All I ever hear from younger people when they try to defend their music is, "My mother says the same thing and her mother said the same thing to her. It's part of getting older". Well, I am 37 so I could have a child that is age 20 if I had chosen to have had one. Considering this, it's very likely that some of these younger people could have parents my age. I can see them downing today's music because they are my age.

As for my generation, my mother, and everyone else's mother that I knew, never hated the current music of the 1980s like a lot of people my age hate today's music. In the 1980s, skating was the way teenagers that were too young to go to clubs could party. My mother used to drop me off at the skating rink around 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. and she would head to a club. She would pick me up when the skating rink closed at 1:00 a.m.

Many nights after she picked me up, she would swing by the club and tell her friends that she would be back as soon as she dropped me off at home. While I would be sitting in the car waiting, I could hear the music coming from the club. The majority of the music played was all current 1980s music and these club goers were all in their 30s and 40s. My mother, and so many other people's parents were listening to their 1960s Motown and other types of music they had growing up, but for the most part, they were listening to the current music scene.

Even the radio stations back then, there weren't all these oldies stations like there are now. Most of the stations in my area were current music stations but they would throw in an old song every now and then. I think if there had been such a big demand for oldies stations back then, they would have had them. There was a 1950s station but my mother would have been a small child in the 1950s so she never listened to that station.

So my answer to this question is, I think today's music really is a bunch of shit and the arguement that everyone's parents have said the same thing is a cop out. What do you think?
[Edited 6/23/05 23:50pm]

Today's music is shit

vainandy said:

The industry in general has never been so bad.

What's the next new wave???

It's 2005 and how many classic albums have come out in the last 5 years???

think about it 70-75, 80-85, 90-95.....00-05

and even if you can name a few, how do they stack up to the other first five years of other decades?

I don't know whether its the music or the industry, but today's music is a bunch of shit.
[Edited 6/24/05 0:14am]

vainandy said:

It may be a copout, but it's also true. They did say that. I'd say both are true. There has always been shit. There will always be shit. But there have always been people growing out of touch with current styles, trends, etc.

GrayKing said:

What exactly are the current styles, new trends, etc? What's the last major movement in popular music? Hip-hop

There has always been shit but never such widespread shit to the point that there is absolutely nothing good like today's music scene. As far as "you have to go and look for it", you didn't have to look for it back then, it came to you.

I can remember when I first started bitching about music. It was the summer of 1985, I was only 17, and had just graduated high school. Artists that were starting to dominate the radio back then were much more mellow artists like Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Freddy Jackson, etc. I remember saying "where the hell are the jams?" (Yawn)....such a boring era.

Yes, I'm set on what I like and refuse to settle for "weaker" music, but as far as older people are concerned, they were loving this era. I even saw older people that hated the early 1980s music scene, loving the late 1980s scene. I used to call it the "adult contemporary era". This era also influenced a lot of artists like Brandy and Mariah Carey that came out in the 1990s. This would account for all the slow music dominating in the 1990s.

back in the day meaning the 80s? i think the 80s are crap.lol mostly cause i grew up in the 90s ...and now that im 24 i continue listening to new music.theres always gonna be crap that sucks out there like the 80s lol j/k

lilgish said:

oh, i dunno. people around here are always going on and on about how the Neptunes are so played out and that all their songs are the same. i suspect these same people of smoking crack, and if they want to hear a bunch of shit that sounds the same, they should go listen to a collection of 90's r&b.

that's just one example.

as far as the last major trend in popular music... i'd say electronica. almost every uptempo pop song is rife with buzzing, whirring, bleeping, etc. Kylie, Janet, Madonna, Britney, the uptempo half of George Michael's latest. if it isn't hip-hop influenced, then it's got its roots firmly planted on the dancefloor.

Music had already long gone to hell by the time you started listening to it. I can't blame you though, because that's all you grew up on. The artists, record companies, MTV, and radio stations are the ones to blame.

vainandy said:

haha

when im your age ill be saying the same shit about the 90s...nirvana will on the oldies station and tupac and biggie will have 20 yr anniversary-commemorative plates and coins

I think it's worth mentioning that popular music isn't something that shouldn't necessarily be disposable. much of it is. much of it always has been. and most of the good stuff started out that way. i think it's when we place our expectations on everything being some new piece of high or performance art that we set ourselves up for disappointment. anything beyond the very basic level of "it's got a nice tune and i can dance to it" is just icing on the cake. i think we've fooled ourselves into thinking that every piece of music has to be original or a masterpiece or some grandiose statement that has been slaved over for months in order to be good or worthwhile. and we can blame certain people, like the Beatles, Dylan, Bowie, Prince, Stevie, etc. for setting us up for that. they were all exquisite artists, but "Love Me Do" and "The Laughing Gnome" weren't created with a mind to do anything other than to 1) sell records and 2) put a smile on someone's face when they heard it. and they certainly weren't indicative of the Important Art that these people would later create and bestow upon the masses.


honestly, it's just rock & roll. get over it.

