When did mainstream music start to go downhill?

sxt · 13-08-2015 08:01PM #1

If you use rateyourmusic as a guide. These are albums rated supposed to be rated for music quality. Look at the band's rated highest in 1979 and the bands in 1999. The 1979 bands are all mainstream.. If Marty Morrissey went out into the streets and asked a random group of people did they recognise any of those bands from 1999, they wouldn't know many or none at all. They would recognise all the bands from 1979, therefore mainstream music died between 1979 and 1999

Mainstream artists today like Kathy Perry, one direction are fine and have great songs here and there and they obviously put on great shows and entertainment, but their albums are not original and will be forgotten in a few years. Kathy Perry is sexy and inspirational and so are one direction but they don't create classic music. They are encouraged not to write their own songs, not to play instruments or have much creative control.

When did mainstream music take a nosedive, was it MTVs music video fault ? Record companies greed? The evil of marketing and commercialism, are they all the same..

cml387 · 13-08-2015 08:04PM

sxt wrote: »

If you use rateyourmusic as a guide. These are albums rated supposed to be rated for music quality. Look at the band's rated highest in 1979 and the bands in 1999. The 1979 bands are all mainstream.. If Marty Morrissey went out into the streets and asked a random group of people did they recognise any of those bands from 1999, they wouldn't know many or none at all. They would recognise all the bands from 1999, therefore mainstream music died between 1979 and 1999

Mainstream artists today like Kathy Perry, one direction are fine and have great songs here and there and they obviously put on great shows and entertainment, but their albums are not original and will be forgotten in a few years. Kathy Perry is sexy and do are one direction. They are encouraged not to write their own songs, not to play instruments or have much creative control.

When did mainstream music take a nosedive, was it MTVs music video fault ? Record companies greed? The evil of marketing and commercialism, are they all the same..

I think that's Katy Perry. You're not exactly down with the kids.

(PS I'm no spring chicken)

NomadicGray · 13-08-2015 08:05PM

It was always at the bottom of the hill

Timberrrrrrrr · 13-08-2015 08:05PM

1989, music went to **** after it.

nokia69 · 13-08-2015 08:06PM

It's all been shyte since Roy Orbison died

cnocbui · 13-08-2015 08:07PM

None of those - 1979 when the first C/Rap song came out.

Earthhorse · 13-08-2015 08:08PM

Around my early to mid twenties I think it was.

KingBrian2 · 13-08-2015 08:08PM

sxt wrote: »

If you use rateyourmusic as a guide. These are albums rated supposed to be rated for music quality. Look at the band's rated highest in 1979 and the bands in 1999. The 1979 bands are all mainstream.. If Marty Morrissey went out into the streets and asked a random group of people did they recognise any of those bands from 1999, they wouldn't know many or none at all. They would recognise all the bands from 1999, therefore mainstream music died between 1979 and 1999

Mainstream artists today like Kathy Perry, one direction are fine and have great songs here and there and they obviously put on great shows and entertainment, but their albums are not original and will be forgotten in a few years. Kathy Perry is sexy and do are one direction. They are encouraged not to write their own songs, not to play instruments or have much creative control.

When did mainstream music take a nosedive, was it MTVs music video fault ? Record companies greed? The evil of marketing and commercialism, are they all the same..

The late 00's mainstream music began to be replaced with niche music. Rap, popular music & R'B have all become specialised and less appealing to large audiences. Today's song are inferior to the great songs of the late 20th century and very early 21st.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2015 08:09PM

Why no option before 1980. The late 70s were crap and the beginning of the slippery slope.

cml387 · 13-08-2015 08:09PM

However I've often said, listen to a Stones track from 1965.
If it was released today it wouldn't be at all out of the ordinary (possibly a smash hit).
Yet that's fifty years ago. What would a song from 1915 sound like in 1965?It would still I'll bet have sounded completely old and weird and out of time.

So basically pop music in it's modern sense ended around 1968.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000 · 13-08-2015 08:11PM

January the 8th.

whiskeyman · 13-08-2015 08:11PM

Mainstream music gets worse the older you get...

Into The Blue · 13-08-2015 08:11PM

All music was just a mere prelude to 3n1 Cafe Del Mar and all music since has been an anti climax. (Except for Jamie xx-gosh)

Aidric · 13-08-2015 08:12PM

When Michael Jackson became white.

