The grim reality is the fact that the quality of music has gone down. IMO, after the boyband days of the 90's. Prince has noticed it, one of the reasons he brought out "Musicology", as a way of bringing "real" music back.
I happen to agree with him 100% that music is not what it used to be. The 80's have won my heart becuz of their music and I don't get that same quality anymore.
Just the other day, it was 80+ degrees out. I felt like I was in an alternate universe or was fastforwarded a few months ahead. Everyone was hanging outside at our college-based apartments with 3 radios blasting out garbage simulanteously. I'm a reserved type of person, so I do spend my time alone half the time. Since it was a nice day out, I considered taking my CD player (and Prince) for a walk thru the woods. But I went there and back to campus and the tranquility was infilitrated by someone playing electric guitar (not well, I might add).
I finally decided to shut myself out from the world. First I took a cold shower, then I sat by my computer and listened to Prince. I found that more refreshing than the shower. I could barely hear the garbage playing outside.
College kids seem more keen on hip-hop, rap and mainstream R&B. not my cup of tea.

Basically my question is: how many people agree that the majority of today's music is ridiculously lame and meaningless?

I'm sure I'm not the only person who needs a good handful of Prince songs to remember what good music sounds like, even if it's mostly in the past.

But if Prince continues to make music to this day, is he not then 'todays music' too?

3121 said:

To me, today's music= mainstream radio (pretty much excluding Prince for the most part, except for "Black Sweat", but I'm not sure how mainstream that is).

That's beyond the point, though.

i don't know.....i mean music changes.....there has always been great music and there will continue to be great music

the older we get the more we complain about today's music

but we are 20 years older, most of us and in a different frame of mind and have more responsibilities

there was a time once when all i wanted to do was play Prince's music all day long and not go outside....but those days are gone

the fact that we got to experience this legend's work makes us lucky though

the thing i love about him is that we are still looking forward to what he puts out next

I just can't stand the fact that I find very little on the radio that I can listen to these days. Most of what college students play here is hip-hop and rap songs that really have no point whatsoever...

Oh boy, it's times like these when I feel like Prince is making me a little more close-minded about music... I sometimes discriminate just cuz people dont write their own music... It's kind hard to really compare any other music to Prince's... that's not why I set this thread up in the first place.

Before the new millennium, music actually said something. I don't feel like it really says much of anything anymore, only about 5-10% of music on the radio does.
"Cable Car" by The Fray & "Ever the Same" by Rob Thomas, 2 isolated hits by 2 different artists. To me, they're like one-hit wonders cuz they're the only songs by those singers I've ever liked. That's how rare I find good music to be these days.

I've always been kind of the oddball at school when it comes to music. Since the boyband days, I don't follow trends anymore becuz there aren't any I can get into. It's times like what happened to me on Tuesday that make me grateful that I know of Prince and his beautiful music. While it's opened my eyes to that "grim reality", it's opened my eyes, heart & mind to so many other things. I'm grateful to him for that and the other things he's already done 4 me thru his music.

today's music is ..

"FERGALICIOUS DEFNITION MAKE THEM BOYS GO LOCO" or..

"THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH!"

or

"I LIKE THE WAY SHE ROCK HER HIPS, WAVE AND SIP"

Negritaluvyu said:

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

. we defiently need some help with today's music. and I actually listen to all of that

Negritaluvyu said:

I just can't believe they made "FERGALICIOUS" a word... i mean, c'mon... Prince has come up with more creative words than that for his song titles.
At least, I think so...
Im still roughly a newbie, gimme a break, heh.

Being exposed to Prince's music only makes the decline of radio music more that much more depressing...
Luckily, my "buddy" Jesse McCartney has co-written some of his songs. I also like Ryan Cabrera, but he's not doing much these days... that I know of.
Good music is hard enough to find as it is, but it's hard to find artists that stick around for 2+ CD's.

pkidwell said:

i thought too that maybe it was my age but music today sucks really bad. Today in addition to listening to Prince music I have to make an effort to go discover and listen to alternative music, alternative meaning what not played on the radio.
[Edited 3/29/07 21:21pm]

wonder505 said:

Good move.

Maybe this is the whole reason my dad had me sit thru Purple Rain on VH1, even though it was already half over. He apparently thinks that music isn't what it used to be, so he wanted to show me what a true musician is all about.

