Reasons why music today isn't as good as music of the past
Submitted by MasterSmurf on Thu, 07/17/2003 - 10:59
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- This is in no way meant to offend anyone; everyone is entitled to thier own opinion. Including me. So these are my opinions and views on Popular music today. So, without further blabbering:
- -Everybody's about image: True, rockers and musicians of the past were big on image too, but honestly, even back then it wasn't near as bad as now. Nowadays you can land a career on looking good and faking your way through the musical part of being a musican. Or you can surround yourself in beautiful women and expensive cars and jewelry all masking the fact that you have little to no musical talent.
- -Nobody can come up with anything original: Either its all been done,(HIGHLY doubtful) or kids today just aren't trying too hard to come up with anything new. You even see little pop stars mimicing people as recent as Britney Spears. Marylin Manson wishes he was Alice Cooper, while Justin Timberlake tries as hard as he can to be Michael Jackson. What happened to really exiting new groundbreaking artists like pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and Beatles and Elvis and way too many others to even go on. You hardly even hear a band now days with a unique sound. which brings me to my next point...
- -Everything sounds the same: Now, not literally, and I know this has always been around, but now it seems all these whiny punks who think thier badass all hit the same chords and scream about the same stuff in the same voice. And I can't even tell one rapper from another. They all follow the same formula: Girls, bling, cars, drugs, and why whitey hates me. Or in Eminem's case, why everyone hates him.
- -Videos: Seems bands and artists are far more worried about thier videos and looking good than sounding good and doing good shows. They shell out videos, focusing all thier energies on the videos, while thier concerts lack, musically and presentationally. What happened to legendary live shows like Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper and Sabbath? You never hear about over-the-top exiting live shows any more. Why should they? They can waste thier time lip-syncing in thier Music Videos.
- -Songs have no meaning: GENERALLY. Every now and again you'll come across some good ones, but all in all, it just isn't heart-filled. Those pop girls can sing thier lungs out but it doesn't mean a darn thing if they didn't write thier songs. Then they guys who do write thier songs just whin about being a stupid kid or just make it sound as if they bought a rhyming dictionary and worked it out there. What happened to greats like Lennon/McArtney, John Fogerty, Freddie Mercury, Bob Dyaln, Bob Marley, and the boys from Led Zeppelin who wrote thier own songs and wailed thier hearts out into thier song?
- -No more good solos: Don't get me wrong, there are excellant jam bands out there I love. But you never hear about them. They only bands that get respect are the little Good Charlotte's and Blink 182's and pop stars and rappers that can't solo worth anything. Even rockers today are lacking in the skill. Back when, you hardly ever heard a song without a solo of some sort, and it more often that not was moving and good. Now, you don't. I saw a Justin Timberlake video where in place of the guitar solo, they gave Justin some time to beat-box, not too well either. Very sad really.
You make some good points here. I do agree that music today isn't usually as good as the oldies (I love many of the classic bands on your favorite list as well), but I still listen to a good deal of modern music. Do you think that some modern bands break these rules and are more about the music than the image, are original, have meaning, etc.? If so, which of today's musical artists do you think are as good as those of the past? I saw your favorites list, but maybe you could expand on that? Thanks, I'm interested in your opinions on this subject.
I do like some artists who still make music today. There are highly talented, hard working pople like Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson, Phish, StringCheese Incident, moe. and others I enjoy. I also like songs here and there by Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, Metallica (old stuff, so guess that doesn't really count) Wallflowers and so on. So, there are a few bands today that I enjoy, but its a pathetic few. I hardly ever go to concerts because pretty much all the bands I listen to have broken up or are dead. But Peppers and DMB are just amazing. I love them as much as any of the old guys. They work thier asses off to put on a quality show and aren't in the business for show. They produce memorable songs and albums, and can jam till the cows some home.
I feel that DMB music all sounds the same. Is he always too stoned to play any other chords? I heard an interview with him and he sounded so stupid. Only song he ever did that had any meaning is Grave Digger......the rest is crap.
