There is something very, very wrong with today’s music

[Vacceo]

Obviously the esthetics of Surf Music and Deathmetal differ. In terms of musical skill there's no question the Beach Boys were ahead of the curve in their own time, when bands such as those you mention and favor could not exist.

I can listen to Spem in Allium and laugh the lack of musical knowledge of others, but nobody thinks alike now, do we? Let's not dismiss the past on account of said music of the past being so different from what we listen to now.

How does this work sit with you, all of you out there, listening to this?:

For Surf Music there is Dick Dale, and he's great.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Isn’t it just statistics? If there is one great song a year we should see one example for this year but there will be 50 or more of them when you look at the back catalogue.

 

[bluefuzz]

I find the guitar/drums/singer format pretty boring and tired now and never listen to it at all.

I still love lots of both electric (guitar, bass, drums) and electronic (synth, sampler, sequencer) music. But in my dotage I more often find purely acoustic music sounds more interesting.

 

[MCH]

I think, and i am certainly not the only one, that Pet Sounds is a timeless masterpiece and one of the most influential albums ever made.

 

[Vacceo]

I guess with any art form, time and memory creates interesting perceptions. To give an example, around a bit more than a century ago, Celine's Journey to the End of the Night was a massive success in France (and considering how widespread and prestigious French culture was at the time, we can assume it turned into a big, big book). Today, Celine is completely disgraced after his sympathies for the III Reich...

 

[Koeitje]

There’s lots of good new music being made. It just doesn’t get played on the radio.

Plus we only hear the older music that survived all those decades. We don't hear all the garbage that was produced around the same time.

The issue I have with the music landscape these days is that there is too much to check out.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

Plus we only hear the older music that survived all those decades. We don't hear all the garbage that was produced around the same time.

Or the good stuff from way back that didn’t survive. Survival isn’t just about quality.

 

[sofrep811]

Thankfully I have a teen daughter and she's become sort of a hipster to indie music. I believe there is VERY good music being made and played live these days. Real bands playing as original music as much as they can. It's hard because everything has been done--but if you search for it, it's out there and always has been out there. It's just not being shoved down your brain like MTV or on terrestrial radio which just plays nostalgic music from 1970-2000.

Off-hand some bands to check out as far as BANDS.
Ty Segall (He's in all sort of bands and owns his own label. Very good)
DIIV
Dehd
Kellee Lee Owens
Soccer Momies
Perfume Genius... and many more.

 

[Rednaxela]

What I hate about music these says is the mindless recycling of existing tunes.

Nothing new I know, happened in my time too.

Just seems to annoy me more the older I get.

 

[Koeitje]

Animal Collective released a new album last year. The War on Drugs is probably something a lot of people here will also like. Belle and Sebastian also just released a new album.

 

[Vacceo]

Thankfully I have a teen daughter and she's become sort of a hipster to indie music. I believe there is VERY good music being made and played live these days. Real bands playing as original music as much as they can. It's hard because everything has been done--but if you search for it, it's out there and always has been out there. It's just not being shoved down your brain like MTV or on terrestrial radio which just plays nostalgic music from 1970-2000.

Off-hand some bands to check out as far as BANDS.
Ty Segall (He's in all sort of bands and owns his own label. Very good)
DIIV
Dehd
Kellee Lee Owens
Soccer Momies
Perfume Genius... and many more.

I'm sure that for every genre under the sun, you will find incredibly talented people.

For those of us living in the middle of nowhere, where there are no record stores, no Hi fi stores and soon, no population at all, this time is great. Today you can contact the author and get a copy with the same ease I am talking to you now.

Same goes for film or other media. If I told my deceased father I could easily watch 1927's Wings with the same ease I can watch The Northman he'd think I am on something.

 

[Doodski]

Music isn't important anymore in the way it was in our youth. Too many other distractions.

I have music in my ears with ear buds or headphones ~8 to ~17 hours per day. Listening to music is a major part of my life and always has been since a young Dood. I don't see not listening to music everyday.

 

[tmtomh]

There are actually some well-documented factors that play into this issue of today's music being different and/or worse. Some of it is perception, some of it is exposure, and some of it apparently is real.

When it comes to Top 40/Hot 100 music - the most popular of pop music - scholarly analyses have been conducted, and both the lyrical and musical components have indeed gotten simpler and less varied in the past 30 years or so. So that part is real. But on the other hand, this dumbing-down trend has not been observed more broadly in the musical landscape - it appears to be mainly in the realm of "hit" music, which has always contained a lot of pap. I mean, look at the Top 40/Billboard charts in the 1970s: tons of amazing music was getting made and selling like hotcakes, and yet the charts tended to be filled with a lot of very lightweight pop.