Who knew I'd ever be here of all places starting with that moment?
This is still a theory. I haven't spoken to my dad about Prince since I dove into his world, so I'm not sure the exact reasoning he had a year or 2 ago... but I think that had something to do with it. Only after getting into Prince did I truly see what he meant... but I still see good in a handful of music and various artists. I've named a few already. I just wish sometimes there was a bigger %age.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I like Ryan Cabrera, Maroon 5, Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys , Fefe Dobson .. like music that has a meaning. And I cant saying anyting I went and brought Fergie's album, aside from fergalicious, it's actually really good to me atleast lol.
I havent seen one artist, since 2004 or 2005 stick around for more than 1 cd. Alot of good artists drop like 3 or 4 cds. but they dont get recognized.

Negritaluvyu said:

I'll say this much, you've got good taste.
I've only heard one of Ne-Yo's songs, but "Sexy Love" is a good song.

I kinda wish that the other college students shared my ideals, but then again, I like having my individuality too... and Prince is more than the perfect way to show that. He makes me proud to be an individual.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Same here. I wished people my age , liked music like me [sigh] i weep for the younger generation .lol. I blame Prince for me being black, but acting like a white girl lol. But I like that, he's black, but he basically telling the world "i act how i want ot act and make the kinda music i want to make" and thats what i love. more artists should do that.

Contemporary artists I listen 2:

Christina Aguilera
Mariah Carey
Alicia Keys
John Legend
Van Hunt
India.Arie
Joss Stone
Corinne Bailey Rae
Jamie Cullum

That's it

NE-YO?!?!?
Y'all need to drop that shit... fast.
[Edited 3/29/07 22:43pm]

FuNkeNsteiN said:

As Nas said...Hip Hop is dead. If I hear another "roll your hips" "lean wid it rock wid it" "shoulder lean" "this is why I"m hot" I will

If I hear one more Beyonce song about how hot she is, and how to "upgrade" I will

If I hear one more artist trying to sound exactly like Prince...Ciara..P-Diddy I will

If I hear one more Nickleback song that sounds like the last one I will

And if I wanted to listen to a former meth head who pisses on herself on stage...well, I'll go to the local trailer park.

Ne-yo? Who can tell if it's him, Omarion, or Chris Brown?

Sorry...Prince has spoiled me.

I have bought System of a Down. They were very different for a while.

Ne-Yo is good.
Omarion- I like him.when he was in B2K it was like . but i like him alot now- lol and plus in his house he has a huge ass picture of prince so thats a plus

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I completely agree with this line. But at the same time, because Prince's music is at least 20 years old, it doesn't get through to a lot of today's teens. I never listened to the "oldies" radio stations before I discovered Prince, now I listen to them more than the new ones!

There aren't that many ways to discover older music and if my mother wasn't already a Prince fan I would probably have never heard of Purple Rain. I was dissapointed that 3121 didn't do better than it did because that would have been an ideal album for today's audience. Lolita, Fury and Black Sweat all had potential to be great singles but either weren't released or hardly advertised.

The only way I discovered Prince was by glancing at one of the "old music" channels on TV and Black Sweat was on right at the "white lady" part. I thought it was catchy and I like minimalism songs so I put it on my iPod. But I didn't like it. I couldn't get used to a guy singing so high pitched. Now I love it and wish more would be brave enough to sing like that I think a lot of teens aren't open minded enough to 80's-early 90's music to truly like it. When you've grown up with bubblegum pop and mainstream hip hop, it's hard to adjust to anything slightly different.

I even noticed since listening to Prince, my attention span with songs has improved. When I was first listening to Purple Rain, after picking my jaw up off the ground, I actually thought that when the guitar solo came around, the song was finished. Turns out it went for a good 1-2 minutes. I was really confused because songs these days unfortunately just don't do that anymore and always finish around the 2, maybe 3 minute mark. Just the other day a pal said to me "This song I'm listening to is so long" I asked her how long and she said "3 minutes!!!". Lol.

Eventually, instead of keeping on skipping the "long ass" guitar solo, I let it go and of course, there I was picking my jaw up off the ground again. I also didn't think it was him playing because once again, singers today don't do play instruments. So my jaw once again hit the ground when I saw the video.

