Was music better years ago than today? (page 3)

yxl1

saintsatan,

you mentioned that rockandroll matured in the seventies, and peaked in the eighties. What exactly was that "peak"?

maxwell

I'd have to agree with Abaddon. You have to ask what is better. Everyone has their preferences or favorites.

I like jazz and my favorite type of jazz is the bop that was hot in the 50's and 60's with players like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, etc. Since not many people play that kind of music today, I suppose I'd say that music then was better than is today. But then not many people played that kind of music in the 1920's. So I'd also say that music in the 50's and 60's was better than music in the 1920's although the swing and jazz music that was happening in the 1920's led up to what came out in the 50's and 60's.

Thunder Rider

There was a time when musicians created and expressed themselves in their music and it became popular on its own merit. Today it seems to me that the music industry and media ram the new stuff down the throats of the youth of the world and convince them that to be popular thay must like it.The Americam Idol series is proof of that. No more does a band or artist have to work their way from obscurity to fame. They just need a hook be it exposing the majority of their flesh, exploiting the harshness of inner city impoverished life or appealing to those that feel they do not fit into the mainstream of society. Some of the new music I find quite good, variety is a wonderous thing, but crap is crap.

I tend toward classic rock and some of the new rock bands. I enjoy opera sung by Pavaroti. I can tolerate some of the progressive country music and the old stuff. Hate that nasal sounding stuff though.I dont care for the hip hop stuff and the whole Britney and her clone things. I fargin hate rap. Rap is not music!

I have made comments on my disdain for rap music in the past and have had some bring up that Will Smith is a rapper. Will Smith does not reflect the image that the majority of rappers express. His lyrics do not glorify violence and hate. His use of profanity is quite limited. When every other word in a rappers vocabulary is F this or MF that I find it to have no redeemnig qualities.

I guess you could say that I believe music was better years ago. Look at the longevity of artist like Springstein, The Stones, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Styx, their stuff is timeless. How many of todays music stars will prove to be marketable in 20 years? Only time will tell.

Thunder

Hamas

Most producers have ran out of ideas.

Rock is just re runs of old sounds, hip hop is progressing into a sad pop scene and the pop scene itself is a joke.

The only music progressing is dance and DJ.

drwtsn32

I like many different kinds of music, but mostly I listen to Rock or Pop. I liked 80's music a lot and didn't like too much music from the early 90's, but I like a lot of modern groups: Matchbox 20, Better than Ezra, Coldplay, Jimmy Eat World, Linkin Park, No Doubt, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton...

hillary_step

Abbadon,

This conversation is meaningless unless we define 'better'. Otherwise it's just people waving subjective opinions at each other, which is great fun and all, but not really conclusive.

A good point, though I am not sure that JH meant this to be an academic analysis, in fact his question can only be answered by opinion as no measurement exists that could answer his question in any other way. However, perhaps we can try to make his question a little more definable.

Innovators and copyist. This seems to be the touchstone on which most movements in art are defined. Would we say that the ratio of copyist's to innovators in the popular music industry is a indication of its health, or its malaise?

Best regards - HS

Scully

I'm not sure if this is any indication of anything, but my 9 and 11 year old girls have recently begun listening to ABBA, The Village People and (horrors!) The Bay City Rollers. They also like Avril Lavigne, The Dixie Chicks, Eric Clapton, Genesis and The Backstreet Boys.

They are confusing the hell out of me. LOL

Love, Scully

Was music better years ago than today?