About good music

losthorizon

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Late 70's saw Pink Floyd release Wish You Were here, Animals and The Wall, considered some of the best albums ever. Then There's the likes of Rush - 2112/Farewell to Kings, Camel - The Snow Goose/Moonmadness, Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak/Black Rose.

Great time for music.

Im not disputing that there is great music to be had all the time and indeed I love some of the bands you mention but some periods are better than others and I think that goes for other fields as well like Movies.

If you consider Classical music there were probably hundreds of composers around the time of Beethoven. Yet he and one or two others are remembered - the rest sank into obscurity.

Who will remember Westlife in 30 years time? :pac: (thats a command)

losthorizon

Sorry for posting twice in a row. In an earlier post I mentioned Top of the Pops and 1976and said the music was dross. Well it was but the only song I liked was this but look at the first comment. Very interesting.

The guy was very young when he died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfFQ7d3GqEE

jaffacakesyum

The Killers
MGMT
Sigur Ros
Coldplay
Snow Patrol
LCD Soundsystem
Hot Chip
Regina Spektor
Arcade Fire
The Shins
MIA
The White Stripes
Arctic Monkeys


I think they're pretty good and they all came from the noughties

Logical Fallacy

It is kind of funny, the subjectivity of music.

For example -

The Killers - ****
MGMT - a couple of good tunes
Sigur Ros - love these guys
Coldplay - ****
Snow Patrol - one good tune that rapidly got old.
LCD Soundsystem - hipster ****
Hot Chip - two good tunes
Regina Spektor - ****
Arcade Fire - over hyped ****
The Shins - I like these guys
MIA - Ramadanman's refix kills anything her actual producers did for her.
The White Stripes - ****
Arctic Monkeys - love the first album, honestly haven't heard anything since.

I guarantee i could list 10 acts and you'd think they were all ****. I'm sure there is some wanker out there with a detailed theory about why we like what we like but that kills for the fun for me.

Emiko

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

It is kind of funny, the subjectivity of music.

For example -

The Killers - ****
MGMT - a couple of good tunes
Sigur Ros - love these guys
Coldplay - ****
Snow Patrol - one good tune that rapidly got old.
LCD Soundsystem - hipster ****
Hot Chip - two good tunes
Regina Spektor - ****
Arcade Fire - over hyped ****
The Shins - I like these guys
MIA - Ramadanman's refix kills anything her actual producers did for her.
The White Stripes - ****
Arctic Monkeys - love the first album, honestly haven't heard anything since.

Agreed.

I'd give 4 stars to most of those acts also.

Logical Fallacy

Emiko wrote: »

Agreed.

I'd give 4 stars to most of those acts also.

I was gonna put a little disclaimer that **** means poo, but it would have killed the joke.

Glad i didn't.:pac:

Freddie59

dilbert2 wrote: »

This is something I've been hearing a lot throughout the years, stuff along the lines of "music isn't what it used to be", or "music just gets worse with every decade" etc etc. But is it really getting any worse, or do we just get a bit grumpy with age and like a good winge now and then?

For instance, stuff that you would listen to from the 90s, or have in your record/ cd/ computer music collection is most likely a fraction of what actually went on back in the 90s. Most likely, there was as much crap been released back in the 90s, or any other decade (including the 60s etc), its just that you don't hear them anymore, whereas todays crap music we are forced to listen to.

I know what constitutes crap music is subjective, but you get the idea of the argument.

I'm 52 - I've been listening to music since the early 70s. My own personal opinion? Don't restrict your choice of music. I'll listen to ANY kind of music. The only types I'm not partial to are Jazz and Rap (and I even like some of that).

There is ALWAYS good music. But there will always be music that some of us don't like. It's life. And the world would be a much sadder place without music. I listen to everything from ABBA to Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, etc, etc.

I LOVE rhianna's latest single, and would also like a lot of modern dance/club music.

