The state of music today

OrochiEddie said:

who fucking cares. So many great artists are making music now. Some of the best stuff was never popular. Dig through the record bins and go to shows.

All that happened is big music companies realized the general population knows squat about music as an art form and have taken advantage of that.

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pretty much. I don't know what mainstream is.

Question is, who is going to actually pay for the music?

Mainstream does what it does best; keep the current going. Don't underestimate mainstream though, it is mainstream for a reason and it's not without it's merits, if anything someone made up something catchy enough to hook enough ears. Mainstream entertainment evolves right on par with society otherwise it wouldn't be mainstream but I think I'm preaching to the choir here.

At the end of all things, music is just entertainment, nothing more...

Mainstream music is the same as it's always been: A few tiny gems swirling in a centrifuge of shit.

Difference being we have digital music spread through numerous free avenues. Essentially the proverbial back of some dude's van with all the indie flavors you could handle. For me music is better than it has ever been.

You want to talk about loved music? Soul? Gumption? Yea The Civil Wars are just one of hundreds of bands who've got that in spades:



Oh and some Pomplamoose for good measure:



Bottom line, you've got a style of music you like, merely go online and take your pick.

I don't care for the pop music biz as an industry, it's little more than a giant reproduction machine that churns out streamlined products that can be easily sold and consumed.

However, stuff like Pro-Tools or Autotune are just that - tools. It's the people using them who are to blame, and those who buy their shit and keep on feeding the biz ad infinitum.

Fuzzytaco said:

Pop music has never been worse.

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While the top-40 stuff today is rendered "safe" for mass-consumption, which makes for bland, uncreative, and, ultimately unmemorable music, arguably the mid-70's to very early-80's was the absolute nadir for commercial pop music.

I'm not talking the golden age of rock, metal, funk, or other innovative genres that were in their genesis during that period like metal, punk, rap, electronica; I.E. the stuff people want to remember, but truly godawful shit pop music. While I hate modern pop and avoid listening to it when I can now, I would be ASHAMED to admit to listening to, much less liking, the absolute aural-fecal-catastrophe of songs of that era.

THE HORROR....

I must disagree respectfully with Henry Rollins's pessimistic outlook. Look beyond the shores and you'll find all kinds of interesting stuff. Music used to follow the paths of human migration, but now all you need is an internet connection and a computer to inspire someone from thousands of miles away.
Some people like all ages shows and some people like an extravaganza. Both can exist in the real world.

As long as humans decide not to hunker down and look inwards, music (and all other forms of creativity) will continue to evolve and inspire.

can't say the last time I listened to the radio

Do people really care about talent in music? I'm actually asking. I've listened to punk rock since I was a kid, so if the passion or inspiration was there, I turned a... deaf ear...(?) to the lack of talent. It just doesn't matter to me.

Also, Henry Rollins talks like everything he says is a fucking golden nugget of wisdom. And... People basically treat him that way.

Ajax said:

Also, Henry Rollins talks like everything he says is a fucking golden nugget of wisdom. And... People basically treat him that way.

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i like the guy

he's a bit self-important but i tend to agree with his line of logic on most things:

kidpanda said:

pop concerts are nothing more than a choreographed puppet show for the fans that simply want entertainment.

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I'm ok with that

Neo Ash said:

Hell no. This thread was prompted after finding nothing but pure shit on the radio.

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that's your problem right there

Why would you want to listen to music on the radio?

SNKorSWM said:

Question is, who is going to actually pay for the music?

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no one, at this stage in the game recorded music is promotion for live shows

Mugicha said:

I'm ok with that

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YES! Just like America, Korea and Japan will just manufacture talent and force them down people. Granted some of the members of Girls Generation are talented but you got some K-pop groups that try to copy off of each other! Everyone here wants to be like Big Bang, GG, Wonder Girls, Super Junior, Hyuna, etc. The record labels will scout out talent that is young and make them become marketable. It's funny, Psy made "Gangnam Style" to exploit Korea's fascination with exploiting young children and acting like they're bougie and better than everyone.

In Japan, they have an idol group with 48 (probably more or less) members. When I was in Tokyo last week, you couldn't go anywhere without seeing AKB48. That's overkill! I don't know a single person that can name EVERY member of that group. In the 70s and 80s in America, every member in a big group served a purpose (look at Earth, Wind & Fire, Midnight Star, and Atlantic Starr for example).

Manufactured groups and music is easy to maintain these days. We're in a society where we like to take the easy way out of doing what takes talent and years of practice. I'm sure this has been going on for decades but we're at a point where mainstream is BnB instead of talent with something to say being noticed.

I LOVE hip hop and so many folks like Asheru, Phonte, Murs, Nitty Scott MC, Jean Grae, Immortal Technique, Zo!, Sound Providers, Collective Efforts and various others are getting no love. Lupe Fiasco is mainstream but he has an underground feel. Makes me wonder why people haven't gone out of their way to make sure he gets killed or something. I say this because the talented artists I mentioned all have something to say. The suits know they are dangerous to the industry; it goes against what they promote. If that music became widespread, their target audience wouldn't have that mindset of swag and YOLO and they would do things like read books, watch intelligent programming, get an education, and grow spiritually and mentally.

I miss real singers and musicians. Esmerelda Spalding is the only well known musician out there these days. Too bad there arn't more.

The industry is always going to have its Nikkis, Taylors and Justins. The 'idea' of them will always exist, be exploited and pushed on the consuming masses. Looking at it in this way, I can't have any rage about the music biz.

