Why were musicians/vocalists so much more talented back in the day ?

This is accurate! I believe before MTV that a musician had to be very talented and good at what They did in order to be heard.

Pop music is more about looks than talent these days.

I think talent was all encompassing. A person needed to be able to push a product that was good AND also look good for the most part. Engineers and producers had less to work with (auto tune) so the more talented artists, which includes vocals (see many actresses and actors also can sing well), rose to the top. Music has also become more mindless due to the ever receding attention spans of society. No one young wants to sit there and listen to something that makes them think. It’s all very mindless, 4/4 and catchy pop stuff. Something like the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald couldn’t come out today because it’s over 5 minutes long. No iPad kid has that sort of mental capacity to pay attention that long. AI can put out a country song that is IDENTICAL to today’s pop country garbage, often better. So the way songs are made has changed, the amount of thought that goes into it has been gutted, the chordal structure has simplified, and lyrics are less thought provoking and more mindless.

One, their voices were much stronger because they performed at a time when PA’s left much to be desired. Little to no monitoring and mostly a mic with two small speakers.

Two, our public educational systems believed in the importance of music and choir and were funded as such.

Just two off the top of my head.

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What has the last 30 years produced ? Taylor Swift ? Rap ?

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Yes, this is literally the only music to come out in the last 30 years

The major music labels controlled who got to be in a studio and the type of music the labels approved of. If you weren't on a major label you didnt have much opportunity to record and distribute your music. The big labels naturally only allowed the most talented people in the studio. Punk rock changed all that and those musicians often were DIY bands which showed people you didn't need to be on a big label to make music. Those punks also started their own, small labels to distribute albums and even created their own promotional material for live shows. Bands that came after punk rock adopted this same DIY attitude and these days, anyone with a computer can set up a studio like recording room in their apartment. I think its for the best we have so many people doing their own thing, it provides much more variety. But it also allows somebody like me to put out shitty music.

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You could list hundreds of Singers/Groups from 1955-1985 that blow away anything produced in the last 30 years.

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Just a random question then. There is only preference and not a right or wrong answer. A #1 song in 1967 was "To Sir with Love" by Lulu. So Adele, couldn't hang with her?

That era also produced Kiss, disco, and an endless barrage of shitty hair bands.

Taylor Swift’s popularity is in part BECAUSE she’s not super hot. She’s cute enough to get attention, but not so hot that women feel threatened by her looks. That keeps her relatable to so many women, and is another reason (besides her catchy songwriting) why she dominates the charts. It’s a similar story for the Queen of all Lesbians: Chappel Roan, and alt-girl pipeline Billie Eilish. The charts are dominated by teenage girls and their moms. Guys don’t listen to pop music anymore.

The alleged decline in vocal talent is due to the prevalence of auto tune and time aligning of vocals that was widespread adopted by the music industry in the mid 90’s combined with the whisper singing trend that was started by Brittney Spears but really popularized again by Billie Eilish and duplicated by every other female artist since.

With that said, there IS crazy talent out there. Ariana Grande is a legit freak of nature who’s insane range would make her famous in any decade. Haley Williams is arguably the most gifted frontwoman in the history of rock music.

Back in the day you had to actually purchase the physical copy of the music you wanted to listen to. Nowadays everything is at your finger tips via social media. So you have that. Also Rap while popular does not take any musical talent to produce. None (Very few) of the Country Stars write their own music and the same goes for Pop. Even back in the day that went on to some extent as well.