Modern Music

[IanHenry]

After the Rolling Stones thread seemed to get turned into a discussion about music from different era's, I thought the subject deserved a thread of its own.

In the current musical climate, there doesn't seem to be anyone breaking new ground, there are no Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel's experimenting.  The pop World seems to be filled with Femail singers who all sing in the same style, it's difficult to tell one from another.   Given that a large proportion of the music in the charts is written by a just handful of faceless people, to a large extent that's not really surprising.   

Recently a  stall opened at my local, twice-weekly market selling second-hand vinyl, CD's and even cassette tapes, so naturally I ended up talking to the stall holder about the state of dire modern pop music.  He told me that I'd be amazed at the number of young people who come looking for 'old' music, he said he'd even had kids searching for Olivia Newton John records and yes that did amaze me.

Listening to middle-aged people talking about concerts by people like Pink, I've noticed that they never mention the music only the show. 

[sparquelito]

There will always be interesting, thoughtful young songwriters crafting great new music.

The problem is, given the state of today's 'popular' music scene, how are we ever going to get to hear it?

What is sold and pushed out into today's market is by and large formulamatic, repetitive, mindless junk.
Junk that features singing that is computer lilted, auto-tuned, and predictable.
Particularly when it comes to pop-country music.

To listen to ten or more minutes of pop-country music whilst riding around in your car is an invitation to lose your mind, and to lose all will to live.

It always amazes me to perform and sing 'classic rock' and vintage country songs at any give event or show, and to witness young people, and I mean young people, singing along.
Kids in their teens and twenties know every word to every Journey song, every Fleetwood Mac or Bad Company song, and every Hank Williams song.

That should tell modern music producers and music marketing executives something.
Kids would rather dig thru old album bins in search of vintage treasures than tune into their modern pop-hip-hop-rap-dance nonsense.

So, back to my own question, how are we ever going to hear the really good new music?
I guess the answer is right here.
The internet.
Word of mouth.

Click-click-clickity-click.
Shazaam.
There it is.
🙂

[Murph]

A generation that doesn't play instruments, has little use for music. It's background noise to many of them. They don't research the finest sound systems, they pop in ear buds. They don't even invest in the music, it's rented and streamed to them at random.

Many of them don't care about music, or give it a second thought.

[merciful-evans]

 

Trouble is, as we age we still tend to favour what we are familiar with and its harder to be open to something really 'new'. 

New music of worth takes time & patience to find. I've done it, but not for 15 years now. 

Sgt Pepper does. He finds all kinds of stuff and goes to a lot of concerts. 

 

[kelly campbell]

I agree with almost all stated above..I go to a lot of concerts but most have been older acts from my era.   Most of todays music sucks in my opinion.

[IanHenry]

Yes, all very true.  There's always the risk of sounding like your Dad, who in my case was a Jazz drummer. The only time he showed any interest in 'modern' music was if Ginger Baker or John Bonham were on TV, he'd come out of his office, watch, and nod (which I took for approval) then walk back when they'd finished.

[Sgt. Pepper]

33 minutes ago, merciful-evans said:

 

Trouble is, as we age we still tend to favour what we are familiar with and its harder to be open to something really 'new'. 

New music of worth takes time & patience to find. I've done it, but not for 15 years now. 

Sgt Pepper does. He finds all kinds of stuff and goes to a lot of concerts. 

 

Its hard finding new stuff that's listenable to me. I'm kind of on a quest right now to find and listen to stuff I never heard of or didn't ever listen to. I just recently got stuff by a band called Affinity and Help Yourself. Both are English bands I just never heard of. I also got the first two Mink Deville albums. I got Soft Machine - Bundles the one with Allan Holdsworth, I never ever listened to them before. I also stated listening to Wishbone Ash. Seeing that Steve Ford started buying up every Leon Russell album on the planet I started to check him out, as I never listened to him. I knew he wrote A Song For You and Delta Lady and This Masquerade, but that was it. But newer stuff, I used to  be into Jason Isbell and The Drive By Truckers, but they went all Wokie and I gave up on them. I've seen Father John Misty twice. His last few albums were really good especially Pure Comedy and God's Favorite Customer. All The Lumineers albums are really good. III and the last one Brightside I really like. 

But hey all you old guys got the new Rolling Stones album to look forward to that was causing a lot of controversy in the other thread.

