Why Old Music is Killing New Music
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- In this episode I am discussing the new Ted Gioia article in The Atlantic called Is Old Music Killing New Music? Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. We will discuss why. Follow Ted on Twitter @tedgioia
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My take: In the 1970s, you could hear Gladys Knight, Led Zeppelin, and Johnny Cash on the same station. We all grew up appreciating a wide variety of music. Today it’s all compartmentalized, you won’t hear anything outside your genre on “your” station.
This comment should have way more likes than it does. A very valid point.
Very true
Quite so. Even in the 80s there was far more aesthetic latitude per station. In Providence, where I grew up, you would hear Stevie Wonder, The Cars, Tina Turner, the Pointer Sisters, The Clash and Metallica in a single, back-to-back sequence. Nowadays we all live in our little musical silos, oblivious.
It's stultifyingly dull, listening to just one type or genre of music, and causes stagnation, because, if one only has one influence , where are new ideas going to come from?
@@alanrprice It probably doesn't help now that there is a war being waged against "cultural appropriation." Remember when we used to call artists who borrowed from other styles and traditions "progressive?" That open-minded spirit is now disparaged as "colonialist."
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”
― Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter is an artist, Michael
I believe Thompson was referring to the TV industry when he made that comment, but both industries have had their share of thieves and pimps in the money trenches. An interesting read on the commerce side of the music industry is Fred Goodman's "Mansion on the Hill."
Whish I could share the H.S.T. quote.
Ouch
///THOUGHT THE QUOTE WAS "THERES ALSO A DARK SIDE"
I was a senior in high school in 1976. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am for that. My formative years were muscle cars, Rock n Roll, and ungenetically modified cannabis. There was respectful dialog in politics, science was revered, and social tolerance was ascending. When pondering my good fortune, I have come to realize that WHEN I was born is every bit as important as WHERE I was born.
Amen to that! Be nice to have some of our cars today from way back than, even with an 8 track or cassette- although digital is a nice feature today.😉
Very true
Was going to upvote your comment...until you had to shoehorn in the superfluous drug abuse promotion propaganda. I downvoted it for that alone.
I’m a 71 baby so I grew up surrounded by the best 60s and 70s music which was amazing. The Beatles, The Shadows, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Roy Orbison, ABBA the Bee Gees, the Carpenters, The Eagjes, glam, even punk. So much variety and amazing songs. Then I remember hearing songs like Heart of Glass, Wuthering Heights, I Feel Love, Cars, Stand and Deliver and Girls On Film for the first time and wow they blew me away. Such variety and energy and creativity !! I am so lucky to have the mid 70s to mid 80s as my formative years. I felt it was special even then but I didn’t realise just how much til years later ❤
@@mogznwaz don’t forget the Motown stuff also . “Earth, Wind and Fire”, the Jacksons, the Commodores, and “Kool and the Gang” were in my favorites as well
Old person here. Years ago we didn't have utubes and auto anythings to garble us. Musicians went into their garages, homes and studios. Through talent, hard work and love of their craft they created some of the best 'contemporary' music they could.
I still play my old 45’s
People still do that. They just don't make music you prefer. The craft is still alive. People need to stop living in the past and learn to grow. If you love music you love music. Otherwise you probably just love like a handful of bands and couldn't care less about music as a whole
@dalton3029 Hm. Inaccurate assumption. We listen to numerous bands. We still go to concerts. We are fortunate to live close enough to Summerfest so we see wide swathes of music and all genres of music. We have grandchildren that educate us by musical osmosis. We had our share of junk but less access to it. There are definitely more mediums today..which can be good or not. Ultimately it is up to the listener. We do enjoy today's talented musicians and respect the hard work they put into their craft.
It was the best of times to go to a garage concert 💕
Most important sentence in the article:
"The problem isn’t a lack of good new music. It’s an institutional failure to discover and nurture it."
You are joking right? Pop music has never ever been this bad and apparently the listeners also agree.
Rick perpetuates the failure of discovering new music because all of his videos are about “top 10’s” and whatever is most popular. Imagine how much he could help new bands and musicians by making videos about them instead of all the other popular artists? Oh right it’s because making videos about popular artists makes the most money. He doesn’t actually care about the state of music.
I just discovered this great Canadian songwriter Andy Shauf, who imo is as talented as a Paul Simon, but because of the state of today's music industry, only some few die-hard indie music nerds know about him, which is a shame.
@@BIGxBOSSxx1 Agree. Rick should use his platform to promote young artists, who are worth listening too.
@@BIGxBOSSxx1 He gets strikes on his account from artists relevent one, and even two generations ago.
Imagine if he tries something with a new artist, where labels want a piece of every single thing attached to an artist.
At the evening party for my daughters wedding last month, the DJ played 80% 70's, 80's and 90's music. The biggest floor fillers were Abba, Queen and Simple Minds. At the moment my 8 year old granddaughters 2 favourite songs are Mr Blue Sky by ELO and Rio by Duran Duran. I've never played those songs for her and neither have her parents. I asked her why she liked them and she said 'I don't know, they just make me feel good'.
She is hearing them in movies all the good movies today have sound tracks from the 70’s and 80’s like all the marvel movies
Yeah for your granddaughters.......It may keep us old musicians working for a few more years...LOL
Oh yeah Sir) no one can fool a child) they know what is good 😊
Keith Burns for a few decades at least)))
Only the WOKE listens today's noise!
My 13 year old nephew is always telling me stories about the Stones, an interview he was listening to from John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, etc. Blows my mind. There is hope!
Good for him. At his age he is a super sponge and he seems to be absorbing good music info. Keep giving him recommendations
Yeah they know than we did. We had a few magazines like Rolling Stone and we had the radio and a little bit on TV but for the most part we didn't really know a whole lot about our rock stars. I know far more about my favorite bands now than I ever did back when I was listening to them in high school...
@@frankmarsh1159 No kidding. You Tube has taught me so much about bands that I have loved for years.
It's worth remembering that these guys were listening to a lot of older music to produce the new music. And many of them were self-taught.
We have 6 boys and girl. They all know and listen to classic rock and have moved through the blues. It's a great thing when they come by and wanna talk music. They bought me a shirt for Christmas. "I may be old but I got to see alot of great bands". Gotta love what music can do.
I was born in 2001 and I do find music from the 70s, 80s and 90s better than today's music by far. I thought that I was just weird but now I see that I am not the only one feeling this way.
Sad … you have yet to enjoy the music from the 60’s !!!
😉
Same here am 2001 my music interests start in 1945 - 1998
My 12 years old daughter has the same attitude though there are a few goodies. Adele for example.
It's not just you.
I started to like basic music of 50s-90s. Pop music drove me there.
We used to invest in music. We bought a physical product that we could hold and cherish. If a friend walked past with a square record store bag there was the the "what have bought" conversation. You took the LP home and listened to it several times until the songs became familiar, you played along with them or sang, you shared it with your mates. You invested in it - financially and intellectally. Now there is no investment. Pop music has always had an ephemeral quality but now, due to the lack of investment by the listener that ephemerality has become even more fleeting.
