I absolutely love music in it's many forms but as I look over the past few years, music is becoming less and less important 2 me. The artist 2day have very little talent and the production is even worse. My one saving grace is that I can make my own music. I spend more time listening 2 my own work than the stuff that is available 2 purchase.

It's really a very sad situation.

Graycap23 said:

Then do what I do. Ignore the new stuff and focus on the huge stockpile of music from the past. There is some great stuff there.

btw, I heard Rilo Kiley the other day, a modern group, and they were pretty darn good, so all is not lost.

midnightmover said:

Mainstream music is gonna be garbage as long as fat-ass record label CEOs keep on promoting it, lol.

Try listening to some new/different musicians
Good stuff is out there if you're willing to search

I understand what you are saying and over the last 2 years especially i have felt the same way, but its been a natural progression it seems. I have wondered what caused it, i thought at first it was the fact that i wasnt involved in the music aspect of industry and relations anymore since 2006, but it wasnt, since even though i was surrounded by it 24/7 then i was mainly going through the motions because it was my job at the time, but years before i actually took in interest in helping promote artists and such, but i stopped really caring for the most part because it seemed that the "labels" really stopped caring so why should i.

But on the personal level i think what has caused this for people and myself included is the marriage of all forms of media with artists. Back when i grew up my love of music came from my older brother having everything from Queen records to Stevie Wonder records and countless others, that was my source, then when i started to be able to buy my own stuff, my source was a little bit of radio which played everyone, to mtv or Friday night videos which played everyone, they were your filter for music, they kind of threw it all at you and some stuck and some didnt but it all was there pretty much for you to choose. Now with radio trimmed down to a playlist of 10 tracks and mtv trimmed down to playing about 2 hours of videos a day, its become like another JOB to find music, which is not how its supposed to be, sorry but labels,radio etc are supposed to be the ones to get it all to us, that is their JOB. So in recent years though i have found new artists here and there, i thank god that the older continue to work and record or i would be staring at the walls at times or walking around listening to nothing but people on their cell phones and hearing their annoying ringtones. I recently scanned a Billboard 200 albums list and back 15-20 years ago i would have owned that artist or that song or album about 50% of the time, now its about 10-15% if that much, and looking at that 10-15% its mainly older artists that have just done new records.

So the excuse i often hear is that your close minded to anything new, well thats a crock of shit quite honestly mainly because i have always looked for something new, had i been close minded in years past, i wouldnt have found Norah Jones or Rashaan Patterson or Van Hunt or David Gray or Ryan Adams or Alison Krauss or Girls Aloud or Katharine Mcphee and countless others, and the thing with almost all of these artists i found out about them on my own, or believe it or not the label pushed towards me or in Norah's case was just someone i knew from clubs in NYC. So i think labels and media really dont want you to LOVE music anymore they are not looking to build a music lover, they just want the immediate sale, and believe it or not it HAS NOT always been that way.
[Edited 12/18/07 9:59am]

I was just talking about this with my girlfriend. Like the other people just said...seek out other artists..perhaps from different countries.


Also click on the link in my signature. This artist is pretty Funky.

Graycap23 said:

That's exactly what my father said 30 years ago...
...and his father 30 years before

Yeah today's mainstream really sucks, but if you look into other "rootsier genres" you'll find music as vibrant as what you yourself could create.

Just a few years ago, I used 2 buy 5-10 cd's a week. Now? I'd be lucky 2 buy 5-10 a year. I have other sources 2 get the music because I certainly would not WASTE my money or time buying new material.

I know the feeling. All the greats are gone or have lost their damn minds and the majority of new stuff just sucks so badly there's really no point in listening to it.

Thankfully, the internet exists and I have been able to get musical life support from the many truly talented independent artists that are utilizing the internet to get their music heard.
[Edited 12/18/07 10:28am]

Graycap23 said:

I feel ya. The only difference is that I don´t make my own music.

dag said:

I get a lot of pleasure from music by coaching my kids through their music lessons. They're really my favorite musicians.

Graycap23 said:

Dude, no one is forcing you to listen to contemporary "artists"
Just dig on some ol' school, brotha

Yeah, I feel you, the thrill is going, going, just about gone. It was fun while it lasted though

I agree. The more that i'm introduced to something older, whether artist or song, i just get frustrated with what i'm hearing now.

my mother just bought micheal jacksons greatest hits album and i wanted to almost cry listening to his hits. amazing.

i also heard for the first time and purchased stevie wonders Girl Blue song, and again i wanted to cry. i think that's my favorite stevie song.

but im sure artists use to seem out of this world back then. now, all you do when listening is think about how you could have come up with what they are doing, sad.

I feel the same, but partly it's about making my own music, and partly it's about getting older. I don't believe in stuff like I used to.

