Worst year ever for music?

Joe prim

I don't know how you can slag off 2016, when it witnessed the release of Sir Andrew Davis's new recording of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius!

Joe prim

Deleted User wrote: »

1828.

Beethoven dead, Mozart a distant memory...

With the greatest of respect, sir, in 1828, Paganini had commenced his European tour, which was to bring him to international attention, Schubert published his Winterreise song-cycle (although he also died, which was a downer, man), and Chopin, for one, was at the height of his powers. I must put it to you therefore, sir, that you are talking through your proverbial orifice.

sryanbruen

Joe prim wrote: »

I don't know how you can slag off 2016, when it witnessed the release of Sir Andrew Davis's new recording of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius!

May I ask you, who in God's name is Sir Andrew Davis?

Custardpi

I've never been a fan of absolute relativism when it comes to cultural matters. While obviously people's opinions are going to be different & subjective can we really say that all music is as good or bad as it's ever been & any objections to this argument are just based on people being "too old, man!"? Are there really no cultural highs & lows? Are those who look to the past & hold the eras of Hendrix, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin etc to be better than the fairly forgettable Indie/electronica scene these days just musical snobs? While I'd agree that bad, cheesy music is probably no worse than in previous eras (I actually quite like a lot of pop music, not knocking it as a whole genre) I'm really not convinced that at the other end of the spectrum there is music being produced today that will stand the test of time & still be recognised as great in a few decades.

While it's always going to be hard to find an exactly objective standard for what's good or bad & while I think you'll find skilled musicians in just about any era since our ancestors started banging rocks together in a systemic manner I simply don't see these past few years as being ones which people will look back on with nostalgia for the music, except on a purely personal level i.e. the songs that remind them of their youth.

We're probably in by no means the worst year ever for music but can we set any standards for greatness at all? Where is the 2016 equivalent of Dark Side Of The Moon - ground breaking album still revered 40 years later? Who excites & scandalises the music scene like The Rolling Stones in their heyday? Going further back who in 2016 is revolutionising the Western understanding of rhythmic structure in the same way that Dave Brubeck & Joe Morello did on Take Five? What female chanteuse of today will be listened to with the same awe in decades to come that today one listens to Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald?

In short I can readily agree that our musical lows are probably a constant across the ages but don't tell me our musical highs haven't been higher in the past. As difficult as judging cultural output in an objective way is just throwing up our hands & saying that it's all subjective & everything depends on one's age will lead to cultural stagnation.

I wonder as an aside if in say 30 years time the television industry (or whatever technology television + streaming morphs into) runs out of ideas, ambition & funding & is reduced to producing run of the mill fare along with the cheap trash that's here already will those who then look back nostagically towards the golden era of The Wire, Breaking Bad, Forbrydelsen etc be mocked in the same way that their musical equivalents are?

Capt'n Midnight

compare the UK chart this week
in 1981 http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19810308/7501/
or 1980 http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19800309/7501/
or 1979 http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19790304/7501/

to now
www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20160304/7501/

Ol' Donie

What year was that drippy pillock out of Coldplay born?

That was a dreadful, dreadful year.

Capt'n Midnight

Custardpi wrote: »

I wonder as an aside if in say 30 years time the television industry (or whatever technology television + streaming morphs into) runs out of ideas, ambition & funding & is reduced to producing run of the mill fare along with the cheap trash that's here already will those who then look back nostagically towards the golden era of The Wire, Breaking Bad, Forbrydelsen etc be mocked in the same way that their musical equivalents are?

It's already happened in Cinema.

With the exception of Avatar, Titanic and Inception and cartoons the biggest 50 grossing movies are fall into one (or more) of the following categories.

Sequel/Reboot/Remake
Very successful Books or Comics with a proven fan base
And many of the cartoons fall into this.

All safe stuff. Avatar and Inception both relied on special special effects.

Titanic sort of bucks the trend but it is old enough to drink.
Armageddon in 1998 was the last time the biggest grossing film of the year wasn't a reboot/remake/sequel or cartoon.

donegaLroad

I remember around 1985 being particularly unremarkable for all chart music, with the notable exception of a few songs

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult.