Nodin · 13-08-2015 08:12PM

sxt wrote: »

If you use rateyourmusic as a guide. These are albums rated supposed to be rated for music quality. Look at the band's rated highest in 1979 and the bands in 1999. The 1979 bands are all mainstream.. If Marty Morrissey went out into the streets and asked a random group of people did they recognise any of those bands from 1999, they wouldn't know many or none at all. They would recognise all the bands from 1979, therefore mainstream music died between 1979 and 1999

Mainstream artists today like Kathy Perry, one direction are fine and have great songs here and there and they obviously put on great shows and entertainment, but their albums are not original and will be forgotten in a few years. Kathy Perry is sexy and inspirational and so are one direction but they don't create classic music. They are encouraged not to write their own songs, not to play instruments or have much creative control.

When did mainstream music take a nosedive, was it MTVs music video fault ? Record companies greed? The evil of marketing and commercialism, are they all the same..

MTV is wall to wall reality shows now, so I don't think we can blame them. Except for Tallaghfornia, we can blame them for that.

Anesthetize · 13-08-2015 08:13PM

Mainstream music mostly sucked from the word go.

sxt · 13-08-2015 08:14PM

Raylee Sour Sailor wrote: »

Why no option before 1980. The late 70s were crap and the beginning of the slippery slope.

Which year?

5starpool · 13-08-2015 08:16PM

Middle-aged Grampa: What the Hell are you two doin'?
Young Barney: It's called rockin' out!
Young Homer: You wouldn't understan', dad. You're not *with it*.
Middle-aged Grampa: I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you...

wendell borton · 13-08-2015 08:16PM

When you got old.:P

knird evol · 13-08-2015 08:16PM

cml387 wrote: »

So basically pop music in it's modern sense ended around 1968.

Now we're getting somewhere. But can you narrow it to a Season? Or even early or late 1968?

Anesthetize · 13-08-2015 08:18PM

wendell borton wrote: »

When you got old.:P

I thought the charts were full of crap at 15. Nothing to do with growing old.

cml387 · 13-08-2015 08:20PM

whiskeyman wrote: »

Mainstream music gets worse the older you get...

Well, yes and no.

Imagine the effect on old'uns watching Top Of The Pops in 1972 waiting for Pan's People to arrive and seeing David Bowie in full make up and body suit singing Starman.

Could there be such an impact today?

Maybe rap and hip hop are all that's left for teenagers to hold on to without the mortal fear that their parents will say "Oh that's quite nice, who's that?"

Aidric · 13-08-2015 08:30PM

cml387 wrote: »

Well, yes and no.

Imagine the effect on old'uns watching Top Of The Pops in 1972 waiting for Pan's People to arrive and seeing David Bowie in full make up and body suit singing Starman.

Could there be such an impact today?

With an introduction by Jimmy Saville.

sxt · 13-08-2015 08:30PM

whiskeyman wrote: »

Mainstream music gets worse the older you get...

Not true! The mainstream music of the sixties and seventies make up the brunt of the "best albums ever made" lists everywhere. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Velvet underground, Bowie, pink flyod, led Zeppelin, Neil Young etc...

These bands were the Nicky minjas of today. They were mainstream gold

FelineOverLord · 13-08-2015 08:32PM

Blame Stock, Aiken and Waterman, it all went to **** when they started churning out crap, them and the advent of the manufactured 'Boy Band'.

EuropeanSon · 13-08-2015 08:34PM

The Honey Monster wrote: »

January the 8th.

That's my birthday! **** you!

The Backwards Man · 13-08-2015 08:36PM

There's was an awful lot of rubbish in the 60s and 70s too, in fairness. But if I was never to hear another post 1989 song ever again, I could quite happily live with that.

osarusan · 13-08-2015 08:39PM

Probably just as much good and bad music around now as ever.

We just forget a lot of the sh!te that we heard in the past and remember the good stuff.

Music on TV has made stars of people on looks and sellability rather than talent though.

Zaph · 13-08-2015 08:40PM

FelineOverLord wrote: »

them and the advent of the manufactured 'Boy Band'.

Oi, leave The Monkees out of this. :mad:

FelineOverLord · 13-08-2015 08:42PM

Zaph wrote: »

Oi, leave The Monkees out of this. :mad:

Don't even freaking go there, every Saturday morning when we were kids my brother used to inflict that Monkees show on me, the joys of only having 1 tv in the house.

Zaph · 13-08-2015 08:44PM

FelineOverLord wrote: »

Don't even freaking go there, every Saturday morning when we were kids my brother used to inflict that Monkees show on me, the joys of only having 1 tv in the house.

You should thank your brother every day for exposing you to some of the finest pop music of all time. The show itself was harmless fluff and probably hasn't aged well, but their music is still brilliant.

When did mainstream music start to go downhill?

When did mainstream music die? 129 votes

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