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

[Head_Unit]

And who buys those tickets? I'll bet that they are not the same folks that buy tickets for classical music concerts and I suspect that, overwhelmingly, they are people who acknowledge that they like movie soundtrack music

They are people who like to go to The Hollywood Bowl on a nice summer evening.

Here in SoCal KUSC has started to play some film score music. Standalone, it mostly sounds like nice classical stuff to me, though sometimes it does sound composed for film. Still I welcome their broadening their fare past an all-old-warhorses playlist, as they now play lesser known composers as well.

Suggestions for good classical streaming stations welcome; in one office the old iPhone cannot update KUSC's app any more so they are dead to my wife there. Unless I pony up for a newer used iPhone to run SIMless...

 

[rockrolla]

I'm 50 years old and there's been always bad music as far as I remember, it was really hard to find and get good music when I was 16-17 years old ,there were a lot o crap going on , I don't want to name bands because I don't want to offend anyone, you needed to listen to alternative and ilegal radios at that time and record the music on cassete tapes , maybe a live concert recorded in the middle of the crown with a cassete record player , that was awesome and rare even though the quality was terrible , some of the music consider good today it wasn't so good at the time but it's nice to hear in the present perspective because you grow up listen to it and there's some kind of intimacy , some memories attached and that's ok because if music let makes you feel good it doesn't matter if it's a piece of crap or a piece of art , it's all about enjoyment and that particular moment , so my point is that nothing really changed much , the music you listen on the radio wasn't and isn't the best music produced and you need to dig deeply to find quality stuff and that's not an easy journey because in a way you have all the commodities of a Spotify or other streaming music service that allows you to find anything but in otherwise that's an overwhelming adventure because there's so many bands , so much choices , and it's hard to filter quality stuff without spending hours listen endless playlists, nevertheless it pays back , nothing like you find a new band you really enjoy and that's currently my own journey , I been attached to old music for many years with the believe there's nothing better but I was wrong . I don't know what young people listen nowadays but isn't worse than "boys" Sabrina or "touch me" Samantha Fox or is it ? but I admit I enjoy a lot those videos

 

[Keith_W]

I'm 50 years old

OK, Boomer.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

A 50 year old isn’t a Boomer.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

They are people who like to go to The Hollywood Bowl on a nice summer evening.

Undeniably appealing.

Here in SoCal KUSC has started to play some film score music. Standalone, it mostly sounds like nice classical stuff to me, though sometimes it does sound composed for film.

The issue, at least for me, is that the aesthetic criteria that I apply to classical music is what I apply to film score music (when performed/played without the film). For example, bleeding chunks of classical music may be effective as part of a film score but their excision/truncation annoys me. That may be inappropriate intellectually but so be it.

 

[Sonny1]

I’ve fallen into this trap so I’m not criticizing anyone. Throughout history people have said the same thing. In the 50’s, people said Rock and Roll was ruining music, when I was growing up playing guitar (Metal and Rock) my parents (both music lovers) said it sounded like noise. My 17 year old son is a musician with eclectic tastes but he also likes the stuff I play and the music I listened to in my 20’s (from the late 80’s). He and his friends listen to rap so I get to slag it the same way my dad ripped my music when I was young. I have to admit, there are some extremely talented musicians today, even if they are not the ones on the charts. I just don’t think they make great albums anymore.

The music industry is so fragmented and chaotic these days. Companies don’t invest in bands like they did during the 60’s and 70’s and I don’t remember the last great album in recent years. For me, albums like Aja, Dark Side, Wish YounWere Here, Zepplin IV, Sgt Peppers, Abbey Road, the Wall, Rumors, Ride the Lightening, Pet Sounds, OK Computer, etc., are gone for good. Maybe I’m getting old but I can’t recall a great album in recent years. I miss the days when bands put out great albums. Popular music seems to be mostly singles these days for people who stream to their Bluetooth players. When I was a kid, I spent half my income on music (recordings and live shows). Now my son and his friends stream pop music but it’s mainly singles. There is something special about a great cohesive album. Damn I’m old.

