Why music is getting worse. It's only 12 minutes, it's worth the time.

[swechsler]

FWIW, I see a lot more of today's young people being into my type of music (mostly 70s-80s rock) than I was into music from the 1940s and 1950s when I was their age (born mid 60s).

 

[Dingman]

When he's talking about music theory or his "what makes this song great?" series, Rick Beato is without parallel when it comes to dispensing wisdom. However, his videos where he grouses about the state of today's music are peak boomer, "get off my lawn" cringe. It's as bad as youse old-heads getting triggered by "vinyls."

Ya, and I have to admit that I'm falling into the trap of yelling at clouds.

 

[davidhun]

I think, like a lot of people who are skilled at a thing, maybe above most of their peers, tend to consider their opinions as always correct or the one that should be followed. Even for subjects outside of their expertise.

Rick Beato probably falls into this. I do like this one video of his, where he's doing a breakdown of "Never Gonna Let You Go". He's really into it and seems genuine in his enthusiasm. It is a little bit "sOnGs ArEn'T cOmPlEx AnYmOrE", however.

 

[GordonW]

a lot of stalwarts my age and older look down on streaming for various reasons, either because you're only "renting" the music, they buy into falsehoods that it's lower quality files (which admittedly is true for spotify) or that artist compensation is paltry, which admittedly is a valid point. That said, they miss on new music discovery, which between my apple music account, youtube and targeted marketing on instagram, are my primary sources for finding new music, although I occasionally get recs from friends, facebook groups and here. As I've aged and moved away from where I've grown up, it's become increasingly difficult to connect locally with people re. music. Whereas in my teens, 20's and into my 30's, music was the primary connection between my friends and I, from my mid 30's on, as people my age withdrew from hanging out to focus on breeding and raising their crotch goblins, music has become less of a source of connection. Using streaming as a "try before you by" service has been critical to me to find new music.

I don't consider streaming a method for anything much more than auditioning music. If I'm really interested, I'll find the record or CD, or download it from somewhere like HD Tracks or Qobuz. But, for that, it is quite useful to me.

If other people feel differently about not needing to own music- and just want to listen to whatever interests them at the time- more power to them. Just listen. That's what matters.


Regards,
Gordon.

 

[GordonW]

FWIW, I see a lot more of today's young people being into my type of music (mostly 70s-80s rock) than I was into music from the 1940s and 1950s when I was their age (born mid 60s).

That's the truth. And even some that are themselves into the 1940s sound. Ever seen how popular electro-swing is with the young crowd? It's astonishing how fast you can fill up a dance floor with kids, playing electro-swing! Seen it in person a number of times.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[Gigantic]

I don't consider streaming a method for anything much more than auditioning music. If I'm really interested, I'll find the record or CD, or download it from somewhere like HD Tracks or Qobuz. But, for that, it is quite useful to me.

If other people feel differently about not needing to own music- and just want to listen to whatever interests them at the time- more power to them. Just listen. That's what matters.


Regards,
Gordon.

I’ll add that I own some where between 5600-6000 CDs and records that I’ve purchased and ripped to a hard drive. I almost never play them, although I also have them packed up to my Apple Music account. Instead, I’ll stream them from Apple Music itself, instead of from my files; that way, the artists get paid again.

 

[GordonW]

I think, like a lot of people who are skilled at a thing, maybe above most of their peers, tend to consider their opinions as always correct or the one that should be followed. Even for subjects outside of their expertise.

Rick Beato probably falls into this. I do like this one video of his, where he's doing a breakdown of "Never Gonna Let You Go". He's really into it and seems genuine in his enthusiasm. It is a little bit "sOnGs ArEn'T cOmPlEx AnYmOrE", however.

Yeah- but the truth of it is, "Never Gonna Let You Go" is a real outlier in pop music. Most CLASSICAL music isn't that complex in chord progressions. Heck, it would literally take something like "Giant Steps"- the most out-there jazz of all time, in terms of difficulty- to be more complex than that. 99% of everything else is a lot simpler.

And really- there's a real genius, in finding that simple, but beautiful motif, and writing something around it. There's a lot of "three chord" songs that mean a lot...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[RunOutGroove]

I don' think that technology alone is killing music. I believe that music kind of has to change with the tech... Jimi Hendrix with that loud, distorted electric guitar kind of had to happen, or we would all be listening to the same acoustic kinds of sounds and have gotten bored with that long ago. Drum machines, synthesizers, samplers, etc are just tools and they're understandably going to be exploited by creative folks who happen upon these things. I think that the issues that Beato is expressing are more specific than that, so that even though the tech offers plenty of creative options, that too often it's being used not for all of the options that it can provide, but more to streamline the process of making music. All of that means that too many artists are tending to use the same settings and techniques, which results in music that ends up being really homogenized, and for many of us more into this stuff, something that's very boring.

