What do you think of today's music?

[wyverary]

Interesting question, actually. When I was in high school (back in the early-to-mid oughts), I started diversifying my tastes beyond the usual classical (yeah, I was an orchestral geek), and discovered bands like The Decemberists and Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie and Tilly and the Wall...While I can't say I still like everything I liked back then, it's interesting seeing that bands like The Decemberists are really big now (headlining major festivals and such), and that I can find records by the likes of Fleet Foxes and the White Stripes at Wal-Mart. It's proof that I'm definitely NOT a hipster that I feel it's a good thing that music like this seems to be catching on with the more general public--and that, when I'm in the college caf?, they are now always playing music by Andrew Bird, Neutral Milk Hotel, and others that I thought no one would ever have heard of. I think that's a good thing!

 

[pacman]

When it comes to modern mainstream music, I try to avoid it as much as I can. When I do have to listen to it, I am reminded that this is a good decision. When it comes to music in general, yeah, there's good music that's been released recently, but you have to dig a bit to find it. Of course, that is dependent on your tastes.

 

[wyverary]

Why does everybody here assume that "the current generation" has a monopoly on terrible music? People have been making lousy crap for centuries. Even if the "lowest common denominator" has deteriorated--a not unjustified argument--there are still people--a LOT of people--who demand, listen to, and produce excellent work. Forgive me, but making such categorical denouncements based solely on what one hears on a typical pop station sounds a bit like laziness...a "get off my lawn" argument, if you will. If anything, I feel that, overall, with the Internet to allow the good ones to get their stuff out there, and social media giving a means for the artists to connect directly with their fans, the landscape is probably better than it ever has been.

I have been to my fair share of shows, wandered the independent record shops, experienced the joy of discovering something new (usually via the Internet). Some musicians today do terrific work, and plenty of them have no trouble finding an audience.

So get out there, y'all, and explore.

 

[Flinty]

I try not to think of today's music. The way it works is that history will let the cream rise to the top...eventually.

Let's look back...thirty years. There were sixteen number one Billboard hits in 1983. How many relevant now?

Every Breath You Take; Billie Jean; Total Eclipse Of The Heart (maybe...it had good staying power with my generation); maybe Beat It; Africa; All Night Long just showed up in a commercial, but had otherwise disappeared; Let's Dance is probably relevant to some. That's seven out of sixteen - and that kicks butt compared to 1982!

(The others: Flashdance; Say Say Say; Down Under; Islands In The Stream; Baby, Come To Me; Maniac; Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics); Tell Her About It; Come On Eileen.)

Further down the charts? Jeopardy has had a comeback lately; The Safety Dance is frequently used as a cautionary tale; Sexual Healing; She Works Hard For The Money occasionally pops up; True; She Blinded Me With Science; maybe Der Kommissar.

Does anyone remember that the big non-Michael Jackson acts of 1983 were Duran Duran and Hall and Oates? Not really, because Simon Le Bon couldn't sing and Hall and Oates were bad.

So come talk to me about today's music in fifteen years or so. (To be fair, what little I'm hearing lately is great compared to the second half of the 2000s, but that's a rather low standard to meet.)

 

[Aalo]

It's not that I listened to Lady Gaga or Spice Girls (yeah, I know them by name but maybe could not point out which songs are theirs), but I can tell I'm not really ashamed of listening new music. For me there can be great devotion onto something I've grown with, songs I remember listening at certain age or assemblies I've liked over times despite that their progression haven't always been pleasing. I think highly of some old music too, but for me there really isn't much importance when certain piece is composed, produced or published as long as there's something interesting in it, be it some personal details about musicians or just aspects of the music itself.

Yes, good sounds have changed drastically over times, but some essential undertones keep strong. I think it's basically just good to be curious about new music, because there can be found so much things that might soon vanish unattainable. There might be a reason for that we only know several artists from the past, and trying to find far else might be impossible in many cases because some records just don't exist anymore. But to be realistic, there are many reasons for me to appreciate old music. Those that I have value because of their big influence over music industry or overall course of things to come aren't necessarily the ones I like to listen on my free time, the ones that I personally like. And I feel it's good to acknowledge that something I dislike now might end up having such popularity later on. I guess I still won't be telling that I liked those back then.

 

[Mellotron]

It's hard to say what "new" music is these days. There are so many bands and so many genres and new places for them to pop up (like over the internet). I think some bands today are doing great things. Chairlift is particularly interesting, they have a neat quasi 80's sound at times with a new feel tied in. Feist is great even if "poppy" at moments and the Fleet Foxes are a new take on an old idea. I like Gotye (my girlfriend is a big fan of his) even if he was overplayed on the radio he is immensely talented and probably overlooked past his hit song which is a shame. Appleseed Cast is a great band not many know of but they have a large enough following to keep going 15 years or so on.

I love many bands from older times as well, many progressive rock bands like Genesis, Yes, Rush, King Crimson and then others from different genres. As a musician myself I like finding influences in different places. I think now the industry has become very controlled by guys in suits who determine what will be on the radio and what will sell. Once that product starts becoming stale they drop it and move on and thats what we hear as "mainstream" music. In the US many radio stations in one market can be owned by the same company and they control what gets played. So there is so much more interesting new music out there that we never hear in the mainstream and we need to seek it out. It's work but it pays off. Usually college radio stations are a good place to find interesting new music.