 

[Head_Unit]

the Wall, Rumors, Ride the Lightening,

Personally Death Magnetic is my favorite (granted it's now 14 years old, from a 42-year-old band.
As for The Wall, rumor has it Roger Waters might rerecord Dark Side Of The Moon [cue Monty Python "Run Away! Run Away!"]
I do think there are some really good recent albums though one which I really liked every single song will NOT come to the front of my mind. OTOH, it's really impossible in today's scene for anything to becomes as classic as Sergeant Pepper or Pet Sounds or Ziggy Stardust or Led Zeppelin IV or what have you. Those things were a product of a different time and at the forefront of the hindbrain zeitgeist* and you simply can't do that today with the highly fragmented culture. If any of those albums came out today they would not somehow magically rise to the same prominence.


*no I have no idea what that phrase really means Just remember the magic words are sundyfiddyfa and bunnynamaneno.

 

[Axo1989]

As for The Wall, rumor has it Roger Waters might rerecord Dark Side Of The Moon [cue Monty Python "Run Away! Run Away!"]

Haha, I suppose it depends on your perspective, but I'd say Waters is running with the dark side these days.

 

[charleski]

He and his friends listen to rap so I get to slag it the same way my dad ripped my music when I was young.

This is essential advice for parents. When your offspring cheerfully blasts out their latest musical discovery the very worst thing you can do is tell them it sounds great, as that will ruin the magic for them.

 

[Sonny1]

This is essential advice for parents. When your offspring cheerfully blasts out their latest musical discovery the very worst thing you can do is tell them it sounds great, as that will ruin the magic for them.

Haha! So true. He plays guitar, sings and writes/records songs all the time. I like most of them but he went through an Emo phase and shoegaze phase and it was not my style. When he’d ask for an opinion, I’d just say I’m your dad and it would be weird if we liked all the same music.

It’s amazing to see the music he is able to mix on his computer with an inexpensive Focusrite, a couple mics and some software. Even his amp has an interface that works pretty well. The mics are my old Sure mics, nothing fancy. He converted his closet into a vocal recording booth and our basement into a dogs breakfast of a studio. Sucks when we all have to be quiet when he’s recording but I’m being supportive and play along.

 

[rdenney]

Undeniably appealing.

The issue, at least for me, is that the aesthetic criteria that I apply to classical music is what I apply to film score music (when performed/played without the film). For example, bleeding chunks of classical music may be effective as part of a film score but their excision/truncation annoys me. That may be inappropriate intellectually but so be it.

Kal, an awful lot of what we happily call classical music is intended as programmatic accompaniment, as you know. Ballet scores, suites from operas, concert productions from operas, all fall into that category. The difference is that the composers of those works of old would compose suites from the full score to given them a standalone shape.

But I've also played a zillion operatic overtures just as they were played in the opera house before the fat lady came out. And many (certainly not all) great movie scores have overtures or closing-credit suites that similarly work as standalone music.

Some of it is spectacular, and some of it is mundane, just like all the rest of classical music. It's just that the mundane stuff isn't what is usually on the program (unless it's a recent composition and hasn't yet earned its obscurity).

I agree about using excerpts of established classical works in film scores. Usually, that is a dodge against paying someone royalties--stuff composed before 1923 is in the public domain.

Rick "thinking that, for better or worse, movie scores are keeping the symphony orchestra alive as a viable ensemble--for the moment" Denney

 

[Axo1989]

So (to overgeneralize, yes) the music at the top of the charts is made on laptops by kids in bedrooms in Logic with quantized loops and auto-tune basically doing the singing.

Kids today, amirite?

 

[Joe Smith]

Great new music is definitely out there, IMO you just have to work a bit to find it. Books find me, music finds me, but I help those connections along by reading a lot and keeping current.

On the Pop front, I'm in love with the new Caroline Polachek album (Desire, I Want to Turn Into You). Phoebe Bridgers, The National, Thom Yorke...woo.

I can't keep up with all the good jazz being recorded today, on ECM and other labels...

