the age of digital music and ushering in rap just killed the game it brought such a raw version of no talent 2 the game.everything is so simple now and have no texture 2 it i remember back in the days songs had hardcore structures and were just solid these days everything is so lightweight and uncrafted the digital age sucks

Yes, it is the overall lack of musicianship and rise of technology for the past 20 years or so. Many people don't appreciate real musicians(ie ability to play an instrument, music theory, transcribe, etc.)...

It's an unbalanced equation:
90% looks - 10% ability

Old school:
100% ability

IMHO, yes.

I have tried very, very hard to make sure this isn't a case of "things were better when I was younger" myopia, but music was SO much better in the '60's - '80's.

I'd like to blame it on rap and Nirvana, but there's another factor and that is the death of real pop music.

It occurs to me that most great rock, soul and even country music had great pop to build off of. There is no pop today - save for the assorted Disney artist - so there's no catchy melodies or riffs to steal/build from.

We need a pop resurrection before the rest of the music world can recapture any glory.

Also, kids today can't play their instruments nearly as well as older generations did, with the possible exception of drummers. Today's drummers are pretty damn good, IMHO.

Imago said:

You may be onto something.

If she doesn't, I know someone else that can.

Not all music. The new music scene is bursting with fantastic, amazing independent acts of all genres!

Trouble is, you have to dig to find them.

Turning on the radio or video channels to find new music is where people are going wrong. 99.97% of what's happening in the mainstream right now is unlistenable garbage. I wish it wasn't true, but it is. So work with what is available. Turn off the radio, turn off MTV and VH1 and MuchMusic, and bust out the internet.

Here are some things you can do to find good tunes, new and old:

-Utilize filesharing resources if you're okay with that.
-Surf sites like MySpace. Try putting a random word into the search feature, or redirect yourself using the "sounds like" bit on pages of artists you already like.
-Organize a music swap, or just do an informal trade with a friend
-Starbucks. Like it or not, they can be a source of new music.
-Movie soundtracks. Pick out a song you like by a band you're unfamiliar with and use that to launch an exploration of their work.
-Ask a stranger. Next time you're on the bus or waiting in line somewhere, strike up a conversation with an interesting looking person and ask them about their favourite bands. People love to talk about themselves, so exploit that vanity and maybe dig up some new ear candy.


And don't forget!:

-Open Mics, Bar Band Nights, Free public gigs in the warmer months, and local shows are all excellent ways to find great, local musicians and performers.

bboy87 said:

There is so much great music out there, just dig a bit.

The charts on the other hand...

Vendetta1 said:

I'm 24. The last music I downloaded? Cab Calloway.

Age can have an influence taste, but it doesn't dictate it. My cousins just bought their father, my 57 year old rigpig Albertan uncle, a Lady GaGa CD. He loves it.

Moonbeam said:

^^^

krayzie said:

Applies to me!

meow85 said:

I was 9 years old dancing to Prince. My son is 22 and says the same thing I say: popular music today sucks.

Vendetta1 said:

It does.

It's easy to dismiss hating on new music as Old Fart-itis, but tonnes of young people who are ostensibly the target market are buying guns to shoot their radios with just to make that godawful noise stop, too.

meow85 said:

Thank you Meow.

Vendetta1 said:

Instead of searching for good new music, I've started going even further back than my era. Seems like the only way to find anything with any rhythm is to go further back rather than forwards. I downloaded this one the other night and those girls are swingin' honey.....

Phishanga said:

I've found so much great music these past 2 years just going on different forums and blogs

I prefer to honestly stay in the time machine and keep it in the New Jack Swing era....

The talent is still around but it's the context in which they need to surface and survive that suck, and many music listeners are as much to blame as the industry. Most people download stuff for free, killing off the beginning talents to begin with. Maybe Prince can live on what he has and an o2 project here and there... most can't. They need people to buy their stuff.

Talking more about the context; the digial downloading (legal and illegal) also killed the idea of a concept album that was worked on for a long time; and for which people took the time to listen to and appreciate. The albums were a nice vehicle to bring more challenging songs to the public that bought an album because of a certain hit song, but then gradually opened up to other, less easy music on the album. Now people just pick the one song they like and move on.

In the 80s we had the Sabrina's, Kylie, Jason Donovan, Nick Kamen, Modern Talking... there was plenty of crap around. we just forget about them over time.


We tend to over romantise the early decades of "popular music because we never lived the context. We now have easy access to all sorts of music but even in the 80s, it was hard getting some of the real good stuff because music is marketed as a product, and logically, the sellers try to find the magic formula and distill the things that appeal to the masses without running the risk of losing on their investments. The better they got at it, the more bland the mainstream music became.

But talent tries to find a way and maybe the listening public should just do a bit more effort in finding good music then looking to what is being put upfront in the music stores.

Another phenomenon; now in my 30s; I let go of most of the radio, hit lists etc. I tend to go with the flow in what I encounter in theatres, concerts, small snippets here and there... Currently making me listen to a lot of Billie Holiday, Ella, Coltrane, starting on Miles. And for some of their stuff I need to order overseas, what immediately says a lot about the choices made by stores, but also about the possibilities of having internatonal stores to get material from.

There might be a lot of bland and silly music around, the possibilities in getting good, more obscure recordings have never been bigger. It's up to you to define what your musical landscape is to be.

zobilamouche said:

I don't think so.