Great point, MrShockleader. It's a nuanced insight that has helped me understand what I sort of intuitively knew, but hadn't given clarity to.
This is an important observation MrShockleader. The exchange of earned cash for a physical, palpable thing. For me, it was the Saturday morning ritual of going downtown to the record store, spending time flipping through the vast selection or picking up that special order and then going for lunch at the local. Later, getting home, unpacking, cracking off the cellophane, making a cup of coffee or cracking open a beer and finally putting the new LP(s) onto the turntable and reading the liner notes, production credits and lyrics... it was like a minor religious ceremony. A weekend redemption and possible revelation that helped in blowing off the stink of the past week. I miss those Saturdays but I still have all that vinyl to remind me of those special times.
Bingo
CDs are still an investment.
Excellent point. Digital has done this to our photographs as well. It has cheapened them to a point that we ever sit down together to look at them.
Keith Emerson said it all in an interview a few years agi before he passed away, He said that when Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were getting started, you had to be unique and different from everybody else. Now the recording industry only wants you if you sound like everybody else. New and fresh music is out there, but not supported by the record companies.
Spot on... unfortunate devolution of the music industry.
They should re-introduce "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper."
Ward, hear, hear. I've been making this point for years now. You could never confuse the sounds of CCR, Rush, Abba, the Bee Gees, Doobie Brothers, Supertramp, The Cars, Sex Pistols, Blondie, et al. The homogenization didn't begin hitting Top 40 until the late '80s, in my view. And it was because, as you say, it was what was different that stood out. It didn't hurt that up through the 70s at least, DJs themselves could intro new music.
The irony, as I pointed out in a comment of my own just now, is that to be "new and fresh" now, because of how so much of new music is constructed-conformed-almost by definition will sound more like music from previous generations.
@@Spo-Dee-O-Dee Good points, and you're right, it's not as if there wasn't the same impulse to find bands similar to those that had become successful. But there was already then more diversity of sound for those follow-on bands to follow, and far more willingness and ability to allow for experimentation with new bands and, importantly, with new sounds. Pink Floyd didn't sound like the Stones or the Beatles, Aerosmith didn't sound like Pink Floyd, and The Band didn't sound like either. That allowed for a growing diversity of sound even as there was the inevitable "the next [Beatles, etc.]" impulse at the corporate level. That's the process that to me has been reversed in recent decades. There's drastically less experimentation and risk taken both in new artists, certainly in terms of radio play, and in the music itself, which has become increasingly homogenized, especially in pop and country. And the algorithms and, as you point out, industry consolidation, only reinforce all that.
@@jamesmcinnis208 Clockwork Orange!
This is a great sign. Let the “music industry” die. The big labels have forced crappy music on us for decades. They deserve to fail.
One thing we have going for us is that many people don't listen to the radio anymore and prefer to stream playlists instead. This gives the record industry (and iHeartRadio) less power over what we listen to. Now that anyone can write and record a song in their bedroom and get it up on Spotify, Apple Music, etc for $20 or so, the record industry has way less control. They keep pushing their artists like Bieber, etc, to make big bucks, but this won't last much into the future.
I dont think they will fail, they're buying up rights to all the old music, its easier for them keep pushing the oldies than to find and put time and money into new bands.
Yeah... Let them burn 😝!
Labels bought all the old hits
@@joeseabreeze Terrestrial radio is dying a slow death because they didn't react at all to this changing paradigm, i.e, the streaming services. While I'm for the democratization of the distribution process, there are literally millions of bedroom musicians who are clogging up the streams with, let's face it, stuff that just isn't that good. It makes it more difficult for true quality to get noticed. Not impossible, but just tougher.
If good music is being made these days, there is definitely a problem with marketing because I certainly don't hear it. Granted, I'm 46 and relatively out of touch, but the glimpses I do get of new music leaves a lot to be desired. In my opinion the 90s was the last great decade of quality music.
Exactly what I think. 90s were the last decade.
i'm 25 and i cant find it either. somebody please tell me where the fuck it is because it's so depressing to be a music lover in this era
If you can't find good music, that's partially on you, respectfully. It's out there. RUclips in particular is a great resource for it. There's also an issue of it not being advertised as much, perhaps.
@@mattwhite4302 Just point out a few artists for me then.
@@GHOSTbirdnatureLOVER Right now, for instance, one of my favorite newer artists is Asif Avidan. His voice is unique, and not for everyone (I would compare it to someone like Cohen, whose voice is also different.). But lyrically, and musically I'd consider him top notch. Pomme, from France is another I enjoy..Laura Marling..The Broken Bells (the lead singer is from the Shins), Warpaint is another one . The Revivalists...Kaleo...
There's also some older artists still putting out good work, like Nick Cave..heck, even B.O.C. had a pretty decent new album drop. Though they admittedly wouldn't count as 'new' artists.
I’ll admit it that I have become so disenchanted by modern music that I have been deep diving more into older music and classic jazz.
I innerstand you doing that. While, at the same time- there is TONS of new great music...in every genre...created every year...Period... Fact.
Me too. Been listening to Jazz a lot.
The last year I've been diving into the Blues. The old gritty stuff from 70-80 years ago.
You're not alone sir!
@@afridgetoofar1818 Go back 100 years. You won't be disappointed. Early early Dixieland Jazz doesn't suck either. Dive deep and hard and enjoy!
I’m 71 and listen to music from various sources on daily 2 hour walks. There are frequent pleasant moments when new songs catch my ear. The surprise comes when research reveals the song is a couple of years old by artists I don’t recognize. I feel cheated, resent radio, and wonder what else I’ve missed.
I think you nailed it when you said that the algorithm is tuned to find songs that are similar to older songs. Computers aren’t creative, they just organize data. They look for a match.
A computer's output is only as good as the program and the input. No room for the "random thought" or "sudden memory" or the "unplanned outside influence", etc.
Band names are a good example: Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Marshall Tucker Band, etc.
Computers doesn't have any fault. That is on the person who uses it. Computer is a tool more
I have been curious about this, so I’ve been watching young people reacting to old music to see what’s going on. In terms of trends there are many factors that contribute, but the things young non-musicians are responding to is interesting. They say Why is this so good? They are stunned. As if things like melodies, storytelling, complex musical arrangements or the unadulterated human voice are foreign to them. The bee gees are making young women cry. A whole new crop of Kate Bush fans are in, and the “new” hard rock stations are getting requests for Boston and Ram Jam. It’s hard to generalize with these things but I think a lot of young people are craving passion, innovation and skilled musicianship and they are just not finding it in the corporate pop charts. When there’s nothing new under the sun, it’s time to dust things off we forgot about, I guess.
They need to see it on a show, THEN they think its the best thing ever. The music is secondary so seeking it out isn't important. It only becomes important by association.
I understand what you're saying, but I also think it's just easier for them to find older music like the Beatles or Zepplin as an alternative to the pop charts than finding new artists like Brian Fallon, The Decemberists, Sierra Ferrell, or Florence + The Machine that bring that same level of musicianship and passion.
