Why is modern music so awful

[stoopicus]

How boring, old people complaining about modern music. I bet there was some Neanderthal complaining about an animal skin pulled over a hollowed out log, when in his day it was good enough to just hit a tree with a rock.

LAUGHING OUT LOUD !

I couldn't agree more haha.

Why is modern music so awful?
==> Because you are old and your way of consuming music is not like it was when you were 16-18 and you are unable to find the pearl you were able to find at this time.
Period. End of story.

^^^ Yes, that exactly.

I'm old too but am really enjoying both the amount and variety of great new music coming out. I feel bad for those who aren't.

[stoopicus]

I will defend L'Trimm to my dying day

Hahahaha like I said, I don't even think they were *bad* compared to typical pop back then, which was way worse. And both of them went on to really solid DJ careers too.

A whole lot of pop was much, much worse (like, say, the vast majority of New Jack Swing). That song was in rotation on almost all pop stations I knew of and was on the Billboard charts. Stuff like that vastly dwarfed in number what most people today consider good music from the '80s.

is there really a metric for taste when it comes to pop though?...the only requirement is catchy ear worm exuberant effervescence...for both of your examples, both miami bass and new jack swing were regional, authentic, grass roots groundswell sounds that just happened to crossover to pop...

This is an excellent point and highlights the problem with making value judgements on genres. Thanks for calling me out on that, you're right.

[Kattila]

It is a combination of corporate greed, psychological knowledge about what people like about music and how music production is so homogenized. Of course the simplest answer is one said by Keith Richards: "pop music has always been bad."

[zerocrossing]

How boring, old people complaining about modern music. I bet there was some Neanderthal complaining about an animal skin pulled over a hollowed out log, when in his day it was good enough to just hit a tree with a rock.

LAUGHING OUT LOUD !

I couldn't agree more haha.

Why is modern music so awful?
==> Because you are old and your way of consuming music is not like it was when you were 16-18 and you are unable to find the pearl you were able to find at this time.
Period. End of story.

Also trends change because of technicalities.
Last time I was listening to some Mozart "so called" music. Mind you, this looser was appreciated in his time. But if you listen for a while, you will notice that he is always using the same boring instruments "piano, violin, and other grandpa stuffs". No wavetable, no spectral synthesis, no tasty granular effect, I couldn't hear any side chain processing neither. The instruments and effects are so lame that he is forced to use more complex and sophisticated melodies in order to catch the attention of his listeners... As I said, what a looser.
On the plus side, while the reverb seems to be the same for each track of an album, I must admit it is quite realistic, maybe he is using a new Valhalla plugin, pro R2 or a convolution reverb, I am not sure.

He made all that music with MIDI chord packs!

[Jac459]

How boring, old people complaining about modern music. I bet there was some Neanderthal complaining about an animal skin pulled over a hollowed out log, when in his day it was good enough to just hit a tree with a rock.

LAUGHING OUT LOUD !

I couldn't agree more haha.

Why is modern music so awful?
==> Because you are old and your way of consuming music is not like it was when you were 16-18 and you are unable to find the pearl you were able to find at this time.
Period. End of story.

Also trends change because of technicalities.
Last time I was listening to some Mozart "so called" music. Mind you, this looser was appreciated in his time. But if you listen for a while, you will notice that he is always using the same boring instruments "piano, violin, and other grandpa stuffs". No wavetable, no spectral synthesis, no tasty granular effect, I couldn't hear any side chain processing neither. The instruments and effects are so lame that he is forced to use more complex and sophisticated melodies in order to catch the attention of his listeners... As I said, what a looser.
On the plus side, while the reverb seems to be the same for each track of an album, I must admit it is quite realistic, maybe he is using a new Valhalla plugin, pro R2 or a convolution reverb, I am not sure.

He made all that music with MIDI chord packs!

His melodies would surely be less boring if he was using scaler 2 (that and a good distortion).

[_leras]

^^^ Yes, that exactly.

I'm old too but am really enjoying both the amount and variety of great new music coming out. I feel bad for those who aren't.

It's a choice both conscious and subconscious. Getting stuck on music of the day. Not catching the new wave. Often disregarding things without even giving it a proper go. Before realising, stuck clinging to an island of comfort in an ocean of not as good as it used to be, never actually taking a swim anywhere else. Looking around at the kids who've now never even heard of the music still clung to. It bothers maybe, but not them, they're just starting out and creating their own vibe. Heading off in a naive new direction, brining excitement, creativity, energy and new ideas. Blasphemous, no respect for the past. Courageously striding forwards into the future, whether coming with them or not.

[stoopicus]

^^^ Yes, that exactly.

I'm old too but am really enjoying both the amount and variety of great new music coming out. I feel bad for those who aren't.

It's a choice both conscious and subconscious. Getting stuck on music of the day. Not catching the new wave. Often disregarding things without even giving it a proper go. Before realising, stuck clinging to an island of comfort in an ocean of not as good as it used to be, never actually taking a swim anywhere else. Looking around at the kids who've now never even heard of the music still clung to. It bothers maybe, but not them, they're just starting out and creating their own vibe. Heading off in a naive new direction, brining excitement, creativity, energy and new ideas. Blasphemous, no respect for the past. Courageously striding forwards into the future, whether coming with them or not.

Yep 100%. Exactly like we were at that age

Now if I can just keep even a fraction of that going I will feel like it's a win.

[holmer]

Might be that every generation was complaining about the following, but every now and then they are right about it.
Talking bout mainstream.
Myself, I'm starting to believe in that 4 generation cycle, course of empires thing..

[stoopicus]

Might be that every generation was complaining about the following, but every now and then they are right about it.
Talking bout mainstream.
Myself, I'm starting to believe in that 4 generation cycle, course of empires thing..

The funny thing is that if this generation is anything like those before it there's a bunch of 18 year olds right now lamenting how bad pop music is.

This was me back in the '80s, which is why holding up the '80s as an ideal for pop cracks me up. Well, at least the '70s were worse.

[BertKoor]

Well, at least the '70s were worse.

You should try the fifties. Songs of only two or three chords, the lyrics are mindless drivel about having sex without uttering the word sex.

[vurt]

Might be that every generation was complaining about the following, but every now and then they * are right about it.

* - think.

[WackyZoundz]

Commercial music (just like anything commercial) gets worse. That's just the way our economy works. Put less effort into everything and sell it for even more money. But the good music is still there and it's free. Good for listeners, not so good for the creators who would like to make a living...

[stoopicus]

Basically I just feel bad for people like Beato that are riding the “modern music is bad” train. I’m not young, am solidly GenX and yet still hope I am never that old on the inside.

[WackyZoundz]

There is one example I always found interesting because it seems to exist in its own space: Video game soundtracks. The quality level stays constant up to this day, from music theory to genre variety to sound design. There is also not much difference between commercial and noncommercial products, the difference seem to get smaller actually. If I had an hour with Beato I would show him a few examples.

[stoopicus]

There’s a local symphonic metal band here called Unlucky Morpheus, who also may be big videogame nerds because some of their songs carry the theme. Love it.

Also, there’s a spiritual successor to Jet Grind Radio out now and the original composer is back for it. It’s awesome.