The lyrics of this song say it all really. A wonderful moment - the coming together of pop and classical. Doesn't get much better in my book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtyQY018x3o

losthorizon

Freddie59 wrote: »

I'm 52 - I've been listening to music since the early 70s. My own personal opinion? Don't restrict your choice of music. I'll listen to ANY kind of music. The only types I'm not partial to are Jazz and Rap (and I even like some of that).

There is ALWAYS good music. But there will always be music that some of us don't like. It's life. And the world would be a much sadder place without music. I listen to everything from ABBA to Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, etc, etc.

I LOVE rhianna's latest single, and would also like a lot of modern dance/club music.

The lyrics of this song say it all really. A wonderful moment - the coming together of pop and classical. Doesn't get much better in my book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtyQY018x3o

One of the best posts Ive read on boards.

kincsem

There is always bad music. Time takes care of the bad stuff, and the good stuff endures.

St.Spodo

Chart music is much worse today than in decades past. If we take '85 for example, who had no. 1 albums? Springsteen, The Smiths, The Style Council. In 2010, The Script, Paoli Nutini and Plan B were the pick of a sorry bunch. That's not to say there wasn't some truly rubbish stuff in the 80's, more to say there is very little quality music in the chart these day. I still maintain that good music can be found in any generation, all the same.

kumate_champ07

current pop music is sexualised and materialised, short skirts & expensive cars etc, it treats the listeners as consumers, its not art its just a product with a shelf life. if Rihanna was 18stone and in a wheelchair she wouldnt sell as many records/mp3's

The good music produced today gets picked up by the advertisement industry to fill a void in their work as they have no soul and need to make an emotional connection with clients, you can see it with car ads on tv.

Mindkiller

Yakult wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it is.

One mans crap is another mans gold I suppose.

What modern music do you listen to? I know taste is subjective and all that but I find it hard to believe that you find all modern acts crap unless you're just not that interested in music.

bnt

I've been wondering about this for years, and the main theory I have points the finger at the musicians, not the music. If you play an instrument, you can spot trends in how your instrument is used. I play the bass, and the signs are not good: these days I rarely see a bassist who impresses me musically. If I was a drummer or a guitarist I might feel a bit different - but not much, I suspect.

On the one hand, there are some amazingly technical bass geeks who treat their instrument like World of Warcraft: they put in thousands of hours and reach some stratospheric level just because they can. They scare the crap out of me, but they have no life, and no soul.

On the other hand, there are those who seem to have wandered in to a band situation by chance, or because they have a guitarist friend who thinks any idiot can play the bass; just hanging around in the background, playing the root note with a plectrum, growing some weird facial hair. You could replace such a bassist with someone else, and no-one would notice - which has happened.

None of them are any good at what I consider the most important musical skill of all: listening. It's one thing to play your part as written; it's a whole different thing to listen to the other members of your band and respond in a musical way. There are some recent bands who do this, such as Muse or The Arcade Fire, and I'm interested in learning about some more. Lady Gaga is a weird one: I don't like her style, but there's something more going on there e.g. she really can play the piano, and knows names like Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush, which is more than can be said about your typical talent show winner.

What do I want? I want to hear smart music, from people who know what they are doing, and why they are doing it. People who make music because they love music, not because it's a ticket to fame, not because "that's what you do", not because of the lifestyle. I want to know that they take pride in their work, and aren't just going through the motions, that they come off the stage with such a musical buzz that they can't sleep, that they could go on all night and not repeat themselves, if they were allowed to.

I find myself turning more to veterans for musical inspiration. For example, here's a new track by three guys with over 100 years in the music industry between them; who just got together in a room, jammed a bit, then recorded some of the most startling music I've heard this century:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_KVHPG5bbg

Oranage2

All for the uk chart

Number one today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg

Number 1 30th october 2001 - cause I got high

Number 1 30th october 1991 - the fly U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_82IYrdM2vU

81 - its my party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vERQfc2nw6M

71 - maggie may rod stewart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5hYlUsQ0s

Each decade has their fair sheer of crap in my opinion

Mindkiller

The Fly was great. Acthtung Baby is the only U2 album I can still listen to regularly.

jaffacakesyum

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

It is kind of funny, the subjectivity of music.

