Music today

When one adds up all the history that we "know", we're talking 600 years worth of music, it would seem that today's selections are too small and ... not quite as interesting and innovative as so much other music has been in history ... the worst part being that rock music has not yet taken a hold in music history, and for us to get a better sense of all this, it needs to happen, since in the past 60 years or so, both rock and jazz have surpassed "classical music" a lot and gone quite far ... even if many of us might not enjoy or listen to that stuff as much.

I don't think that today is any better than yesterday, or vice versa ... we, in history, and it goes back quite a bit, do not exactly appreciate the stuff of "today" as much or as well, as we might something that we have known for some time, and think it is representative of this or that. That kinda tends to distort the scales a bit, towards one side of things ... and sends me to go listen to new stuff again ... 

... with one problem ... I really am not interested in screaming and makeup suggesting demons anymore. I guess I have grown up some and don't even think that some of that stuff is really worth while, musically, other than some commercial aspect that makes kids think it is cool ... sort of like rap ... yet another voice, making it look like there is something here, and I'm not sure that new words about the same thing, are all that music is about.

Music, and the arts, NEVER WAS NOT at any time ... the only issue is that we never looked for it, and learned about it, YET ... and somehow, it always comes up for everyone to listen to and hear. My only concern is how some of the arts lag behind others ... and rock music, specially the stuff mentioned in popular boards is way too far behind a lot of the other arts in terms of creativity ... there is way too much copying in the "music" of today ... and I think it is on account, that it is much easier to "make it" and sell enough by yourself, to make it a viable option/selection. Conversely, film, painting and many of the other arts are suffering due to this mechanical/commercial process ... but I sure would like to see some of the off-off-off-Broadway to get a chance, instead of another version of that cat debacle!

But, is this because of the quality of music released today, or because of what becomes popular or a hit today? Pop songs are not necessarily the same as hit songs. The songs you listed could be looked at as just quality songs you liked that charted well and became hits. I think many of those songs, were they released today, would not be hits. On the flip side of this, if you look around in places like Bandcamp, you can find some good stuff that might have been a hit song in a past era.

A number of songs you listed I would categorize as rock songs that charted well. It seems to me there just isn't as much rock that make it as singles these days (though I am not entirely sure as I don't listen to much current pop music). From what I can tell, music today seems to be more R&B, hip hop, or country oriented.

Also, there was just as much bad pop in the past as there is now. We try not to remember that. 

handwrist wrote: There have been studies done on complexity of rhythms, melodies, harmonies and words across the decades and popular music (not just pop music) has been on a downward spiral towards retardation. I was born in the late 80s, so I was always late to the party - the music that was popular in my youth was already formulaic to the max and so I found treasure on previous decades (1995 and below). The future described in Idiocracy is not that far away, and music is as affected as everything else. I find it harder and harder to tolerate the absolute garbage that is frequently played at commercial establishments (that weird and disgusting mix of pop, rap, hip hop and electronica). It's just tasteless consumer products, in a musical format. There's clearly still good music being produced, but in general I think most releases lack the inspiration, the spirit, of earlier times. And certainly our culture seems incapable of producing another truly original genre or scene. Everything is rehash of a rehash. One of the reasons I like vaporwave is because, unlike those retro bands who emulate the sound of the 80s, vaporwave is straightforward and tells you upfront the music is repackaged and manipulated and is about making you nostalgic for an era long gone. So in short, yeah, music (as pretty much everything else) is worse today and will be worse tomorrow.

 

^ The post I most identify with in this thread so far (bolds ar mine).     

I was born in late 70's, so grew up in 80s/90s. Still my favorite music is 70's progressive rock. 80's songs I now find good and creative, compared to what went mainstream in 90's and 00's. I also dig 90's grunge (mostly Soundgarden), Björk, Queens of the Stone age, etc. but not much more (I'm still discovering.. even here, so not the last word).

So, my answer:

In the past... but not so long ago… 

Personally, I think 70's prog rock is THE best music ever (surprised I'm here? :D), counting classical as well, as Bill Bruford himself (roughly) puts it in his autobiography... "not so much rhythm there...!". I love jazzy/syncopated drumming in songs, and... rock! so...

For me, 70's Progressive Rock was the one that gathered many postwar geniuses, intellectuals (or at least very intelligent kind of guys), that took the state of the art to the next level; took advantage of technology as it rised and in its fair dose; borrowed on the breath of symphonies, jazz, and previous music, experimented with drugs, and combined it all with interesting themes and artwork in a stunning 180-degrees-from-commercial direction (take, for example, when the fellas from Rush were told after Caress of Steel to go more pop and they responded with... 2112! ...wow…) in a never seen before way to make rich and complex (rock) music.

This feeling of declination also happens to me with movies and computer games. I still remember my incredulous disappointing there sitting at the theater watching Episode One when Jar Jar Binx made its appearance (I no longer go to movies; last one: Sector 9... we left in the middle; don't know if it's good or bad, but couldn't stand the loads of black computarized alien blood being spilled into the screen). I think in that sense Star Wars was Hollywood's pinnacle of craftmanship and a masterpiece made with the perfect blend of art and what (analog) technology was available, IMO (I have a sci-fi bias, in case you don't notice). 

Same in games; nowadays it seems to me they make games only for children, that are less challenging, less interesting, more commercial and less true and artistic. The last ones I remember enjoying were Fallout 1 & 2. Recently, I played Ron Gilbert's (Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island's creator) revisited genre and beautiful early 90's style graphic quest "Thimbleweed Park"; it's been 20+ years I didn't buy a game! I owned a Commodore 64 back in the day, where, in each side of a diskette was room enough for many games that were so creative and unique... it makes me think today each one of those would be an entire genre. It was another time, another people creating them, themselves having values and experiences from yet another different time in the curve of technology; and I think, again, limited technology was the perfect dose that fostered creativeness: make a great game with art and all in 64k of memory!

The one thing, in 'mainstream arts', that I found have improved (it can be more, but that I remember now…) or at least equal in quality than before, are some TV series, like 'Breaking Bad' (oh my…) and the like (the rest of my top 3, unordered, being HBO's Rome and The Wire). They are for me of those "too good to be true" things.

Who knows maybe this things are cyclical, as someone pointed out… perhaps in a few decades… but I doubt something like the 70's could ever repeat itself.