The loss of great radio stations & djs is another problem. So many bands had great relationships with locals & it helped them get discovered.
Trust me as radio jocks we had to work hard to get those shows on the air. Even in the 1980s but especially from the 90s, radio playlists were all 100% researched with focus groups and call-out testing of 10 second song hooks. No radio programmers wanted those new music shows even back then and they were relegated to after 7pm and outside "at work" listening which relied heavily on familiarity/background appeal.
Blame the telecommunications act of 1996. It killed the radio... star. 😏
Independent radio stations I find are now stepping up
@@AndyGraceMedia this. Is why community radio kicks stations like that's a*se
Most commercial radio is a complete and utter waste/offense of our time
@@AndyGraceMedia Interesting thoughts Andy. I came of age in the late '70s and was frustrated in the '80s by how programmed it all felt.
I had no data to go by nor did I know anyone in the radio business, but it was certainly noticeable to the listener.
There are thousands of reaction videos on RUclips and most of the people reacting are gen X, Y & Z. They are discovering music from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's etc. and loving it. Great music never dies.
Know why there are thousands of them? Just like everything else these days.. a single idea gets some exposure and a million copycats jump in to capitalize on the popularity. Look how many dark story/scary channels there are now.. with the creator blatantly ripping off the same stories, topics and "eerie voice" of a creator that did it much better, first. Now, some of those reaction channels are pretty good. I'll admit I had to watch bunch to learn that because I thought the whole premise was lame. I was actually quite surprised that some actually knew what they were talking about and you can learn something from them. However.. just as I suspected.. most aren't concerned about the musical aspect at all and just want to make stupid facial expressions while they talk nonsense.
I'm Gen Y. I grew up on music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. From Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to AC/DC and Black Sabbath to John Denver and Jim Croce and everything in between. I asked for best of the 80s and best of the 70s CD collections when I was a kid. Most of the time I end up seeing those reaction videos I'm blown away they didn't know the songs.
That is all to say that the music that resonates the most with me, the music that I listen to the most...is all from after 2000. I love the classics, but I also love the music of today, the music just below the plastic veneer the major record labels put up in the form of radio playlists and hot 100 charts. Brian Fallon, The Decemberists, Sierra Ferrell, Florence + The Machine, have all touched me deeply with their music and for me (since music is subjective) they are every bit as great and meaningful as Neil Young, Tom Petty, Dolly Parton, Kate Bush (who are all amazing btw).
I don't know why people want to choose one or the other. If you love music you can love music from any time.
My grandson (21) was working with me the other day, and I asked what he was humming... it was a Schoenberg Choral. One just never knows what is going to grab someone. He also listens to new music, Tom Waites, Dylan, Seal, and a whole host of others. He is trying to become a composer. Wish him luck.
Lucky you, mine was humming Johann Strauss..
Good luck!!!
Who wishes someone success? Pffft, couldn't be me
@@hermannschaefer4777 at least I understand Strauss. Maybe we could trade? Maybe not. I do understand Tom waites.
Good luck
I was a teen in the 70’s. Bee Gees, Styx, Led Zeppelin. All kinds of music that wasn’t manufactured. Musicians paid their dues by playing anywhere they could. There’s a reason the younger generation finds this music and enjoys it. Good music is timeless.
When all you hear is garbage at your place of employment and its fair to say you are working around toxic workers with no appreciation for real music .
All these artists had classical training before starting their careers. They knew musical theory. The Zep boys were also exposed to "world music", European, African and from the subcontinent. They had a deep toolkit. Modern artists....don't.
@@gregvanpaassen And u know Y? Computers, home publishing and no accountability... ie the internet. Back in the day you had to write melody and writing melody is a massive skill which very few uf us have.
I love all of the those bands...and many more classic artists from Springsteen and Dylan to Nicks and Black Sabbath.
I also love Brian Fallon, The Decemberists, Sierra Ferrell, Jason Isbell, Charley Crockett, Greta Van Fleet, Marcus King, Florence + The Machine, The Black Keys, Lost Dog Street Band....etc.
If you love music you can love music from different eras.
Mostly because old music was actually created by musicians and not computers. True talent can never be replaced.
with lyrical meanings of life's journey and the 'trip' your in.. experiences can't be bought.
Superb comment
All Of This!!
Music has to have a soul... robots could NEVER write and connect that way. Too artificial, there's shallowness.
Now, people 'without' an ear to perceive the real difference might eat it up? But that's like eating candy, and not a nutritious meal.
Old English Baroque:
🎶If MUSIC be the 'Food' of Love.. (Henry Purcell)
Write on.
❤️ oldie 1960s/ 1970s greatest music era ever
I interface with kids in their 20s, they're into older hard rock and metal. My nieces got into Heart, started learning how to play. Human beings respond to human beings making music with instruments and their voices. This has been true for thousands of years. Basically people don't like copying and pasting as much.
I have heard that the younger generation finds their music identity by choosing which era of old music they listen to.
You like the eighties? I like the seventies.
You are 100% right. I'm someone who is heavily into 80s music and used to find the 70s a bit lacking in diversity and glitz. But when I heard "Magic Man" by Heart", it blew my mind. They are a band with great integrity and ability to work hard.
@@jongilbertson2106 I don't think that's true...or maybe I'm just too old (34). I grew up loving them all. I may have gone through phases where I was into one decade over the others, but overall I'd say my appreciation of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s is about equal, maybe a little stronger for the 70s/80s.....though my absolute favorite artists have been post 2000.
Rick, have you ever considered doing a “What makes this song terrible” series. It might help musicians to know what kinds of things to avoid.
There is a dude already that does “what makes this song stink”. They are pretty funny.
I thought he wraps those up into top ten songs on spotify :D seriously the problem is the majority of 'new music' is that makes radio or spotify lists is it's bland and derivative. New talent and great musicians do exist, just don't expect to find them on a radio or spotify top list!! go out and see live music performed for the love of music.
As someone else mentioned, someone is already doing that, while also referencing Beato in them. I would guess Rick also wants to avoid becoming an "old man yells at clouds" meme.
Decide that for yourself
@@WeeedyMcMeth yeah but he covers good songs
I was in college in the early 80's, Seemed every week i heard something new and amazing. I thought this is the way it would be forever.
Starting around the year 2000, when it became relatively easy to listen to old music on your computer for free, I completely stopped listening to modern music and started going backwards in time. After playing out all the greats from the 80s, i moved to the 70s, and on and on. It only took me a few years before I had played it all out and moved on to classical music. For the past 15+ years I only listen to classical and romantic era music and I am still regularly finding great composers that are new to me. There's just so much great classical music, I actually still feel like I've barely scratched the surface!
It's amazing isn't it. I like classical music, from what I've casually heard, but I have not had the chance to really get into it so my knowledge of classical is extremely limited. I'm not surprised that you are regularly finding new stuff but at the same time I am astonished to hear that because in my mind I have no clue how much classical music there is. Similarly that's how I feel when I regularly find singers, bands and songs that I've never heard before and when I get to the point of "I think I've heard it all..." and then boom! I am constantly amazed and excited to find stuff all the time and in a variety of genres from the old days.