I feel that there are similar issues too with the way that folks consume music. Though with streaming, we have the whole history of music at our fingertips, too often folks are lead by the algorithms as to what to listen to. Rather than say, experiencing a whole Led Zep album, with all of it's breadth, a listener is more likely to come across the hit, say Black Dog, enjoy that, and then allow themselves to be lead along by the algorithm, which chooses lots of songs by various artists that are all kind of derivative of that one song. When the folks that have come up this way end up creating music themselves, it only naturally is going to end up being on the derivative, formulaic side of things.

It isn't then so much the technology that's killing music, but the patterns that folks end up falling into when using that technology...

 

[allmanbros]

So, you do not think that we understand it is personal preferences? We are 100% commenting on the "all new music sucks" false claims.

But hey, lets check our personal opinions at the door and keep it an everyone agrees with the OP thread Oh, there wouldn't be a reason for the thread then, other than commiseration from haters

I believe the original question posed was, "All new music doesn't suck, does it?...at least that's the thread I am referencing...for some the response has been no it doesn't, for others it has been yes it does...I don't think ALL new music sucks, but I will say this, I find very little that appeals to me, and I can certainly understand why others have a different viewpoint (I checked my personal opinions at the door!), even to the extreme claim that all new music sucks...plenty of music for everybody from all genres, no need to be called an old fart, though I am, a boomer, I am, a snob, I am not, lazy, I am not, or a hater, I am not....carry on Chief, it's all good!

 

[GChief]

it's all good!

Oh I know that, it's some of my fellow old farts that don't

I have always been a do it how you want, listen to what you want on here.

Like I and others have said, just push back against the cloud yelling absolutist, which you are not, but you keep responding so you must have a little of it in you if you think we are talking about you

 

[jsisk]

In my opinion, he is right about a few things in his video, but I think a lot of it is that the market is currently driven by singer/songwriters rather than bands as it was in the 70's and 80's. One of these threads came up a few months back (does new music suck) and I pulled the current Billboard Top 100 selling songs and only one was a band (country band at that). The other 99 were singer/songwriters.

You can't really compare the output of collaborative writing in a band full of talented musicians that each write their own music for their instrument to a singer/songwriter that hires session players and runs their track through software to fix it. That really hit home last night when I watched a Yes concert from the Close to the Edge tour back in the 70's. When your band is comprised of talent like Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White; you are going to have a lot more depth in your music than when you hire people you never met to play backup for you. Taylor Swift will outsell most of the classic rock bands of the 70's. Her songs are very catchy and admit it or not, we all know at least a few of them. The songs are great, but the music behind them is crap.

My point of measure has always been:
"If you removed the vocal tracks from the song, would it still be worth listening to?"
For most of the current "Top Selling" songs, that answer would be no.

I am sure there are some great bands out there that didn't make the top 100, they just aren't as easy to find as they used to be. The point he made about 100,000 songs a day being uploaded to streaming services makes it a lot tougher than going to Tower Records on Friday to see what new records came out that week. It is the same issue with streaming video services. I used to go to Blockbuster Video on a Friday night and grab three new releases and be back home in 20 minutes. Now I go upstairs, turn on the TV and spend an hour going through Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon looking for a decent movie before I give up and go back downstairs to listen to music.

 

[allmanbros]

Oh I know that, it's some of my fellow old farts that don't

I have always been a do it how you want, listen to what you want on here.

Like I and others have said, just push back against the cloud yelling absolutist, which you are not, but you keep responding so you must have a little of it in you if you think we are talking about you

LOL!, that's a fair assessment, but I did leave the door slightly ajar!...what is the adage, I might not agree with your viewpoint, but I will defend your right to have it!

 

[GChief]

The point he made about 100,000 songs a day being uploaded to streaming services makes it a lot tougher than going to Tower Records on Friday to see what new records came out that week

To a point, once you figure out how to search the genres you want it's an easy day. Most of the new vinyls I buy are straight from the Artist website after I find them, mostly via streaming services.

And I understand it can be overwhelming.

 

[jsisk]

To a point, once you figure out how to search the genres you want it's an easy day. Most of the new vinyls I buy are start from the Artist website after I find them, mostly via streaming services.

And I understand it can be overwhelming.

I tried listening to a "Fresh Rock" playlist on Amazon earlier today. It was rock music released in 2024. (most resembled heavy metal) There were 99 songs, all in Ultra HD, and I only made it through the first 41 before giving up. Those all got skipped inside of the first minute. The sound quality, even though it was Ultra HD, was crap. And a lot of it was very repetitious.

The only band I have found in recent years that I really like is Nightwish from Finland. Similar in sound to Evenescence - Bring me to Life. I have been looking for a couple of their albums on vinyl, but they just aren't available here in the US. I ended up buying my third choice because it was the only one I could find.

