Why is modern pop music so terrible?

[ahc]

Around 45 years ago a late, lamented drummer friend used to say "The average person's musical development ceases at high school." RIP Griff!

 

[Dean N]

The fact is that radio is in trouble. Thanks to the internet, the market has fractured. The top 40 no longer rules the roost. Hits are expensive to produce so they're safer and more canned than ever, that's true. But they also just aren't as big hits as they used to be. The market has shrunk.

Glittering prizes and endless compromises..

 

[darkreich]

Just watch the movie " kill your friends"

 

[pbass2]

Man, the more I dig into Deadmau5, the more I think that guy is on top of his game. Have you heard Death Grips? Those guys are really mixing it up. It almost reminds me of when I first heard Die Antwoord, but it goes even weirder. Not that Death Grips is a huge name, but Deadmau5 and Die Antwoord certainly have climbed up the ladder.

I suppose it is all a matter of what you like and what you are exposed to. I loved the industrial metal scene in the late 90's and early 2000's, but I can't get behind djent. I like raw, old-school black metal, but I can't get on board with the more modern stuff with better production. So, based on that, I can't say that I don't understand the gripes many folks have here. I feel like the kids on my lawn don't know what it was like when I was their age, but my elders didn't get "my" generation, nor did their elders get their music.

Lots of good food for thought in this thread, considering it is a bit of a dead-horse topic. Good work TB

I LOVE Die Antwoord. Very innovative, clever, and fresh stuff there! Death Grips are super cool too.

 

[sotua]

 

[ThePresident777]

Maybe, but the point of the OP's video is that fewer and fewer original artists are now given the opportunity to satisfy the growing demand. Instead, in order to reduce risk, record companies have stopped signing original new artists and instead manufacture new artists complete with new hits that sound just like the old hits by the previous hot new artists, because they were written by the same people and recorded using the same digital instruments and techniques.

You can see the same trends in other art forms. Take movies - I go to the cinema and look at the posters for upcoming movies, and at least half of them are franchise films. In other words, the movie studios are trying to reduce risk, just like the recording companies, by rehashing the same movies over and over. Instead of coming up with something new, we get another X-Men movie, another Avengers spin-off, and so forth. I'm a big Star Wars fan, but let's face it, The Force Awakens was yet another retelling of the original Star Wars from 1977. It's the same movie, and we've seen it three times now.

The tragedy is that there are countless talented, creative artists in all genres that aren't being given the chance to be heard or seen by the public because all the corporate dollars go to the least risky investment - the next boy band, the next blond waif singer, the next franchise film, the next book series about wizards or vampires pitched to teenagers who will reliably buy all the merchandise, see the inevitable film adaptation, and go to the theme park.

Same thing with computer games, and Rocksmith. Rocksmith has some great songs but it has a bias towards typical verse-chorus forms (at any speed) and guitar wankery. The result is that there are very few songs with 3 or more parts, dynamics, or tempo changes and even less of that in the intermediate or beginner range. Most of the songs are beginner or advanced verse-chorus guitar wankery.

For example, The Trooper by Iron Maiden is in Rocksmith. But I doubt we'll ever see any of Iron Maiden's more varied songs like Still Life, Strange World, or Hallowed Be Thy Name. They all have tempo changes and more than two parts.

They put out variety and mix packs but the variety and mix is between the songs, not within, typically.

 

[peledog]

I don't necessarily think it's the songwriting - but rather the production and mixes. No dynamics, no variety of instrumentation - very little imagination in arrangment. Too much compression perhaps. It's horrible. Then you've got mastering and the loudness wars - unique to digital music. I disagree that this happens in every decade. Pop music will always be pop in the sense that it appeals to a wider base, but the squashing of the sound and instrumentation/mixes such killed the last decade.

 

[hondo4life]

OP video is spot on, and depressing.
I can't wait until we go Demolition Man style. Modern pop music will become classic commercial jingles.

 

[brianrost]

That video is full of so much questionable logic. How did we go from the Beatles to Justin Bieber? Hmm, there was a lot of garbage pop music in 1967, just like today. While you might be able to argue that there was more quality pop music then, I'm not sure the percentage of great to dreck has changed all that much.

One thing has changed...the entertainment business is much larger today than it was in 1967. They are big businesses run by people who have no real background in the arts. That has led to micromanagement of the entire process, something that did not exist 50 years ago.

 

[mikewalker]

... Instead, in order to reduce risk, record companies have stopped signing original new artists ... In other words, the movie studios are trying to reduce risk, just like the recording companies ...

What a lot of people miss is that it's not "risk-aversion" so much as PURE GREED that drives the short-sighted "shag developing anything original" attitudes. Corporations are more and more driven by the pure evil of 'buy low, sell high' investors, rather than 'in it for the long term good of society' board of director oversight...

 

[Watchootognbout]

Because it takes minimal effort to make.
You don't have to think about it.
And appeals to a simple mindset.

 

[Nev375]

I believe the video to be spot on.

I also think the fact that our tastes are getting simpler and the masses are getting dumber is no coincidence.

 

[skwee]

compressed digital audio
the balance between A&R and cash money leaned too heavily toward cash money
Education funding being cut, making kids less exposed to quality arts and humanities
too small a pool of songwriters getting a chance to write for corporatized record companies
production trends/autotune minimized the need to have quality performers

 

[skortch]

There hasn't been anything worthwhile produced since 1953.

Granted, that's a totally arbitrary date I picked at random but you know in your heart that it's true.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

 

[Herrick]

I might watch the video in the OP but first I'd like to know if there are any samples of modern pop music in the video. I'm sure there are but I'd still like confirmation.

 

[thumbs&fingers]

Simple answer:

Pop in the 60's to the 90's was mostly written and recorded by out of work jazz musicians who studied the art of crafting music and approaching it as a whole.

The last decade or so has seen producers crafting music without a room full of musicians communicating. Crafting hooks individually in separate locales and emailing their contributions or a single producer using a computer to play all the parts.

The difference is like having sex to make a baby and growing one in a lab

 

[mark roberts]

Stumbled on this youtube video and found it intriguing...

Compared to the vintage youth popular music I hold near and dear..."popular" music here and now in the States is
Lyrics...generally much better
Music...generally restrictive, elementary and less risky.
Result? Sandwich comprised of cheap white bread, cheapo processed chicken slice and cheapo mozzarella cheese slice served on a nice napkin. No risky taste.
Note here. This is a generality. The opinion only represents a small slice of what is hampering a decent living out of the art and business of music. There are a lot of independents out there making some slamming good music in many genres. The "biz" needs an...you fill in the rest.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

The only to get good music was through the radio ... and so they put everything there ... including band worshipped here, band that everyone heard and was a fan of. Now with the internet you can listen to whatever you want for whatever country, the only way they're going to sell pop music is making it stupider than before.

Let's not forget we are constantly bombarded with stuff with our cell etc and the only way to grab attention with music is with bubblegum pink happy stuff that everyone can understand, and making sure it is louder than everything else.

People saying pop music is there to sell more than music. It is true but it is also true for whatever genre of music you listen to. Music pretty much never been the objective, music is more or less a mean to an end. Make people dance, go with a religious ritual, to sell booze, to sell cloths, to pump you while you do a workout, to go along a roadtrip ... the only people that really sit down and listen to the music are fan of classical music. even though they don't play a musical instrument they know the music inside out and can tell if this conductor did a passage well or really got the emotion ... it is surprizing to witness.

 

[Bubble]

Hang a toilet paper dispenser on your guitar, pull a foot or so out then play a song. See how it comes out !