Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Well, maybe because new music suxx
- Thread starter basscooker
- Start date
- Status
There are a lot (A LOT) of current rappers who possess absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of popular music going back 100 years. To me it's impressive. All music draws from influence. And there are 12 notes.
I'm 42, have an iPhone and a fast internet connection. There is zero excuse for me (or anyone finding themself similarly outfitted) to gripe about new music sucking.
Wasn't me. Don't have any kids, that I know of. And I'm a bad influence. Raising kids, not my forte, so I've stayed away from it.
I think Good music can and is made at all times.
Now, there's so much of everything out there that you've just gotta find it.
Now, there's so much of everything out there that you've just gotta find it.
Only one example of course but on a weekend get together of younger and older people I attended last year the recorded music was provided by a young group of friends. It was mostly '60s & '70s stuff. I asked why they chose music from that period.
"Because our music is crap" was the answer.
"Because our music is crap" was the answer.
Well, this answers why at age 69 I'm still giving and recording, and still sell them. All two of them… to my aunt…
No hooks and no choruses are a big problem with a lot of new music. Production tastes that sound like locker room music at Planet Fitness aren't helpful either. I'm sure there is stuff that is of high quality out there as this old man has heard a few lately, but it's few and far between and it has very little connection to the zeitgeist of cultural trends the way music did half a century ago.
For example: The New Rock - Life Magazine June 1968 | TheDoors4Scorpywag 'Other Voices':DoorsTalk Forum
For example: The New Rock - Life Magazine June 1968 | TheDoors4Scorpywag 'Other Voices':DoorsTalk Forum
I'm 55. There's always something new and interesting happening with music somewhere. I don't listen to the radio much, and don't go to record stores, but I occasionally buy vinyl (new and old) and am an Apple Music subscriber.
In my non-expert and not deeply considered assessment, there's just too much music out there. Which is a weird thing for a music lover to say. But dig: almost everybody has access to recording equipment. A few years ago, while working in London, I wrote and recorded a song on my iPhone and it sounded good, and then I used DistroKid and BOOM it's on Spotify and iTunes now.
The library at our fingertips is massive. Oppressively, intimidatingly so. When COVID hit I would put on a curated Apple Music playlist and take long walks, and some of the songs were fantastic. But did I take note of the artists, download their albums, fall in love with them like kid me discovering U2 on MTV? No.
Maybe that's because I'm older and past the point of devouring artists so as to define myself. Or maybe because I work (sort of) in the music biz and I'm jaded.
Or maybe it's because there's TOO MUCH MUSIC. A few months ago, I was trying to remember the name of a band I had briefly fallen in love with a few years before that. Why had I stopped listening to them? Why hadn't I bought their vinyl? The answer is that some other new music came along and I bopped from momentary fascination to momentary fascination.
Too. Much. Music.
In my non-expert and not deeply considered assessment, there's just too much music out there. Which is a weird thing for a music lover to say. But dig: almost everybody has access to recording equipment. A few years ago, while working in London, I wrote and recorded a song on my iPhone and it sounded good, and then I used DistroKid and BOOM it's on Spotify and iTunes now.
The library at our fingertips is massive. Oppressively, intimidatingly so. When COVID hit I would put on a curated Apple Music playlist and take long walks, and some of the songs were fantastic. But did I take note of the artists, download their albums, fall in love with them like kid me discovering U2 on MTV? No.
Maybe that's because I'm older and past the point of devouring artists so as to define myself. Or maybe because I work (sort of) in the music biz and I'm jaded.
Or maybe it's because there's TOO MUCH MUSIC. A few months ago, I was trying to remember the name of a band I had briefly fallen in love with a few years before that. Why had I stopped listening to them? Why hadn't I bought their vinyl? The answer is that some other new music came along and I bopped from momentary fascination to momentary fascination.
Too. Much. Music.
I tend to lean towards new music not being as good as old music. I do hear good new music sometimes, but not often. Many times I think the new song I'm hearing is a commercial/advertisement! Probably because they sound so similar to each other, uninteresting and soulless.
There has always been mainstream, garbage music that is made in boardrooms; purely for profit. The difference is today that music is digital, and prior to the digital era even pop music had to be made with ACTUAL INSTRUMENTS. Listening to any modern pop, or rap music on the radio makes me want to keg-stand a giant bottle of Clorox. If you have "lil" in your name, chances are you probably suck, and I'm going to laugh my ass off when you inevitably overdose on cough syrup.
I can respect pretty much all types of music, as long as it was made with effort and love for the craft. I know people like to trash rap music for being full of talentless hacks, but listen to the album Illmatic by Nas and tell me that there is not SERIOUS talent there. An absolute masterpiece of 90's music. Maroon 5's breakout album Songs about Jane is still an absolutely stellar record, despite being a part of the pop-rock genre that I shagING DESPISE. I recognize the immense talent that it took to make that music, even though it is not my type of music.