In a Lifetime by Clannad featuring Bono

Money's Too Tight to Mention by Simply Red. (wasn't bad)


the rest of the charts was meh

Custardpi

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It's already happened in Cinema.

With the exception of Avatar, Titanic and Inception and cartoons the biggest 50 grossing movies are fall into one (or more) of the following categories.

Sequel/Reboot/Remake
Very successful Books or Comics with a proven fan base
And many of the cartoons fall into this.

All safe stuff. Avatar and Inception both relied on special special effects.

Titanic sort of bucks the trend but it is old enough to drink.
Armageddon in 1998 was the last time the biggest grossing film of the year wasn't a reboot/remake/sequel or cartoon.

It's a pity that the Hollywood side of things has gone that way alright, though there are great films being produced outside of Hollywood, both in the US itself & abroad. It doesn't even need to be as bland as it is. BBC critic Mark Kermode has actually argued that if you actually look at the numbers so long as a blockbuster movie follows a few simple rules they're virtually guaranteed not to lose money, though in some cases they may have to rely on Bluray/DVD sales etc to get into the black.

MacauDragon

All I know is that we as a country were responsible for B*witched.

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

Yes...Jesus Christ

MistyCheese

2018. You think decent music has been in decline lately? It will reach its nadir in 2018. But it'll pick up after that (technically towards the end of 2018) and 2020 will be a pretty good year for music. Especially the summer of 2020.

Joe prim

sryanbruen wrote: »

May I ask you, who in God's name is Sir Andrew Davis?

You certainly may, and almost certainly will.

Chain Smoker

MistyCheese wrote: »

2018. You think decent music has been in decline lately? It will reach its nadir in 2018. But it'll pick up after that (technically towards the end of 2018) and 2020 will be a pretty good year for music. Especially the summer of 2020.

Yeah, I kind of get what you're saying. That's about the time where the first generation of artists who have only experienced a post-9/11 world will emerge, it'll allow for a new perspective in a way we haven't really been able to muster in that past 15 years.

Wulfie

sryanbruen wrote: »

What was the worst year ever for music

2016 - worst year ever for music in my opinion.

This is only my opinion. Let's see yours.

I don't have any idea of the names of the artists I'm hearing on the radio. The music selection I hear on Today fm is as good new and diverse as any year I've lived through. Were not even 2.5 months into this momentous year.

ToddyDoody

Maybe it was me but the year that Jennifer Paige song Crush was out was a bit crap if i recall, was 1998, 1999 or so I think.

Olishi4

My worst year for music was 2001 or 2002. We previously only had cablelink and got ntl with all the music stations. My dad would skip through the music stations but never leave a fcukin song on. "Ah dad I love that song", next channel, "oh leave that one on", next channel ugh!

Then he started a game of "what song do you think will be next" and would ask you whenever he changed the channel. I never got it right

whisky_galore

All music went to sh*te after the War....the Great War.

Mister Vain

I think this is the worst song ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEEQ2FmWQQk

BuilderPlumber

While there is no such thing as the worst year for music, there is definitely a worst year for the type of music being promoted by the Irish media. Pick any year from around 1995 to 2016 and you have your answer. Great music was recorded by all types of singers and bands during that era but as all the media seems to have got interested in over that time are boybands, talent competitions and of late country pop/boyfolk music. Any year when the media are promoting pop singers and bands like Derek Ryan, Westlife and The Original Rudeboys cannot be good.

Elemonator

It's only March, its going to get 10 times worse!

Everyone goes on about how the 80's were a golden time for music, but as a musician I can tell you that you've only forgotten the crap from then

jacool

donegaLroad wrote: »

I remember around 1985 being particularly unremarkable for all chart music, with the notable exception of a few songs

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult.

In a Lifetime by Clannad featuring Bono

Money's Too Tight to Mention by Simply Red. (wasn't bad)


the rest of the charts was meh

I think 1985 was the best year of the 1980s
The Cult, The Smiths, The Cure, REM all had albums this year - The Wedding Present released a single, and I can listen to Paul Hardcastle and a-ha without being ironic about it, and I love the track that unleashed Stock Aitken and Waterman on us - "You Spin Me Round".
This isn't about the charts, thankfully.

