Music is dead.

[Doodski]

I know who he is. The point of this is - there's no objective view of what 'soul' is. I could post a clip of someone else and say that that's 'soul'.

I think part of that issue comes from the plentitude of ideas regarding soul coming from such different viewpoints. Wikipedia lists ~30 differing viewpoints about soul. So it's widely accepted as something that exists or can even be intentional but in varying terms.

A quote from Wikipedia regarding a old soul:

There's no hard-and-fast definition of an old soul, but below you'll find some of the most commonly recognized traits.

1. Material possessions don't matter much to you.
2. You focus on meaningful connections.
3. You need a lot of time alone.
4. You have high empathy.
5. You spend a lot of time thinking about how to make a difference.

 

[dmac6419]

I know who he is. The point of this is - there's no objective view of what 'soul' is. I could post a clip of someone else and say that that's 'soul'.

Strong, deeply felt emotion conveyed by a speaker, performer, or artist.A performance that had a lot of soul.That what soul is to me, might be something else to you.

 

[MattHooper]

There isn't one modern rock band that even comes close to Radiohead, Nirvana, PJ etc..
No artist that comes close to MJ
No new Bob Dylan, no new Jeff Buckley etc...

Funny, almost your entire list of artists (except MJ) are to me dull as dishwater. Never clicked with me at all.

There's nothing more foolhardy than making pronouncements on how current music is dross. It's been the road to embarrassment for countless critics. Reminds me of ABBA - reading some of the original scathing too-cool-for-ABBA critiques, boy did they utterly miss what was right beneath their noses (and missed why ABBA endured so long and with so much influence).

I admit though, to have hit that wall not long ago. I've kept pretty current and ear-to-the-ground to the extent I've often been the one to introduce my boys (19/23) to interesting contemporary music. So I tried to put off the Old Man Yelling At Cloud as long as I could.

But they finally got me. They beat me down. Did it mostly with the new hip hop/Rap music, my eldest son being a huge fan. I can't help but be utterly gobsmacked that this...THIS!!...is the state of so much popular music. I have a crazy eclectic range of taste and certainly listen to some indefensibly weird stuff. But the, to use a charitable word, "minimalism" of rap music in what it seems to require from the artist drops my jaw.
There has been this race to the bottom of "cool" where the more aloof you can sound, the more cred you have. So now you have guys literally mumbling in to a microphone, over the same-damned-trap-beat, with the occasional triggered sound or two dropping in and out of the song.
And then there is the "singing" that some rappers half heartedly break in to, which would make even the most sauced street wino croaking tunes wince in embarrassment.

There's my granpa moment. But I won't make some objective pronouncement about it's worthlessness or compared to the music I grew up with. It's simply that I hit a wall, for the most part, where I can barely listen to much popular music at this point. (Though in fact I can appreciate some rap, even some challenging rap).

 

[MattHooper]

That and the familiarity of the music one grew up with.

Yeah, you really see this whole thing play out on youtube.

Go to any video of a hit from any era - 2005, 1995, 1985, 1975, whatever - and it will be filled with comments saying "Why can't they make music like that any more? THAT was clearly the greatest era for music!"

 

[Soniclife]

Funny, almost your entire list of artists (except MJ) are to me dull as dishwater. Never clicked with me at all.

There's nothing more foolhardy than making pronouncements on how current music is dross. It's been the road to embarrassment for countless critics. Reminds me of ABBA - reading some of the original scathing too-cool-for-ABBA critiques, boy did they utterly miss what was right beneath their noses (and missed why ABBA endured so long and with so much influence).

I admit though, to have hit that wall not long ago. I've kept pretty current and ear-to-the-ground to the extent I've often been the one to introduce my boys (19/23) to interesting contemporary music. So I tried to put off the Old Man Yelling At Cloud as long as I could.

But they finally got me. They beat me down. Did it mostly with the new hip hop/Rap music, my eldest son being a huge fan. I can't help but be utterly gobsmacked that this...THIS!!...is the state of so much popular music. I have a crazy eclectic range of taste and certainly listen to some indefensibly weird stuff. But the, to use a charitable word, "minimalism" of rap music in what it seems to require from the artist drops my jaw.
There has been this race to the bottom of "cool" where the more aloof you can sound, the more cred you have. So now you have guys literally mumbling in to a microphone, over the same-damned-trap-beat, with the occasional triggered sound or two dropping in and out of the song.
And then there is the "singing" that some rappers half heartedly break in to, which would make even the most sauced street wino croaking tunes wince in embarrassment.