The industry has also changed, and when it comes to pop/rock music in particular, AOR (album-oriented rock) is not the dominant format that it was from the 1970s through the mid-1990s. A lot of that is about the rise of digital music, first with individually purchasable songs and then with streaming. Those are both media that strongly favor singles and songs over albums, and encourage Endless Shuffle playback. These media have also ushered in the decline of traditional radio overall, and with it the decline in deejays and critics as tastemakers. It's part of the larger fracturing of all mass-media/entertainment audiences. So there's less support for and cultural/economic centrality to the album format, which also means shorter songs and less varied types of songs. And there's less exposure to album-based music, so the varied, interesting albums that are out there are generally not getting heard by as many people and are not occupying as central of a place in our collective attention.

The above phenomena have also been exacerbated by the reduction in the number of people who are writing and producing the lion's share of the biggest hits. In a way it's kind of like a return to the pre-1970s era, when singles were the big thing and most artists performed songs written and produced by others.

The rise of hip-hop and its displacement of rock as the most popular musical genre has had huge ripple effects. The barrier to entry for hip-hop is lower than for traditional, band-based rock music (which is why hip-hop began in the first place), and it has always been based on samples and rhythm more than on solos, instrumental breaks and changes, complex compositions, and so on (the best trip-hop is a partial exception to this). The rise of inexpensive computer audio workstations has only intensified this trend.

On the other hand, the production and creation of music has never been more widespread than it is now. Tons of fascinating stuff is getting created - it's just coexisting with an ocean of simple, homogenous product.

Oh, and mandolin > banjo. Just sayin'.

 

[Vacceo]

I have music in my ears with ear buds or headphones ~8 to ~17 hours per day. Listening to music is a major part of my life and always has been since a young Dood. I don't see not listening to music everyday.

And you can do so in Aptx HD, which is an insane way to do it not that long ago. As good as CD without wires? Ain't it great?

 

[Doodski]

And you can do so in Aptx HD, which is an insane way to do it not that long ago. As good as CD without wires? Ain't it great?

Yes, that new Bluetooth is great. In my daily use I am strapped in with wires. Have not gone wireless. Not sure if I ever will. I dislike rechargeable battery systems.

 

[Vacceo]

Yes, that new Bluetooth is great. In my daily use I am strapped in with wires. Have not gone wireless. Not sure if I ever will. I dislike rechargeable battery systems.

I use IEM's quite a lot and I'm contemplating the kind you can change the wire. I could use it with wire or Bluetooth equally.

For the Aptx HD I have tried it in a conventional stereo and it is really outstanding.

 

[Doodski]

I use IEM's quite a lot and I'm contemplating the kind you can change the wire. I could use it with wire or Bluetooth equally.

For the Aptx HD I have tried it in a conventional stereo and it is really outstanding.

I've been daily using these KEF's in black color for several years with EQ for when I am mobile. I paid about $70 for them. They still work fine but I am expecting a breakdown any day because of the age of them and how many hours of use they have endured. So I will have open eyes and ears looking for new stuff.

When mobile I have trained myself to be aware of the wire and so not snag it on stuff but it still happens sometimes and then the rubber seal gets pulled off the headphone and falls to the ground and I have to search for it....lol. I'm sure we have all been there and done that. So that new Bluetooth system is a lifesaver but how far out in the future is it as per availability in music players?

 

[Vacceo]

Current Fiio's (M11 plus) use it.

 

[bluefuzz]

I have music in my ears with ear buds or headphones ~8 to ~17 hours per day. Listening to music is a major part of my life and always has been since a young Dood. I don't see not listening to music everyday.

Yes, so do I. But we're old.

What I mean is that music isn't culturally important as it once was.

Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles at Shea Stadium, The Velvets first album, Hendrix at Woodstock, Wattstax, Hearing Teenage Kicks for the first time on the radio literally changed people's lives. Beyoncé's or Ed Sheeran's latest will at most make them change their underwear ...

 

[Doodski]

What I mean is that music isn't culturally important as it once was.

Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles at Shea Stadium, The Velvets first album, Hendrix at Woodstock, Wattstax, Hearing Teenage Kicks for the first time on the radio literally changed people's lives. Beyoncé's or Ed Sheeran's latest will at most make them change their underwear ...

Yes, this makes sense. Times have changed and the plethora of available entertainment options is exceptional as you mentioned a couple of posts ago. It was the PC that stopped my home audio system building activities. The PC was simply a new thing that had all these cool features and required repair often and was great. Now we still have the PC but it has been integrated into the audio realm and streaming has become the standard and they rarely require repair now. So perhaps the foundation is there again in the form of the PC and audio gear integrated together in supporting the hyper acts of tomorrow that will become historical events.