Why is modern music so awful

[lunardigs]

I blame the parents too.
But I think it's up to us to save modern music!

[Bunny_boy]

We went to a water park this week, and, obviously, they were playing a mix of music. The music itself could've been from the last 10 years or so for all I know - I recognised one song, and was told another was Taylor Swift. But I thought it was really good. The production and arrangements were interesting: bit of a cloud rap feel to some, more R&B to others; other tunes seemed to change genre depending if it was the verse of chorus. The vocals universally, if anything, didn't seem to stand out, which I thought was odd. However that could've been due to the speaker placement emphasising the bass. Having said that the vocal arrangements on some of the songs were great - one sounded like it had Beyonce on backing vocals in the chorus!

On our way out they started playing Tatu, which I thought was an amusing contrast of old, cynical - heteronormative, even - commercial product

[MrJubbly]

Most commercial music released in the past decade or so, sounds A.I. generated; generic and soulless.

And that was even before the current A.I. tools were made commonly available.

So not much was lost with their arrival, imho, since things were already heading that direction anyway.

[vurt]

I blame the parents too.
But I think it's up to us to save modern music!

im doing me best! ive even got a youtube channel!!! reaching the kidz!

[lunardigs]

I guess a few of the features of so-called modern (pop?) music, that I don't like might be:
- Lack of subtlety
- Clever, but pointless feeling
- Heavy on effect (lack of subtlety)
- Contrived (not genuine, or artificial sounding)
- Heavy handed messaging (again, lack of subtlety)
- Lack of a sense of mystery
That would be my off-the-top, subjective list.
But frankly, I don't think this is exclusive to "modern music". Rather, I'd say every era of commercial/made-for-consumption music has had these.

[Bunny_boy]

I guess a few of the features of so-called modern (pop?) music, that I don't like might be:
- Lack of subtlety
- Clever, but pointless feeling
- Heavy on effect (lack of subtlety)
- Contrived (not genuine, or artificial sounding)
- Heavy handed messaging (again, lack of subtlety)
- Lack of a sense of mystery
That would be my off-the-top, subjective list.
But frankly, I don't think this is exclusive to "modern music". Rather, I'd say every era of commercial/made-for-consumption music has had these.

Yeah, that can be said of music going back to the renaissance. Like you're saying, every era has is corporate rubbish.

[Awats]

I think it’s just become very stratified and since there are really aren’t any companies promoting artist/bands and anyone can record in their bedroom it just settled to the lowest common denominators. And now the streaming companies determine what you can hear. It will have to go underground again like in the 60’s to expand again.

[lunardigs]

I'm quite certain too that people/kids/whoever have a greater attention span than whatever pop-trash music might suppose.

[chk071]

Why is modern music so awful

Music is always a mirror of the times we live in.

[slackhead]

Frank Sinatra once said: “Rock ‘n’ roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons.”

[lunardigs]

Frank Sinatra once said: “Rock ‘n’ roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons.”

Wow ... And that's coming from someone who might have been one of the most debauched people of all time! lol

[vurt]

Why is modern music so awful

Music is always a mirror of the times we live in.

how exactly did "the birdy song" reflect the times??

[THE INTRANCER]

It's been dead for the past 20 years, and really down to a number of things. The way the music industry has tried to take control of artists, technology, i.e. computers / software, piracy and the move to digital downloads rather than CD.

Music is however subjective to a degree, it's something personal.

[VitaminD]

Many people seem to focus more on sounds and not arrangement today. I think in decades past, it was less about the instruments and more about the arrangement. How the melodies played with the vocals, the tug of war between point and counter point in melody, how the harmony fit in to the mood, the structure of verses to chorus, etc

When you have access to less gear, you need to get more creative with what you have.

A lot different than today with 100 synths with 1000s of presets each of fancy sounds at our fingertips. Not to mention samplers galore for all kinds of sound textures.

And I think a lot of producers today start off without knowing any kind of theory. So they rely more heavily on the sounds to make something interesting. Think of the gamer bro that, in between Call of Duty rounds, gets fruityloops or ableton live lite and wants to drop some dope beats yo.

30+ years back it was probably more garage bands that started into music with an instrument of some variety. In my area, at least, there was a stronger push to take up music lessons and generally more of an interest to play an instrument. So they learned some theory concepts early. Well before the internet sapped much of our brains...

[jancivil]

Why is modern music so awful

Music is always a mirror of the times we live in.

First of all the topic title regards a video that strictly was about pop music and certain very clear trends. It does seem truistic enough if not fully axiomatic that gross pop mirrors society to some extent. I'm no sociologist, but it does seem, if we're getting into such a generalization that said society is well degraded today, certainly in the US.

The music I'm interested in has naught to do with it. "Music is" fill-on-the-blanks lacking any qualification or definition is meaningless.