Do I get the sense that some of you folks are abit indignant that "the geezers" are content with what they already enjoy listening to?

I have not been really into pop radio since the early 80's. I got into it again in the early 90's a little bit.

I'd say Kurt Cobain was the last time I really "believed" in a current artist. But I will always find someone new to listen to, and someone old to listen to. And it's kind of always been that way.

But I do think pop music is having some serious troubles. There are more musicians than ever, tons of talent, but it is not the most popular stuff

RKJCNE said:

Doesn't every generation hate the next's music? My uncle hated the beatles, he thinks they ruined music.

That's usually how it work.

Wahhhh music sucks now wahhhh

My grandma hated the likes of Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson etc.

I've managed to find enjoyable music to listen to. I also enjoy different sounds and various different genres old and new.

Sounds like a personal problem to me.

Harlepolis said:

Do I get the sense that some of you folks are abit indignant that "the geezers" are content with what they already enjoy listening to?

If you're talking about me (since I, like the OP used the term "geezer"), then no.. they may listen to whatever they want. But I think a lot of the "geezers" that post here wish that they still enjoyed new music (some of them have said so).. so I'd like some of the people who listen to independant music to share with me, and the "geezers" some of these great indie bands/artists that they listen to.

CrabalockerFishwife said:

Harlepolis said:

Do I get the sense that some of you folks are abit indignant that "the geezers" are content with what they already enjoy listening to?

If you're talking about me (since I, like the OP used the term "geezer"), then no.. they may listen to whatever they want. But I think a lot of the "geezers" that post here wish that they still enjoyed new music (some of them have said so).. so I'd like some of the people who listen to independant music to share with me, and the "geezers" some of these great indie bands/artists that they listen to.

Fair enough. But what about the rest of "the geezers" who don't wanna bother with indie artists and still are content with what they're already listening to and enjoy doing it?

Because see, these type of threads come out like the clock of pms, and usually end up with phrases like "living under a rock", "music snobs", "out of touch" when those older posters show indifference to new music.

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

[Edited 3/15/12 19:40pm]

You may think I'm young, but the youngest I could remember music was 1985 or 86 at least, so "old school" doesn't always feel like it to me. 2002 was the turning point for me though where I was spending way more on older CD's and tuned out current music, or at least got selective with it and my tastes changed even more rapidly than before. I had just finished high school too, and was feeling bitter that newer good music was not selling well the way it should, and that good artists from the 80's and 90's I grew up on were selling poorer numbers in place of simpletons who were sampling songs with samples and not singing or dancing great.

[Edited 3/15/12 19:48pm]

Harlepolis said:

CrabalockerFishwife said:

If you're talking about me (since I, like the OP used the term "geezer"), then no.. they may listen to whatever they want. But I think a lot of the "geezers" that post here wish that they still enjoyed new music (some of them have said so).. so I'd like some of the people who listen to independant music to share with me, and the "geezers" some of these great indie bands/artists that they listen to.

Fair enough. But what about the rest of "the geezers" who don't wanna bother with indie artists and still are content with what they're already listening to and enjoy doing it?

Because see, these type of threads come out like the clock of pms, and usually end up with phrases like "living under a rock", "music snobs", "out of touch" when those older posters show indifference to new music.

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

I also hear the old excuse of "that's just what your parents thought of your music and their parents thought of their music..."

But times actually change and things get better and worse. My parents actually loved Michael Jackson and Prince. Maybe I am a geezer, but that does not mean that music HAS to be exactly as good as it was in the 70's

NDRU said:

Harlepolis said:

Fair enough. But what about the rest of "the geezers" who don't wanna bother with indie artists and still are content with what they're already listening to and enjoy doing it?

Because see, these type of threads come out like the clock of pms, and usually end up with phrases like "living under a rock", "music snobs", "out of touch" when those older posters show indifference to new music.

