Yeah, it’s not that music has gotten worse, it’s that radio has gone squarely down the shitter since basically every station is owned by like 2 companies now.
It isn’t radio though because hardly anyone listens to the radio anymore. It’s probably because there is a practically small amount of radio listening that people have started grabbing onto anything that sounds basic and easily digestible. The less they’re challenged, the better they feel about it.
I feel like someone (radio, record labels, etc) is dictating what is easily available to the public and it usually isn’t good, it’s formula stupidity or old music. Old music is usually better music, but I personally can’t listen to most of it anymore.
“Old music is usually better music” is survivorship bias. I’m not saying you’re wrong but this is something we should have in mind when debating music in general.
There is so much music being created right now, that there is simultaneously more good music and bad music than in the older days.
Radio hasn’t been a metric since like 2010. The indie scene is where it is at and it has never been bigger. Plenty of bands making classic rock music if you are into that.
I’m going to somewhat disagree, at least in principle. In the past three years I have heard so much good new music, music made in the last five to ten years, or even music made the year I heard it, that I think it’s out there. It’s just much more difficult to latch onto. There’s so much new stuff that’s just palatable, there’s a lot more access to music making gear and equipment that just about anyone can release an album now.
Popular music is mostly dictated by the law of supply and demand, if an artist is easily marketable then a record label is going to invest. Most streaming platforms are designed to spotlight up and coming artists (most marketable artists), or those artists who already have massive fanbases (market stalwarts). This wasn’t any different 50 years ago, but 50 years ago there was a higher standard for what music got to be released. There was also a much higher bar to entry for recording studio-quality music.
I think it’s moreso the effect of big music labels figuring out how to make music with the broadest possible appeal. Clearly it worked, because these songs do really well statistically, but the result is songs with the blandest possible personality
Man, I can’t remember the title, but whatever that Ed Sheeran song that exploded in like, 2018 or something? That was so bland and boring. I was baffled at how popular it was.
Also, how the hell did the Chainsmokers hit it big? Every single song is the same, monotonous “melody”. I don’t get how anyone listens to them without going mad.
one way I know the lemmy population is old is how frequently we complain about the youths these days. we’ve become our parents, and their parents before them, moaning about how no one has good taste anymore
I went to a TOOL concert last weekend and it really put into perspective how old my taste in music is lol. It seemed like 90% of the people there were like 30-40.
Maybe top 50 (back in my day it was top 40 dadgummit) is blah currently, idk. But there’s definitely lots and lots and lots of great music out there to discover.
Idk, man. I started feeling this way when I was ~14, at least about the music I heard on the radio. I rarely got any say over what we listened to in my parent’s cars so I’d constantly be praying that the next song wouldn’t be something that had come out recently
it’s one thing to not like new music, i think that’s normal, people discover the music they like fairly early on and usually get kinda stuck in it. but all the people saying new music is objectively garbage and people just have garbage taste now? yea they got that boomer mentality where the stuff they like from their youth is the golden age, everything else is inferior, and their opinions are facts
I frequently burn myself out on music so I listen to a lot of new stuff, mainly hip hop and all sorts of electronic. I’ve just been a top 50 chart hater for years
I dig new music and follow a bunch of artists who are releasing things right now. Over the last few years I’ve been introduced to entirely new genres and have fallen in love with them. This is the best time ever to be into music, there’s unprecedented variety and even very niche things can grow a strong community. Suffice it to say I do not believe that my personal taste has been cemented
But at the same time imo the typical pop music you hear in public has genuinely been getting worse. Some stuff is okay but a lot of it feels inauthentic. Just my 2c, I wouldn’t argue the point in objective terms
I’m in the exact same boat re: your first paragraph and I used to think the same re: your second paragraph, then I looked up the top charts from the 90s and yeah… it was always bad lol.
