When did mainstream music start to go downhill?

kupus

Zaph wrote: »

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

As regards manufactured bands, here's a lil known fact.....
The sex pistols yes those people who rebel against society and stuff etc blah......
Manufactured.

Malcolm mclarens girlfriend needed to sell clothes so she got him to Create a band so she can have a targeted audience......her name is Vivian Westwood.
The rest is history

thebaz

probably went seriously downhill after millennium - i am old enegh to have lived through 3 music revolutions - punk, hip-hop and dance - Dance really kicked off in '88 , and no revolution since - wouldn't count grunge (it was a reinvention of punk , a good one mind - somehow i don't fancy getting all wild and angry to One Direction or hush hush Ed Shearan

thebaz

Raylee Sour Sailor wrote: »

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

wow - the late 70s were such a fertile time for music - possibly the best time ever - 2 tone, the beginnings of hip-hop , the Specials, the Clash , the Jam , Pistols , Bob Marley and all the other reggae greats, the Ramones, Bowie at his best - and many many more in comparison to todays rubbish

spiralism

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Around 2007. After that and with the beginning of the 10s I experienced a total disconnect with what was and is popular. Where are the rock bands? It's just singer songwriters and anthemic wimp music, the same 'souful' singer pouring their heart out accompanied by a guitar or piano which builds up with 4/4 drums etc.

Solid point. Mainstream rock music by and large has really died on it's arse in the last number of years. There's been exceptions (Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, Linkin Park) who've been creative, have a very specific, identifiable sound and pushed the boat out while being good, successful newer bands but the trend now is exactly what's described. It's harder in this era to come out with something new or different, downloads have hit the industry and coupled with the likes of the Xfactor producing/inspiring "sure things" for music execs its taken a lot of scope for creativity out for new bands. They'll sign up what's going to make them money rather than take a risk like may have happened before.

Take for example Arctic Monkeys, they started off another generic britpop band, releasing their debut at a time when it was hugely popular but evolved quite a lot after making it big, their sound has developed drastically from earlier albums. The other three examples, two were set up in the late 90s while Linkin Park made it big by piggybacking on a trend, yet same as Arctic Monkeys they used their fame to evolve the sound to something quite different. (Incidentally why i often find the criticism of bands "selling out" as ludicrous, do people just want them to do an AC/DC and release the same album over and over again ?)

There was a trend where there were about 7 million bands sounding exactly like The Kooks or Razorlight. Again, execs going with the safe bet. There was one spell 5-10 years ago where you couldn't move for another generic britpop indie band, the vast majority totally forgettable. It's been done lads, Oasis and Blur hit it out of the park twenty years ago and you're feeding off scraps. Rock and Roll is about the risk and doing something that doesn't stick to the script. Hence it's being driven back underground unless it's along a certain formula.

Now its the soulful, generic wimp music as said before. Again, surefire things and trends. People are lapping it up, so more bands following the trend come in. Less money in the industry and you have a few surefire trends that are being stuck to and less risks being taken. There are a lot more measurables in the industry as well thanks to the internet such as views, downloads and so on. Essentially the people with the money have a lot more figures to base their decisions and play it safe with. They see a few fellas with a guitar whining a few years back with high youtube hits and put two and two together. They give those deals and sign the guys following that style. Before you know it, there's a trend.

Back even twenty years ago you had to play gigs, get a good reputation, stand out and get noticed before you could record and make a deal. You got noticed by standing out. Now you get signed by not standing out. Internet's great and all but it and reality music TV have a lot to answer for in terms of mainstream music.

Michaelsherry59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/96603338#Comment_96603338

Far from last, that decade was awful

Deregos.

1971 was quite an excellent year for music . . . Even though, it was around that time that 'the music died', apparently.

riclad

Late 2000s when rock music faded away, replaced by rap, edm, endless micro genres of music, sound core, kpop, drill etc Katy Perry made some great classic pop songs

Or maybe when streaming nos became more important than album sales I know everyone thinks the best music was. When I was 18 young most people stop listening to new music when they are over 25 years old

The album release is no important apart from exceptions like Adele Taylor swift

Or maybe when the importance of real guitar faded away replaced by music made on laptops using samples

Every band used have 1 or 2 guitar players who were vital to the melodic sound of every song from the beatles rolling stones genesis etc as far as I can see billie eilish brother makes all her music on laptops

Every band needed at least one skilled guitarist to make music

A lot of the decline in music sorts are middle-aged denim jacket wearing bores who consider ponderous auld Dad rock like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin to be the pinnacle of music. Radio Nova sorts.

Mad_maxx

Circa 2001

Strumms

there was some absolute dross in the mid to late ‘80’s...it was truly the first era where an industry pushed en masse... popularity over talent...a look, style or attitude over songs and musicianship...

the 70’s and early ‘80’s had it all, punk, rock, folk, pop, disco... creativity, artists creating, originality, all of sound, look and to a point songwriting..

85603

spice girls was the point of no return.

when cher released... or rather committed ... 'life after love' all hope was finally lost.

Tork

I don't know if there was an actual turning point. It seems to have been a gradual erosion, though what would I know? I'm not in the intended demographic any more.

It's very easy to look at the Top 40 from decades past with rose-tinted glasses. Tune into any of those old Top of the Pops that BBC 4 re-run and the chart rundowns will have lots of songs you've either never heard of or had forgotten about because they're not played on the radio. This is usually because they're rubbish. People pick turning points based on when the music they like goes out of fashion.