Hesh's Umpire

donegaLroad wrote: »

I remember around 1985 being particularly unremarkable for all chart music, with the notable exception of a few songs

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult.

In a Lifetime by Clannad featuring Bono

Money's Too Tight to Mention by Simply Red. (wasn't bad)


the rest of the charts was meh

Eh, The Smiths released Meat Is Murder and The Jesus and Mary Chain released Psychocandy in 1985. Didn't matter what else happened that year!

Custardpi

Elemonator wrote: »

Everyone goes on about how the 80's were a golden time for music

Everyone? In my experience the only people who say that are those whose musical tastes started in 1980 & ended in 1990 at the latest. While there was certainly some decent music made during that period & you could certainly argue (not necessarily correctly of course!) that the best artists of the time were better than their equivalents today I really don't think it was all that great in the grand scheme of things, certainly not a golden age.

We're going through a bit of a dark age musically at the moment (the equivalent of the late 80s to early 90s between the death of hair metal & the arrival of the grunge scene) so the 80s viewed through the lens of nostalgia might be exaggerated in quality.

Mister Vain

This song is brand new and its only savage. My faith is restored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG91WZBVui4

sryanbruen

Still no 2016 song I like (apart from that one that somebody showed me on this)!

the evasion_kid

Music has been in decline the last few years....nothing but bubblegum noise

Cathy.C

I think with each passing year the ratio of good music to what is put out declines further and further.

Take a look at the Top 20 from almost any week in the 70's and 80's (and perhaps the 90's) and you'll see at least a few songs considered classics today. Whereas look at the Top 20 from the last twenty years or thereabouts and you would struggle to find one or a month.

It's not that I don't believe there is good music still being made, it's just that I can be arsed looking for it anymore. There is far too much crap to wade through in order to find it. Mostly when I'm playing music it's either old stuff or new stuff by older artists. Some will say that's a sign I'm getting old but personally I just think it's a sign that things are getting shitter.

Mike Litoris

Every year for the last 15.

Anesthetize

Just curious as to what new albums people have listened to so far this year. Because if you've listened to very little, or nothing at all, it proves that you're not actively seeking out music and that you've no business posting in this thread.

Also, the charts are not indicative of anything.

LightsStillOn

Cathy.C wrote: »

It's not that I don't believe there is good music still being made, it's just that I can be arsed looking for it anymore. There is far too much crap to wade through in order to find it. Mostly when I'm playing music it's either old stuff or new stuff by older artists. Some will say that's a sign I'm getting old but personally I just think it's a sign that things are getting shitter.

That's your problem right there, you're not looking for new music to listen to so how can you say it's all gone to ****? It's easier than ever to find new music to listen to now, and the whole wading through tons of stuff to find something good isn't true either. Because with things like Spotify it'll tailor the music it shows you to your taste by what you've already been listening to.

tigerboon

Anesthetize wrote: »

Just curious as to what new albums people have listened to so far this year. Because if you've listened to very little, or nothing at all, it proves that you're not actively seeking out music and that you've no business posting in this thread.

Also, the charts are not indicative of anything.

There's another thing. Why limit yourself to new stuff. So long as it's new to you. There's a whole world of music out there. There's old stuff that may surprise you. There's album tracks from band you never liked because their singles didn't grab you. Live versions of songs that are great although the studio versions are pretty bland. Music from bands that are not known here.
The side bar on you tube is your friend.

Jimmy Garlic

Every year since about 1995 has been a bad year for mainstream music. Got much much worse over the last 10 years or so. All prepackaged, auto-tuned, warbley Xfactor type trash, festival bilge like Mumford and Sons, or completely braindead RnB & (c)Rap. None of it will be remembered in 20 years time.

scuba8

whatismyname wrote: »

Definitely 1971

This has to be a troll. 1971 has to be one of the best years

Led Zeppelin 1V,
Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers',
David Bowie 'Hunky Dory',
The Who. 'Who's Next'
Marvin Gaye 'What's Going On',
Joni Mitchell 'Blue',
The Doors 'LA Woman',
Carole King ' Tapestry'

Need I go on.

Jimmy Garlic

tigerboon wrote: »

The side bar on you tube is your friend.