I’m either still young or just a contrarian but so far I’ve successfully managed to avoid becoming this person. I constantly look for new stuff to experience and I still haven’t felt like things have peaked. As in, no, I don’t think music nowadays sucks, are you insane? There’s so much cool stuff being made all the time that my only complaint is that don’t have enough time to experience it all.
yea im in the sweet spot too lol, 30 and still regularly discovering new music i like. i hope we both maintain this positivity as we age, i think it’s a much nicer way to wade through life. even if i reach a point where i stop liking new music, i hope i can still see the value in it for others, i never want to be that old grump
What’s weird is that I don’t even know how people know what the “kids these days” are into. Like where are they getting that information? Maybe I’m just divorced from the zeitgeist, but I dunno how people ever think to look at “oh this song has 4 billion listens” or whatever. I guess what I’m saying is, is the perception of “the kids” a real thing, or is it just kind of this weird fake thing people make up so they can get mad at their own hallucinations?
I realized a long time ago that music “sucked” because I would never open myself up to it and genuinely allow myself to find value in it.
It’s like my dad who has just decided that all rap sucks even though he has basically zero experience with it. I said the same thing until I was around 21 and almost missed all the really, really good stuff. Tai Verdes’ album “TV” is incredibly musical, for example.
I lived the “Pop/rap/etc is bad” life for way too long, but fwiw most of it was during childhood, so mostly repeating my environment. Made the deliberate decision to get out of that mindset and have only increased my appreciation of music. That’s not to say I don’t still have opinions or preferences, but I’m not willingly shutting myself away from potential goodness.
Pickle - Stompin’
Makes me feel like I’m on drugs in a club back in the day.
I feel like a lot of new music is probably hidden away on shit like TikTok where I’m never going to be exposed to it because I don’t use it. I have noticed Drum ‘n’ Bass seems to be back, but I was never a fan of that but I’m sure it’s someones jam.
Just want to take a moment to point out that two of the three you seem to like because they remind you of the past.
I fully support your take on trying to find new stuff, I personally have found that many good songs that I love take a few listens for me to actually like them, some do not catch on tho.
Given that, may I suggest you add new songs you want to try in your rotation? When they come up just take some effort to listen through and take them in, think of what you like and what you don’t, see if it changes.
It’s more that they’re a genre that I haven’t seen in 20 years, than that they remind me of the past. I love happy, upbeat, energetic bobby shit. Because it felt like a few years ago everything was that slooooow boring rap style by people fucked up on some sort of downers.
But y’know what I’m going to force myself to listen to everything on this page.
Okay so first 10 are done and I’ve enjoyed ‘Miley Cyrus - Flowers’, ‘Troye Sivan - Rush’, and ‘Olivia Rodrigo - Get Him Back!’. The other 7 were pretty slow and boring for my tastes.
I try my hardest to find new songs, because I don’t want to be some boomer bastard.
I got news for you, pal. The harder you try to be young and hip for the sake of being young and hip, the worse the outcome will be. You’re not getting any younger, and the sooner you accept that, the better.
Instead of forcing yourself to listen to music that has the single attribute of “released less than 6 months ago” in some sad, vain attempt to relive your glory days, try exploring music based on what you actually enjoy. What artists inspire you? Who influenced them, and what genres influenced their sound? Where did the roots of that sound originate? If a song you love is a cover, who wrote or performed the original? What style of singing is it, or what kind of beat?
Listen to what you want to listen to. The most interesting conversations I have with people about music always involve the history and roots of sound, not that last hip shit my aging hipster Lyft driver subjected me to.
I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to keep up with what “the kids” are listening to these days, and there certainly ARE some pearls to be found occasionally, but there’s also nothing wrong with enjoying the stuff you’ve already found to be worth your while, and introduce the younger generation to classics that are worth THEIR time, to show them that true greatness can stand the test of time and is capable of surviving whatever the current trend prescribes.
I have a handful of complaints about rap, abd I generally don’t enjoy it, but I no longer say it sucks outright.
Yesterday at work, I listened to Yes, SPELLLING, Black Sabbath, and the newest Martina Topley-Bird album. In the last few weeks I’ve bought albums by Brandi Carlisle and Talking Heads. The world is so full of great music.
I stopped caring about online music charts once I found out how people bot their favorite artists to trending cuz they’re insecure in their own music tastes
That’s less “people” and more “marketing departments”. So much mid-tier music gets blown up and then dropped overnight, as the promotion models change.
