Today's Music

[janneppi]

I once heard a pretty good explanation to why new generation of music sucks.
You're emotionally most affected at around 15 years old. Anything after that wont be as good.

[Rudy Tamasz]

I once heard a pretty good explanation to why new generation of music sucks.
You're emotionally most affected at around 15 years old. Anything after that wont be as good.

How about growing up? I'm 39 and I believe I have some more clue about music than I did in the days of my metal youth. Although I still bang my head on some occasions.

[Valve Bounce]

My daughter installed PANDORA on my tablet and when I selected Carly Simon station, I got a fantastic stream of music from Bread, Elton John, Carol King, and even Otis redding, Temptations, .... I think you get the picture. You can select any artist and the music stream will be similar to the one selected

[MrJan]

My daughter installed PANDORA on my tablet and when I selected Carly Simon station, I got a fantastic stream of music from Bread, Elton John, Carol King, and even Otis redding, Temptations, .... I think you get the picture. You can select any artist and the music stream will be similar to the one selected

Bit late to this thread but I couldn't read it without posting!

last.fm does a similar thing. It also pays attention to what you're listening to (if you link it to iTunes or Spotify) and makes suggestions for stuff you might like based on other people's similar listening habits. So if you listen to a lot Massive Attack and a lot of other people that listen to Massive Attack also listen to Portishead then it will suggest that you listen to Portishead. It's not perfect but it does open up an awful lot. Trouble being that if your listening habits are in the past then it'll probably throw up a lot of stuff from the past.

Going back to the original post it really winds me up when people complain about modern music when they don't put the effort in to listen to what's available. Sure the stuff that's on the main pop radio stations may be crap but, but there are a vast number of ways that you can now listen to music and such a huge number of artists around that you can easily find things that you like. And don't give me that "in my day" bullshit, my Dad is over 60 and has exactly the same opinion, he's happier listening to something like Buck 65 or First Aid Kit as he is something from his past like Fleetwood Mac or the Stones. In fact quite a lot of the time it's him that gives me tips on stuff that's worth listening to.

If you're actually willing to try listening to something a bit different from the generic crap that fills most stations then try BBC 6Music. You'll get a really good mix of music from the past and alternative new stuff from a wide range of genres. Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Tom Ravenscroft in particular have good shows.

You might not like any of it but Adele, Alt-J, Metronomy, Bon Iver, Foals, Richard Hawley, Midlake, Seasick Steve, all examples of people making music at the minute that are well worth listening to...and that's just people that I've heard on national radio, it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the fantastic artists that haven't been discovered or have a sound that doesn't have a huge following at the minute.

[555-04Q2]

Has today's music evolved into a repetitious doof doof beat without any melody? I have been trawling through youtube and come across some fantastic stuff. But just let me put things straight - I am an old dynasour, nothing to be ashamed of. But a lot of the stuff by The Rolling Stones, Sting, Bobby Hackett, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Dion Warwick, Alabama, Doobie Brothers, sure as hell beats anything that the CLUBS beat out to the early mornings.
I mean, I played music from a Nino Tempo album and my daughter said:"I don't like Jazz until 5 minutes later she realised it was an album I swiped from her when we were in HK many years ago..
What happened to music with melody?

Todays music is not really music. It's a computer generated noise with a person who can't sing saying the same line over and over again a thousand times while winning a grammy award and making $ 100m at the same time.

Thank god for my huge cd collection of Dire Straits, Genesis, Phil Collins, Foreigner etc

[Valve Bounce]

[quote=555-04Q2]

Has today's music evolved into a repetitious doof doof beat without any melody? I have been trawling through youtube and come across some fantastic stuff. But just let me put things straight - I am an old dynasour, nothing to be ashamed of. But a lot of the stuff by The Rolling Stones, Sting, Bobby Hackett, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Dion Warwick, Alabama, Doobie Brothers, sure as hell beats anything that the CLUBS beat out to the early mornings.
I mean, I played music from a Nino Tempo album and my daughter said:"I don't like Jazz until 5 minutes later she realised it was an album I swiped from her when we were in HK many years ago..
What happened to music with melody?