I do agree with you that the Peppers and Tool are amazing. t
It's all about the money from the record conglomerates on down to the "artists". It's an image machine. It will never go away as long as they make millions and millions of dollars. $18.95 for a CD that costs a 1/6th of that to manufacture, produce AND promote? That's why they hate the likes of Napster, Kaaza,ect. They cannot control it, what you listen to or what you trade They are deploying every attorney and lobbying every congressman they can find to make trading illegal. Real artists are more concerned about be hearing their music & if they make a little money, so be it. Most artist see a very small percentage of actual sales dollars anyway. That's why Metallica, Madonna, ect. can go suck a rock. Big record conglomerates have killed good mainstream music and will continue to do so as long as it it profitable. This is also true for movies as well, but i digress. Find and support indie labels and bands who are in it for the love of music and not the "Benjamins" and d/l until it's a felony. That's my take. Whew!
Isn't everyone involved in it for the money? Sure, there are true artists in this world who love making music but more importantly, love the idea of making money doing what they love. The question they have to ask themselves is, "what am I willing to do physically, artistically and even ethically to make music AND a living?" (I won't even go into what they may or may not be willing to do for fame.)
On top of that, you have the labels who seek out those who best represent what they themselves create, "the hot new "band/artist"". They are telling us what we want and unfortunately being the "easily impressed upon by the media culture" that we are, we're buying what they're selling! (Well... i'm not anyway).
Ultimately, we want what we can see and hear, so until these garage-band artists get off their lazy duffs and churn out some hardwork ethics and bust their asses to get airplay, we're stuck with the Pepsi Generation, new-wave caberet pop artists and dance move videos. It's a pathetic state but the labels are going to make money regardless... until we tell them what we want, they're going to supliment and give us what they tell us we want. It's not a new concept, politicians do it all the time.
In somecases art can prevail over commerce and the band can still make a living, i.e. Fugazi.
I can't believe you wasted such an eloquent reply on such an idiotic post.
This would have been a good list to post in your content...
To clarify . . . If you want a list or article to appear in your profile, you should go to "my content" and use the "create new" controls to create a list, poll, or article. If you want to post to your weblog and Listology's home page, then keep doing what you're doing. Note that this tends to make your posts more ephemeral, not to mention harder to find unless you set the preference to make your weblog your home page.
One other note: I could convert this from a weblog post to a list or article for you if you want. That way you won't lose the comments. Let me know.
That would be lovely. because I have no idea what you are talking about.
Done. If you click on "my content" you'll see that all your lists are now included under your "music" section.
Thank you so very much Jim
All you have to do is look past the mainstream music for the most part that is and their is plenty of wonderful music to be found. Modest Mouse, Radiohead, Pharcyde, Deltron 3030, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Portishead, The Strokes, Interpol, The White Stripes, Beck, I could go on, but you should get the point. The mainstream aka MTV & VH1 are both showcasing image with little talent constantly b/c its a visual medium as opposed to just audio as it used to be 30 to 40 years ago. The problem is most artists even today are so heavily influenced by artists from the 60's and 70's that they try to reproduce the same shit we've heard for years over and over again, but it gets boring so in comes the glitz and glamour. So where's the good music? Easy, not on MTV or VH1, its in smoke filled bars and clubs, guys with guitars in basements writing songs that mean something and not getting paid for it, but mainstream music is beginning to change at last, the boys bands are dead, hopefully shitty hip hop will die with it, i.e. the hotboyz, puff daddy, all that crap.
I'll take a looksey at those guys...except for the White Stripes. I cannot stand them. They can go suck somewhere else. Pardon, but I have real strong feelings twords them.
Aaah thus the beauty of sites like this! Geared perfectly for those of us who are always on the lookout for new and innovative music. As was previously stated, all you have to do is get out there and find it. What better way to do that than to have direction, suggestions and recommendations from those online with whom you share similar tastes. Let MTV & VH1 define the music of the masses... I like to think my musical tastes wouldn't fit well in the mouth of most anyway.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE... the solos are out there!!! you just have to look!