I need to get tix to see Government Mule. They will be 45 mins away in October.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[Sgt. Pepper]

48 minutes ago, Murph said:

A generation that doesn't play instruments, has little use for music. It's background noise to many of them. They don't research the finest sound systems, they pop in ear buds. They don't even invest in the music, it's rented and streamed to them at random.

Many of them don't care about music, or give it a second thought.

As true as true can be. 

99% of country out there is Bro country or Barbie's in boots.  Most of their voices are a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Can they sing, yes. Do they all sound the same, Y E S. You know Joni's, Ella's, Dolly's, Reba's, Janis's, and Kate's voices when you hear them. Even if its a song you don't recognize or never heard.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

['Scales]

I was never into pop or country music so couldn't comment on those, but am happy to share that round my area there are a lot of rock bands of many styles (punk, metal, alternative/indie, psychedelic, grunge, thrash... etc etc) of original music and its a mix of all ages. My band has played gigs this year on the same bill as 'kids' 18-22 and regular young bands through to those aged 60 - and its all been good guitar oriented rock.  Many of these bands do record (which seems easier to achieve these days) and promote their music but its all independent of course, so only played on local stations...but assuming the same thing is going on in cities and country town all over, then rock (and other) music seems as strong as ever at the grass roots level.  I don't listen to mainstream music stations (but then I never did) but what I hear occasionally seems like what you all said - same-y and repetitive uninspired formulas - but there is more to music than the mainstream radio - especially nowadays when there would be next to no promotion - do mid-sized record companies still exist?.

I think many kids still play instruments - my own kids don't play in bands but both learned instruments, at least 4 of my 6 nephews play and 2 are probably better guitarists than anyone here, and my great old friend  our band's drummer's son is already a great drummer (in bands) just turned 18. Possibly not as high a percentage of kids play an instrument as back in my day - though I'm not certain of that, but neither am I certain that if we had all had the lures of computer gaming in particular and many other modern options that we'd have all spent as much of our leisure time getting into music either (?)... so there is still some good news for the want of looking!

[Sgt. Pepper]

Since I never listen to the radio anymore I don't hear anything new out there. I have to search or hear about it by word of mouth or read what others are listening to and sample it to see if I like it. 

Gretta Van Fleet are a newish band, but I would rather hear real Zeppelin than a band that is trying to sound like them. 

I've heard of maybe two of these bands.

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/bands-keeping-rock-alive/

https://www.rockandbluesmuse.com/2022/08/26/20-modern-rock-bands-you-need-to-know-about-2022/

https://www.outlookindia.com/business-spotlight/best-new-rock-bands-to-check-out-for-2023-news-247312

[cody78]

The last album I got that was in the top 40 was Lana Del Rey's 'Chemtrails Over the Country Club'. I think it's a fantastic album. In terms of other recent music that is non chart stuff, I really like Marissa Anderson's 'Still Here' album and Nils Frahm's soundtrack for the film Victoria (which I've never seen) to name a couple. I tend to find a lot of music that is new to me, but has been around for a while like Nick Vintskevic 'Songs from the Black Earth'.  In terms of rock I mainly check out older stuff like Circus of Power or Kik Tracee and try and find bands I've never heard of.  I have a stack of CD's from when I did an internship at a magazine specialising in jazz that I still need to fully get through. BBC Radio 6 does a great show on a Sunday afternoon to find new obscure music and that affirms to me that there are a lot of creative musicians out there who are not following the usual predictable path found in a lot of pop stuff. 

[cody78]

26 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Gretta Van Fleet are a newish band, but I would rather hear real Zeppelin than a band that is trying to sound like them. 

Like I said in another topic I do try and stay open to as much as possible, but you just mentioned one of the worst bands of the last few years, the Led Zeppelin tribute band Gretta. I actually can't stand them. A high school band that got lucky! On a positive note, at least they can play to a reasonable level and if you are going to rip off any band it might as well be a good one. 

Edited August 30, 2023 by cody78

[Pinch]

I'm not as into looking up new artists as when I was younger, but I try to make a concerted effort from time to time. As for streaming and all that - love it. It is what you make of it. If someone told me when I was a kid that one day I'd have all the world's albums at my fingertips playing from my phone into cordless in-ears... well, that would be Christmas, wouldn't it?

If we don't take our time to dive as deep into albums because we're spoiled for choice, well, that's our own fault. But yes, obviously it's a human trait to look around and skip tracks. But hey - not the medium's fault.