The side bar on Youtube is absoutely useless now for finding new music since it only shows videos closely related to whatever you searched for. Eg, search for AC/DC for example, all you will see in the side bar is AC/DC, or stuff very closely related to AC/DC, nothing else.

buried

New Andy Stott LP out today, got my vinyl copy in the post this morning which I'm currently very much enjoying now with a few beers. 2016 FTW

tigerboon

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

The side bar on Youtube is absoutely useless now for finding new music since it only shows videos closely related to whatever you searched for. Eg, search for AC/DC for example, all you will see in the side bar is AC/DC, or stuff very closely related to AC/DC, nothing else.

That's true if you're viewing a mega hit like Back in Black, but if you're playing lesser known stuff it will suggest similar lesser known stuff. Also, if you're playing a live version it will suggest other live versions. There is plenty of songs where I think the studio version is very so-so but a particular live version is brilliant....narcotic influences no doubt but who cares as long as the music's good. Same goes for covers and remixes.You might not like the one playing but might love one of the suggested ones.

colly4211

Not so bad I think, anthrax had for all kings there best album in years. Ricky Warwick released when patsy cline was crazy/ hearts on trees double album Savage stuff and slayer released repentless an absolute cracker of an album so fairly good imo

HardenendMan

Don't know if mentioned yet but Coldplay's song Adventure of a Lifetime is a fookin tune!

Anesthetize

tigerboon wrote: »

There's another thing. Why limit yourself to new stuff. So long as it's new to you. There's a whole world of music out there. There's old stuff that may surprise you. There's album tracks from band you never liked because their singles didn't grab you. Live versions of songs that are great although the studio versions are pretty bland. Music from bands that are not known here.
The side bar on you tube is your friend.

Who said anything about limiting yourself to new stuff?

sryanbruen

HardenendMan wrote: »

Don't know if mentioned yet but Coldplay's song Adventure of a Lifetime is a fookin tune!

Am I the only one who doesn't like that song Jesus Christ?

Shannon757

sryanbruen wrote: »

Am I the only one who doesn't like that song Jesus Christ?

Don't know that song, could you sing a few bars?

Anesthetize

Shannon757 wrote: »

Don't know that song, could you sing a few bars?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjPyvoLXPs4

sryanbruen

Shannon757 wrote: »

Don't know that song, could you sing a few bars?

hilarious (not)

sryanbruen

sryanbruen wrote: »

Am I the only one who doesn't like that song Jesus Christ?

Hadn't heard it until now.

Bland harmless pop. Can't say it's a huge shock though.

Ol' Donie

HardenendMan wrote: »

Don't know if mentioned yet but Coldplay's song Adventure of a Lifetime is a fookin tune!

Coldplay hold the distinction of writing and recording the highest number of songs that have contributed absolutely nothing to society.

More than any other band ever. (It's not even close!)

whatismyname

scuba8 wrote: »

This has to be a troll. 1971 has to be one of the best years

Led Zeppelin 1V,
Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers',
David Bowie 'Hunky Dory',
The Who. 'Who's Next'
Marvin Gaye 'What's Going On',
Joni Mitchell 'Blue',
The Doors 'LA Woman',
Carole King ' Tapestry'

Need I go on.

Has to be a troll

Maybe something just went over your head.

Then again, maybe something went over mine

Wompa1

There's been over produced garbage since the late 80's and on.

For some reason 1996 sticks out in my mind as a particularly bad year. Ace of Base, Take That, Boyzone, Celine Dion, Gina G, Spice Girls, Louise...that Spaceman song. All kinds of garbage...obviously some good stuff in there too but the bad was so bad.

Ally Dick

1977 - the year punk junk came along

BuilderPlumber

With all the time given to woeful Irish modern country music by the Irish media, 2015 and 2016 seem to top my list of worst years for music in Ireland anyway. As if media exposure of boybands, Original Rudeboys, and competition winners wasn't enough, they promote this even worse form of music. Of course a lot of good music is made in these 2 years too but the media couldn't be bothered showcasing it on their primetime TV shows. Tubridy's unbelievable obsession with this rubbish is beyond a joke at this stage. I always thought he was into Sinatra for some reason. But apparently not. Any selfrespecting Sinatra fan would not listen to modern Irish country music for 1 second.

PTH2009

Everything's ****e since Roy Orbison died