Me writing all of this is just trying to show you what today's teens see and hear when they listen to 80's music. The only difference with me is that I fell in love with it. I think for most it would be too long and too different for them to adjust to. I guess it's the generation gap and it's like going back to something not used anymore, lol. Like if teens today stopped emailing and started writing letters again, it'd be weird at first but you'd adjust eventually. Hopefully.

And for the record, I know a lot of teens who like Kiss and Cream.

Wow... everyone's had some interesting comments. I thought this thread would soon like a lot of the others I've done.

I just can't believe what they try to pass off as "music" these days. I think I've pretty much grown accustomed to hearing real instruments play and everything not being "computerized".
3121 had a little bit of that, I feel... but then again, I havent listened to it in a week.
I'm really glad that my dad introduced me to Prince the way he did becuz if not, I would have thought he was a [forgive me, Prince] a freaking weirdo...
That's how the untrained ear/eye and ignorant see him and I'm SO GLAD that it's me.
I don't see his supposed "weirdness" as weirdness. I easily got used to his screaming and I got past the fact of how mature his mature is (word choice specificially). I willingly accepted everything about him the moment I saw him in the movie 4 the first time. I like to say he cast a spell on me and while it's still got a hold of me, I can still make up my own mind about his songs and such.
Like you, purplesweat, I've never heard anyone sing high-pitched like Prince and if not for "the spell", I think that would have thrown me for a loop. Most of the time, I prefer his bass/baritone voice (like his voice in "Diamonds & Pearls")

I know these days its hard to find someone overally talented like that, but I do wish there was more music 4 me to choose from. I always gotta be so selective... and then remains the fact that most of the CD's I pick up, the artist responsible won't be sticking around. I hate saying g'bye, especially those who've meant something in the past (although thats only a handful that've meant that much).
I grew up with boyband music and once that was out, I had nothing else, so I've changed fav. artists for the past 6 or so years. And usually the ones I take the most liking too aren't as well-known, which makes it difficult to talk about them. Two examples r Jesse McCartney & The Click Five.
But I guess you could say I did go up with 80's music. My dad recorded a bunch of the MTV videos on a VHS and I watched them a lot. (one of which happened to be 1999)

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I think it's the other way around for teens today. They're more used to the perfect, computerised sound rather than the live, not so perfect sound of 80s songs.

It did, something I didn't like about it. Fury shouldn't have sounded so..clean cut lol. I think that's why it's better live.

Untrained is right

Hehe, same here again. I played Darling Nikki for someone and after the niiiiikiii scream he's making all these noises and my friend was like "A GUY is making those sounds?" then walked off. And she listens to screaming emo crap.

I love both. But I don't like when he uses the falsetto for the whole song like in Black Sweat. He needs to vary it a bit. And yes, before Prince I'd only heard Usher do a few high notes in songs sometimes so it was a whole new experience hearing a guy sing so high (and sound amazing while doing it)

I know exactly what you mean 100% The only artist that's come close for me is Beyonce cause at least she's got the voice. But even her song subjects get repetative.


I grew up with boybands and teen pop too. But I ended up liking rap and hip hop. I was a huge fan of OutKast which I guess prepared me for Prince since Andre 3000 basically IS Prince just with a different name and only one hit song

Yeah, I remember my mum playing Little Red Corvette really loud in the car once when I was about 8. I thought the lyric was "Living in a red corvette" haha. I remember 1999 and When Doves Cry too from my childhood.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

his music is WAY better than today's mainstream crap...jmo

babooshleeky said:

Definitely. I'm surprised people are still checking this thread out, but I'm glad we can all come to the same conclusions.

No matter which of his CD's I put in, I feel like it puts everything else I listen 2, 2 shame. Yesterday was kinda funky 4 me. I listened to my Jesse McCartney CD for the first time in weeks and since my mind was swirling with Prince, I found myself judging it against him more than enjoying it. I think the worst part was that once I was inside JMac's head, it was hard to get back to Prince.