My suggestion is to move on to older music from other countries like say Brasil. 60s music in Brasil is just AMAZING. African music in the 70s is funky as all hell. Why limit yourself to just western music in this day and age is what I say to friends. You can access music from all over the planet? Even classical styles that are not western based.
The 40s music is best. 1740s, that is.
Aram Khachaturian from Armenia is amazing. Baroque composers, if you understand the period? Very thought provoking!
Big band is pretty good from 1940s.
Things will change when the joy of writing great melodies which people find themselves singing comes back into fashion.
When the old greys whistle, you know a tune has passed the test.
No it just young people all bobbing their head to the same beat not matter what the song. Almost like communist brainwashing🧐
My son (19) and I have discussed this and his take is that because of accessibility music has fragmented into hundreds even thousands of different genres and subgenres. There is nothing that keeps everyone in the same place like the radio used to. So everyone is off doing there own thing, identifying with their own tribe. Mainstream music needs everyone listening to it to be relevant and that just ain't going to happen with so many options online today. So music isn't dying just the industry, good riddance.
Very well said. I love all the weird new artists that become viral in their own niche communities but never become mainstream.
Actually the Industry is making a comeback. Everyone thought it was dying 10-15 years ago but streaming, increased licensing (eg your favorite 80s hit showing up in Stranger Things), live music (before the pandemic) and the comeback of vinyl has breathed new life into it. But much of that new business is based on the reemergence of the classics.
@@orangetoes223 Ahhh, niche, mainstream, genre & subgenre. You've got the music world by the tail, Cultof Cultof Cultof Ian
how mundane can you get? you'll be one of the authentic artists, Fred, if can ever get a career off the ground.
@@billolsen4360 what point are you actually trying to make?
I’ve been going through my music collection and highlighting a 70s album every night on Facebook. IMO, the 70s was the single greatest decade for music, especially rock. There are so many amazing bands and albums and I never realized how 50% or more of my music collection is from the decade I was born in. (1973)
My friends and I have been trying to compile the 30 best albums of the 70s. Try it..its tough!!
@@SJtoobsox oh I know! Things I didn’t realize, Van Halen started in the 70s, Hall & Oats were MUCH better in the 70s, ZZ Top’s best album was released in 1973 and so much more! The best 30 albums.. my word, it would be hard to narrow that down, even if you ONLY did rock and left out every other genre.
The period from 1965 to about 1973 was a golden era of music.
I agree. Every decade has its great music, the 70's just had so much more.
70's better than 80's? :P HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
As an 80s baby who grew up on grandma’s Golden age country, Uncle’s classic rock, Dad’s Motown favorites, & mom’s 80’s new age/pop… I’m grateful to have received an appreciation for every style and decade of music. I love channels like this that try and give people the education surrounding the best music whether it be 40 years old or 10 years old.
Also… LOVE the names Layla and Lennon 💜
exactly... i live near nashville, so there used to be good country on the radio, but not after like the mid 90s, it got to be sexy tractor bs and now, ugh... but my dad got me into springstein, the beatles, garth brooks, b.b. king, my mom had all her old pop 45's, but i first got into rock with my uncle's old tapes and records. he died like 2 weeks before i was born in february '84. but that was where i first heard ac/dc, brian setzer, the police, zepplin. then, i found metal and southern rap, west coast stuff. i love all different kinds of music, all different decades. from mozart, to lead belly, hendrix to nirvana, queen, slipknot even though they finally seem to have begun their inevitable down slope, does not matter as long as it's good and has soul. which is what new music is lacking the most, soul and life experience. even if someone if a phenominal singer/musician. if your lyrics are stupid or i don't buy it from you as a person, i'm not gonna get into it. courtney love's a perfect example. even her voice cracks and everything back in the day added to it, because you could feel it and it fit. even though she never was a good singer at all, in the classical sense. but there are people now that can really sing, but they all sound exactly the same, the same little nuances. and they're all auto tuned and everything. it's just too manufactured and synthetic, even if it is "good" and they are really talented. all the singers sing just alike, country in some bastard amalgamation with pop and hip hop. it's just ridiculous.
i mean, i know there are great new artists out there, but if i don't find them, they don't exist in my world since i never get to experience them. and that's the thing, the only stuff being pushed by major labels, is mediocre crap. same with movies and everything.
To be honest as a seventeen year old, my favourite period of music is between the 60’s and 70’s. That period of music would account for 90% of what I listen to. Simply, old music is raw and honest. New music to me sounds artificial and made to sell, instead of being listened to.
Raw and honest. You got it on point! Maybe the authenticity is what is missing in today's new music? It is what I value in music. My ears wouldn't love distorted pieces. Sorry for the term but it's how I see it.
I like live music.....but properly live. Some new music I can’t imagine it live.....
January 1, 1965 to December 31, 1974. Ten years, unbeatable, the best five albums from the Beatles, the golden age of the Doors ,CCR, Hendrix, Kinks, Small Faces, the Band, Supremes, Cream, Stevie Wonder. Led Zep's first five albums, the Stones and Dylan at their peak. Bowie, Jethro Tull, T Rex, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Procol Harum all arrive,...it never stops, a phenomenal ten years.
That's how I've always felt. Except my favorite eras are 60s to early 70s, and 70s to 90s underground punk and rap, and the early 90s mainstream.
dyn o mite !
This is one of my favorite quotes from maybe 30 years ago written by a Russian music critic " Pop music is the ugly child of an unequal marriage between art and commerce." True then true now.
I disagree. Take the Modern incarnation of the Beatles, Imagine Dragons. Pretty good stuff, generally. It is not that modern music is bad, but a combination of factors, like the splintering of music genres, where talented artists play in neglected niches like Bluegrass Revival (The Dead South, Steve N' Seagulls) or are making money catering to a established Genre like Country, which has become stagnant in recent times, not having gotten over the popularity of Garth Brooks. There are plenty of good bands/musicians out there like Gorillaz, or The HU, but one has to find them, discover them, and like Penatonix or the Piano Guys, you just might find something special.
And yet, occasionally art makes it through. And then The Machine pounces, & its back into the cycle I guess.
Great One!
@@twotone3471 I read that shortly after many bands were ripped off by management. Pete Hamm from Badfinger committed suicide because he went to the suits and asked for money. They told him there wasn't any and I saw the writing on the wall. Yes there are hundreds of talented people making music. But they have to go about being heard in a completely different way. No more A&R men.
@@OneOfUsHere I was a DJ 25 years ago, on a live show. We were told to stick to the playlist given to us. Having the right people promoting you meant you made the playlist. Didn't matter who sent me a tape (this was before Internet) as I could not play it on air without losing my job.
Old music has soul to it. Real instruments and so many heartfelt song writing.
I hope old music rises up again!