When I was a kid, even a decent group was enough to make me believe. Now, music has to be truly special for me to get on board.

And most music is not truly special.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Lol.....I have every old school joint that I want. They don't PRODUCE those any more.

I like rilo kiley too, and a group called stars. Today's music is definitely not as good as the past, but there are a few good songs here and there.

I'd love to hear what you're creating...

The comments about music from around the world is right on, so much you could never hear it all...

Then you can't tell me you've heard every single song from every single artist from let's say 1940 - 1973...there's always something from the past that needs to be re-heard...c'mon...I mean I agree that most new music isn't there but that last Jill Scott disk has me every time I listen to it and that's a 2007 release...

Slave2daGroove said:

New material is not completely dead but it's slowly dying off. I am always looking 4 new artist but I've only discovered a hand full of great material from artist that I've never heard of in the last few years.

The next few weeks, I'm going 2 listen 2 P-funk from the beginning.....that should keep my ears happy 4 a while.

look at this:
http://prince.org/msg/8/255577
.....do u see my point?

Rolling Stone has an article where they say the problem today is that most albums are too loud, that there are no subtleties as was seen with analogue recording. Everything in the mix is turned up to keep the interest of the young listener, but the loudness ends up boring listeners, where they cannot stand repeated listens.

2freaky4church1 said:

There was a thread about this on the old npgmc site and it's true, it's like new music is screaming at you to gain your attention but it sounds very close to continuous distortion after awhile.

Graycap23 said:

Yeah, but when was Billboard a source for what to listen to?

We all know the real stuff isn't being played on the radio, it's underground. Historically, it's always been that way, when the masses finally get clued into something that's when it takes a turn for the worst.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings can't be found on Billboard (I hope) but talk about touching your soul. People just don't know about these guys and frankly I'm glad, the music is pure and real and NEW.

Aren't you a fan of Jazz? That's a genre that can keep me into music for the rest of my life when I start digging and checking out who influenced who.

I love music in comparison to historic time lines, so when this single came out what else was happening in different cultures, countries and what did the times do to the music but now my geek is showing...

All of the PFunk should keep you busy but when you run out of music, c'mon back here and the great people of the Org will hip you to something that'll grab you. That's just another reason I'm here on a regular basis, just good people with infinite knowledge and great tastes in music (for the most part).

Slave2daGroove said:

I understand but there is a bigger picture. This is the mess that influences the NEXT generation of musicians.

Slave2daGroove said:

I don't like jazz so that eliminates a great resource of material. It's tough finding "new" material. I'm like a crack head with no crack right now. Frank McComb is coming out some live stuff taped last summer here in Atlanta. That was a great session so I'm looking forward 2 that. It's alreay late so I'm not holding my breath on it's actual release date.

Graycap23 said:

It sure it...I heard some of your music.

Kidding. I like your music. But I understand. It's not only music, though. Everything is getting dumber...and technology accelerates that (why spell when you have spell check?, why paint when you can get the program? why play "real" music when you can push a button?...). It's nothing new, but technology makes it more pronounced.

You can stay smart and surround yourself with smart people that make and enjoy smart music...maybe you can start a trend somewhere.
I find that I have taken a liking to some really dumb music. And it's easy...there's so much of it to chose from.

anon said:

see what I mean?



.
[Edited 12/18/07 15:29pm]

Graycap23 said:

I understand the big picture and people will refer to these times as the American Idol times, where lip-syncing is acceptable and people who can't perform live actually made money.

Sometimes it does influence people but sometimes teachers and people with real knowledge educate the generation of musicians. Realistically all it takes is for someone who's curious to find out where Prince came from and that takes him to James Brown and Sly, next thing you know he's obbsessed with the funk, then he moves on from there and tells some friends and it spreads like a wild fire. Check out some people around here, that one Funk guy from Sweden is like 19 and he knows what's what.

It's all very cyclical and based on economic conditions, the war, etc. Keep your head up Gray, you can't kill the real thing, it's just not possible. Billboard reflects the masses and if you've ever had to drive anywhere you know where the masses heads are...

Graycap23 said:

WTF?!?!?!

No Herbie Hancock? No Miles Davis? No Louie Armstrong?
Don't even tell me you're not hip to Benny Goodman and the amazing Nat King Cole trio. These guys talent could not be contained and there's so much of it to find and hear.

There's your problem right there, the past has given us so much amazing music but you've tuned out. Rent the Documentary that Ken Burns on Jazz, then check out the Scorsese docu on Blues. This last one is cool because Clint Eastwood (who plays piano) sits down with Ray Charles (do you like him?) and run through his influences by showing actual footage of them playing. So damn amazing...a real crack head knows that the white powder is pure and that's jazz...just pure.