There's my granpa moment. But I won't make some objective pronouncement about it's worthlessness or compared to the music I grew up with. It's simply that I hit a wall, for the most part, where I can barely listen to much popular music at this point. (Though in fact I can appreciate some rap, even some challenging rap).

Shaking your head at the terrible noise coming from your kids room is the natural order of things, well done for recognising it's a you problem.

 

[MattHooper]

I'm not impervious to new music. Just earlier today I was blasting Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia album on my system. And Chai's new album Wink. I do love colorful, synthy pop/dance music.

 

[JaccoW]

With some of the old radio recordings on tape I have here I can tell you most music, at any time in history, is enthusiastically presented junk.

Repeated exposure makes you like things more and for all the good songs you can remember there is a very strong survivorship bias. If it wasn't good you would never hear it again and would have forgotten it by now. If it wasn't good we never would have put in all that effort to make sure that music survived. This is especially true for classical music and early jazz.

A lot of the old 70's and 80's rock is downright quaint nowadays. The songs that made you feel like a rebel in your youth, because your parents didn't understand, have been built upon by modern artists. That hard-rock song from back then is now excellent background music, almost Muzak. That great Jazz song has been remixed, covered and sampled in new and exciting ways. Sometimes making it unrecognizable.

Are they artists that changed music? Absolutely. But while I like Billie Holiday at times, she was also a product of her time.

I like these two channels on Youtube for their focus on some of the artists of history or how a certain style of music came... and went.
(Both are playlists)

Vox - Earworm

Produce like a Pro - Artist/Songs/Albums that changed music

 

[dmac6419]

Funny, almost your entire list of artists (except MJ) are to me dull as dishwater. Never clicked with me at all.

There's nothing more foolhardy than making pronouncements on how current music is dross. It's been the road to embarrassment for countless critics. Reminds me of ABBA - reading some of the original scathing too-cool-for-ABBA critiques, boy did they utterly miss what was right beneath their noses (and missed why ABBA endured so long and with so much influence).

I admit though, to have hit that wall not long ago. I've kept pretty current and ear-to-the-ground to the extent I've often been the one to introduce my boys (19/23) to interesting contemporary music. So I tried to put off the Old Man Yelling At Cloud as long as I could.

But they finally got me. They beat me down. Did it mostly with the new hip hop/Rap music, my eldest son being a huge fan. I can't help but be utterly gobsmacked that this...THIS!!...is the state of so much popular music. I have a crazy eclectic range of taste and certainly listen to some indefensibly weird stuff. But the, to use a charitable word, "minimalism" of rap music in what it seems to require from the artist drops my jaw.
There has been this race to the bottom of "cool" where the more aloof you can sound, the more cred you have. So now you have guys literally mumbling in to a microphone, over the same-damned-trap-beat, with the occasional triggered sound or two dropping in and out of the song.
And then there is the "singing" that some rappers half heartedly break in to, which would make even the most sauced street wino croaking tunes wince in embarrassment.

There's my granpa moment. But I won't make some objective pronouncement about it's worthlessness or compared to the music I grew up with. It's simply that I hit a wall, for the most part, where I can barely listen to much popular music at this point. (Though in fact I can appreciate some rap, even some challenging rap).

Is screaming singing,you know heavy metal, death metal,etc or whatever they call it ?

 

[mhardy6647]

Rock is dead.
Long live rock.

 

[Sal1950]

These are musicians

Just man up and say you have a problem with Rap,Hip Hop etc,

I can't stand it, I thought I was pretty clear about that the first time ??? LOL
WTF is POC?

 

[Head_Unit]

My father told me not to be one of those people who only listens to the same music they did in high school.

Go pops! That's a kind of philosophy of mine too. And there's a lot of new stuff, and I personally find a lot of good stuff. Great? Eh, a bit, same as always I think.

 

[Sal1950]

When Skynyrd crashed?

No, the song refers to Feb 3 1959, when Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Richie Valens, and the pilot died in a small plane crash flying in bad weather.
But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

I don't even know what 'soul' means in any context.

IMO, In musical terms, infusing the music with emotion the listener can feel.

Is screaming singing,you know heavy metal, death metal,etc or whatever they call it ?

There's usually a full band of players so, Yea its music, horrible music, but music none the less.

OK
Then tell me who's the modern day Jimy Hendrix?

Hendrix couldn't carry David Gilmours guitar case.

 

[pseudoid]

Double negatives are a complete no no

Uh, Huh!

 

[beefkabob]

No, the song refers to Feb 3 1959, when Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Richie Valens, and the pilot died in a small plane crash flying in bad weather.