 

[Dark Passenger]

Well, i think every generation has its own taste when it comes to popular culture. Personally, I prefer listening to different types of music depending on how i feel. Sometimes i just like listening to Adele, sometimes coldplay, sometimes Bruno Mars and so on. To me every mood can be expressed using music.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I prefer 60's to early 00's myself, with a look at music like rock and metal that you don't hear on the radio from bands like Disturbed, Rammstein, Nightwish, Rhapsody-of-Fire, Dragonforce, etc.
Nowadays, I think mainstream music doesn't sound good at all.

 

[Moviefan2k4]

Generally, I think 90% of today's music is crap. I've never been a fan of heavy metal or New Age, and most rap music was sickening, too. Sadly, a lot of pop artists have really gone downhill, so I mainly stick with country and older soft rock.

 

[ghoulbler]

I always feel very uncomfortable when people say that today's music sucks. Mainstream media only plays a small fraction of today's music. If you looked for good modern music, you'd find something that you enjoy. Some good music I can think of from this time period would be Malajube, S.C.U.M, Parenthetical Girls, ***** Riot... What is "popular" is very exclusionary of other genres and movements. Dig a little deeper and you'll be surprised with what you find. Our era is pretty interesting, don't miss out on it because you didn't look.

 

[Axeman52]

I always feel very uncomfortable when people say that today's music sucks. Mainstream media only plays a small fraction of today's music. If you looked for good modern music, you'd find something that you enjoy. Some good music I can think of from this time period would be Malajube, S.C.U.M, Parenthetical Girls, ***** Riot... What is "popular" is very exclusionary of other genres and movements. Dig a little deeper and you'll be surprised with what you find. Our era is pretty interesting, don't miss out on it because you didn't look.

This is a good point - it seems like a lot of really good music is hidden away and ignored by the mainstream media. I think it's the over-production/"audio fixing" in a lot of modern music that i really dislike, though. I am a perfectionist in my approach to music, but to me, musical perfection needs just the right amount of imperfection - the slightest, imperceptible timing or pitch errors and inconsistencies that give the music the human character that music is supposed to have. If you take that away it just sounds too robotic, to me.

 

[Warwick C]

One thing I find depressing about modern music is that it has to fit into a box. it would also be interesting how many could get by without autotune.

My taste is more towards up tempo rockabilly, but can just as happily listen to blues as well. I judge a band if it can vary their own songs play accapalla
or change the tempo of it.

One of my favorite artists is Imelda may, she played with Jeff Beck on the Les Paul celebration tour. she does covers as well as writing her own stuff.

 

[wyverary]

Everyone on this thread should check out NPR's All Songs Considered. It's geared toward indie music, yes, but it's all new, and it definitely proves that there is a huge variety of music released these days, much of it of excellent quality. I don't think anyone should go simply by what they hear on the local broadcast radio...after all, as has already been mentioned, there has been popular music that is absolute crap for hundreds of years.

Here's the link...I hope it's available in everyone's country... All Songs Considered : NPR

 

[Laughingowl1975]

A lot of modern music is pure crap as far as I am concerned, I work in a supermarket where they play 'popular' music like Katy Perry over and over again until I feel like screaming, the best tune I have heard is Neal Diamond sing 'Song Sung Blue'. I reserve my special hatred for music that is auto-tuned, that robotic sound is awful, its like having a song sung by a Transformer. A lot of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's was quite good but it does not get much play time instead all these hack written tunes get all the air time, thank god for records, CD's and Ipods.

 

[Winter_Rose]

Personally, I think today's music is garbage. There's no creativity or originality in it any more; it's all generic, mass-produced stuff. Give me 80s music, Gregorian chant, opera, and Celtic music over Beyonce, Chris Brown, or Kanye any day.

 

[Misfate]

I generally revel in all music from classic to mid-2000's. From mid-2000's and on, I am more selective, with persnickety interests of mainstream such as J. Cole (the morbid story of Dreams and Power Trip aroused my interest), Avicii's song Wake Me Up (hey, there are VERY few songs run on the radio in contemporary time without any profanity), and Get Lucky by Daft Punk. Speaking of Daft Punk, the top 3 bands of my interest emanate from the late 80's/ early 90's and continue today:
1. Depeche Mode
2. Daft Punk
3. Gorillaz

 

[wyverary]

I feel like the oughts--an era I am indubitably a product of--saw a veritable renaissance of "niche" tastes. It may be cliché to say, but I think that's thanks to the Internet. Nowadays, there are are a great many excellent works being produced in a huge variety of genres--hell, I'm pretty sure that genres were created, that never before existed, at a much faster rate than ever they did before. To use another cliché, there is something for everyone. However, there have always been groups making their own thing, and distributing it by whatever means they had available at the time. There will always be the "lowest common denominator," and you can argue the merits of that all you like through the ages, but my original point remains, that great music is being made now, has always been made, and plenty of crap throughout the centuries has been (deservedly) forgotten.

 

[Nolan1971]

Does anyone like John Browns Body?
I think of them like Pink Floyd meets Reggae!

 

[tridianprime]

The only recent, relatively, artists i like are Tupac(RIP), moby and film soundtracks i.e. two steps from hell or hans zimmer. I do listen to some more hip hop but i avoid any "pop" music. I also enjoy nightcore music, although i hate dance music.

 

[Andrew206]

I like classic rock, smooth jazz, and R&B.