Is modern music actually crap?

[x-pack]

Most modern music just sounds like complete rubbish to my ears. What I can't work out is if it really is rubbish or if i'm just becoming a Victor Meldrew.

Only very occasionally does something new come along that floats my boat. Can't think of the last one. I liked 'Somebody I used to know' by Gotye. Nice melody and vocals with strong lyrics, decent video as well. There are a few bands that have sounded ok to me - Bloc Party and Sky Larkin were two. None of the big bands though that others seem to go nuts over. It just appears to me that something is missing from modern pop ...and I am talking about 'pop' by the way. The sort of stuff you hear on the radio, not underground sub cultures in music.

Remember when you used to get a Christmas number one and it was usually daft cheesy pop? Well I miss that. As naff as they might be tunes like 'Do They Know It's Christmas' or 'Rockin around the Christmas Tree' always let me know that Christmas is coming

Remember when bands could make it without being super polished or without some massive producer backing them? ....I miss that as well. One group that comes to mind is Bow Wow Wow back in the early 80's. A polished punk/new wave band with decent musicians and a strong vocalist. Still rough as **** sounding though :lol: But music like that was in the top ten! Is there even a top ten anymore? :?

Remember the mega artists and dinosaur bands who lasted years, many of whom are still going? With the odd exception I just can't see some of biggest artists of today being about 10 or 20 years on in any serious musical sense. Only people I can think of now are the likes of Beyonce and Christina Agilera. Great in there own right but just cogs in the squeeky clean, mega money pop crap poop machine. It's like the 50's all over again except with better publicists.

I saw this comment and it kind of summed things up for me with music today - 'I feel like a kid who's fairy tales have died. I rarely hear a song on the radio that gets my heart beating with surprise or that catches my ear or stands out.'

So is it just me? I'm ok with it if it is by the way 8) I'm acutely aware of sounding like probably most of our parents did about music we listened to when we were kids. Thing is that I love music. All kinds of music. Just can't get my head around it :shock:

 

[Michael Sith]

It's always been the same, there will always be the daft quick money tracks, they have aways been around....I remember Barry Blue...dancin on a Saturday night! Then Disco Duck etc.

The late 70 s into the early 80s with the transition from punk through to new wave, there was a lot of shite then, but amazing bands as well

U2 with or without you for example ...in my top 10 all time tracks, joy division new order, the clash on and on.
The killers have been a top fav of mine in recent years

There has aways been an indie scene, and to me that's where the good stuff has always been, in my day you had to buy NME or Sounds,

Pretty recently we had Amy Winehouse...to me a one off and a very sad loss to the music scene.
Bands like Elbow, and singers like Aloe Black...even seasick Steve

There are then tracks that come out and everyone says WTF...but decades later they are still there

" and I would walk 500 miles". " if ya go wull ya send Baak a letter fram America...take a looooook down tha rail traaak" :lol: I rest my case....your stomping your feet already :lol:

Personally it's the lyrics for me that's what makes a good song

But I agree....I do say " bloody hell switch that off it sounds shocking" we all become what we ridiculed in the past....our parents

And for the record...Victor Meldrew is a bit of a hero of mine, along with MR Pilkington

 

[JuniorChubb]

In a word no, there is a lot of good stuff about but as you get older you can't be bothered to find it and your ears get filled with the crap that fills the charts.

IMO...

I think most of us fall in love and get stuck with the music from our late teens and early twenties and can never replace it, everything after this is 'second rate'. I am not sure if its the music that changes or just missing that feeling of having the world at your feet.

For me its Drum and Bass for a night out and Hip Hop for chillin', what is being produced in these genres today is arguably miles ahead of what I had as a youngster but it will never touch what I used to listen to.

And just for the record...

I'm acutely aware of sounding like probably most of our parents did about music we listened to when we were kids. Thing is that I love music. All kinds of music. Just can't get my head around it :shock:

Yes you do sound like your parents and your kids will sound like them too one day...

BTW Mike my nickname at work is Victor Medrew :wink:

 

[Frunkstar]

Papa Roach are still pumping out the tunes as good as they ever did, but as for do I get most of the modern mainstream **** - no I don't, but mainstream has always been just that, as JC said - if you want to goodies you have to start rock flipping as it is out there, just all the chart type BS smothers the good.

 

[x-pack]

Are any of these songs good? Check out this weeks top ten (according to the BBC).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles

I don't know a single one of them :?



Maybe one has to be younger to fully appreciate chart music?

 

[Michael Sith]

Aloe Blacc, is a class act, Pharrells Happy I actually love the tune and the vid is great...just a feel good song,

JC.. Being known as VM at work to me would be a compliment

I agree there is nothing to touch the music of your youth, but The Stone Roses for me are outstanding ...even now I will listen to their stuff, waterfall, this is the one, fools gold, the music and the intro to waterfall is something else.

I'm very eclectic with music from Tupac right through to Wagners ride of the Valkyries ...now that is worth a listen to anyone who has not welcomed classical music.
Hip hop, plays a big part in my music stash as well I love it for what it is, never been one to follow crowd ( loved Human league as well especially the travelogue album 8) crow and a baby...class).

 

[Stormtrooper37]

I must be stuck in a time wrap then, because nearly 99% of modern chart stuff (not sure if the charts even exist any more :? ) sounds crap and all the same to me.

