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I have no idea what's currently going on, but after the whole 90's "I'm cool because I'm down on everything and who cares anyway?" rock archetype fostered by Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, etc., rock music has really not been as good as it was in the past. This not only applies to finding a catchy hook and chorus, but also to musicianship in terms of making an entire song work with each instrument complimenting the others (which is more so spiritual than technical).
There are allegedly talented bands that currently exist on the club circuit, but without the right promotion and a theme that promotes nihilism, these bands never escape the club circuit as the record industry has their own agenda. Sociologists such as Kevin MacDonald have further expounded on this point.
You love griping about nihilism, don't you?
If you look for good bands on the radio or TV nowadays you just aren't going to find them. Read is correct that the record industry has their own agenda: making money as quickly as possible. They are not going to foot the bill for a band to develop the way they did in the past. That is just the way it is. Given that the companies that own record labels are now the same that own the stations it won't change anytime soon.
So this old man doesnt get got up in an argument over something that really just comes down to personal taste, I will only say that as we have gotten further down the road from the 60's and early 70's, music seems to have lost alot of originality. It would be ridiculous to say that there arent any bright spots in todays music though. Josh Stone. John Mayer. Green Day. But all in all it all sounds pretty much the same to me.
True music is a matter of taste, good taste and bad taste- 5% have former. 95% latter.
I can listen to any music. Country, rap, rock, alt, etc. When I listen on the radio, I hear maybe one good song per hour. I know music is all in the ear of the beholder, but country is no longer country, rap is filled with nothing but rappers who use that voice mod that sounds awful, is rock even still around? When we look back at this decade, who will be the artists that stand out? Miley Cyrus? Britney? The Jonas Brothers? It's becoming harder and harder to find a song or group that is not God-awful. Maybe I am getting too old (32). Who is going to be the defining artist or group of this generation?
I don't think the 'problem' is the music...it's the delivery service.
Radio is basically dead.
It's crappy music because that's what the radio stations are PAID TO PLAY by whatever record company that has a band to promote. (New CD or Tour coming through etc.)
Finding interesting music is only limited to the amount of imagination and screen time you put into finding it. There has always been underground niches and indie music. Many of the bands in the 60's were local bands until "Mainstream Music" caught up with them.
EDIT:
P.S.
End of year 'Staff Picks' from GOOD Radio Stations are treasure troves of hidden gems. This is one such page of lists I plundered heartily: http://kexp.org/top2008/djtop10of2008.aspx
true the early 90's had really good grunge and some good rock bands then around 95-96 all major music went to pop with the spice girls, brittney spears and backstreet boys all topping the charts and thats when it changed for me.
I'll take most Spice Girls songs over most of the generic grunge music (think Bush/Candlebox/Seven Mary Three) any day of the week. There was way too much fake angst going on back then.
I do tend to think this is a bad time for Anglophone popular music, but that doesn't mean that none of it is good--and then there's all the other music that falls outside of that narrow limit.
I'm happy in my own genre of favored music ~~ blues, Louisiana music (which covers numerous styles of music). But I stopped listening to Top 40/pop music about 6 years ago when the songs started to torture me like water droplets on my head. Damn few of it sounded good, and I hated the little-girl voices that Brittany Spears launched into popularity. I've no idea what that line of music sounds like today.
But I don't care a whole lot for today's jazz, either.
In some ways I think Country has improved a lot, but I like some of the old stuff, too.
GOOD rock 'n' roll died long ago.
But there are some great independent-sounding bands that are hard to label, like Dave Matthews.
If I was just listening to commercial radio stations I would have to agree with the OP, especially here in the NYC area.
But some of the area college radio stations play some interesting music, however they're inconsistent. You might get a DJ put together an awesome set of unknown musicians followed by a DJ who plays polka music for the next two hours.
Internet radio completely changed my listening habits. Pandora and AOL radio are fantastic and exposed me to all this good music I had no idea was out there. I've gone from buying a CD every 2-3 years to buying 15-20 a year.
I can listen to any music. Country, rap, rock, alt, etc. When I listen on the radio, I hear maybe one good song per hour. I know music is all in the ear of the beholder, but country is no longer country, rap is filled with nothing but rappers who use that voice mod that sounds awful, is rock even still around? When we look back at this decade, who will be the artists that stand out? Miley Cyrus? Britney? The Jonas Brothers? It's becoming harder and harder to find a song or group that is not God-awful. Maybe I am getting too old (32). Who is going to be the defining artist or group of this generation?
I'm surprised you hear one good song per hour on terrestrial radio.
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taste