Although, I cannot stress enough how important it is to respect REAL music, even when you don't like it. You "boomers" may not like deathcore, (I'm generalizing here) but it is undoubtedly real music. It takes some serious ingenuity and creativity to use instruments tuned down a full octave and make them sound good. It's nuts what guys are doing in extreme metal, today.
I can respect pretty much all types of music, as long as it was made with effort and love for the craft. I know people like to trash rap music for being full of talentless hacks, but listen to the album Illmatic by Nas and tell me that there is not SERIOUS talent there. An absolute masterpiece of 90's music. Maroon 5's breakout album Songs about Jane is still an absolutely stellar record, despite being a part of the pop-rock genre that I shagING DESPISE. I recognize the immense talent that it took to make that music, even though it is not my type of music.
Although, I cannot stress enough how important it is to respect REAL music, even when you don't like it. You "boomers" may not like deathcore, (I'm generalizing here) but it is undoubtedly real music. It takes some serious ingenuity and creativity to use instruments tuned down a full octave and make them sound good. It's nuts what guys are doing in extreme metal, today.
If you think we're unoriginal, I would blame the generation that raised us. As a generation that was told to "think outside the box", look at how the older generations treat us when we don't do the things the way they do. You seem to have an issue with toast, hairstyles, and tattoos, even though none of them have an effect on your day to day life.
And by the way, millennials are now all approximately 26-41 years old. There is plenty of great music being made people by people in that age range. It just so happens that sometime talented musicians aren't the most popular.
I remember helping my daughter move into her college dorm back in the early 2000's and being really impressed by the huge variety of music emanating from all the rooms. They were way more open about music than many of the musicians I know. In fact, my daughter still sends me playlists of music that would normally never get pushed to my age demographic.
There is a lot of great derivative music out there. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
And see, Deathcore is the last example I would use as an example of an innovative music genre. Love metal, love technical music, totally agree amazing stuff is happening in metal right now, if you played five deathcore bands for me with a gun to my head I couldn't tell you which band was which. Different strokes for different folks, as we are seeing!
I listen mainly to jazz and like a lot of younger musicians. There are also a great deal of very young musicians playing in bluegrass and old-time music, both traditional and an evolving takes on it, that are amazing. They don't seem to get involved in R&B or blues styles as much. Maybe it isn't as relevant for them, or I just don't know who to listen to?
As for current pop music, isn't that hip-hop? I'm pretty sure that a big part of that music's appeal is that it is generation-specific. What 20 something wants to listen to the same thing a boomer is listening to?
As for current pop music, isn't that hip-hop? I'm pretty sure that a big part of that music's appeal is that it is generation-specific. What 20 something wants to listen to the same thing a boomer is listening to?
That's how we roll here at TalkBass.
I like a lot of different music, new and old.
But I think the music you liked in your teenage years and early 20's is what sticks with you forever.
Not for me. I listen to completely different music than I did 30 years ago.
There is a ton of good music being made today, it's just not marketed to the masses.
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
I think there's good music still being made - I just think that it's being made in an environment where it's completely devalued. A chimpanzee can record a great sounding album using cheap software in any bedroom anywhere for a nickel. So now that everyone in the world can record a great sounding album, the world is suddenly flooded with material, that is then distributed on a platform that basically gives it all away to anyone who can pay $9.99/month.
For the consumer, having access to what amounts to a limitless catalog at all times, renders its contents effectively meaningless. When you can access any song at any time it's no longer special to hear you favorite new song on the radio.
In essence, I would disagree with the notion that an entire generation of musicians has failed to produce relevant music. I would agree that the platform that industry has made to create and distribute music is largely at fault for not bringing relevant music to the consumer.
For the consumer, having access to what amounts to a limitless catalog at all times, renders its contents effectively meaningless. When you can access any song at any time it's no longer special to hear you favorite new song on the radio.
In essence, I would disagree with the notion that an entire generation of musicians has failed to produce relevant music. I would agree that the platform that industry has made to create and distribute music is largely at fault for not bringing relevant music to the consumer.
Yes, there's some good music out there still but do we hear it?
In years gone past we used to frequent small venues that supported live music. Lots of the bands that started there went on to releasing albums and at least some degree of success. I don't see those types of venues now, at least where I live.
I suspect that young people are more open to older music than old people are to new music. I always listen to what young people are playing, a lot of it is not my thing but there are some artists that pique my interest.
We would listen to albums on a good stereo, I mean we really listened but today with streaming music to devices that let's face it, aren't going to reproduce it like a good stereo, has it become just like 'background music'? People seem to listen but not really pay attention to it nowadays.
- Status