One thing I've learned about Prince's music is that it's impossible to use it as background music to do anything else to (play video games, study, etc.). I find myself singing along and really listening to it. I guess at times like yesterday, I prefer his more recent material becuase it's easier to get back to and it's easier to break away from.
Musicology is the perfect antidote 4 mainstream crap. I know I seem to keep going back and forth between my albums, saying I like this one better than that one day and change my mind. Right now, I find it difficult to really rank my albums becuz each one is good for a particular mood. I'm just having difficulty getting back to 3121 becuz I like the raw feel of Musicology opposed to the sound of Prince "selling out" to today's musical trends (in the case of 3121, Lolita & Black Sweat).
Musicology & I didn't hit it off the first time becuz I think I had expectations that weren't reached. The problem at the time was that I had something in mind and didn't get it... after examining it closer, I discovered that since Prince is more knowledgable about "old school" music than I am, I should let him be the navigator and show me what he sees. I listen closely to the way each song is orchestrated and see some amazing things I didn't think music was capable of. It's also the first time, I think, I've heard a Prince album that's united becuz of the style of music, not becuz of lyric content.

When it comes to music,
I only like the good kind.

The bad stuff sucks.

Illustrator said:

Music's great because it's a language we all understand and there's so many different kinds that the style we're into helps define us.
Prince is great because his music has variety. I'm not a big listener of R&B, hip-hop or rap. While I'm kinda on the fence about Prince rapping (I like P. Control, but hate "My Name is Prince"), the R&B aspect says a lot. Musicology has become one of my favorites (kinda hard to say, though cuz I only have 4 albums) because Prince introduced his version of "old-school" music to me, the way it should be played with real instruments instead of computers.
Thanks to him, I appreciate artists who write their own music & play instruments a lot more than I did b4. Still, nothing/nobody compares 2 Prince.

Yes honey, the mainstream music of the day is very uninspiring, not original, almost insulting...all I pretty much listen to is eighties music or music from the past. It is rare if I hear a new song that I like nowadays.

There was alot of awesome music from the eighties...all my girlfriends call me the "eighties queen" or "Miss eighties" cuz that is like all I listen to. But they have learned to dig it. They always are like Krystal what is that hot song you dance to all the time..."err "In my house" by the Mary Jane Girls? They are like "That song is so sexy!" It's hard to remember alot of people are not into music as much as I was growing up so they missed out on alot of good music and are satisfied with this steady stream of stupid crap on MTV nowadays.

But there is amazing music out there...you just can't rely on MTV or the Radio to get to it anymore. In fact there is amazing music everywhere it is just harder to get to now. In fact one poster on here, blackguitarist, has some AMAZING tunes that I've heard.

Krystal666 said:

Heh, most of the time when I listen to the radio, I try to find stations that play a combination of 80's/90's/current music. Most of the time, the current music is good music that I can listen 2 w/o having to change stations. I don't rely on MTV at all anymore. The music videos sure aren't what they used to be. We have a VHS tape full of 80's videos (1999 was one) that are all awesome for different reasons. They don't make videos anymore that could compare to the way "When Doves Cry" came out... definitely my fav. Prince video.

It's funny cuz on one of those radio stations, Let's go Crazy played one time and I went nuts.
Usually the music I pick it is just cuz of a single that I liked, but I'm choosy cuz for the past few years, I've been moreso into songwriters. That's why I got Ryan Cabrera's, Ashlee Simpson's and Michelle Branch's 2 CD's. Michelle, I dropped cuz her 2nd album sucked. But Ryan's 2nd album was definitely a good buy. It's just hard to find anyone that's reliable/more likely to stick around.

I listened to the Click Five earlier. They're like a reincarnation of The Beatles, but have a college-student type appeal. They play their own instruments and write most of their music... so I really enjoyed it, considering it's been a while since I listened to them. I'm just hoping they come out w/another CD soon, heh.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

In Minnesota we have a station Jack 104 (I think) it plays a combo of eighties/ninties music...it is pretty decent...at least it helps me rediscover some good eighties tunes that I had forgoten about.

i think i can agree. i haven't listened to mainstream radio for the simple fact that i get tired abt hearing abt how much money rappers have (that's great- now spend it wisely and give back to ure community), sex, girls, etc. i just listen to my local oldies station and my Cd of my fave artists.

music has suffered a bit of a downfall- which is why I'm always happy to hear Prince calling for a revival of real music. He seems to be one of the few artists to be doing so.