Don't know but while there has always been crap in the charts, anyone who claims chart/pop/daytime radio music is the same quality overall as its equivalent between the '50s and mid 2000s is having a laugh.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/96654608#Comment_96654608

'79 to '81 was amazing. Madness, Blondie, Human League, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Roxy Music, The Selector, Adam and the Ants, OMD, Soft Cell, Dexys, Ultravox, Talking Heads, The Police, Gary Numan... this was the charts!

eggy81

When the spice girls came along

rtron

Oasis's 4th album!

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/96603050#Comment_96603050

I know this is an old post...but it deserves recognition! The music created by and for the Monkees was brilliant.

That's not even Michael Nesmith's real hat.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

The mid 90s

Montage of Feck

Stock, Aiken and Waterman had their first number 1 in 1987.

Ubbquittious

Survival bias

There was **** music in every decade that has been forgotten, making said decade look rosier than it was

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec4RA58CGPc

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006744#Comment_118006744

Today's charts sound terrible and very samey to my ears but maybe that's the point. I'm a child of the 80s and 90s so those are the charts that are the dearest to my heart. I would be as miserable listening to 1950s music as I would today's Top 40. The 60s and 70s are more tolerable but there were an awful lot of clunkers around in the charts then, too. I enjoy 70s albums more than what was in the charts tbh.

Perhaps illegal downloading and streaming was the biggest turning point. Whereas pop songs songs years ago could have longer intros and more complex musical arrangements and melodies, I notice mainstream music is far more repetitive and simpler. They're designed to hook people who are just song-hopping, unlike the old days when buying an album or a single was a financial commitment.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006994#Comment_118006994

One song. See my post above about '79 to '81. Saying the charts today (and I emphasise charts - there's plenty of brilliant music but you won't hear it on daytime radio) is no different to then... absolutely not true.

It's X Factor type stuff and internet marketing which has caused the decline. And fine, I like my "alt" stuff but I do miss a good pop song.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006994#Comment_118006994

Agree with this, although these auto-tune hits with no variation in their vocal melody is the pits. Yeah I remember 79 - 81, there was some great stuff, but there was also pure sh1te as well: Joe Dolce - Shaddup Ya Face, B.A Robertson, Patrick Hernandez, Ottawa, Dollar (Fecking remember them), Kelly Marie, The Dooley's, The Nolan Sisters. Early eighties: Thompson Twins, Haysi Fantayzee, Kajagoogoo, New Romance. Yup every decade had absolute tosh in the charts, its just more noticeable these days because of crap TV shows like XFactor, Britain's Got Talent or add what ever country the franchise is in, Ireland has its fair share with the likes of You're a Star and what ever followed that.

No denying that there has always been crap (although I like B.A. Robertson, New Romantic, Thompson Twins and Hayzee Fantaysee - great pop!) but it's undeniable that the ratio of crap to good when it comes to today's chart music has changed.

There's absolutely no way there is the same amount of good pop now.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/96605382#Comment_96605382

Old post but spot on. Times do change - it's not all just a matter of perspective (although that is a little part of it too).

Suckit

I went for 1987.

I don't know when Stock-Aitken-Waterman started, but when they started churning out crap and then Waterman went out on his own and doubled down on crap. Anyone could release anything - a remix of an old song, a bad karaoke cover etc. It opened the doors wide open for the likes of Simon Cowell to do it even cheaper and worse.

Around the same time drum machines became more popular - for use in cheap pop songs (not when they are used creatively) and the worst culprit of all, pitch correction/artificial voice (Cher - Do you belieeevvvee)

It was always going downhill when the profits could be increased by making the acts less attached to the songs/music, and picking or choosing anyone and tying them to a cheap af contract. But that for me seems to around the time the acceleration pedal was hit.

Music is so cheap now to produce and reproduce (as the record companies have ownership rights) - they can put good songs into crap adverts, have terrible covers (usually song at a much slower tempo) and probably destroyed the song for life for first time listeners.

chrissb8

I judge how good mainstream music by what songs are being played 5-10 years later. IMO there has been nothing replayable in the last 6-7 years in mainstream music. So only very recently. Last mainstream song I can think that had any weight to it was WAP and that is just pure cringe which was more of a fad than anything due to its provocative nature.

Unfortunately, as much as I dislike mainstream music there will be Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Adele all played in years to come. To my great displeasure. But really they all can't hold a candle of what came before in the 00's which was just stellar album after stellar album. Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, The Killers, Kanye West, Daft Punk, The Streets, MGMT, Gnarls Barkley.......so many more...literally right up until 2009 so many great albums. Albums that all charted and had music in the mainstream charts. Most importantly great variety in genre too.

Suckit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006984#Comment_118006984

I hadn't read that when I wrote my post. I agree. It was around then that the downhill started.

Before then there seemed to have been the proper amount of songs suitable for each 'category' - Kids, different genres etc.

Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland (among others) still have their own artists producing music that is liked mainly in their own countries, but more and more they are just producing artists that could be from anywhere with no distinction to say they're not English or American. I'm not referring to e.g. "Irish music" in Ireland etc. either. Decent bands producing good music that unfortunately rarely made any success outside their own countries, now even those are often the same as everywhere else.

A quarter past eleven on a Saturday in 1999.