When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they’ve quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, “Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands”. Looking back I was such a tool. First because it’s such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I’m honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say “I don’t like new music” is absurd, and you’re exactly right, just means they just don’t even try.
I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You’ve already seen it happen to 00s music and we’re watching it happen with the 10s.
But yeah, it’s wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just… don’t go looking.
For so many artists, they’ll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn’t. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50’s. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren’t very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
Doesn’t this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there’s lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the “popular” music is getting more and more formulaic
The thing is, I don’t want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.
Growing up, everything you heard was new to you. An experience. People older than you was saying the same shit about the music you were enjoying at the time. That’s how it goes.
When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they’ve quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, “Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands”. Looking back I was such a tool. First because it’s such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I’m honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say “I don’t like new music” is absurd, and you’re exactly right, just means they just don’t even try.
I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You’ve already seen it happen to 00s music and we’re watching it happen with the 10s.
But yeah, it’s wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just… don’t go looking.
For so many artists, they’ll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn’t. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50’s. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren’t very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
I think there’s an important difference between “there is no new good music” and “I don’t like any new music”.
The former is making a broad proclamation. The latter is keeping it limited to your personal experience, even if phrased a little sloppily.
Though I guess you could argue people saying the former really mean the latter and are just communicating kind of badly.
Doesn’t this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there’s lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the “popular” music is getting more and more formulaic
The thing is, I don’t want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.
Growing up, everything you heard was new to you. An experience. People older than you was saying the same shit about the music you were enjoying at the time. That’s how it goes.