today's music, a rant really (1 Viewer)

[Robert Powers]

I have to agree with all of the Pauls on this topic. Ironically there have been four people by the name of Paul that have commented on this topic.

When it comes to music my preferences are limited to mostly classic rock, some pop, and some country. Although I am not a fan of classical, jazz, bluegrass, and any other forms that I am forgetting I do recognize the enormous talent involved with making these types of music. I don't have this same perception of rap. I may appear closed-minded but I don't consider this type of music a form of art. How much artistic ability does it take to sample (or steal) other musicians works and add a few beats to it and call it your own piece of work?

I know there are plenty of crappy rock, pop, and country songs but there are not enough to tarnish these types of music. Maybe there are some good rap songs out there that I have never heard but until I can see the beauty in it rap will always be crap to me.

 

[Stu Rosen]

Putting aside hip hop issues, if you think that virtually all music out there is sub-par, then you really have to dig a little deeper.

Look at the "best of 2005" thread elsewhere in this forum and just start there. Something on those many lists of great CDs released this year should appeal to almost anyone's tastes.

There always has been and always will be great music to listen to. What's popular at any given moment may not be your thing (I am personally too old now to really relate to most music at the top of the charts), but that's a different issue.

 

[Carlo_M]

Agreed. I work in a major university, so I get the whole gamut re: music. Tons of kids are into whatever's popular, then there's the counterculture "all modern music sucks" groups, and everything in between.

Music today isn't all bad, but the vast majority that you hear on the radio and MTV is, IMO. That's because of the new "Payola" style radio/TV airplay that the few major music corporations have in place. There are no more DJs who play what they want to play, they all have the set playlist handed down from corporate.

Good music is out there, it's just not heavily promoted (or at all) and you have to dig for it. Aimee Mann, Neil Finn, Jon Brion, Teitur, Glen Phillips--I'll rank all of them with the great singer/songwriters of the 60s-70s. But try to find their stuff at your local Best Buy, well good luck!

 

[ThomasC]

Try WOXY and KEXP.

 

[TheLongshot]

Or try satellite radio (XM is probably better in this respect than Sirus, since Sirius is still rather hit based.)

The internet has been great as far as finding new music to listen to. The best way is to just follow forums for some of your favorite bands, and you are bound to run down other people recommending bands. From there, you find other bands, and all of a sudden, you have more music than you know how to deal with.

Unlike Stu, I am a big fan of Progressive Rock, and the internet has been a goldmine for me. I'm not sure what my CD collection would look like without it. (Probably a lot smaller.)

Jason

 

[Carlo_M]

Good advice Jason. I'm lucky enough to be able to see a lot of the smaller artists I've named in clubs in Hollywood. They are all accessible and talk to their fans afterwards. They are not shy in recommending artists, so that's how I find a lot of my new music...but fans of those artists are also pretty good in their recommendations.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Some of the rhythms are really cool. I'd really like rap if there wasn't any vocals.

 

[JordanS]

So Radiohead doesn't have your respect, Paul?

Have you ever listened to "OK Computer?"

 

[Jay_B!]

thank you. A lot of people who dislike hip hop lump hip hop and dance/club music together and it's really irksome because most dance/club fans I know do not like being associated with hip hop, and are actually resentful that hip hop has taken dance's niche for the most part, it seemed like when J. Lo took her rapper fetish into her songs, it pretty much killed popularity of dance-pop in the US because everyone started going hip hop instead, and a lot of dance fans feel that she owes us an apology. At the same time, rappers don't seem very embracive of dance either. The two are not similar.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Every year the same argument: Nothing good anymore. 2005 had a bumper-crop of great music released. But like every year since 1985, none of it was covered by Radio/MTV.

You have to work to find good music. But when you find it it is so much better than whats being played on the radio that it boggles the mind that they are purposely ignoring the good material to whore their studio material to sell more CDs. Only to have the same material end up on Grokster. The rare stuff rarely gets onto the download pool.

In summary: Music today is very good. 2005 was as good a year as any in history. But you have to really go out and look for the good stuff. Home delivery is only offered on the lowest-common-denominator product. An analogy comparing gourmet/pizza to music/pop isn't far off in my opinion.

 

[cathy_valliere]

I'm definitely a "baby of the 80's" along with enjoying classic rock, and country. Rap is definitely not my thing.