They can't appreciate it anymore because most don't have stereos. They have cell phones and social media instead.
very on point
Music with real instruments and heartfelt song writing still exist. Listen to Sierra Ferrell, Brian Fallon/The Gaslight Anthem, The Decemberists, Jason Isbell, Josh Ritter, Dave Hause, Charley Crockett, Lost Dog Street Band, Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Florence + The Machine, etc.
They still do stop generalizing
@@matthewdennis1739 He won't because he's a boomer who can't be bothered to look up things he's not familiar with
I’m so happy to watch Rick Beato become a true star. He is such an authentic person.
If he's really an authentic person, do not wish stardom on him, then.
One way I know OLD MUSIC RULES is the FACT that the old music of my day (70s & 80s) that I wasn't particularly a fan of (80s pop) that I recognize now as exceedingly better than most current music. I've total respect for bands like Duran Duran now.
Talking Heads - Remain In Light, 1980. The rest of the decade was inspired by that incredibly innovative album.
Funny...I wasn't a fan of 80s pop either. But agreed...Most of it leaves Most current stuff in the dirt.
An example of this and I agree with you is that song "Waiting for a star to fall." I hated that song when I was 12 but now I love it. Thompson Twins, UB40, Dead or friggin Alive! Simple Minds. I love these bands now.
There is really no point in trying to analyze this. New music is not played on the radio because most people don't like it regardless of age. Simply put, new music SUCKS!
There's a phenomenon where people appreciate music a lot more after it's been out for a while. Not sure why that is, maybe it's a nostalgia thing, or maybe we just didn't "get it" when it came out.
Being a little older, "Old Music" tends to remind me of better times, and in general told relatable stories...
Kiss From A Rose - Seal …. I fell in love with it as a 4yo on a long haul flight ✈️, using those dodgy airplane radio stations and corded earplugs. Searched all the stations to hear even a glimpse of it again. Did on the next flight ❤️
About 6 years later at the age of 10 I heard it on the radio and immediately hit RECORD on my 90s radio/cassette player.
Fast-Forward a few more years and I could FINALLY identify it enough to purchase the CD for my walkman.
20+ years later it’s as precious to me as ever 🥰 🎶
Maybe we could look at this through a positive lense : finally, FINALLY, people are fed up with the tedious autotuned nursery rhymes they have been fed for the last 10 years!
We music lovers have long since turned our back on mainstream soup and went scavenging for new exciting artists on independent mediums. And boy, there ARE new bands and artists, in every genre, who are excellent! They just aren't played on the radio anymore.
Exactly Johnnylex. The radio has such a strict format. Either it's a classic rock station or a pop station that plays new music that all sounds the same. Even the rock stations play mostly old rock. It takes some effort to find new music that you like on the internet. Because there are so many unknown bands , it's over saturated
@@jayt6454 very well put. There are many excellent new bands. The problem is that there are literally millions of bedroom musicians who, quite frankly, aren't very good jamming up the works.
Nailed it !!!!
"Autotuned nursery rhymes" is the best description of modern pop music i think I've ever heard
I'm too lazy to weed through the crap to maybe get to something great.
I was a teen of the 70's, when some greatest rock music to be recorded and performed, was delivered to me on a "silver platter." Now, you want me to go and scavenge for great new music?? No... Hell no!!!
Instead, I'll scavenge for unheard recordings from the bands and music in the late 60's and 70's.
I can attest that there is a vibrant underground scene like SoundCloud and Bandcamp where amazing fans just pay us directly and bypass the entire label system
I’m in my late 50’s. I knew I haven’t listened to much “new music” for many years but just thought it was me turning into my father (so to speak). As rock fades and rap took over… as country started moving into more formula driven sound… I just retreated into the music that gives me comfort and satisfaction. There are a few things that I see new and enjoy, but I tend to settle into classic rock. That’s what I heard growing up. It was the music from my youth.
I listen to modern music, many of these acts have millions of views on RUclips but don't chart and are unknown by most people. I'm also in my 50s.
Please check out the underground scene. It isn't all dirty, politically fused insanity. A lot of it is stuff that'll blow you away. I think you'd love it. Try Th' Legendary Shake Shakers and Batmobile.
@Still Life Maybe that's true. But my parents only listened to stuff that plays in Walgreens. I didn't think I liked music until my dad put on a Paul Revere and the Raiders CD in the car, and I was like "WHAT IS THIS???" And it just snowballed from there.
Its more like postmodernism has nothing to offer. Even the electronic music is basically the same as 20 years ago.
@@citoante you’ve lost it. Modern EDM is nothing like old rave I wish old school rave and dark trance would come back with a new twist
What is really strange is… popular music hasn’t changed since 2001. Not much difference between Britney Spears and Taylor Swift. I guess we lost boy bands 😂 If you think of the changes that happened between the 1930s - the year 2000, music changed every 10 years or so… this has been quite the stretch.
I would disagree, there's quite a bit of change between 2001 and 2021. The stuff of today doesn't really sound much like the early 2000s, it has it's own hallmarks (and most of them aren't good).
The best music post-2000 is non-mainstream though.
“We’ve taken care of everything, the words you read, the songs you sing…” Temples of Syrinx…Eerily prophetic in my humble opinion….Great commentary Rick!
great art is timeless, pop trends are not.
Very nicely put.
Take disco for example...
I don't disagree, but the Beatles were a trendy pop band at one time too. It's all subjective what's considered to be timeless art and what's a pop trend.
@@metaspherz I had the same thought but The Beatles is a rare case imo , they were a good mix of catchy pop music and very creative art at the same time. Not may artists have been like that since. Most of the time, timeless art becomes objective because it stands the test of time like Pink Floyd as compared to "Me" By Taylor Swift in 2019 .
@@metaspherz
not all boys are boyscouts
That’s great news. People are showing that they are rejecting the cookie cutter highly polished mass produced garbage we mostly hear now. (I know there’s plenty of good new music.) Will this force record company’s to start embracing real musicianship and song writers ?
Hard to say
Check super secret band out of Pdx while we decipher this brain buster
🤫🤫🤫🤣🤘
lol nope they'll just figure out new and more annoying ways to squeeze every last drop of profit off of decades old art
Probably not, that's why they are investing on a lot of legacy artists. Because they don't want to take risks, so their either do the cookie cutter stuff or they push old proven artists.
There has always been cookie cutter highly polished mass produced garbage…we only remember the good stuff.
It's not "great" until there are living avenues for new creative music! It's more heavily reinforced bottlenecks!
Your reason for creating this channel is tremendously helpful.
I'm thankfully exposed to mostly old music and this channel expanded my love of music.
The only thing stopping me physically is I don't have an instrument😅
I agree!! Autotune and Overproduction is the death nell for post 2010 music
the other weird thing is that most people under 25 cannot tell that a song is autotuned and not sung properly, me at my age (44) I can tell a mile off and it sort of belittles the people who use it. Music is about talent not ease
A quality produced album is a work of art.
I'm sick of albums being compressed to death.