Electronic/Ambient...same thing. A feast of riches.

Yes, the current environment is different and not helpful for a "Sgt. Pepper" society-capturing transformative experience to happen. Ah, well. We have more diverse music today, which is good.

A lot of bad music today? Yes! Was that also true in 1970! Yes! (I was there.)

 

[Axo1989]

Great new music is definitely out there, IMO you just have to work a bit to find it. Books find me, music finds me, but I help those connections along by reading a lot and keeping current.

On the Pop front, I'm in love with the new Caroline Polachek album (Desire, I Want to Turn Into You). Phoebe Bridgers, The National, Thom Yorke...woo.

I can't keep up with all the good jazz being recorded today, on ECM and other labels...

Electronic/Ambient...same thing. A feast of riches.

Yes, the current environment is different and not helpful for a "Sgt. Pepper" society-capturing transformative experience to happen. Ah, well. We have more diverse music today, which is good.

A lot of bad music today? Yes! Was that also true in 1970! Yes! (I was there.)

Agree entirely with your initial point. And I'm enjoying some of the same music.

I listened to the track A&W (the second single just released from Lana Del Rey's upcoming album) last week, a seven minute number that drifts into psychedelic, collagist not-quite-freakout territory and thinking this stuff wouldn't really be happening now without A Day in the Life. Which owed a creative debt to C20 avant-garde in turn.

 

[Axo1989]

I've worked in recording studios the since the mid 90s and in my opinion, the reason music is so bad now compared to older periods is not about there being less talent these days, but rather there being less money in the business to incentivize that talent to pursue a career in music.

Back then, you could make a LOT of money in the music industry. Copyright was protected. Today, it's pennies for everyone but the very top artists, and even they make nearly everything on touring and merchandising; recordings and streams pay next to nothing.

This applied not just to the artists, but to the whole support system: the studio players, producers, engineers, assistants, songwriters, publishers, etc. One of my good friends is a session drummer in Nashville who for years played two or three double-scale sessions most days each week (each session paid a few hundred dollars plus health and retirement benefits). Nowadays he's lucky to get any work at all at any rate. Music Row in Nashville, which used to be a thriving and exciting hub of musical creativity is now mostly apartment buildings and other businesses.

Music, like anything else, takes a long time to get good at. That requires having time to practice -- often years. But even with the who in their right mind would try to become a great musician these days when there's no money in it anymore?

So (to overgeneralize, yes) the music at the top of the charts is made on laptops by kids in bedrooms in Logic with quantized loops and auto-tune basically doing the singing.

I couldn't resist making fun of your neo-Socratic conclusion (you know that quote) but the observations on the day-to-day economics/logistics of music production were interesting. Cultural tumbleweeds in Nashville evoke things like the decline of Detroit after Japan learned to make marketable cars back in the day (but I'll type no more about cars). I expect personal costs of some of those technological shifts range from inconvenient to tragic. I think there are drawbacks and benefits to the shift to digital production tech in video and music. I also think 'great musician' is somewhat orthogonal to 'great music' in the case of new creative work. Virtuosity for its own sake isn't sufficient for the latter (although many enjoy it in lieu).

It's a bit like ChatGPT is making the music. Little human, lots of bot.

You added this. One of my favourite artists identified—perhaps performatively—as a cyborg for a while, while making stuff in their bedroom pushing buttons on a number of black boxes. And made what I think is the best album of 2022. Not for everyone of course, but anyone can do as @Joe Smith suggests and keep current. I've enjoyed most of the albums on this list, for example, some of it is quite brilliant.

 

[Hapo]

 

[Hapo]

...this isn't really new anymore but there is something wrong here, eh...

 

[Hapo]

 

[Hapo]

 

[pseudoid]

...this isn't really new anymore but there is something wrong here, eh...

Probably parents of 1960s (and '70s/'80s/'90s/'00s...) said the same thing about the music their kids listen to.
P.S. Don't get mad if I don't listen to your youtube links... the last thing I have in mind is to listen to a suggestion of bad music.