 

[petes'picks]

Anytime someone brings up problems they see with the current music industry no matter how valid the point someone always has to try to spin it into "all new music sucks" even when no such thing was ever said. Rick Beato has done many videos in which he praises the work of current artists, its ok if he has an issue with the way the industry is replacing session musicians with software and sucking the humanity from recordings.

In one his previous videos he did a great job of explaining how tough it is for up and coming artists compared to the earlier years (drastically reduced amount of clubs to play in to get exposure, record companies reduced budget for promoting new artists, radio stations owned by 2 companies not interested in promoting new talent...) all very valid points. No way will I ever search through 700,000 artists on bandcamp to find new artists.

Local DJs worked great at discovering and promoting artists that have become the icons of the music industry. Dumping the 'central scrutinizer' that is programming the vast majority of all FM in the US and letting local markets promote the real talent is a better option for artists.

My collection of music spans 8 decades, the decade when I was in my 20s isnt even my favorite decade to listen too. There is a local independent FM station that does a great job playing interesting new music. When I research a artist that moves me it is really rare that they have a complete album of music that I want to buy. Was talking to my cousin who works at LA music studios and he said they budget for the single then rush the rest of the songs out as fillers because singles is what the execs want.

 

[OBMG74]

I do like this one video of his, where he's doing a breakdown of "Never Gonna Let You Go"

The chords and progression...holy sh_t

 

[Dingman]

Anytime someone brings up problems they see with the current music industry no matter how valid the point someone always has to try to spin it into "all new sucks" even when no such thing was ever said. Rick Beato has done many videos in which he praises the work of current artists, its ok if he has an issue with the way they the industry is replacing session musicians with software and sucking the humanity from recordings.

In one his previous videos he did a great job of explaining how tough it is for up and coming artists compared to the earlier years (drastically reduced amount of clubs to play in to get exposure, record companies reduced budget for promoting new artists, radio stations owned by 2 companies not interested in promoting new talent...) all very valid points. No way will I ever search through 700,000 artists on bandcamp to find new artists.

Local DJs worked great at discovering and promoting artists that have become the icons of the music industry. Dumping the 'central scrutinizer' that is programming the vast majority of all FM in the US and letting local markets promote the real talent is a better option for artists.

My collection of music spans 8 decades, the decade when I was in my 20s isnt even my favorite decade to listen too. There is a local independent FM station that does a great job playing interesting new music. When I research a artist that moves me it is really rare that they have a complete album of music that I want to buy. Was talking to my cousin who works at LA music studios and he said they budget for the single then rush the rest of the songs out as fillers because singles is what the execs want.

What a great comment and with a Zappa reference to boot.
I've been crazy busy and not able to follow up on this post like I should have.
Totally agree - Beato doesn't actually mean "all" the music sucks. But he did strike a cord with me that much new music and it's distribution can lead to a firehose of music, leading a person (IMO) to not give enough time and thought to new tracks. Our new internet "instant gratification" mode of living is killing MY attention span.

Nuff said. I like to limit my music intake so that I pay proper attention to the music (again - there's the radio metaphor I used earlier that I think also applies, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite in this regard but I don't really mind).

 

[Akustic]

Seems to be an awful lot of people in this thread who seem to be forgetting that there have been literally hundreds of different cultures, creating creating thousands of different musical forms, over the past 1000 years or so ..

A lot of it is easier to find and listen to right now than it's ever been ...
Enjoy the Music ..

 

[bluesky]

In the video - he speaks the 'straight up truth'!

Who in the world wants to listen to, or would even desire to listen to, computer generated & streamed garbage sound music?

Not me. Just sayin.

Anti-progress - as far as music as 'an ART FORM, made by real musicians, in sound' goes.

Real Sound was a long-long time ago probably ending in the '70s. Maybe the very last of it the early 80's. I don't know for sure but maybe. He's totally right about that and his explanation of LPs verses digital (CDs) and especially streaming. Quality real sound is gone. It's all gizmo music now. Not real.

If not real music is "what floats your boat" - fine.
"What ever gets you throw the night, it's alright, it's alright."
But it ain't real music to me, it's computer generated garbage - not real with an un-natural sound quality.
BUT... as I read a long-long time ago - & it's quite alright - the younger generations may even 'prefer' the computer generated sound. So be it. But it's not for my personal liking. Just sayin. Done -Out.

 

[GChief]

Who in the world wants or would even desire to listen to computer generated and streamed garbage sound music?

None of the new music I stream and buy is that. It all fits your definition of Real Sound.

This is one of the problems with strong opinions formed with ignorance, do I need to remind everyone that ignorance does not have anything to do with how smart or dumb someone is.