Yeah it's funny. I collect vinyl and I know vinyl is technically of inferior quality to CDs or a good highquality lossless file. But people always seem to like the sound of vinyl better and they constantly say that it's "higher quality" when it isn't.
And what that misconception/preference comes down to is that you can't over-compress music for vinyl as the lathe won't be able to cut it. So when you listen to vinyl, you get to hear a quieter, more dynamic master, with less low and high frequency hype.
@@TheDilligan Ah, I did not know that! Thank you!
@@TheDilligan Perfectly stated. It's not the medium it's the mastering. The limitations of vinyl are what often causes more care to go into its production.
@@TheDilligan😊
@TheDilligan. I've always thought vinyl sounded 'warmer' than CDs and digital in general.
My discovery of new music is listening to artists that managed to escape my ears growing up. I never new how great Genesis was with Peter Gabriel, this week I'm listening to Marillion. Corporate radio has to be blamed as well. The death of the DJ on classic rock radio playing the same 5 songs over and over.
@@gokhanersan8561 I guess it is a matter of personal taste. They were more of a prog rock band with Steve Hackett and Gabriel. The songs were epic, like Supper's Ready.
I love Marillion, but they are hit and miss! There are some great live tracks on RUclips if you want to go down that particular wormhole..
It has always been A none musician Fat Cat's Agenda to feed the sheep their crap!
@@gokhanersan8561 Try "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and their first live album simply called "Genesis Live". Both with Gabriel.
The Silent Sun was their first single and it's so mod and I love it.
Due to my influence with my 14 year old son his favourite band is The Beatles. He also likes many other bands but most from the 60s and ending with Grunge. Last summer we went to two concerts, Paul McCartney and Pearl Jam.
Ok, I'm going to come out and say it. Say what most people are uncomfortable with saying for fear of being labeled as some ....ist or something. The influence that Hip-Hop has had on pop(ular) music turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing.
McCartney can't sing anymore, unfortunately. Introduce him to Eros Ramazzotti. That is music and singing.
I introduced my daughter to Gorillaz, Flaming Lips, and MGMT and she introduced me to Death Grips. I consider that a fair trade.
@@derkeheath5172 MGMT are so good.
My children are just babies really (all under 4) but I'm already acclimating them to good music ;)
I am 60 years old I grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I was building a stand for a fish aquarium with my 20 year old daughter. We were listening to a band Artic Monkey that she likes on her Alexa. At one point I asked her if the band was American or British? She looked at me and said that she doesn't know or care. I realized that was the difference between her generation and mine. I knew everything about the bands that I liked when I was her age.
Arctic Monkeys are British by the way :)
I noticed this phenomenon about 3 years ago in my local guitar store in England. The kids were in there after school and every song they played I knew because they were what I played when I was their age in the late 80s and early 90s when the songs were new.
lol
As a 50 year old, it's frustrating trying to convince my peers that there's as good a set of musicians out there as I've ever experienced, you just have to dig to find them.
The music industry seemingly died of bloat at the turn of the Century, but musicians are eternal! Ironically, I spent my 20s thinking Tim Buckley and Neil young were untouchable, but on my 40s have discovered some of my favourite of all time musicians, such as Jessica Lea Mayfield and Big Thief.
Its not just the Music Industry, but wider media outlets to promote talent are gone Popular TV shows aimed at kids or at music obsessives are just not there, and culture is so fractured we aren't all experiencing the same picture to allow a band/musician to reach a wide enough audience. The internet should be making it easier, but since you get to self curate the internet experience, it's hard to catch enough ears.
@@leipherd8118 Ever listen to Brian Fallon, Jason Isbell, or The Decemberists?
To a degree, I think this is driven by the easy availability of older music through streaming. Bands and subgenres I wanted to explore in the 90s and early 2000s are now easily available -- so I explore them.
Definitely agree with this. Back in the day I had very little money that I could afford to allocate to buying music despite liking a lot of what was around, so I only bought what I was really really into at the time. Now I have streaming & an ability to buy more music. I'm buying old vinyl & far smaller 'cottage industry' new artist's releases, some of whom I have discovered through the Spotify algorithm.
I’m
It just makes sense you would listen to older music in the era of streaming. For the first time, you can listen to just about everything. Decades don't matter as much anymore when it comes to music.
Often I cant find songs on any streaming service mostly when digging through crates.
When I was growing up, every other block had a group of guys banging around in their parent’s garage wanting to be the next rockstar band. It was a natural offshoot of what we experienced in our high school band and choir. We were taught to love the creative process of music. In the years since, music education has been de-emphasized and in many cases eliminated from our culture. I can’t help but think that society’s failure to provide this important training and appreciation of all genres of music has led to a cookie cutter form of music that is uninspiring and frankly, boring. It’s not surprising that so many of us are nostalgic for the music of past decades. There is un-tapped musical talent present today. But I’m afraid our culture doesn’t nurture that talent as we once did.
We sang in the tunnel by the RR Station to get the echo effect.
@@erin19030 The bathroom at one place I worked had a reverb to die for.
I mean, it makes sense. We now have to opportunity to listen to exactly what we want, how we want. Which has never been the case previously. "Good" and "persistent" songs are filtered through years and critical look back. Of all music that is coming out nowadays, it's hard to find the good stuff easily, while it is much easier to so for older music that has already been naturally curated. Just my 2 cents.
good view
Very good point.
Spot on.
interesting thesis. Could also be some influence of distraction and social media, and other elements of modern technology and lifestyle, which all have an influence on artist and listener alike today.
Good point👍... however, 🤔there is a LOT less VARIETY today in music today then their have been in DECADES... ✌️🙄
I have watched a number of "first listen" videos by a younger generation than my own. Many are totally blown away by progressive rock. I think that the length of many of those compositions kept radio stations from playing them at all, let alone regularly. Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven were rare exceptions, but their popularity was the epitome of popular music at the time. Now, people are individually starting their own channels, taking requests and sharing these songs with social media. Genesis ('70-76) and Yes among others are enjoying a new renaissance.
Yeah, I'm always surprised when I see those reactions videos. Phil Collins had his "In the Air Tonight" get new attention a few months ago by a Reaction Video channel and it made the news.
@@FatherAndTeacherTV Same with Stevie Nicks & "Dreams" being lip synced by the guy on the skateboard.
Those videos are boomer bait. They force over the top reactions Bc everyone loves seeing someone hear a song they love for the first time.
@@SspaceB LOL! Of course they are! But they're still a kick!
I can appreciate the genius of many of the bands with 20 minute keyboard solos, or 40 minute drum solos, or 60 minute guitar solos, or 80 minute bass solos. But, personally, I check out pretty quickly. I don't blame people for liking it or just not being in to it. The songs you mentioned I can play on repeat though.
I came up during a time when the music you listened to - and especially the music you physically "owned" - was foundational to your social identity, your choice of friends, and even your cultural values. I accumulated thousands of LPs, CDs and cassettes. The idea of "renting" music and streaming makes it more disposable - there is no incentive to dig deep and get value from the money and time commitment devoted to an album when you get it home. Bottom line is, today, the industry is just creating "product" at the expense of something that has cultural significance.
