I really want to like Ska, and I really like nearly the entirety of this album, but whenever I try to branch out from there I come up dry with anything I really enjoy.
When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they’ve quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, “Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands”. Looking back I was such a tool. First because it’s such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I’m honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say “I don’t like new music” is absurd, and you’re exactly right, just means they just don’t even try.
I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You've already seen it happen to 00s music and we're watching it happen with the 10s.
But yeah, it's wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just... don't go looking.
For so many artists, they’ll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn’t. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50’s. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren’t very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
Doesn’t this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there’s lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the “popular” music is getting more and more formulaic
The thing is, I don’t want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.
Growing up, everything you heard was new to you. An experience. People older than you was saying the same shit about the music you were enjoying at the time. That’s how it goes.
As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
Baroque music sounds absolutely shit. Composers try to mix in so many different voices that it’s the musical equivalent of a TV panel show where everyone is shouting over one another.
On that note: harpsichords in ensembles are background noise at best and very few people would notice their absence.
90% of all radio songs lately have been horrendous covers of old songs, with some of them literally being just that old song, but with a cookie cutter beat under them. The other 10% are just said cookie cutter beats with some generic singer doing an annoying voice over them.
Popular music is becoming more creatively bankrupt than it ever has been.
This may not be an unpopular in the outside world but somehow I bet it will be here, the vast majority of metal is just straight noise and incomprehensible yelling to me. I do enjoy when metal songs are covered by bluegrass bands though
I don’t agree with “most” or you’re using a too narrow definition of Metal…
But I agree that the stuff you don’t like sounds like noise and incomprehensible yelling to me too, which is what I need to hear sometimes. Feels cathartic to have a wall of sound crash over you as you yell your guts out on the highway. Much better way to handle rage than taking it out on family members or service workers.
I debated adding subgenre to it but since it was an unpopular opinion I decided to go for broke. I know there’s a lot of variance, and don’t really hate on metal fans at all. Though I do stand by my point, at least for me
I prefer hip hop and country myself, and my experience tells me it’s not uncommon for metal heads and punk fans to say similar things about those genres even though the stylistic differences between say dirty southern rap and the west coast game are super obvious to me
It’s all just preference and personality
Edit: also I’m glad it gives you what you need from music! I don’t get it but I don’t need to
I can’t stand Queen, even though I have respect for their skill. (my highschool had an “arts program” and they bombarded us with musicals, Queen, and some sort of Queen musical)
NIN does nothing for me, and I’ve tried several albums and owned one. It’s just… nothing soup.
95% of music in any genre is garbage, but you can find the 5% gems if you go looking for it.
My friends and I have recently been doing some shared tours through particular artists back catalogue. As a result I recently went through all of Queen’s back catalogue; there is a lot of shit in there. I didn’t realise that their hits, while stand out, were spread out over such a long catalogue of odd mediocre songs.
I think I understand your sentiment, but I don’t think that’s a fair take. I subscribe to Spotify, but I also go to 6-10 shows per year, buy merch directly. The music industry has changed, and live entertainment is king. I’m sure you have an opinion for the stance you’re presenting, but that’s statement is pretty inflammatory by itself.
The fact is Spotify and Youtube music are the two worse streaming service. They give less to artists, the pool system only benefits artists that are signed to majors, and on top of that they give 100 effing millions to stupid Joe Rogan. You are paying money to Joe, not artists.
If you need a streaming service, Tidal is the only ok option. Same price but 3x more for artist. But the best thing you can do is: buy album from bandcamp (90% to the artists), go to shows, buy merch, contribute directly to the artists in any way.
I’m actually teaching in a college to young musicians, who all want to live of their music but pretty much none of them has ever even bought an album. I don’t think I’ve ever convinced a single one to switch to Tidal.
I can confirm, however, recently I have dusted off my old ipod classic and moved it and not I am buying most of my music and storing it there (I say most because there are some songs that I already had CDs and just ripped then… and a few that where acquired by other means 🏴☠️)
Piracy took off because the ability to outright download any song you want within minutes was so much better than anything else available. Spotify dominated because it allowed for streaming, which again, much easier than downloading and wading through lists to get the right song.
Ultimately, utility wins. If I care about musicians, what is my option? I could download from Bandcamp, but that reduces the usability of just streaming, and most artists aren’t on Bandcamp. I could support their gigs, but frankly, Spotify does a decent job of this already by telling me when my favourite artists are touring. Any alternative needs to be as usable, but public about giving a shit about musicians.
With all that said, I’d say that most people don’t give a shit about musicians anyway. Hundreds of artists have come to prominence during the Spotify era, and they seem to be doing just fine, and while I’m being purposely facetious in this example, when most people are struggling in their own jobs due to rising costs, they probably don’t have fucks to give about musicians.
Following on from this, they do make music like they used to. Just like they used to, there’s heaps standard fare being shoveled out the door. Every now and then, there’s a good one that stands the test of time.
This happens in every era, not just the music you grew up with.
I mostly stick to concept albums and genres that tend toward musical suites, so I strongly vibe with that last sentence.
Still, most albums are just collections of songs the artist wrote. They’re not intended as conprehensive works, just a way of distributing songs in bulk, and maybe a physical copy.
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