is it just me, or is most modern music crap?

Tombo2001

Another issue I see here is as follows.....

A rock band that starts up today doesnt have to just compete with other current rock bands....

It also has to compete with the vast legacy of music that has gone before.

Why should I listen to Biffy Clyro (to take a random example of a current band) when I can listen to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin or The Smiths instead.

Why should I go to see Kasabian live when I can go see Bruce Springsteen instead.

The only artist from the past decade that (in my view) stands up to the great music from the 1970s and 1980s is Bon Iver.

Blisterman

People on this thread are making the fatal mistake of applying what they consider to be "good music" when surveying the music scene. In most cases this seems to be guitar based rock music.

If you were a swing music fan surveying the music landscape in the 60's you'd be saying the same thing, because you'd be overlooking rock, soul, etc.

I'd hazard a guess and say that most people on this thread have never given more than a cursory listen to Reggaeton, Dubstep or Bhangra for example.

PopePalpatine

I'm probably going to get a lot of shít for this, but I don't like indie singer-songwriters (e.g. Glen Hansard) because like pop music, they all sound alike - just a continuous low-pitch dirge.

Also, I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Muse yet.

1ZRed

Ihatecuddles wrote: »

How did Bressie get to no.1?

I have to mute it when he sings, he's absolutely crap!

Duct tape his mouth shut and I'd still ride the arse off him

SilverScreen

Most music has always been crap, it's just that the crap gets forgotten about and the good stuff is what gets remembered years down the line.

There has been lots of great stuff released in the past decade along with the crap. Slowly but surely the crap will be filtered out and the good music that has been released over the past decade will be more noticeable. For every crap pop band like Muse and Mumford & Sons you have the real innovators like Amplifier and Ufomammut.

wow sierra

i grew up in a time when you had to listen to the radio to hear new music - maybe back in the 70's/80s you could complain about there being no good music on radio.
But now if you want to check out music from Mali or Japan or some 80year old box player from Roscommon all you have to do is go to Youtube or Facebook or whatever. Every idiot with a guitar is up on You tube or has their own site.

How can you possibly say music is bad today when you haven't heard even 1 percent of whats out there.

Of course Reality TV is huge now and programmes like Xfactor etc are producing popular music that gets too much airplay but so what - its easy to avoid it by changing the station.

And if you only like older artists - David Bowie, Depeche Mode and Leonard Cohen have all released new albums in the last few months. I know she is getting a lot of hype at the moment but I really like Soak.

PopePalpatine

Zero1986 wrote: »

For every crap pop band like Muse and Mumford & Sons you have the real innovators like Amplifier and Ufomammut.

I'd agree that Mumford & Sons are crap - their vocalist's voice is just an unending dirge - but Muse? Yes, The 2nd Law was a bit pop-ish, but at least check out their back catalogue!

Wattle

All that Cowell/Louis Walsh/X Factor/Voice of Ireland crap is everywhere these days. It can give you the impression that there's nothing else out there. They don't encourage creativity in fact they actively discourage it (Why do you think these 'bands' do so many cover versions?). Ya gotta look outside the box. There's plenty of great music waiting to be discovered.

SilverScreen

I wouldn't really say that Youtube would be the best resource. There's a huge number of online magazines, a vast blog network and sites like Last.fm and Rate Your Music. People who complain about not being able to find modern music that they like have no excuses. They just need to learn to turn off the radio and look for music themselves.

SilverScreen

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I'd agree that Mumford & Sons are crap - their vocalist's voice is just an unending dirge - but Muse? Yes, The 2nd Law was a bit pop-ish, but at least check out their back catalogue!

Already have. Origin of Symmetry is decent enough but other than that they are not doing anything new.

PopePalpatine

Zero1986 wrote: »

Already have. Origin of Symmetry is decent enough but other than that they are not doing anything new.

I suppose you're right, I'll risk my head again and say that they emulate Queen quite a bit.

Prettyblack

Could this be moved to the Music forum?