Like 70's soul and some disco. Early 80's stuff and some club stuff from my clubbing years 92 - 95, otherwise I cherry pick at music to be honest.

I tend to like music, melodies and instrumental stuff rather than vocals

However go to a wedding, or some other 'do' and it's always the old favourites from the the 70's/80's that gets everyone up and dancing :lol:

 

[mumbo]

:lol: I'm in the same boat as you Barry. Stopped listening to popular chart music when I was about 13 after finding the genre of music that satisfied my tastes.

These days I'll listen to a few modern (pre 2000) bands along with the new stuff that my old bands deliver and more often than not love and appreciate what their doing with the exception of a few. Loving the latest Pearl Jam and Elbow albums 8)

As for the modern stuff of today there hasn't been a single band I can remember that has come along and blown my mind. I think Jr summed it up well it's a generation thing, saying that though I can definitely appreciate music from before my time more than the shite that has come more recently.

 

[JuniorChubb]

I think Jr summed it up well it's a generation thing, saying that though I can definitely appreciate music from before my time more than the shite that has come more recently.

Musical taste is also a great way of deciding football teams before a match :wink:

 

[mumbo]

I think Jr summed it up well it's a generation thing, saying that though I can definitely appreciate music from before my time more than the shite that has come more recently.

Musical taste is also a great way of deciding football teams before a match :wink:

:lol: The Grungers against The Junglers :lol: EPIC battles 8)

 

[Stormtrooper37]

Barry, I think Eurovision is this month now there is the definition of 'Crap Music'

 

[Michael Sith]

Eurovision ....shocking :x

Good point On music before your time ( although I'm that old that would be in my time) I managed to see loads of punk bands, clash pistols etc, and saw bands live like joy division in Manchester back in the day....at the time, you knew they were extra special.

I do like a lot of early blues as well, and have a soft spot for Sinatra .

I also agree on the melodies point, but mostly lyrics for me I love poetry, so it's a natural progression to the lyrics of songs.

It's like all things though, what one person hates, another loves all makes for plenty of choice :wink:

 

[x-pack]

Eurovision :?

Even when popular acts feature they still appear to have no talent. I really don't get Eurovision at all.

That tune 'Happy' - it's catchy. Quite like that one. Coincidentally the kids think it's crap :roll:

 

[x-pack]

:lol: I'm in the same boat as you Barry. Stopped listening to popular chart music when I was about 13 after finding the genre of music that satisfied my tastes.

Maybe that's part of it. Eventually you find the genre or sound that satisfies you. Personally there's tons of music that I like, it just happens not to be current.

 

[weasel]

I gave up on music radio a long time ago. I used to listen to Radio 1, but got bored of the **** DJ's and the fact they played so much throw-away pop (insert the name of any boy/girl band or manufactured 3 "hit" wonder), dance music (which I can't stand) and or R&B/Rap (Which is marginally better than dance music, but not much). I moved over to Virgin Radio, what's now Absolute Radio, but gave up on it because the DJ's annoyed me, Christian O'Connell needs a serious kicking, and they had a 4 song play list.
I would be hard pushed to identify any more than 2 or 3 songs that came out in the last 5-7 years. Most of those I could identify it's only cos the missus insists on listening to the local radio station when we're driving and they happen to have played a song that doesn't sound like shite. Goyte and somebody I used to know being the prime example.

Someone half way up the thread (I CBA to scroll up and see who it was) said your music taste sticks in your late teens and early 20's. I'd say that's spot on.

 

[x-pack]

It's pretty much spot on in terms of genre. I now like a lot more older music than I did when I was that age or younger. There's also stuff I left behind in the 80's that i've gone back to - metal and rock. I listen to a lot of stuff my dad listened to - Pink Floyd, Genesis/Phil Collins, David Bowie. Proper old man music :lol:

Definitely stuck in the 1980's but also love a lot of 1990's guitar band type music - Supergrass, Oasis, Blur, Manics, Roses etc.

The question that hasn't really been answered here is can anyone see today's artists having longevity? Are we going to see 'new' dinosaur mega stars? I'm thinking the likes of The Stones, Sting, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Dylan. People who are pop royalty. The super rich who just seem to have been around forever. Time will tell but with the exception of a few Divas I can't see it

 

[weasel]

I think you're right.

You do get quite a few of the old boy-bands from the 90's reforming and touring, but I suspect that is just girls/women going along to reminisce. I doubt it really counts ad most are still playing the same kack they were playing way back when.

 

[JuniorChubb]

The question that hasn't really been answered here is can anyone see today's artists having longevity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame :wink:

There is no place for longevity in today's 'throw away' society. There is a a slightly different sentiment on a website whose focus is preserving certain items from yesteryear though.

 

[Clarkspie&chips]

Yeah, absolutely. I dont think any one of us would hesitate to go back to the 80's if doc brown showed up on the doorstep.

But i do think it depends a lot on genre, for me, hiphop died in the early 2000's so i started listening to more metal and there are loads of great new metal bands out there now.

But it does make me wonder (and worry) what will happen when all the stadium bands are too old too tour because i cant really think of anyone epic enough to fill those shoes.

 

[Stormtrooper37]

I do like a lot of early blues as well, and have a soft spot for Sinatra .

I read this too quick at first and thought you'd written Sinitta :shock: