM. Yeah, for some bands that have gained appeal outside of their general audience, they tend to bend their will a little to try and appease the outside fanbase.

Hence, punk rock bands that sounded like punk rock in the '90s are now sounding more alternative to appease the non-punk rock audience to try and stay relevant with the current music. The same can be said with pop, as they are incorporating/collaborating with more instrumental beats to appease the fanbase that is more focused on rock.

I personally am not against the 'modernization' of many of my favorite punk rock bands. All I am saying is that they should still retain their own 'sound and flow' that distinguishes them from the fake and 'lame' new bands that are sprouting around and have no real base to their music. Some bands have nearly lost their individuality entirely (i.e. Sum 41, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, etc.) and I fear that they are past the point of no return. Still, I have all their earliest and greatest work, so if they fade away, I will still have the 'good stuff' to get me by.

 

[HardkorSB]

What's happening to our music?

I don't know what's happening to your music. My music is doing fine.

I know music is supposed to evolve and it'll never be the same as it was in the past, but are we heading for darker days in our music?

What is your music again? I can't tell you until you specify.

The easiest difference to see is probably in country. I know people like Taylor Swift are taking the 'Carter Family' style and running that into the ground, but I don't hear any country stars that sound anything like Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, or Roy Clark anymore either.

Because the country artists you speak of grew up in different times and made different music?
Also, not many people make country these days, just like not many people were making dixieland when Johnny Cash was in his prime.

I liked it better when an Acid Punk Rock band like The Offspring dominated the scene, had an undeniably catchy rhythm, and actually kept true to the punk rock genre.

See, there's the problem. it's not that the music is worse now, it's just that it's not what YOU like. Besides, if you look hard enough, you'll find what you like as well.
And what is "Keeping true to the genre" really means? you can't expect people living in different times, with different lifestyles and musical influences to make the same music. It's like someone would tell you that you're not a real American because you don't believe and/or do the same things as your parents.

You'll get some changes in other genres as well [...] rap has Lil Wayne [...] There are plenty of other crappy artists that ruin those and more genres...

So because of 1 guy who happens to be popular, the whole genre is shit now?
The so-called "golden age" of rap is the 90's. That's when most of the iconic rap artists had their 5 minutes of fame and most of the rap classics were made. However, do you know who was the most popular rap artist in the 90's? Vanilla Ice, with MC Hammer in a close 2nd.
Get my point?

I listen to a lot of funk music these days and I can tell you that the genre is doing fine. Sure, James Brown and Bobby Byrd aren't around anymore but we have Breakestra, Speedometer and The Bamboos instead. Sure, it's different but awesome nevertheless.

If you don't like where music is going and you're a musician yourself then make the music that you feel should be made.

 

[Svenparty]

I just listen to Velvet underground and pretend they are the only band to ever exist.

 

[Skratt]

Just because you dislike the stylization of some of the music, doesn't mean the music industry is spiraling downward. I see this trend in a lot of older people, they think the older generations of music were better than the current ones. Personally, I think that they're looking through rose-coloured glasses, there were plenty of musicians that absolutely SUCKED in their generation, just they became forgotten, even if they were popular during their time. There are actually very few bands that people recognize that are from the 80s, even fewer than from the 70s, and so on and so forth. It will happen with this generation of music, and further generations of music as well.

The big factor behind this is the fact that people are naturally conservative, in general, people do not like change, so people really like the music that is from their generation, because they grew up with it, and they happen to enjoy it, but because the newer styles of music are different, they dislike them, because it is unfamiliar to their ears and different from what they are used to. The closer the style to the music they grew up with, the more they enjoy it. There will be some bands that older people enjoy from this generation, but in general, I find that most people enjoy the music they grew up with, rather than the music that came afterwards.

Sad but true. I think I am in a rare camp where as I get older I find that music I used to like I don't listen to anymore. I'm in my 30's and have no illusions about my cool factor of zero but I find that I prefer music made today than the music I loved just 10 years ago. It seems that for some reason it is unacceptable for many older people to let go of the past and let it be what it was - great for it's time. Sure some things endure better than others and eventually get marked as classic but on the whole the statement "things were better back in the day" is about the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard.

 

[Frostwhisper21]

Did anyone post that cracked article? It had the great point that all generations have had crap music. Do you think all of the music written in the classical era has been preserved? Or how in the 60s and 70s you can probably recognize barely half the songs on the top 100 singles list (archies was #1 one of those years...).

Music has always had "crap"... and I'm sure it greatly outweighs the "classics".

 

[Funkysandwich]

This topic always makes me think of this song:


Real music is still here, you just have to look for it.