For example -

The Killers - ****
MGMT - a couple of good tunes
Sigur Ros - love these guys
Coldplay - ****
Snow Patrol - one good tune that rapidly got old.
LCD Soundsystem - hipster ****
Hot Chip - two good tunes
Regina Spektor - ****
Arcade Fire - over hyped ****
The Shins - I like these guys
MIA - Ramadanman's refix kills anything her actual producers did for her.
The White Stripes - ****
Arctic Monkeys - love the first album, honestly haven't heard anything since.

I guarantee i could list 10 acts and you'd think they were all ****. I'm sure there is some wanker out there with a detailed theory about why we like what we like but that kills for the fun for me.

Agreed. It's completely subjective.

As for the highlighted part of your post, I'm one of the rare people who likes all types of music. I don't get why people restrict themselves to, for example, 60s/70s rock music (albeit one of my favourite genres) and then refuse to listen to anything 'mainstream'.

It's not 'cool' to like bands like Coldplay, Snow Patrol, U2 etc. but I can appreciate these are very good very successful bands. Not everything they release is great but they are mainstream for a reason

Eve_Dublin

The problem as i see it is that there's so MUCH music nowadays. Rhianna, for example, is churning them out like a mad yoke. I can't keep up. Back in MY day, a single was in the charts for a few weeks or maybe even weeks and weeks. Enough time for you to go into town and buy a single and you'd hear everyone singing it and it'd be well known. Seems like the charts changes daily and of course that comes to down to easier access of music by downloading. I can't keep up. Also bands tend to last a year or two but very few have any longevity beyond their 2nd album.

There's still a lot of good music out there though, at least from my point of view but there's just a lot more crap being churned out because of demand. People's attention spans like those of children and demand constant change.

It'll be interesting to see how we look on the past 10 years 10 years down the road. I think people were saying similar stuff in the 90s.

McCruiskeen

There is so much wonderful music of all types being made than ever before and it has never been easier to access it. We have immediate access to the whole world's music and some people are saying that music today is **** - for eff's sake!!!

Sure chart music might be ****, but chart music was always and will always be ****. But no one who actually loves or cares about music gives a toss about that anyway.

So stop all being a bunch of bitter rose-tinted grumps.

Dudess

McCruiskeen wrote: »

There is so much wonderful music of all types being made than ever before and it has never been easier to access it. We have immediate access to the whole world's music and some people are saying that music today is **** - for eff's sake!!!

Sure chart music might be ****, but chart music was always and will always be ****. But no one who actually loves or cares about music gives a toss about that anyway.

So stop all being a bunch of bitter rose-tinted grumps.

Chart music wasn't always as sh1t as it is today.

Dudess

Oranage2 wrote: »

All for the uk chart

Number one today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg

Number 1 30th october 2001 - cause I got high

Number 1 30th october 1991 - the fly U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_82IYrdM2vU

81 - its my party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vERQfc2nw6M

71 - maggie may rod stewart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5hYlUsQ0s

Each decade has their fair sheer of crap in my opinion

Prior to 2001, all great songs by people with talent.

leahyl

One persons trash is another persons treasure - :-)

Everyone has different tastes in music - I don't discriminate in that if a song is catchy and I can sing along to it I don't give two s**ts who sings it or what decade it's from. I have quite a diverse music collection :-D

parrai

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

The problem as i see it is that there's so MUCH music nowadays. Rhianna, for example, is churning them out like a mad yoke. I can't keep up. Back in MY day, a single was in the charts for a few weeks or maybe even weeks and weeks. Enough time for you to go into town and buy a single and you'd hear everyone singing it and it'd be well known. Seems like the charts changes daily and of course that comes to down to easier access of music by downloading. I can't keep up. Also bands tend to last a year or two but very few have any longevity beyond their 2nd album.

There's still a lot of good music out there though, at least from my point of view but there's just a lot more crap being churned out because of demand. People's attention spans like those of children and demand constant change.

It'll be interesting to see how we look on the past 10 years 10 years down the road. I think people were saying similar stuff in the 90s.