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

I also hear the old excuse of "that's just what your parents thought of your music and their parents thought of their music..."

But times actually change and things get better and worse. My parents actually loved Michael Jackson and Prince. Maybe I am a geezer, but that does not mean that music HAS to be exactly as good as it was in the 70's

True. I may sound like a broken record for saying this though, but music resonate with people differently. There's no right or wrong way of acquiring/listening to it.

Maybe its the nostalgia factor, I don't know. What I do know and hate with a passion is this groupthinking attitude like there's something wrong with you if you don't listen to anything past - say 83. It really boils down to taste.

Harlepolis said:

NDRU said:

I also hear the old excuse of "that's just what your parents thought of your music and their parents thought of their music..."

But times actually change and things get better and worse. My parents actually loved Michael Jackson and Prince. Maybe I am a geezer, but that does not mean that music HAS to be exactly as good as it was in the 70's

True. I may sound like a broken record for saying this though, but music resonate with people differently. There's no right or wrong way of acquiring/listening to it.

Maybe its the nostalgia factor, I don't know. What I do know and hate with a passion is this groupthinking attitude like there's something wrong with you if you don't listen to anything past - say 83. It really boils down to taste.

Exactly, just as we may be old and simply appreciate the music we grew up with, new music may also not be as good as the old stuff.

And there is no truth to it, just opinons.

I gave up on new music late 80's early 90's. The stuff I hear the kids listen to today sucks, bad!

I think the rise of gangsta rap is where it started going downhill. That stuff should have stood underground, not mainsteam!

Harlepolis said:

The so-called neo soul movement.

I loved what I heard from Jaguar, Erykah, D, and them. But since they themselves revere the era of their musical forefathers/mothers, I decided to go back to my old folks' crates and see what I was missing.

Chaka Khan hit me in the chest and I haven't turned on the radio eversince. That was 2002, I was 20. I was content then as I am now, there's ALWAYS new "old" music to discover.

This is what happens when someone hears an artist/muscian who's mastered their craft. What's real and what's bullshit becomes easily discernible. That's why folks are talking more about technology and gadgets/toys than they are music nowadays. When I say folks, I'm speaking of teenagers and young twenty something adults. the Audience post an article about this subject last week.

Youngin here...

and I turned the radio off at 13.... that is all..

I can't remember the exact year that I stopped listening to traditional radio, but I did. It's been years now. I find new music that I like through other resources, but it doesn't get played on the radio.

somewhere around '03

Terrib3Towel said:

I'm not talking to you younguns that prefer old music. I'm talking to the older people who witnessed the change in music firsthand. At what point did you guys say "screw it" and turned the radio off for good and decided to just play your old records? When did u realize music wasn't gonna get any better? I'm curious is all.

I'm thirty-one and don't consider myself "older people" but I'll play along anyway.

I never listened to the radio voluntarily, to a large degree it has always played bad music. I'm also the type of person that takes a while to appreciate new music, I'm usually five-ten years behind everyone else. But I noticed a change for the worse circa 1995-1999. Labels have always chased trends and saturated the market with similar sounding music but in the late nineties it seemed worse than ever. The variety completely dried up and we had very few distinctive artists. As the nineties turned into the noughties the unimaginable happened, it got even worse.

That's not to say that there is no good new music, there is. But as far as mainstream music goes it is at an absolute nadir. Often people say there is good music out there you just have to dig for it. I think that is BS. In the past there was good music in the mainstream and you did not have to do any digging. If someone turns me on to a great new artist I will gladly become a fan but I don't think a person should have to work to find good music. It shouldn't be hard.

[Edited 3/16/12 0:30am]

iloveannie said:

There are some truly fantastic bands and musicians today. More so than at any other time. It's on the individual to find yhem and be open to them. However if it's pop music you are referring to... well that's always been always been fickle and disposable.