When streaming started to become a thing, and it became incorporated into the Billboard hits ranking algorithm, hit songs started to stay at the top a lot longer than they used to. The reason was exactly what you pointed to. Industry marketing campaigns would be push songs on TV and radio to the top spot in order to drive sales, then drop the campaign immediately for the next song to push. When listeners started to have more control over the music they listened to, they didn’t hyper-cycle like the marketers wanted. I would assume the marketers have adjusted to the new listening model, but I haven’t kept up.
nah there’s 100% people who go out of their way to shuffle through a single artists’ discography and every song they’ve been featured in 24/7. Hell, I found one right after reading this
The image is actually emblematic of why you're having trouble finding good new music. You're still just looking at the outside of the haystack. In the modern era it's incredibly easy to access good new music, but perhaps more difficult to find that music (based upon your tastes). The prevalence of independent music exploded over 20 years ago. At this point, if you're relying on the vestiges of major labels and popular distribution channels as your tastemakers you're basically doing it wrong.
The drawback is that you may actually have to put in some time and effort to find new stuff you like, but it's definitely out there. Probably much more exists than you have time to consider, really. How much time you're willing to spend searching depends on how important it is to you to find new stuff that you enjoy. Use shortcuts and find a different tastemaker associated with genre's that you like if you want (e.g. online publications, youtube channels, online forums/communities, playlist where they exist, podcast, etc.) You'll have to put in some time to find the relevant ones to you, but perhaps not as much time as combing through new stuff on your own.
Lots of us with interests in genres with an extensive underground scene have been sifting through the mud to find gems for decades already, and I still enjoy the process a lot, though many people might think I waste a lot of time. These days that skillset is transferable and almost a requirement to find the good stuff in any and every genre. Unless you are lucky or don't mind enough that the most commercial stuff is still your jam.
(edit: unless of course this post is more a condemnation of broadly popular tastes in music. I'd have to type more to address that, but I'll save it. It's nothing new, and also hinges on subjectivity.)
Is this your band or something? Because I just listened to a bunch of songs and while it’s… fine? Lo fi garage rock, it is really nothing similar or on the same level as king gizzard? Just an all around strange recommendation.
Your comment adds nothing of value to the conversation. Please just share something cool that you like, instead of going full-reddit with baseless criticism in an attempt to feel superior.
I’ve found Spotify’s new music algorithm goes - “Oh, you used to listen to Motorhead and AC/DC? I think you’ll like Kiss and Def Leppard”
YT music algorithm goes " Well I think, combining that with all the other stuff you listen to, you’ll like Shaka Ponk, Deluxe, Pretty Reckless etc etc"
Google is a cunt these days but the quality of suggestions is vastly superior
At some point, though, Google starts recommending the same songs over and over and over. That’s the reason for the popularity of curator channels like MrSuicideSheep, xKito, CloudKid, RockMontage, NuclearBlastEurope, Rare and Obscure Metal Archives, and MonsterCat.
I’ve found that Spotify goes “oh you listen exclusively to Scandinavian extreme metal? How about some American screamo OR the exact same stuff you’ve listened to already”, which is the polar opposite to what I want. YouTube music is just a huge mess for me.
Tidal however has reintroduced me to some great bands I had forgotten about and shown me some new ones which are Top Notch ™️
God I miss Tidal. Their suggestions were so far above and beyond everything else I’ve tried, I just wish it was managed and maintained competently. Their Android and desktop apps are (were? It’s been a while) so chock-full of playback bugs and annoying little quirks, and their customer support is probably not even legally considered customer support at all, considering the fact that it seems to consist entirely of a single email bot that receives support tickets, waits 3 weeks, then closes that ticket.
I was particularly irritated with the fact that albums would become “unavailable” so incredibly often, while a new, identical version of the album was made available, for no apparent reason. Since these replacement albums weren’t automatically migrated into my library, I would have to remove and and re-add the albums individually in order to play them from my library, then update all my playlist containing any songs from that “disabled” version of the album by removing and re-adding each individual song. That shit got old, FAST.
I eventually had to swap to Spotify because of an absolutely baffling bug that acted like a virus and slowly “ate” my library (more info below if anyone’s curious), and Spotify’s music suggestions are just nothing short of horrendous.