This is true...
In the 80s, a single, in order to reach no.1, would have to reach sales of 800,000 to a 1 million in the UK. So there was a different marketing strategy applied to now. Also, there was no downloading. The only way a single was 'leaked' was when the record company gave to a radio station to play as an exclusive. There was total control, in every aspect. A band could be around for a lot longer then because of this type of marketing, which I always thought was better.

Now, if a single gets 70,000 -80,000 units sold it can be no.1!! That is why the are 'churning' them out.

Every generation has it's 'music is crap now' buzz going on. What it really is, is peoples' lives move on and music is not 'Top Of The Pops' anymore...
So people lose touch with what is going on... As someone said earlier, a tune is a tune, to my ears... If I hear something I like, I download and straight on to the Ipod it goes.

Dudess

There was a time when it was actually exciting to find out who was number one, and watching Top of the Pops was class. Even though there would be rubbish on it, there would always be some great pop tunes also. When you think that Westlife's equivalent in the '80s was Duran Duran...

Songs would go to number one for ages too - and would often take a while to get there. Coming straight in at number one was very unusual.

I don't usually do "It were better in my day" stuff, but the above is indisputable.

Saila

Dudess wrote: »

There was a time when it was actually exciting to find out who was number one, and watching Top of the Pops was class. Even though there would be rubbish on it, there would always be some great pop tunes also. When you think that Westlife's equivalent in the '80s was Duran Duran...

Songs would go to number one for ages too - and would often take a while to get there. Coming straight in at number one was very unusual.

I don't usually do "It were better in my day" stuff, but the above is indisputable.

to reach number 1 all the big record companies have to do is buy few thousand~ cant remember the number, but it was shocking to realise this is how easy it is to get to nbr 1. you can see why the music industry is the way it is with trades like that happening though

sick..

Logical Fallacy

Saila wrote: »

to reach number 1 all the big record companies have to do is buy few thousand~ cant remember the number, but it was shocking to realise this is how easy it is to get to nbr 1. you can see why the music industry is the way it is with trades like that happening though

sick..

In fairness, once again this is an issue that can be put down to radio. The higher the chart placing the more it will be featured on a radio's playlist.

tayto lover

I would like to propose that a Band is NOT called a Band unless they play musical instruments. Rubbish like Boyzone, Westlife and all the other crowds who do not play musical instruments but sing other artists hits should not be given air time.
Anyone to second my proposal, please ?

leggo

People were saying the same thing 10 years ago, when the big thing was to take a classic ballad, put a house beat and an unknown female lyricist behind it, and butcher it repetitively. Before that, it was tacky boybands with big hair. Battle of who could look the most like a tranny in the 80's. Abba in the 70's. The Monkey's in the 60's. Chubby Checker trying to fit the word 'Twist' into as many similar sounding beats as possible in the 50's.

Music isn't getting worse. It's just a pain in the hole outgrowing it and being confronted with the reality that you're no longer relevant, you don't 'get it' anymore. So the easiest way to deal with that is blame the rest of the world and convince yourself you're right.

RichieC

Donald_ducked wrote: »

The difference between those eras and now is that all the artists listed above were mainstream and accessible to everybody. Now you have to look a lot harded to find decent music

lastfm... finding good music is in fact easier than it has ever been in the history of the universe as we know it.

bnt

I'm currently doing some mentoring of 1st year university students; we play some music while they're working, so we invited some suggestions for songs to play. None of the mentors had heard of any of the suggestions, even though some of us are just a few years older (early 20s), so we had to look them up ... and say "hell, no". I heard one of them in a shop today, something about "moving like Jagger" ... awful. Lazy rhythm sample loop, "vocalist" Auto-Tuned to Death ... totally forgettable.

We're creating a generation of kids who think there are shortcuts to making music ... because we give them those shortcuts. Games like RockBand and Guitar Hero let them play at it, while software applications like Ableton Live or GarageBand let them throw together some loops and call it a song. If every home had a piano ... it probably wouldn't help.

Twee.

If you think there's only bad music out there these days then you're doing it wrong. Look a little harder.

bnt

Twee. wrote: »

If you think there's only bad music out there these days then you're doing it wrong. Look a little harder.