There's a lot of evidence to show that people who download the most music also BUY the most music, and those downloading and buying in large amounts are often veering away from Top 40 acts and into the realm of lesser known talents. A lot of people are still downloading, and then buying, entire albums.

meow85 said:

When looking around me (so no scientific facts and figures here), the generation of teens now growing up don't spend much on music at all. They think it's perfectly fine to download all for free. Most of those in their 30s, they follow the scenario that you describe of downloading and buying music. I'm not sure about younger generations growing up in the download age.

zobilamouche said:

I'm 24, so my social circle is largely roughly around that age too. People who download the most, buy the most.

Interestingly, those downloading Top 40 acts are only downloading single songs, while those who go for older or more obscure acts go for entire albums or discographies.

meow85 said:

It would be intersting to hear from teens on theorg... they are the "future market" and knowing how they purchase and listen to musci would be interesting.

BlaqueKnight said:

but the thing about that is, you shouldn't have to look so hard for good music. it should be right out there, and there's so little quality music reaching the mainstream market that it's ridiculous.

i do believe there's always been a fair amount of shit music, but i think it's such bullshit to have to dig so far for good music when it could be played on the radio.

zobilamouche said:

I live in a small town where all that plays on the radio is hip-hop and Top 40 stuff - or Latin music. I'm only exposed to what plays on the radio when I drive but I don't really pay attention to it.

The only way I have of finding music I may like is on the Internet. I have found most of the music I've listened to for the past three years or so either on prince.org or on youtube.

I do illegally download music. If I like the album, I'll buy it - unless it's impossible for me to buy, which happens very often. Right now I have eleven albums I absolutely adore but because we don't have a music store where I live, other than Best Buy and stores of that nature, it would be EXTREMELY expensive for me to buy them. I don't have that kind of money.

That's all.

zobilamouche said:

i shouldn't post this, since i don't want to jack the thread but what the hell:

I'm 19.

1) I never listen to the radio by choice (well, to be fair, about every six months [and whenever I move to a new city] I flip around on the radio to see what's going on, and it always fails to impress me, just as it has for the last ten years). The last time I heard a radio was in a store where they were playing a Top 40 station on a demo sound system. I find new music through recommendations from friends, music blogs, looking at other people's music collections, and investigating anything that sounds interesting to me (look up lyrics I hear on TV, etc.). I've found some of my favorite stuff on the org.

2) I have never purchased (and don't plan to) music in digital form. I would if that was the only way I could purchase something, but I would be very disappointed. I don't feel like I own music unless I have a hard copy of it. For this reason, I have even bought albums that were perfectly legal to own free (public domain classical pieces, etc.).

3) I do often download music illegally to listen to it before I buy it. With artists I know I love, I just buy the album (same with soundtracks to movies I have watched, etc.). I do like to preview albums by artists I have never heard, seeing as many of them aren't played on the radio, so I couldn't 'test drive' an album even if I did listen to the radio.

4) I don't usually own only one album by an artist, unless it's a hits album and I only really wanted the singles. Usually if I have one album by an artist, you'll find another in my collection by the same person. This is because if I like one album, I usually pretty much assume I may like another album by the same artist.

5) I am a sucker for imported versions of the same album, deluxe editions, etc., though I do hate the idea of slapping two more tracks on an album and rereleasing it. However, I have been known to buy the Japanese/European/whatever version of an album for its different cover/different tracks/and so on. In many cases (i.e. a rerelease with the same tracks on it + 4 more), I will buy the other version and give away the first one that I had.

6) I have about 2400 songs on iTunes. Over 1,000 of those were recorded before I was born. Yet more albums that I don't have on iTunes (I unfortunately had to leave my album collection behind in a storage unit) were recorded pre-1990, as well. Over 1,500 of these songs will likely never be played on the radio here in the U.S. (either because they are independent artists, no longer popular, or something like a soundtrack [and soundtracks make up almost half my collection]). I would say over half the artists I buy are either older "classic" artists or just not popular ones. I have actually only bought two albums in the last few years that were in the Top 40 or any other major chart.

i tried to be as thorough as i could.

my apologies if this strayed too far off topic

Moonbeam said:

agreed.

basically comes down to, buy what you like. and don't buy what you don't. listen to what moves you or makes you happy, and turn off what doesn't. it's also good to explore for other music and discover things you will enjoy.

Its really irrelevant if it will be better or worse, the rise of the net and demise basically of the physical cd, lets face it, its really nothing more than a cheap add on for the most part. Its not an important thing anymore and that blame goes to majority of consumers and of course the label heads who know less about music than the homeless guy on the street. Music is an add on today, like i have said before, its the fries with the meal. And i dont wanna hear "kids today respect music and its just as important to them" bullshit for the majority, too most music today is nothing more than a ringtone. Kids today are more into their cell phone, texting etc...than whats new and great, music is an afterthought and that will not change because its all going further in that direction. So my advice, stick with who you like, stay loyal to your artists, you may pick up an artist here and there from an indie label or the net (but the notion that the net is a pool of talent untapped is a lie)

lastdecember said:

i'm curious. why do you say this?

Protege said:

U can find just as much untapped talent on an indie label supported by a major. People forget that alot of artists have actual deals they just dont get the support, the net and the labels have an equal amount of shit. But i found a few new artists this year that were actually with labels that are owned by majors. I think people tend to forget there is alot buried on divisions of divisions of divisions.

lastdecember said:

ah. thanks.