Anyway, OP what bands DO you like? What's our point of reference here? I believe as well the OP asked for some examples of good (current) bands. I'm "older" too and these are some of the modern bands I quite like:

Sigur Ros
Dungen
Gaslight Anthem
Four Tet
Daft Punk
Warpaint
Tame Impala
Arctic Monkeys
Washed Out
Django Django
Mastodon
Band Of Horses
Beach House

I'm sure there's more I can think of, that's a "top of my head" list.

There probably won't be another Britpop, or a Grunge, or a Punk, because of the way that music is sold and consumed nowadays. But then again, after punk people were probably saying "there'll never be another..." and something still happened. It just needs someone to categorise it.

Its all relative though - if you were a massive dubstep fan you'd think music was amazing at the moment. Or a hip hop / R&B fan.

SilverScreen

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I suppose you're right, I'll risk my head again and say that they emulate Queen quite a bit.

Aye, quite a bit. And I'm certainly not a fan of Queen.

af_thefragile

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I'm probably going to get a lot of shít for this, but I don't like indie singer-songwriters (e.g. Glen Hansard) because like pop music, they all sound alike - just a continuous low-pitch dirge.

Also, I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Muse yet.

I'll agree with you. They all sound the same and sing the same songs which are usually very moany. I used to like Josh Ritter but I've lately gotten quite sick of him as well...

af_thefragile

Zero1986 wrote: »

Most music has always been crap, it's just that the crap gets forgotten about and the good stuff is what gets remembered years down the line.

There has been lots of great stuff released in the past decade along with the crap. Slowly but surely the crap will be filtered out and the good music that has been released over the past decade will be more noticeable. For every crap pop band like Muse and Mumford & Sons you have the real innovators like Amplifier and Ufomammut.

But they'll never be as big as Led Zepplin, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd etc. were during their time. That's the difference today.

Back then the good bands were also the popular mainstream bands. Today the good bands are obscured and lost among all the mainstream crap. Why are artists like Katy Perry and Kesha so big today?! There's no comparison between them and the likes of Jimmy Paige or David Bowie who were the big stars of their day.

Prettyblack wrote: »

Its all relative though - if you were a massive dubstep fan you'd think music was amazing at the moment. Or a hip hop / R&B fan.

I like dubstep but only when its used in some context that suits it like some action video or motorsports video or dance video etc. On its own it can get pretty unlistenable pretty soon.
Modern hip hop is absolute ****e! Can't compare it to 80's and 90s hip hop...

Dizzicizzi

I don't think the music is crap but I do think what they are doing to music nowadays is crap. It's all auto-tuned to hell with so much done to it in the studio that by the time it comes out the other side of recording it just sounds weird and too well polished... It can be so perfect that it loses its character and individual sound. The tiny imperfections make it sound good imho. Maybe I'm just old fashioned?

SilverScreen

af_thefragile wrote: »

But they'll never be as big as Led Zepplin, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd etc. were during their time. That's the difference today.

Back then the good bands were also the popular mainstream bands. Today the good bands are obscured and lost among all the mainstream crap. Why are artists like Katy Perry and Kesha so big today?! There's no comparison between them and the likes of Jimmy Paige or David Bowie who were the big stars of their day.

I don't see what being big and mainstream straight from the off has to do with it. Nobody gave much of a toss about The Velvet Underground and Big Star back in their day. Their legend grew with time and now their influence is widely recognised and can clearly be seen. Who's to say that some underground bands around at the moment won't be seen as innovaters in decades to come?

PopePalpatine

af_thefragile wrote: »

Modern hip hop is absolute ****e! Can't compare it to 80's and 90s hip hop...

I'd agree. I loved listening to the rap station in GTA San Andreas, but as soon as the likes of Lil' Wayne or Nicki Minaj come on the radio, they can fúck off.

Blisterman

af_thefragile wrote: »

But they'll never be as big as Led Zepplin, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd etc. were during their time. That's the difference today.