Was that aimed at me? I have no trouble finding good music; I'm more concerned about the people who aren't even looking for it.

TimeToShine

bnt wrote: »

I'm currently doing some mentoring of 1st year university students; we play some music while they're working, so we invited some suggestions for songs to play. None of the mentors had heard of any of the suggestions, even though some of us are just a few years older (early 20s), so we had to look them up ... and say "hell, no". I heard one of them in a shop today, something about "moving like Jagger" ... awful. Lazy rhythm sample loop, "vocalist" Auto-Tuned to Death ... totally forgettable.

We're creating a generation of kids who think there are shortcuts to making music ... because we give them those shortcuts. Games like RockBand and Guitar Hero let them play at it, while software applications like Ableton Live or GarageBand let them throw together some loops and call it a song. If every home had a piano ... it probably wouldn't help.

jesus, awful awful load of overplayed tripe

edit: i think twee was aiming that at the OP, not you.

Twee.

bnt wrote: »

Was that aimed at me? I have no trouble finding good music; I'm more concerned about the people who aren't even looking for it.

Nope, not aimed at you at all. It's fair for people to like whatever they want, regardless of how "good" it is. My problem lies with people who moan about there being "no good music out there". Maybe not in the charts, but it's out there.

Kojak wrote: »

Ever since Richie Kavanagh wasn't making number 1 hits, music has nose-dived rapidly.

Bring back Richie I say!!!!!!

Ode to Richie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPwZAgGd21I

starlit

Lovin' the album 'because of the times' by kings of leon, adele's songs are great, and love lady gaga's edge of glory!

TimeToShine

Tom Waits' new album is pretty good.

Oranage2

Kanye west is the modern day Jesus!

Captain Graphite

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Arcade Fire - over hyped ****

:eek:

I can't imagine it being possible to over-hype Arcade Fire. Three amazing albums, and they're the best live band I've ever seen. Not bad for a band in an era where all music supposedly sucks! :pac:

There's definitely still good music being made today; people who complain about all music being shíte nowadays are simply not trying hard enough to find good new music.

Oh and I don't care what anyone says; as pop music goes, Lady Gaga is a damn good popstar!

bennygood

Arcade Fire are damn good. I have to say I really liked the song 'Sprawl II (mountains Beyond Mountains)' more than any other track on the new album. I reckon that chick needs to sing more of the songs on the next album. Benny out.

Captain Graphite

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Arcade Fire do suck.

In your opinion, maybe. I think it's a ridiculous thing to say; while they may not be to your liking that doesn't mean that they "suck".

To me bands like that are part of the problem with music today.

Oh ffs. :rolleyes: Bands like that?
You mean bands who write their own material and release highly acclaimed albums? Bands that don't rely on reality TV to get their music out there, or on autotune to make it sound good? Bands with members that play about fifteen different instruments live on stage?

Yeah, that sounds awful, doesn't it?

And if they're the best live band you've ever seen, you need to see more bands.

I've seen Radiohead, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, among others. While they were all excellent, Arcade Fire stood out as the best. Maybe it was because I was right at the front but that gig will always be special for me. And trust me, I'm planning on seeing plenty more bands in the future. I don't expect many to come close to topping that gig though.

InTheTrees

Its changing thats all.

The dross is still out there, the mass produced, mindless crap thats churned out to seperate teenagers from their cash.

But I think there's also more quality music then ever before.

We may never see the huge super groups of the past because the marketing and selling of music has changed but the quality is still there for sure.

Dudess

Yeah I think Arcade Fire are extremely talented. I don't think they belong in the same category as Snow Patrol et al. I think Coldplay have gotten a lot better in recent years too.

PeefsPixie

The problem definitely is that music is just so disposable now. The people who will be talked about and still listened to years from now are few and far between. Im not far off 21 and since I was 16 my favourites bands/singers were The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher etc. Thats the kind of music that never dies out
Dont even get me started on crap like X Factor and the Eurovision... None of those things are actually about singing =/