re: The sad state of music today

Radio is dead. As it goes so does music apps. Apps are still the best as you can search a playlist but you still must hunt for yourself.

The radio is auto tuned crap. Country radio is only something to listen to to laugh and mock.

Like this is surprising? Why are there fans of crap? Listen to the classics instead for Godsake! Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Who, Santana, CSNY, etc. Hell, listen to Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, etc.
ANY era of music is better than the repugnant sewage being put out today!

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Frank Ocean’s Highly Anticipated Coachella 2023 Performance Was A Disaster And Fans Are Beyond Upset

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LINK

I really tried to listen to his “music.” They are actually calling it that. Nauseating.

This is your chance to be Rick Beato.

Pick a non “outdated” song and explain to all of us what makes it great. I predict an epic failure.

Ready, set, go!

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I've tried to like this guy but I just can't. I don't mind good pop music, but this just sounds like it was made by a machine.

I have noticed a major dropoff in the past few years in quality of new music. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I've barely found anything that sparks my interest.

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IMO, current pop music is suffering from the same problem as most things are these days. People don't really want to put real work into anything, they just depend on technology to make it easy for them.
Generally, people can't do simple math on paper anymore, they can't do dirt simple repairs on their own cars, or around their home.
True craftsmen are getting rarer by the day.
Hardly anyone is going to spend a couple of years working on lyrics or guitar parts for a song.

I think some of that was definitely a reaction to the 80’s, but “out of tune” music never made it to the mainstream. There have been local punks (myself included) playing aggressively out of tune sub-sophomoric music in everyone’s local scene since the dawn of time.

I think we often get blinded by nostalgia or attribute a level of sophistication to classic rock that straight up wasn’t there. First of all, we only remember the best stuff. It’s like looking at classic architecture and complaining how nothing built today is as good, but you forget that 99% of the stuff built THEN wasn’t as good either. That’s why it’s not here anymore. We only get to see the structures that actually survived all this time, which are going to be the best constructed ones.

I mean, let’s be honest, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin are fun and cool, but most of their lyrics aren’t exactly shakespeare.

Finally, these things go in cycles between the public wanting angst and “real” grit vs folks just wanting something silly they can party to. Typically, whatever was popular in its era, the next era will be the opposite.

Hair metal was silly, bright, and overproduced. Grunge was serious, dark, and felt more authentic. College rock was more polished and fun. Nu metal was dark and heavy.

This shite goes in cycles, man, or at least it used to.

Also, most classic rock is not that difficult to play. I’m an incredibly pedestrian guitarist and can play most of the commonly covered songs in my sleep. Modern metal is WAY harder to play than most classic rock ever was.

I think when most folks bemoan the death of musicianship, they’re really just talking about guitar solos with big bends. Guitar solos sorta went out of style in the 90’s, but you still find them here and there. It’s not like you couldn’t find intricate guitar work in the 2000’s and 2010’s if you looked for it. Not everything post 1990 is Nirvana.

Just got back from Billy strings in mobile and was blown away

Phish at Hollywood bowl next weekend.

Saw Harry styles at the forum earlier this year


Live music is doing ok by me

I like a good bit of 90’s music, especially Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the guitar proficiency wasn’t anything worth writing home about. 90’s music, in general, is just okay to me. There’s a lot of good songs, but not a ton of music that really grabs me. For me, the 80’s were the opposite. I don’t like most 80’s music, but what I do like, I absolutely love. The 80’s had higher highs and lower lows while the 90’s is more average across the board.

That’s why some of my favorite bands from the 2000’s were groups like Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, Sum 41, My Chemical Romance, and Alter Bridge because each band had a lead guitarist who could play some really interesting and musical solos. Heck, I know Tom Morello is a douche, but what he lacks in virtuosity, he makes up for in creativity. A lot of folks write off MCR because of their absurdly cringy fanbase (much like how 80’s metal fans hated Winger), but f$&k man, the guitar work in some of their songs is seriously impressive. Sum 41’s lead guitarist absolutely shreds as well. “In Too Deep” is a solo that would have been seriously impressive in any 80’s rock song. Tremonti’s solo in “Blackbird” is one of the best I’ve ever heard. It’s musical, lyrical, emotional, and technically challenging as hell. Just a masterful example of storytelling through a guitar.

If you look at current festival lineups, there’s a reason why the older bands headline. I’m going to LTL for two days and there’s literally five bands each day I recognize their music. The undercards are unrecognizable. In ten years, it’s going to be rough cause most bands will be retired.

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Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Who, Santana, CSNY,

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You're taking the death of rock-n-roll pretty hard huh? Music evolves, you haven't. I've had to come to this realization with teenage daughters. Their peers, boys and girls alike, think rock is old people music like I think Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, are.

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ANY era of music is better than the repugnant sewage being put out today!

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Is there really that much difference from 90's pop to now? It's the same to me.