I know. Was a joke.

Lynyrd Skynyrd Crash | Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument | Gillsburg Mississippi

We are Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument (LSM) and we remember October 20, 1977 because we were here... and we won't forget. A seven-ton black granite monument, dedicated to the memory of those who died and those who lived through the crash over 42 years ago of our own Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

www.lynyrdskynyrdmonument.com

 

[Tks]

For example, Christmas songs by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole are timeless classics since they are still being played today and are still used in Xmas movie soundtracks even today. Please don't tell me you haven't hummed Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer at some point ... That is a timeless classic.

But those are just culturally engrained. It’s similar to the ever repeated same old classical tracks you hear in movies, even though there are far better examples from the same composer.

Those songs were all heavily promoted, and as for Frank, his voice is so iconic, anything he sang became a classic so to speak. As for rudolf the red nosed reindeer. I don’t even know why anyone finds that piece good, let alone timeless for any other reason than sounding what an old, popular holiday song might sound like. More nostalgia than anything really that has stuck around in my view. To generations that weren’t raised on them, those tunes are nothing but a fascinating novelty most of the time for a certain mood. It’s not something my generation (90’s) listens to out of some earth shattering musical genius or enjoyment.

 

[JaccoW]

These are musicians

I can't stand it, I thought I was pretty clear about that the first time ??? LOL
WTF is POC?

People of Color. Virtually all music today is heavily influenced (or a straight ripoff) of music by black people.

Hell, the recipe for early country music was:
- Take hit song of black person from the same year that wasn't played on the radio, because racism
- record it with a white person
- profit

Modern day country uses a lot of r&b tricks or has people doing something that sounds suspiciously like rapping.

And while I like hard rock from time to time it's also designed for people who cannot dance.

 

[dmac6419]

People of Color. Virtually all music today is heavily influenced (or a straight ripoff) of music by black people.

Hell, the recipe for early country music was:
- Take hit song of black person from the same year that wasn't played on the radio, because racism
- record it with a white person
- profit

Modern day country uses a lot of r&b tricks or has people doing something that sounds suspiciously like rapping.

And while I like hard rock from time to time it's also designed for people who cannot dance.

He doesn't know that the voice can be an instrument too, instead of some of these folks liking what they like ,they feel threatened by other's artistry, but are the first ones to appropriate and profit from it ,it gets sickening if you ask me.

 

[JaccoW]

He doesn't know that the voice can be an instrument too, instead of some of these folks liking what they like ,they feel threatened by other's artistry, but are the first ones to appropriate and profit from it ,it gets sickening if you ask me.

I think it's also a modern cultural shift that has been made possible because of streaming.

Since most people can focus on the music they like instead of being fed what is popular even small niches can get a large enough crowd to sustain themselves.

There is also no need to hate on music you don't like anymore. You just don't listen to it.

That's a different mindset than was common in the days of radio where you would sometimes have to suffer through an obnoxious popular song for hours on end because the station kept repeating it 12 times an hour.

I sometimes joke that the reason you saw a wave of European techno, trance and other electronic music coming back to the US in the form of EDM with someone singing over it is because Americans are confused by music without singing. And I guess you could say the same for music that is mostly singing without (or very little) instruments.

 

[bluefuzz]

Virtually all music today is heavily influenced (or a straight ripoff) of music by black people.

That's rather an oversimplification. Rich people have always exploited poor people. Such is the way of the world. For obvious historical reasons a large proportion of the poor in the US and a very small proportion of the rich are and were black. But poor musicians of any colour have always been ripped off by wealthy managers and record companies. This is still the case with the record companies now being replaced by streaming services. But in the context of 20th century popular music there were never really any exclusively 'black' musical genres nor were there any exclusively 'white' ones. Everyone steals from everyone else and always have done. Rich white men are however, probably better at getting away with it ...

 

[Eetu]

That's rather an oversimplification. Rich people have always exploited poor people. Such is the way of the world. For obvious historical reasons a large proportion of the poor in the US and a very small proportion of the rich are and were black. But poor musicians of any colour have always been ripped off by wealthy managers and record companies. This is still the case with the record companies now being replaced by streaming services. But in the context of 20th century popular music there were never really any exclusively 'black' musical genres nor were there any exclusively 'white' ones. Everyone steals from everyone else and always have done. Rich white men are however, probably better at getting away with it ...

While the poor-rich dynamic is certainly true the fact is jazz, blues, ragtime, r&b, soul, rock and roll, gospel, rap and so on have African and/or Afro-American origins.