Yes. I still know all the words to the first ten LPs that I bought because I only had ten albums and I had to listen to them. Now I have 4000 LPs and I listen to a new album twice and then file it and forget about it.
It is really sad how meaningless new music is.
so well put, Michael.
I was glad when music ceased to be identity (after adolescence) and just became music. I don't share most of my eclectic tastes with anyone I know, and that's fine with me.
I agree completely, streaming and the dissolution of the physical media while having some great advantages has a profound downside as well. I remember buying tapes like Van Halen 1984, AC/DC Highway to Hell, Def Leppard Pyromania, etc and just staring at the covers for hours while flipping the tape from side A to side B over and over again. The limitation of the media actually enhanced the experience, because the frame of what I could see was very small compared to what I couldn’t see, thus my imagination was more engaged and the experience became personal for me.
I'm glad to have "discovered" prog rock and prog metal about three years ago. There are amazing songs out there but you will rarely hear them on main stream radio.
What does "prog" mean?
@@kittenscratchanimeart progressive
@@standrew131 Prague rock; you should really Czech it out!
(Punning aside, no really.)
I listen to the music i want anytime, anywhere. No need for mainstream radio. Glad you discovered the prog rock genre. A lot of great music to discover!
@@kazkylheku1221 This wins the internet! 😀
I don't listen to any genre of new music. I have however, put together a massive CD collection of my favorites that I bought from thrift stores. I can drive around or work in my shop and listen to exactly what makes me feel great and no commercials. What a time to be alive!
commercials is why I don’t listen to radio !
People laugh, but I prefer physical media I own over streaming services.
Hey Rick I am an Aussie. Recently I was in a store where there was a young girl, maybe 18, probably working during the summer break and singing along to The Stones "It's only Rock and Roll" on the radio in the background. When I said I was surprised that she new the words she replied that it was the type of music she likes. I only realised later that the song probably pre-dates even her parents!. 🎸🎸If only she would pick up a guitar.
I've been attending my daughter's high school basketball games for several years now and they are always blasting old school songs to get everyone pumped up! I'm talking Queen, Stones, Bon Jovi. etc. AND the kids sing along too! Never do I hear the top 20 trash that's on the radio or spotify.
Hmmm. Crazy
Asked my grandson for some bands I may not know; appreciate his response but.......new music is simplistic beyond measure, rarely has a repeatable tune, more episodic, misses the mark that many, many 70s bands nailed. Nailed.
My 11 y.o daughters favourite band is The Beatles. She digs Dylan, and Pink Floyd. My nephew is 9, and his favourites are Dire Straits, and Motley Crüe. There is hope people 🤘🎸🥃💙
I think the opposite. When I was 9 the LAST thing I wanted to do was hear my father's music.
I’m 22 and the Beatles have been my favorite for years. My dad is in his late 50’s so we always listened to the Stones, the Beatles, the Eagles, ELO, Fleetwood Mac and Clapton. My heart definitely belongs to the older music
Hope for what?
That’s not hope that’s clinging to a past long gone and it’s not supporting new acts. So it’s literally old music killing new music. Why not support bands like Weyes Blood, Haim, Agnes Obel, Eleni Mandell, Jamila Woods, Field Music, Cinematic Orchestra, Clogs, Goat, Hannah Peel, Isotope 217, Jane Weaver, Jan Jelinek, Jenny Lewis, Sigur Ros, Martha Wainwright, Son Lux, Trembling Bells............
I often attribute not liking or appreciating new pop music to the fact that I'm now in my 40s, but I'm actually glad to hear that it's not just me who finds most new songs to be boring and uninteresting.
It's also the personality behind the songs. Just watched the Behind the Music for Billy Idol, do have we anything like this guy anymore? Any new larger than life stars? Also saw the biography of the year 1984 - same thing, artists at their peak! Is the era of big stars gone for good?
I think previous generations of old cranks complained that the new music was too loud, too brash, too offensive, too weird, etc. Now it's more like too boring. I feel like I've heard it all before, but in a somewhat less dumbed down form.
And btw, I assume we're just talking about big pop hits ... the kind of things they play on the radio when I go to the gym. I know there are whole worlds of interesting underground music happening.
Not just boring , etc. But ... Unlistenable.
And at the same time, too busy, too high-toned and shrill, esp for women warblers. Also remains extremely shallow and misogynistic. Extremely annoying. When is this phase going to pass? I can't believe how long musical strains that rose in the 80s and 90s are still around, essentially unchanged. Don't really have any high hopes for popular music in the future, when there are such low standards.
This could be taken out of an Beatles album review when they first came out
Rick, your channel is not merely A music education channel... It's THE music education channel.
I was 17 in 1982... Wow was I lucky :) Music was everything! I was talking with a high school student at our neighborhood BBQ, and I asked what music he listened too? He said that he didn't , He listened to audio books... Yep. I get it.
New music is too engineered. Too produced. People want to feel a connection to the music the artists they love play. They don't want to try and fail to connect to what some huge mechanism has quantised and over-produced into oblivion. That's why older artists are staying popular. You said it yourself Rick about the 3daysgrace song (I think) in your Spotify Kickass Metal playlist. It was allowed to have space to breathe, and was all the better for it
Bingo. Auto tune and group think in writing music. It’s all engineered bu committee. The Rolling Stones, Stone Temple Pilots, etc, could never succeed today.
I think music is a little too categorized. Every song has to fit in a certain pigeonhole so someone can go to a slow jam rap channel, for example, and hear a bunch of tunes by different “artists “ that sound the same.
There is good new music out there, but it is hard to find. You have to seek it out.
I love the music I grew up with but get a bit tired hearing the mainstream stuff from the 70s, 80s and 90s as I've been hearing it for decades, I want to hear something brand new on par with that music but I don't hear much that sounds as good as the best music from those decades, maybe I need to keep listening but I just don't find it as timeless or satisfying. I cant listen to the majority of modern mainstream it sounds like its from a different planet, not Earth, I cant believe anyone can be human and like it.
Too produced yes but cheaply and hastily produced. Phil Spector productions were expensive and lengthy endeavours just for a 45 single. Be used multiple studi musicians and did multiple takes until he got the right sound he wanted. High production values on low technology recording equipment. But amazing production.
I like KISS music, Keep It Simple Stupid
I am 38, and great up listening to my parents’ records, and I have been saying since 16 that the greatest decade in music was the 70s 💯🔥
You Are Correct Sir ! !
Correct. 70s teenager.✌️
The core of the problem isn't even related to music. It's a general cultural decline. You see it in other areas. Films are a sequel of a sequel or a remake of a previous success. Books are a continuation of a lengthy series with the same characters rather than something fresh and new. We're in an incredibly stale period. Historically, such periods are usually the calm before the storm.