Back then the good bands were also the popular mainstream bands. Today the good bands are obscured and lost among all the mainstream crap. Why are artists like Katy Perry and Kesha so big today?! There's no comparison between them and the likes of Jimmy Paige or David Bowie who were the big stars of their day.

Don't forget that Bowie and Led Zeppelin shared the charts with the likes of the Osmonds and the Bay City Rollers.

Anyway, the music industry has changed. Back in the 70's, there was a much smaller selection of artists selling music, so bands like the Stones and Zeppelin had way more exposure. If you lived in a small town, your options were pretty limited if you wanted something outside the top 40.

Nowadays there are literally thousands of artists vying for your attention, so naturally none are going to become as big as artists in the 70's were able to become.

It's not that the likes of X factor and Katy Perry are exceptionally popular. It's just that the parapet is lower, so they appear to stick further above it.

DrumSteve

Where is the riff gone? Its in Jack Whites house.

SilverScreen

DrumSteve wrote: »

Where is the riff gone? Its in Jack Whites house.

And countless metal bands' practice spaces.

smurgen

There is excellent bands out today, no doubt about it but it seems to me as if the amount of "filler" songs being used by artists have shot up dramatically in the last few years. Before used normally get around 5-6 songs on a 11 track album being good, now it's like down to 1 or 2,at best 3!I mean I really don't think bands should bother releasing albums that are that weak. Mainstream music nowadays is an abolute joke. There are no artists which have a consistent style in the mainstream which you can identify as being unique to them, that was not the case before

harry Bailey esq

SamHall wrote: »

Today's music for the most part seems to be full of manufactured pop groups, all pumping out the same cheesy trash.


We need a new guitar based rock band revolution.

Can anyone recommend me a band that have emerged in the last few years to listen to?

I'm convinced talent has dried up :mad:

the original rudeboys are good Dublin lads,some talent there

Capt'n Midnight

seamus wrote: »

Ah, the "nothing is original" argument.

You're aware that people used to say that about the Beatles and the Stones?

Ah but when electronic music came along there were sounds that no one had ever heard before

af_thefragile

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Ah but when electronic music came along there were sounds that no one had ever heard before

Same when King Crimson opened for Rolling Stones and played 21st Century Schizoid Man. No one had ever heard anything remotely like it before and the crowd was absolutely stunned!

Capt'n Midnight

Late 70's and to the late 80's. Punk and synthesisers and "new wave"

Yes there was dross then too, but way more good stuff.

and by the end Disco was deader than disco.


Today it's about 70% visuals, and the rest is vocal harmonisers / autotune / product placement / buying in the lyrics & music

Prettyblack

af_thefragile wrote: »

Modern hip hop is absolute ****e! Can't compare it to 80's and 90s hip hop...

I dunno, some Jay Z stuff is good, the Dangermouse / Beatles "Grey Album" is genius.

Stuff like NERD / Pharrell is pretty good. D'Angelo is excellent. The Roots, Common, Justin Timberlake... some good stuff there, if you get beyond the obvious and dig deep.

You think that all the Puff Daddy etc 90s stuff is better?

Capt'n Midnight

af_thefragile wrote: »

Same when King Crimson opened for Rolling Stones and played 21st Century Schizoid Man. No one had ever heard anything remotely like it before and the crowd was absolutely stunned!

Also from '69

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTu__hhMws

SilverScreen

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Today it's about 70% visuals, and the rest is vocal harmonisers / autotune / product placement / buying in the lyrics & music

It's funny how "today's music" always refers to chart crap despite being only a tiny percentage of the music that's out there at the moment...

Yes pop music is an industry, always has been and always will be. Music as art will always exist despite this.

Sandwlch

SamHall wrote: »

Today's music for the most part seems to be full of manufactured pop groups, all pumping out the same cheesy trash.

Its not just you. And you are correct, modern music is crap. With a few exceptions, music has gone down hill since about 1830.