When did music start to suck?

[MichiganJFrog]

Directed more toward the old duffers among us, but open to anyone.

For me, it was the first time I heard Melissa Etheridge.

 

[own8ge]

Music doesn't necessary have to suck... Widen your angle?

 

[Affinity]

2002

 

[TheScornedReflex]

When pop became "music"

 

[SpaceYeti]

Music doesn't suck, we're just getting old. Let's be fair to the younger generation. It's not like after all the great music of the 70s-90s that we left them a whole lot of potential new ideas. Music is an old, full art, and doing something new gets harder for every song ever made. Ultimately, it's not originality which makes music good, it's whatever you like to listen to, so it's no surprise modern music is repetitive. The only thing left to do is focus on individual beats, because communication through lyrics has already shared basically every communicable concept.

 

[Da Blob]

There are several dates/events connected to the suckiness of music.

The decline of music being taught in school.

The poiticizing of lyrics that converted music into propaganda, whereby horrible music connected to politically-correct lyrics became the status quo.

The evolution of the formula-driven music industry. Just plug a new group into the equation and make a profit.

The introduction of music videos. A performer suddenly did not have to know anything about music, just look sexually attractive while lip synching and cavorting on stage.

Some of the best music in the world is performed by old, ugly artists who have been playing for 60 or 70 years, for ugly people have lots of time to practice their artistry.

Youtube could yet prove to be the salvation of real music, that is music, free of manipulative lyrics and performed by real artists, not by made-for-TV performers with no real talent for music.

 

[pjoa09]

Since December, everyone likes to bring out their lame Christmas crap on the radio during this time.

 

[MichiganJFrog]

The decline of music being taught in school.

Yeah. You could replace "music" with "design" (for architecture schools) as a plausible explanation for the rapid spread of ugly buildings pumping out bad music.

The evolution of the formula-driven music industry. Just plug a new group into the equation and make a profit.

Record labels used to nurture their artists, too. It used to be, if a record tanked, the label would say, "They're in a growth phase. We're gonna work with you and develop your potential." Now it's, "If this isn't a hit, you're done."

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I stopped listening to radio about 2007/2008, have to admit it was sort of a magical time with all the great new music I was discovering from the underground.

 

[JediMasterGecko]

This song gives me hope that music is not dead yet. (New to forums overall, not sure how to embed.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6yL3qQUDYQ
Although, for the sake of topic, I think it began to decline around 2001.

 

[dsop]

As soon as anyone had the ability to easily produce and distribute their own music for a few hundred dollars. This has resulted in a deluge of music being released, most of it of inferior quality. There are no more gate keepers keeping out the crap.

While it may be argued that it is now a more democratic operation, there needs to be a better way for people to discover the music that will appeal to them. Right now it's just too much work to sift through it all. The musicians who spend more time and effort marketing their music tend to get the most traction, but it just ends up turning more people off of music as a whole when they hear more and more crap.

The artists who are really doing something interesting still tend to go undiscovered or fade away because of lack of support.

I wish I knew what the solution was.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Around here:

Read all about it here:
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120726/srep00521/full/srep00521.html

 

[Jennywocky]

Directed more toward the old duffers among us, but open to anyone.

For me, it was the first time I heard Melissa Etheridge.

it goes in waves, and it depends on one's personal preference.

I can respect a variety of genres, and even consider something 'good' even if it doesn't particularly do much for me, because I can see the talent/skill behind it.

But basically what happens in the music industry is that someone comes along and does something cool, then a few other people do it, and suddenly everyone starts doing it... and typically not nearly as well.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Lester Bangs tells it straight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpISLkb5L5E

 

[MichiganJFrog]

what happens in the music industry is that someone comes along and does something cool, then a few other people do it, and suddenly everyone starts doing it... and typically not nearly as well.

Sometimes, quite by accident, the people who ape what someone else was doing end up doing something interesting: cf., The Police doing their take on punk rock per the record execs' specifications.

 

[redbaron]

The good music is still around, and more good music comes out these days still. Just turn off the radio and search around a bit. Session musicians produce some incredible stuff, I don't listen to many bands or solo artists to be honest.

 

[Jennywocky]

Sometimes, quite by accident, the people who ape what someone else was doing end up doing something interesting: cf., The Police doing their take on punk rock per the record execs' specifications.

Good point... but then I guess you start to see who actually has talent and can take something inundated with cliche and make it their own.

 

[Meer]

It would be very difficult to measure the suck of music, let alone establish some kind of cause for it.

There have always been Biebers. The recording industry... thing is still quite young and has recently had some wrenches thrown into it. Still, there are at least a few songs on the radio that are pretty good, next to all the dance pop crap.

 

[Solitaire U.]

I don't believe it follows a time line per se.

However, (my opinion of) the 'suckieness' of music definitely seems related to two factors; target audience and commercialization. The lower the age range of the former, and aggressiveness of the later, the greater the potential to = 'sucky' music.

 

[MichiganJFrog]

Session musicians produce some incredible stuff

The unsung heroes of the industry

Kinks - Session Man

 

[Jennywocky]

The good music is still around, and more good music comes out these days still. Just turn off the radio and search around a bit. Session musicians produce some incredible stuff, I don't listen to many bands or solo artists to be honest.

It's more mainstream stuff, but I always liked Toto, even stuff that didn't get airplay. They were essentially a bunch of studio/album musicians that got brought together to produce their own material. David Paich's a great rhythm pianist, and he's done adequate classical work too -- like on Foster's Symphony Sessions.

I mean, basically these guys are paid for playing on other people's albums, so they're going to be tight as well as versatile.

 

[GodOfOrder]

Music dies with the introduction of lyrics that pollute the purity of the art form. For me music is best when it is either completely instrumental, or sung in a language that I do not speak, so that I can look at it as a piece of raw sound. I admire the structure and variations in music. In essence I like theory, and seeing the sheer genius of an artist's expression, and admire their music as a demonstration of this.

I am a fan of classical music, because the things I look for are things like harmony, and counterpoint, etc.

I think one's musical taste is derived from their level of experience and what they have learned to look for. As a classically trained musician, I have been conditioned to look for certain things, and my opinion of a piece of music is derived from what I observe.

 

[BigApplePi]

When did music start to suck? Answer: When the tune can no longer be kept in your head because you didn't care.

Try keeping this one out of your head. Check out that ending ... as if you cared:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwfLe6sLis

 

[Nezaros]

Pop singers and anything involving Autotune.

 

[nexion]

Music has always sucked. You just have to find what's good in the pile of trash.

 

[just george]

I've had this convo with dozens, nay hundreds, of above middle aged men who asked the same question while I was DJing as if it was somehow my fault that new music is trash. So this is my theory:

It started to suck when music met marketing. In the past, great musicians earned their fame (and their living) based on music and music only. As mass media marketing via television and radio became the prime method, the appeal of the music was diluted with the appeal of the artist themselves, or their lifestyle, their attractiveness, or whatever.

So really, it isn't that music sucks - it's just that the really good artists have been flooded out by the ones who suck musically by comparison, but are more marketable.

I mean really...justin beiber. Really? Really, music studios? Justin Bieber?!?! Its worse than the ones who get picked to be president of the united states.