this may have been shared before, if not here it is… very interesting.
That’s a great thought provoking video. It confirms why I find live independent music so satisfying and why most of these amazing artists will never make the big time without selling their souls.
agreed, guess why most all my music is cira 196x to 198xx
I like to call it ‘Music for people who don’t like music’… but now I understand a little more of why they genuinely like it.
I stopped listening after 4 minutes.
It’s mislabeled: it’s The Truth Why Modern Pop Music Is Awful.
In other music, like the jazz/avantgarde I favor, this is a golden age.
Well, I urge you to finish it. But for the title, you are correct but he does go on to address the fact that great music is still made. Only it has zero chance of being mainstream as things are today.
Just watched the video and agree with everything said. Now might be it’s because i am 65 years old and slightly biased but in the 60’s and 70’s Musicians had to keep their eye on the ball, If they followed up a successful album with one that bombed usually members of the group would leave and or a change of label would follow. The reason for this was the buying public were more savvy back then and knew a dud when they heard one. Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Hawkwind and others found to their cost the price of coming out of a studio with a mediocre recording. The live music scene was more vibrant and remember going the the Camden Roundhouse every Sunday night, No drum machines and Synth’s with just good to honest musicians and audiences having a good time. I remember when Cher released the single " Believe " thinking to myself sounds like it was all put together in a few minutes using computer software. When the loudness wars was mentioned again resonates with me as the consequences of this folly will result in the onset of hearing problems with a lot of today’s young. Don’t get me wrong have listened to heavy rock music loud through both speakers and headphones since the Sixties and as yet no sign of deafness. Why?, Simply because in my opinion the source had dynamic range and resulted in less listener fatigue combined with reasonable listening sessions. Now i know a few people are going to read this and say silly old fart he does not know what he’s talking about. At the end of the day it is us the consumer who should dictate the quality of recorded media we listen to and not the faceless corporate men in suits. Rant over.
Like @AndersVinberg, I think the title is misleading. As I see it, “modern” means much more than just “relatively recent”…
Hehe I sent my old man (dad) this video and he said the video is a load of rubbish. He’s older than you and is a die hard fan of all the good old stuff (I am too by the way): Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Santana, Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Keith Jarrett etc etc.
He loves a lot of new music today and while he also considers lots of pop music today garbage (his personal opinion) he also said all the old farts must have forgotten how much stuff was considered rubbish even back in the ‘golden years’ too
Just another data point/perspective.
Your dad is right of course then as now a lot of garbage was released. Also like him since i retired have been more eclectic in my music listening, Bluegrass, Folk, Blues, Country and if you can get through the dross there is a lot of great music out there to enjoy. Just cannot stand mainstream pop music and that includes the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s etc. Each to his own i suppose.
I was having elaborate academic discussions about this long before that spoilt brat was born.
Hehe yep, so maybe replace ‘modern’ in the thread title with ‘some’ and it makes a little more sense, according to my old man anyway
You can find good contemporary, mainstream, pop music, but you have to be discerning, and the majority of people today simply aren’t. (I suspect it was always thus actually.) From a UK-centric perspective, none of London Grammar, Slaves, Royal Blood, Florence + the Machine would fit into the samey Max Martin international pop star pigeon hole. But, I’m sorry to say, many of the current crop of UK/Scandinavian female vocalists would.
Apart from the two songwriters mentioned in the vid, we should also add Ryan Tedder (of OneRepublic fame) and (in the UK) Calvin Harris as extremely prolific and influential songwriters/producers, the latter of whom in my view, in spite of his incredible success, damaged UK pop an awful lot, ushering in a new and unhealthy homogeneity into music.
One relevant thing I noticed recently was an initial “huh?” response from UK national radio DJs when Ed Sheeran released Galway Girl as a single. It was so different to the samey pop they were used to (and IIRC considered a risky move by the label) that they just didn’t get it. But after a few plays, it became their next best thing.
Oh, and I quite like some of Drake’s stuff, but IMO it’s good, but not that good.
A really talented dude. Although you probably won’t like his track on Big Narstie’s new album
He has a rare ability today to appeal to really old people (with certain songs) and the really young - and all ages in between.
Humph - I suspect you are talking about me. But then, I don’t think I’ve ever consciously listened to Ed Sheeran, so I couldn’t possibly say…
Ha no. Just talking about my old man (dad) and his brothers. And @joel …
You look far too young to be considered an old timer Geoff.
Um, I’m in my 70th year… gawdelpus…
Hey this is an interesting analysis focusing on the main symptoms of the degradation of modern pop music over time. For sure timbric and lyric simplification as well as striking abuse of audio compression.
The decay started long ago. A great musician himself gave his own truthful and provocative insights about how and why. Watch this and meditate…
Material found on YouTube as well, like an awesome quantity of all kinds of music - but the concentration of the pop music market really started with MTV, that is what Zappa explains. So one needs to combine image taking over sound, with the brainwashing described in the other video to explain why the Internet natural multisourcing did not succeed to open the market again. And about the 3 MUSD costs, obviously launching a good series of video clip induces costs beyond a good sounding album. Yet with a fine sound one can closes eyes and enjoy it even more.
Ok, I did listen to it.
Even more depressing than I expected.
I could comment more, but I’d either sound like a snob or a curmudgeon. (Both of which I probably am.)
But it’s weird. I’m thinking that doesn’t apply to my music. The strongest accolade I can give is “interesting”, which is the exact opposite of “familiar”.
This little song from Reb Fountain has a very pertinent lyric in it. This is what I call talent and it won’t make the radio…