That is a fairly bold claim, would you care to list some of these "truly fantastic bands and musicians?" To be clear try to focus on "new" artists. Say anyone that debuted in 1995 or later.

rialb said:

iloveannie said:

There are some truly fantastic bands and musicians today. More so than at any other time. It's on the individual to find yhem and be open to them. However if it's pop music you are referring to... well that's always been always been fickle and disposable.

That is a fairly bold claim, would you care to list some of these "truly fantastic bands and musicians?" To be clear try to focus on "new" artists. Say anyone that debuted in 1995 or later.

Okay, but this is obviously subjective.

Martin Harley Band, Yoav, Newton Faulkner, Jose Gonzalez, School of Seven Bells, Mumford and Sons, Seasick Steve, Duffy, Joe Bonamassa, Ryan Bingham, Horse Meat Disco (more a label tbh), Mogwai (may have been going longer), Hexstatic (awesome VJs aswell), Zero 7, Neon Neon, The Bad Shepherds, Amy Macdonald, Kate Walsh, Breakestra, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Snugs, Kasabian, High Flying Birds, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, The Fratellis, Beady Eye, Amy Winehouse, Cee Lo Green.

I've thrown some large commercial bands in there as you can see to offer some perspective. Now if I were to start talking about the live band/pub circuit then there really are some excellent artists. Artists that are passionate about making music, having fun and being creative with both themselves and their audience.

Perhaps I'm just lucky that my ears are still open. I fully feel though that the death of Simon Cowell will be a wonderful thing. How one man can have had such a part to play in the death of pop music beats me. The music is still there, it's just that there is such a stranglehold preventing it from being made and released. But luckily that's only in the genre of pop music. All other styles are still free. To an extent. Jools Holland has a big sway over who makes it into the mainstream from other genres if you ask me. Get on his show = instant recognition.

iloveannie said:

rialb said:

That is a fairly bold claim, would you care to list some of these "truly fantastic bands and musicians?" To be clear try to focus on "new" artists. Say anyone that debuted in 1995 or later.

Okay, but this is obviously subjective.

Martin Harley Band, Yoav, Newton Faulkner, Jose Gonzalez, School of Seven Bells, Mumford and Sons, Seasick Steve, Duffy, Joe Bonamassa, Ryan Bingham, Horse Meat Disco (more a label tbh), Mogwai (may have been going longer), Hexstatic (awesome VJs aswell), Zero 7, Neon Neon, The Bad Shepherds, Amy Macdonald, Kate Walsh, Breakestra, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Snugs, Kasabian, High Flying Birds, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, The Fratellis, Beady Eye, Amy Winehouse, Cee Lo Green.

I've thrown some large commercial bands in there as you can see to offer some perspective. Now if I were to start talking about the live band/pub circuit then there really are some excellent artists. Artists that are passionate about making music, having fun and being creative with both themselves and their audience.

Perhaps I'm just lucky that my ears are still open. I fully feel though that the death of Simon Cowell will be a wonderful thing. How one man can have had such a part to play in the death of pop music beats me. The music is still there, it's just that there is such a stranglehold preventing it from being made and released. But luckily that's only in the genre of pop music. All other styles are still free. To an extent. Jools Holland has a big sway over who makes it into the mainstream from other genres if you ask me. Get on his show = instant recognition.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will try to give some of these artists a listen.

However, I still firmly believe that the best artists of the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and early nineties are superior. You seem to be saying that the music scene has never been as vibrant and healthy as it is today ("There are some truly fantastic bands and musicians today. More so than at any other time.") and I just don't believe that. In previous decades there were many innovations and new musical movements that we just do not see in today's music. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of new ideas and sounds just recycling of things that have already been done. I think that the biggest difference is that in decades past there was actually some interesting music in the mainstream but at the same time there were great movements happening on the fringes too.