When you reach my age, music will probably be the same as it is today. Hip hop has dominated music for almost 15 years. I can't remember ever going that long without a change in styles. I don't see it changing any time soon. Especially with corporations like Clear Channel keeping everything else out.

vainandy said:

actually, thats not true. hip hop might have been in the mainstream for 15 years, but its only since 2003 that its been the dominant form of music. you can't tell me in 1999 hip hop was dominant, bubblegum pop was from 1997 - 2002, 1995 - 1996 angry female era, 1992 - 1994 was grunge, 1990 - 1991 was well ummmm, im not too sure but i dont think it was hip hop. my dates probably arent exact, but you get my point
[Edited 6/24/05 1:13am]

hellomoto said:

actually, country beats them all. it has been and continues to be the #1 radio format in the country.

I should have made myself clear. I was referring to hip hop dominating R&B.

vainandy said:

Amen To That!

vainandy said:

Today's music is shit. If I even listen to radio, its more than likely tuned to a oldies station or Jazz b/c I am not going to listen rehashed payolla radio. Once I get tired of that bullshit then, I have to throw in one of my zillions of CD's. Format and payolla has over fucked radio in the ass and this is what Clear Channel represents corrupt big businness.

face it: you're getting older - whether you like today's music or not!

And there is a lot of good music(ians) out there. Just not on tv or radio.

quote (free to Organized Konfusion):

[Edited 6/24/05 4:24am]

Mainstream/pop music these days is indeed shit. Back in the day, you actually had to work for a record deal (as opposed to today, where any hack can acquire a record deal and spew their manufactured crap onto radio) and the production wasn't 'crunk' or any of this current garbage that will inevitably suffer a backlash eventually. Old fads like disco and synths/drum machines suffered backlashes as well as new ones came to the forefront but you can name so many ditties from those eras whilst making a straight face. Today, the music is so ridiculous and fake that I'm not sure if it'll be looked upon fondly AT ALL in the future.

Most mainstream stuff is total shit, yeah. There's still good stuff on the fringes, though.

Many people on this site always say "there is some good new music out there,you just have to look hard to find it".But back in the day,the good music was the mainstream music.You didn't have to look hard to find it.Compile a list of the top pop songs from 1983,and you will see that most of it was great.I think it's a shame that,whatever good music is out there nowadays,doesn't get the attention/sales/airplay that it deserves.Instead,crap like 50 Cent dominates the airwaves.

Damn right! I took current radio stations off my dial years ago. The only ones I listen to now are oldies stations and I be damned if Clear Channel doesn't own those too. Out of decades and thousands of old songs, they take a select few and play them 10 times a day. Brain control is what it is. They are going to make sure that people only hear the songs that they want them to hear.

As I said before, back in the day, you didn't have to search for good music because it was played on the radio. If there is good music still out there, it will never get the chance to change the current trend of music if it never gets any airplay. The musicians might as well be playing for the walls to listen.

You beat me to it. We must have been typing at the same time.

vainandy said:

Same here.I only listen to stations that play oldies.Or,I just play my own CDs.I don't even watch MTV or BET anymore.

There has always been good and shit music around...


For example, I look back at the 80's and I think WOW! Great stuff - Blondie, Smiths etc etc..


..but it's easy to forget all the garbage that was also around at the time.Growing up at the time, I listened to anything but the good stuff!


Maybe it takes a bit of time to sift the crud out of the pan and leave us with the nuggets...?

that argument is fruitless because there are load of young folks who also think today's music is shit

Yeah, I don't think today's music is necessarily "bad." I just don't think that there is enough well- promoted diversity. There are a number of good bands that just don't get MTV or radio exposure anymore.

I miss the late 80's and early to mid-90's when there were more rock "funk" bands, and of course Nirvana and Jane's Addiction, mixed in with artists like Sara McLaughlin. Then there were rap artists like LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Arrested Development...Beastie Boys. And these artists were getting exposure along with pop artists like Madonna and Janet. It just appears to me that the music scene at that time was richer and video television was also more diverse.

(I know I left-out a lot of bands/artists that were great during that era. I just named a few. )

vainandy said:

Yes and yes.