Todays music is not really music. It's a computer generated noise with a person who can't sing saying the same line over and over again a thousand times while winning a grammy award and making $ 100m at the same time.

Thank god for my huge cd collection of Dire Straits, Genesis, Phil Collins, Foreigner etc [/quote:23kaqvpi]

OK. I'm with you. But I will be fair and listen to the music suggested by the poster above yours.
I remember, many years ago, that my brother went down the new arcade in Brisbane, and found this new coffee place Primitif. The girl/manager asked him what music she should play, and he suggested Ella's Cole Porter song book, Oscar plays pretty (Petterson), Shearing, Brubeck, Barney Kessel, and other Jazz stuff that was easy to listen to. The place was a hit because there was nowhere else in Brisbane that you could sit down and listen to great music. I like music that is great and easy to listen to.
I lived opposite entry gate 1 at Etihad stadium for 9 months, and some of the concerts there were not that great for me, and it sounded like they were playing outside on my balcony.

[Bagwan]

Much of the corporate packaged music out there is put together with the same formula as the last big hit .

Search for independent music , not big label .

Just a short time ago , a country music artist (can't remember his name) was commissioned by Ford to write a song for it's commercials .
It didn't mention Ford at all , but emphasized "strong" , in reference to the man driving needing a truck just as "strong" .
From what I understand , it did ok on the Country charts .

It's a new way to do it , instead of the "Like a Rock , buy it from Bob Seger" route .

My niece , Rose Cousins(great musician , by the way , check her out) got a song onto TV a little while ago , and she's an independent .
So , it can be done .

It's a tough road for any indie , though , as CD's don't sell near as well as just a few years ago .
At our shows , we used to sell 20 or 30 for the artist on a regular basis , but getting rid of 5 is more the norm now .

There are a few who are consummate marketers out there .
Check out Fred Eaglesmith , a Canadian legend almost nobody has heard of .
Be warned that you could become a "Fred-head" .
This guy has a selection of about ten T-shirts from which to choose , and twenty buttons , half a dozen hats , and a variety of other items with his name on them .
That goes with music on CD , vinyl , cassette , and I believe , 8-track , if you want it .

Check out his "I like trains" , or "I shot your dog" , or , a personal favourite of this Fred-head , "Small motors" with which this gruff character can bring a room to tears .
He has played 230 or so shows this year , down from 260 last year .
You now make money for the performance , rather than the merch , to a large degree .

[MrJan]

Todays music is not really music. It's a computer generated noise with a person who can't sing saying the same line over and over again a thousand times while winning a grammy award and making $ 100m at the same time.

That's rubbish and, dare I say it, a bit ignorant. Try listening to these tracks and tell me that they fit what you're saying.

[youtube]gekHV9DIjHc[/youtube]

Here's a guy that lives and breathes music, it's fascinating watching the documentary 'It Might Get Loud' and seeing him jam with Jimmy Page...especially seeing how Jimmy Page pays attention to the way he plays.
[youtube]PnTb0PfbSoE[/youtube]

I think it's sad when people can't move beyond the music of when they were younger. There are currently so many brilliant musicians making so many types of music that, as I said before, complaining about modern music if you're not actually willing to listen to some of it is just bullshit.

[Malbec]

I think it's sad when people can't move beyond the music of when they were younger. There are currently so many brilliant musicians making so many types of music that, as I said before, complaining about modern music if you're not actually willing to listen to some of it is just bullshit.

I couldn't agree more. There are plenty of great bands out there if you know where to look. If you think modern music is all dance and electronic rubbish all it shows is that you haven't tried to find the good stuff.

And guess what, for the guys who think music went downhill after the 70s/80s/90s/delete as appropriate there are plenty of bands out there who would agree and make fantastic new music with those eras as their greatest influence.

I'm currently listening to Arcade Fire, London Grammar and the Lumineers, bands I would have thought are pretty mainstream and are nothing like the monotone mass produced rubbish alluded to in the above posts.

[Malbec]

That's rubbish and, dare I say it, a bit ignorant. Try listening to these tracks and tell me that they fit what you're saying.

[youtube]gekHV9DIjHc[/youtube]

Thanks for the tip, just ordered their entire catalogue... on CD of course. Great stuff.