I turned contemporary radio off in 1998. I believe that was the same year Destiny's Child began flooding the radio. That's what did it for me. I was listening to mostly classic or adult stations but they were all playing the same songs over and over again. I finally turned the radio off for good last year when they shut down the only urban adult radio station in Detroit that dared to go outside the box and play the music no one else was playing. They shut it down and turned it into a hip-hop station.

Vendetta1 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Youngun here, but just wanna say.

Music didn't change for better or for worse.

That's all.

Tha hell it didn't. Real instruments then. Fake instruments and autotune now.

Come on now. I have such high hopes for you.

Music changes and evolves. Some get with it and it enjoy it, others don't. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

There is nothing wrong with the music its just u have aged and dont want to accept new stuff. I dont think ppl like to accept music from outsude their generation specially when their fav isnt doing so good. I rememeber seeing a video of ppl complaining of the music of the 80s and cursing at how bad the music was compared to the 70s. Someone was saying look at duran duran what a piece of shit, Thats just natural generation gap.

The music isnt better or worse then the 80s but one thing that has changed for the worse is that they artist r lacking the talent now. In ths 80s the only person not having talent was madonna now its everyone one out there.

Terrib3Towel said:

I'm not talking to you younguns that prefer old music. I'm talking to the older people who witnessed the change in music firsthand. At what point did you guys say "screw it" and turned the radio off for good and decided to just play your old records? When did u realize music wasn't gonna get any better? I'm curious is all.

For me, it was around 1997 when hip-hop was first breaking into the pop charts. Then after that 8 or 9 year phase all that you get on radio and TV is this new 'modern' dance music.

If it wasn't for older artists like Prince & Springsteen I would never listen to any music released this century.

Harlepolis said:

Do I get the sense that some of you folks are abit indignant that "the geezers" are content with what they already enjoy listening to?

Nope, definitely not.

Harlepolis said:

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

The problem for me is when "geezers" have an enthusiasm for dismissing all modern music when they are only exposed to what little they see from the media.

Oh yeah I just remembered, I was tired of the radio in 2000, but it was certain radio stations overplaying teen pop and I would play urban stations or those with varied music instead.

RKJCNE said:

Harlepolis said:

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

The problem for me is when "geezers" have an enthusiasm for dismissing all modern music when they are only exposed to what little they see from the media.

Isn't their exposure to the media provoked their dismissive attitude toward modern music in the first place?

I don't see the big deal. If you enjoy modern music, that begins & ends there. You're the only person who's entitled to have a preference on whatever YOU enjoy listening to, regardless of the reasons. So do they.

RKJCNE said:

Harlepolis said:

LOL its like some folks get pissed off when these "geezers" don't share the same enthusiasm they do for new music.

The problem for me is when "geezers" have an enthusiasm for dismissing all modern music when they are only exposed to what little they see from the media.

If it's good, it's good. I don't get new music recommendations from the radio, I get it from friends and from here. I am always willing to give new music a chance.

MickyDolenz said:

leecappella said:

If I were a radio dj and I could play by my own rules, I would play all genres of music whether the song was released or a b-side, if I could do so legally.

As long as there isn't any profanity and maybe certain kinds of subjects, you can play whatever you like on your station. There is no law that says you can only play singles. Whether or not you can fund it through companies advertising on it or that it'll get a huge audience is a different story.

Corporate radio's takeover has contributed to the death of popular music for me as a geezy geezer. I know that there has been some return to fine form with XM and that kind of privitaztion of stations, but the mid 70s to mid 80s were where it's at for me. Request lines! Give aways! Lengthy artist interviews. B sides and album cuts! Concert tickets for the 7th caller! QUIET STORMS! Lee Bailey and Radioscope!! DJs! I am idealizing the memory, but it sure is easy to do cuz it was a poppin' time. I do wish that experience for younger people. But just because my lack of familiarity with their formats leaves me cold in response, that doesn't mean it isn't a valid music. Music reflects the times we live in, and "it sure is getting tough out here. It's rough out here, tough out here." (Rog)