My “discover weekly” last week for example was made up of approximately 60% songs either already in my library, or songs that I’ve listened to before and not liked much from artists in my library, plus 7 (!!) 20-30+ minute soundscapes, something I have NEVER listened to before, as well as 2 new Ariana Grande singles (sponsored? I’ve had to block her, those singles were popping up everywhere), and a few songs from totally out-there genres, including a country rap song which just so happens to be the one and only song I’ve ever actually disliked back before Spotify removed and re-introduced that feature, some background music from a random indie game’s soundtrack which was mostly just cave noises, a jazz-fusion album’s interlude, and something that I can only describe as bubblegum cyberpunk black glitch-metal dancecore. A positively psychotic selection of music.
Granted, that was the worst discover weekly I think I’ve ever had, but I still just wish that tidal worked for me, because I’ve never discovered more great music from any other platform’s suggestion algorithm, and nothing since has even come close.
About the weird bug if anyone’s curious:
The bug was pretty fucked up in that it behaved basically like a virus. At random points while listening, Tidal would fail to play a song at master quality, automatically downgrade playback by one level, then apply that inability to play master-quality permanently to each subsequent song I played in that session. These songs were now “infected”. Replaying these songs at a later date would further degrade the playback quality by an additional level, and also add a delay of ~20 seconds per playback quality level it had been downgraded to, as well as infecting any other songs I played after. When a song reached 96kbps (or 160? Whatever the lowest is, I forget) and could not degrade any more, it would either play at minimum quality after a ~60 second delay (which was unskippable because Tidal was unresponsive to playing a new song during the delay), or just fail to play entirely while loading infinitely, absolutely chugging my battery-life, and overheating my phone. I could only stop it by force-closing the app, which would crash my phone, every single time. There was about a 20% chance for one of these songs to fail playback, but if it did play, that chance to fail playback was now applied to each subsequent song played, no matter the song’s “infection level”. Though that at least didn’t seem to be permanently applied like the quality degradation, but I don’t know for sure.
The weirdest part is that the bug would persist, spread, and behave exactly the same way on an old phone that had never had tidal installed before, and also with the desktop app (though without the overheating, and it would throw and error message after some time if a song failed to play). So the bug seemed somehow account-bound?
I researched unsuccessfully for weeks looking for a fix, and I tried everything I could to fix it aside from making a new tidal account, because it was a lot of trouble to migrat. And support… Well, Tidal support apparently just doesn’t exist. I had sent 3 separate support tickets, all of which went unanswered, then marked as “resolved” and closed 2-3 weeks later. Only the 2nd ticket got an automated “thanks for your ticket, staff will help soon” response before being marked resolved and closed.
Eventually, so much of my library became infected (as well as a ton of random songs that would commonly end up playing after albums) that my ability to both listen to the music I loved and discover new music in the styles/genres I loved was crippled. Which obviously rendered the entire platform effectively useless. So after being repeatedly ignored by support with no explanation, and after several software updates that didn’t fix the problem while I was trying to contact support, or even just report the bug… I had to give up and switch to Spotify.
Especially with the radio feature. Pick a song that’s totally out of your comfort zone, go to radio and Spotify still manages to squeeze in songs you’ve already listened to 5 times today.
I can suggest my top 5 most heard artists of 2023:
100 gecs
Lola Indigo
San Holo
Fox Stevenson
Hannah Diamond
I reckon the selection is rather diverse. Depending on which you like, if any, I can recommend more stuff like it (or you can check the section for “fans of this also like those” on the artist page on Spotify, assuming you have Spotify).
First I heard of Stevenson, was probably on the EDM subreddit. Someone posted a video mixing between Go Like (DnB mix) and Like That, under the title “There is no such thing as a perfect transit…” or similar.
Anyways, if you like Stevenson, maybe check… idk, San Holo, Alison Wonderland, Krewella. All electronic musicians normally involved with writing, producing, and performing their songs. Not sure if those are good picks for Fox Stevenson fans, but I like them as well (Holo is in the list above, and Wonderland was my #1 most heard in 2022), and I don’t know whether I’m good at recommending stuff, so… if you do check them out, or already know them, let me know! Nice to have feedback
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