If there wasn't a Spotify, would we still obsessively search out album after album at 50 like we did when we were 15? I don't think so. It'd be the same, except for we'd have to pay much, much, more for much, much, MUCH less.

That's my opinion anyway.

[Sgt. Pepper]

I just sampled some Lana Del Ray. I can honestly say I was not that impressed. Sounds like something David Lynch might use in a TV show for atmospheric affect. 

[Rabs]

There is new stuff happening, its just that we are all too old and set in our ways to appreciate it..

And younger people I have seen are in to both new and old...  My 15 year old niece is in to Queen, Nirvana, David Bowie and all sorts.. She also likes the Gorillaz, Arctic Monkeys and Taylor Swift. So go figure???  She is also learning to play guitar and also has an ever growing vinyl collection.

Theres also that band Polyphia who I think are really boring but at least they are doing their own thing and they seem to have quite a big following. 

The world, our culture and society are constantly changing. Keeping up with it is impossible for me and I have no desire to do so anyway. Im happy with the stuff I like. I do try to be open minded (remember the Ren thread). But a lot of it just doesnt appeal to me or it seems us old rocker types...  But then theres nothing wrong with that, theres no right or wrong here just what you like and what you dont like. According to my mum for instance good music stopped in the 60s.. But I know thats not true even if I love 60s music.

Finding new music has been much harder since MTV but it is out there if you look hard enough and can be open minded enough for new music not to sound like the music you do like.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Rabs

[NighthawkChris]

14 hours ago, Murph said:

A generation that doesn't play instruments, has little use for music. It's background noise to many of them. They don't research the finest sound systems, they pop in ear buds. They don't even invest in the music, it's rented and streamed to them at random.

Many of them don't care about music, or give it a second thought.

Amen!

[NighthawkChris]

13 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

As true as true can be. 

99% of country out there is Bro country or Barbie's in boots.  Most of their voices are a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Can they sing, yes. Do they all sound the same, Y E S. You know Joni's, Ella's, Dolly's, Reba's, Janis's, and Kate's voices when you hear them. Even if its a song you don't recognize or never heard.

Amen, again 😁

[Murph]

There's plenty of good modern music.

 

 

[Murph]

 

[merciful-evans]

1 hour ago, Murph said:

There's plenty of good modern music.

 

 

Fair point and very good stuff there. Though to be picky Murph, these are young players playing an older style of music

[Grog]

All you have to do is listen to TV commercials to hear what kind of music sells the merchandise or new pharmaceuticals to the largest audience……….. 

[Sgt. Pepper]

What are we going to consider new. New on the scene or just a new release they put out. Molly has been doing it since 2006 and Billy since 2013. So 17 and 10 years, And as Merc alluded to they are playing is what I would consider Bluegrass. That's been around longer that dirt. Both can play circles around me with 4 broken fingers.

It like when I tried to listen to Joe Satriani, yes you can technically and proficiently put 1000 notes into 14 seconds of music, but do you need to?

Edited August 31, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[Larsongs]

I think if a Band or Artist comes along who is “truly” Great everyone will know.. You won’t have to search..

There's no money in Music today.. Kids are smarter today. There isn’t a lot of motivation to invest 10,000 hours doing something that most likely doesn’t pay.. Most Gigs don’t pay enough to cover your expenses. Some don’t pay at all. You gotta be crazy to be a musician! Better off getting a good Education & become an Engineer or whatever.. 

Nothing really revolutionary has come along since the 60’s.. Unless you call Hip Hop revolutionary.. So young Bands that do exist will play a lot of that music.. Sprinkled with some 70’s, 80’s, 90’s & a few newer ones.. 

Whether it’s a blessing or a curse.. I don’t know.. But, if it’s in your blood there’s nothing you can do about…. Play for the music.. 

[Sgt. Pepper]

52 minutes ago, Larsongs said:

Nothing really revolutionary has come along since the 60’s.. Unless you call Hip Hop revolutionary.. 

 

Hip Hop is a bit of "C" and a lot of "Rap" and if you put the two together you get  . . .

Edited August 31, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[cody78]

Love the bluegrass stuff. The first one reminds me of the Osborne Brothers (is it a cover of one of their songs even?!), but I think the original post was regarding chart music as in Billboard 100 or UK top 40. For distinctive voices in the UK top 40, I would say that with Florence & the Machine you can always tell her voice and they have some pretty interesting songs...not just regular pop, however, they have been around for over 10 years so not exactly 'new'.

Edited August 31, 2023 by cody78