Agreed, with every genre, there are +'s and -'s with the music. You just have to find your niche. I am still listening to the radio when I drive (or my CDs). This year, I'll be getting my MP3 player to take with me to classes (going to back for BA in English). Anyway, I miss not hearing the lyrics in music. Except for artists like Jim Brickman, who is primarily a piano player, I only like to listen to music that has a reason.

Guess you can tell why I am going to school for English?

This was definitely an enlightening topic.

Cathy
8^ )

 

[Arman]

.

 

[PaulP]

I felt I had to post then...

My opinion is kinda conflicting. On the one hand, I think music in general currently is in real deep shit. On the other, there's really great music coming out that most people don't know about.

I myself am an electronic music fan. No, not dance or techno, but more advanced and interesting styles. Once you hear Shpongle, you'll never listen to pop again!

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I think Stu nailed it. I also lament modern music, but I don't blame rap. Like everything else, 90% of it is crap (maybe more), but it's not ther form, it's the practitioners. Some of the people Stu listed are phenomenally talented: Jay-Z, Eminem, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, and the truly awesome Dr. Dre (as a producer).

But I don't listen to much rap. I grew up with MTV, and ironically video killed the radio star. The radio star was a good musician. The video star is an attention whore.

How prophetic :frowning:

 

[teapot2001]

Why?

~T

 

[Rich Malloy]

I'm a classically trained musician and studied jazz at Berklee and UNT (formerly NTSU), but I'm a rock-n-roll kid at heart. Doesn't make my opinion anymore valuable than anyone else's, but I hope it goes to show that I love music, consider it to be the most significant of the arts, and just plain couldn't live without it.

That said, I couldn't disagree more with the original poster and many of the rest of you. Your constricted view of how "music" is to be defined strikes me as wrong-headed, reactionary, and utterly conservative. It seems informed by a lifetime's worth of listening to the most overplayed, overrated, overtired commercial FM rock radio. You have become that fogey who rants about "kids today and their crappy music", which is particularly ironic considering that most of us came of age during the corporate consolidation and playlist calcification of rock music, the true death knell to whatever was once dangerous and exciting about the form.

And now some of us want to further freeze out anything that doesn't conform to our corporately-sanctioned, self-limited definition of "music", calling for some dinosaur to emerge out of the distant past to save us from, I don't know... hip-hop? Trance? Trip-hop? Dub? Anything where one guy isn't accenting two and four on the skins, another guy isn't riding the "G" on the bass, and the third guy isn't going "twee-whee-whee-with-a-whammy-bar" on his guitar? Let's all clap politely for yet another spin of "Moby Dick", shall we? Way to pound those skins, Jon. Clap clap. What's next? Stairway? Bohemian Rhapsody? Desperado?

The world keeps turning, but I'm trapped in an endless oldies format. Kill me already, because I'm dying of boredom.

 

[gene c]

Then come up with something better and I'll listen. As I said earlier, I know the world is passing me by and I'm O.K. with that. And I know there is really good new stuff out there too. I'm just not willing to change channels every ten seconds or listen to 9 songs I don't care for in hopes of finally getting one I do like. So I return to my overated overplayed tired FM rock stations. And it is true that one generation rarely likes the music of the next. Whether it be Do-Whop to the Beatles, arena rock to disco or hair bands to gangsta rap. Which is what worries me the most. What are they going to come up with next?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

My name isn't Paul, but I will throw my hat in the ring with those who know that there's plenty of good music out there these days -- you just have to work a little harder to find it. Just be thankful that we have websites where you can sample songs by bands that you haven't heard before. Thumb through the audio clips on Amazon and see what's new. I've found brilliant work by bands like Without Face and Pain of Salvation that I might never have heard of without the Internet -- thank god it came around before music on radio/ TV went completely down the tubes.

And just to make my statement on the subject -- I don't care for rap at all, but even I occasionally hear a rap track that's not bad. (I don't buy the "they're rhythmically talented" argument either, unless you want to try and convince me that real singers don't make use of rhythm!)

 

[BrianB]

Some great music in there. The Go! Team made my favourite album of last year.

 

[TheLongshot]

Pain Of Salvation! Great band. What can you tell me about Without Face?

Oh, BTW, another place to find interesting bands is Radio Paradise. (www.radioparadise.com) I've found a few bands on there.

Jason