Breaking news: People becoming aware that mainstream music might actually not be good.

Ajax said:

Do people really care about talent in music? I'm actually asking. I've listened to punk rock since I was a kid, so if the passion or inspiration was there, I turned a... deaf ear...(?) to the lack of talent. It just doesn't matter to me.

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They might not be great guitarists, bassists, drummers, or vocalists, but they right songs you like right? I'd call that talent. I've met a lot of different people who can play one or more instruments very well, but can't write a half way decent song. I see what you're saying, and I do agree that I don't necessarily care how well someone can play, but I do have to like their songs want to listen to it. Probably why love punk music, and usually can't stand Prog-rock. Prog-rock just seems like a bunch of musicians showing off, and it usually sounds dumb.

Quick side note: Where the hell should people go to find out what new music is good? I used to find a lot of cool new stuff on oink.cd, but now that that's been gone (for years) it's much harder for me to stumble upon new music that I don't hate.

Tung Fu ru said:

Quick side note: Where the hell should people go to find out what new music is good? I used to find a lot of cool new stuff on oink.cd, but now that that's been gone (for years) it's much harder for me to stumble upon new music that I don't hate.

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i can't even list the number of amazing and obscure bands i've come to love from using Spotify and selecting Radio or browsing Related Artists

Surely all of this is just a matter of perspective. Look at when Elvis was starting out, a lot of people didn't think that was music. And the same with people before them. It will always happen, it will happen to people in the future. But then again, people might think I'm wrong; its all about perspective and opinion.

Markell1991 said:

Surely all of this is just a matter of perspective. Look at when Elvis was starting out, a lot of people didn't think that was music. And the same with people before them. It will always happen, it will happen to people in the future. But then again, people might think I'm wrong; its all about perspective and opinion.

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Jesus christ.

Here's my opinion:

Music industry has changed by focusing back on the singles format that was popular with pop music before LPs became popular. The concept of the "album" became popular during the 60s and were still popular for the most part until the early-mid 90s. Back in those days you had two limitations with the LP format: About 20-22 minutes per side of a record and a 40-45ish max playing time per album. With those two limitations you had to be careful on whats on your album. You could have a good selling 45 single but if your LP sucks then you won't make as much money as a top selling LP would.

I think with that in mind you do see artists back in those days putting tons of effort on making a quality album. With the CD format becoming popular in the 1980s gone are the per side time limit and you now have a max playing time of about 70-80 minutes. Per many albums that I listened to the 90s, the artist were taking advantage of the CD format and have about 70-80 minutes of songs on their album CD. With that the quality control of a good album IMO went down. Artist are just filling up with songs just so they have enough minutes for an album. Now this is not for every artist in the 90s, plenty of them were doing it.

With the birth of iTunes and downloadable music we are going back to the singles market pre-LP times. For most pop artist there's no need for them to make an album when their singles could make tons of money nowadays. Even the general public don't really care too much about the album nowadays, they just want the singles.


Personally I'm an album music lover. I'm not a fan of singles songs at all. I never purchase anything off iTunes and I never will buy anything off iTunes. I get most of my stuff at the local record stores and Amazon Marketplace/eBay. Most of the stuff that I buy are 60s-80s stuff because albums were the big thing during those times and for the most part I prefer how they recorded their albums back in those days. Nowadays I only buy CDs and I been getting the mostly good sounded 80s press CDs for no more than $5 a pop. Back in those days they just took a good sounded stereo tape and convert it to digital. So there's no compression and heavy EQs like with the "remasters" albums of the 90s. Nowadays it doesn't cost a whole lot to get a good sounding setup that can make most CDs sound terrific.

TurboRotary13b said:

No pro tools... No vocal pitching.

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I whole-heartedly approve of this post.

I've worked in both commercial, and public radio.

This rant of Rollins' isn't new...there has been a glut of bubblegum content since the dawn of broadcasting.

People complaining about, "nothing good out there" need to stop waiting to be spoon-fed.

Use pandora. Read the local free/city paper, to find shows. Go to shows. Scoop items from the merch table. Explore other artist(s) on the same label, or offered from the distro of said label.

Use google to find free format, non-commercial radio stations (community & college radio). Drexel University's 91.7, and Southern Humboldt's KMUD are great places to start.

Just as the social ills of the world (killings, accidents, wars, fill in the blank w/ shitty news item of your choice) have ALWAYS been happening, there has ALWAYS been a broke dick media machine.

In the 21st century, it just SEEMS worse...like there is 'more of' (in regards to both bad news and bad music) because the hyper connected, macro sized content delivery systems have shrunk the world...concentrating the potency of 'bad' and 'good' stuffs.

Just because 2chainz is rhyming over a Kanye track, doesn't mean you have to listen. Go find the John Robinson record ('Who is This Man?') that MFDoom did all the beats for.

Fuckin' Rollins. He sure wasn't complaining about mainstream media when MTV pushed 'liar' & 'Low Self Opinion' to the moon, helping the Rollins Band debut LP chart at 160, and the Weight LP to 36! No Black Flag record he was on ever charted.

tl;dr...support college & community radio.

as the others are saying, avoid mainstream all together. if it's something you hear on the radio, television, most movies & even video games... it's crap.

the only worthwhile music that's actually made from genuine talent is the stuff you have to put some effort into and search for. whether it's rock, hip hop, electronic, etc... it's all going to be indie/underground stuff where you'll find your gems.