Has it really "all been done"?
 

Have we really explored and tested the boundaries of music in every single style? I'm sure in the 50's they would say that we have, and I'm sure in Renaissance time they only knew the music they knew to be the only kind of music. There's got to be a style and a feeling that we have yet to explore to it's complete extent. Thoughts?

There was plenty of music before the Renaissance and everything that came before has influenced what came later even if it was in some small way or if we didn't realize it. I took a music appreciation course last year which covered very early forms of music through modern rock. I was amazed to find out how many modern songs actually borrow from other forms of music and even some early forms of medieval, classical and jazz. I don't think "it's all been done". I think that for the most part the quality of the music and level of musicianship has eroded in the last 25 years or so. As a result, music will keep evolving but at much slower rate.

Thank the "industry" for that.
Gone are the days where a band could record a four-song double album and sell out football stadiums touring it.

It won't ever all be done for as long as humans are around.

I've recently discovered e.s.t. Who would have thought the boring old piano trio format could be so cool?

I've also been digging Anthony Jackson's work with Hiromi. Again making something new out of that Piano trio.

So I think there's plenty of fertile ground to be plowed in all the fields.

We haven't even scratched the surface yet. Music will continue to evolve, develop, improve, and degrade, all at the same time.

If you listen to the radio, it has all been done 20 some years ago. Thankfully, the sky is the limit with music being online.

Well ... I'm pretty sure we've at least scratched the surface, but I agree with you otherwise

There are indeed 'formulas' for selling recordings which pop music seeks out & exploits ad nauseum.

Image over song has also diluted much music too.

Both get tiresome. There are at times, new artists that do bend the rules in delightful ways...what's annoying is the trend spotting producers who copy & paste those tones onto other artists.

The artistry will be there. The question is (premised upon radio & standard media outlets), will we hear it?

+1

There is always more. The infinite is a big place.

I think it's hard to not confuse the way music is created in the present with how it was 40, 70, 100, 200, 500 years ago.

Modern music of the past 40-50 years is significantly different from the music for the centuries predating in one simple way: the music before WWII was created for 100 different reasons. Most music in the modern day is created for one reason - to market. That is why you hear the same thing - over and over. This is true for every genre and the vast majority of music.

I believe there are spaces left to fill in the music mosaic but it would have to involve bands/singers pushing boundaries in music - not in fashion, dance, and all the other nonsense that comes with music these days. Not many push the boundaries of music - even many bands/singers that people claim push boundaries are rehashing old sounds.

If music can evolve and change as much as it has in the past 50 years, there's no question that there'll always be something new.

Forget about mainstream music if you really want to hear something different. The most innovative stuff is below the surface. Luckily, the internet makes it far easier to find nowadays.

Most music that is given the chance to reach the market fits that definition, but that's far from all of it. Given that the music industry is a business, it's understandable that they'd pick proven money makers (i.e., those that sound generic) over something that's a bit more innovative, but unproven.

Those who say it's all been done before don't know what originality sounds like.

Yes it's all been done. Just give up now.

No one has rubbed a mushroom on a stone, and sang lyrics about lookalike valve stems caps in Swahili.

I couldn't say for sure, but I sure hope the day when we have explored every single boundary of music never comes. As an art, it should have an infinite potential for expression, IMO. And maybe it does, as long as there are musicians who are up to the challenge of being creative.

New music is being made all the time, even if you don't like it, or think that it's too commercial. In addition, old music is being revived, re-discovered, re-interpreted, and so forth. We don't know the boundaries of music, because it has no boundaries. There has not been a century in which anybody could predict where music would go in the next century.

there's always room for new music.....i just don't think it will ever be as big as it once was!
how many bands are gonna be around for 50 years? (The Stones, The who)
NONE!! not any from this NEW generation!!