Personally, I do not mind serialized movies or books if that is exactly how they originally intentioned to be. Very entertaining distractions with little new insight into the human condition, but that is exactly what I eagerly pay for. What annoys me are the writers, producers and executives, who create material which is lackluster at best or blatant cynical cash grabs.
@@chazsmith20 Meh... If I want something with more substance I'll throw in "Goodfellas" (and b*tch about why Scorsese was shafted), "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Ghost In The Shell", or the legendary 'documentary' "This is Spinal Tap."
We're living in a time when anyone can produce a piece of art and release to the world through the internet. There's probably more creativity going on right now than ever before. It just isn't reflected in popular culture like it once was because the market is controlled by a handful of risk-adverse media corporations.
What's really interesting is that movies and music have been just so boring over the last few years. But television - there's a lot genius on the small screen right now. And that's the medium that so many people have looked down upon since its inception.
People are mostly lazy. Intellectually and culturally. But honestly it’s American culture that’s on decline. The rest of the world continues to innovate. America doesn’t rule what’s popular anymore.
The thing is for all the bad of the old music industry, the gatekeeping really did overall make the quality of produced music much better.
It certainly kept it a lot more consistent, didn't allow for the flooding of mediocre music into the market in the same way....but right now the major labels are the #1 reason for the state of music.
One thing not mentioned is the decline in local live music, mainly due to COVID. In my case, I used to hang out in clubs featuring live music, but lately have gotten out of the habit. To me live gigs are the forge from which new music evolves, not kids streaming from their bedrooms.
Live music has been dead in my area long before COVID.
@@scottakam how much did it cost to see an act play live? Seems the last 10 yrs or so everyone charging at least $20
Same here, a lot of the venues have shut down because they sold the property to a developer.
Mainly due to government reactions and shutdowns.
Its a gift that some of us live in states that stay open, lots of people here in florida still hosting live music events
Labels haven't lost the hability to nurture new talent, they have lost the incentive $$$$
He hit the nail on the head.
We are down to the big three now. Sony, Warner, and Universal control about 85 percent of the market. They are the gatekeepers. Add to that the 1996 Telecommunications Act which allowed the big media companies to buy up all the radio stations and you have a pretty much closed system now.
One of the big marks of loss of identity (in the electronic age) is *nostalgia*
-Marshall McLuhan
Nostalgia is literally a fear response to retreat to known comforting things. When society is experiencing mass nostalgia, there's big problems. And one of our big problems is how fast technology is outpacing human empathy. The breakdown of the music industry's validity to the human experience is a symptom of that.
McLuhan is the key that picks the lock of our times.
Excellent quote. I see fathers in my hood pushing 45 year old meaningless 2 minute ditties down their kids throats and to me it is some kinda death knell.
Dude is overrated. The best thing he did was a walk on in a line on a classic Woody Allen film.
@@michelesmith2620 What is his rating? How is it measured?
My 16 year old loves ABBA, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and ELO. We live in Australia. Her friends like the old music too.
Since when is liking old music indicative of anything though? I grew up loving old music and current music. I didn't like Black Sabbath, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, and John Denver because I didn't like the music when I grew up (90s). I also loved Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Pearl Jam, even Alanis Morrissette and Natalie Merchant..... I liked it all, and liked the variety of mixing things up depending on my mood and the circumstances.
All of our children should like old music...and new music. That's part of being a well-rounded person.
As an eighteen year old who's deep into classic rock and blues, plays the electric guitar and piano, the music from the 60s - 90s period is what I would consider the golden age of music and I wish that (from that time) music lives on forever and remains evergreen. Those guys were legends.
If you haven't already heard it, do yourself a favor and listen to "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis. Life changing album. I first heard it when I was about your age and it's been one of my top 5 recordings ever since (30+ years later). God bless.
@@jimyoung9262 Will surely do, cheers ✨
Don't know if it's the same in the US, but in the UK there used to be a weekly music show called Top of the Pops which ran from 1964-2006.
People watched it and aspired to be in a band like their favourite groups which all competed to be no 1.
With this gone now, so has a lot of new talent.
Yes. The BBC has a lot to answer for. It has gone from bad to worse and is now no more than a propaganda department of the government, devoting countless hours to the fact that the World is burning up into a fireball and we all need to be controlled, restricted and go back to the Stone Age, to save it.
In the US, there was American Bandstand which was similar, it ran from from 1952 - 1989.
I'm from the USA and am very familiar with "top of the pops". It's a different time now. Kinda sad
I really think that lyrics makes a huge difference
And its high time we realise it
As a dj on fm radio, (yes, an actual, on-air fm station) I spend about four hours a week listening to the featured new releases that AllMusic Guide publishes every week. As a life-long music lover, I've always believed that the best music at any given time is the music that is being produced in that time. However, sometimes going through the new releases can be very painful. Literally, I get a headache. It's not that there isn't good music. It's that there is a lack of OUTSTANDING music. AMG publishes about 10 to 20 new releases every week, but every week there are hundreds of new releases that don't make their cut. There is too much product to keep up with! Like Ted Gioia said, music is intangible. To me, it's like breathing. Everyone does it. From zero talent to Bach, if you have a voice, you can make music. It's hard to make money from music just like it would be hard to make money from breathing.
I can tell you that working in a record store means that I’m selling a lot more Led Zeppelin and Queen to 15-year-olds than I am contemporary modern music and the vast share of those sales are VINYL.
I do think the type of person who cares to buy vinyl probably gravitates toward a certain kind of music.
I recently started my vinyl collection with Brian Fallon, Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell, The Gaslight Anthem, and the Decemberists.
There is a longing for substance, music that elegantly defines social problems, and offers practical solutions. Longing for literacy in lyrics. Melody and Harmony. Instrumental skill.
Trained, passionate singing. Originality.
Aside from the many points others have made. I wonder how much has to do with the lack of shared musical experience with todays music. Shared music used to come from the radio or MTV, now everyone is listening to their own play list and music is much less social then it used to be.
I completely agree. I miss sitting around with friends and really listening to music. I remember many times just kicking back with mates and diving into the music. Great days of my life.
YES.
Yep. I don’t really know anyone that likes the same music I do in current stuff......but at work if we put on old music everyone no matter what age is singing to at least something.
Music comes from within and deep inside the heart which no computer can ever generate to the same level. Plus, people were more literate in the 60’s by reading more books and also with less distractions.
They knew the power of words. I fell in love with the word,"hush," while listening to Karen Carpenter sing,"there's a kind of hush/all over the world. "
@@MrJothindra They still know the power of words. Can't tell you how many times Jason Isbell, Brian Fallon, Josh Ritter, Taylor Goldsmith, Colin Meloy, etc have moved me with their words.
Am I the only one that remembers how limited our selection of music was in the 'good old days'. I jumped for joy when the first alternative station arrived, and I had to track down all the low powered college stations to hear anything out of the mainstream that hadn't already been approved by the record exec's. The selection today is far greater than before and there are many fantasic bands that are current and from around the world that I listen to that can hold their own with any band from any era. I'm loving the journey and how it is now so interactive, especially when I find those hidden gems. Peace.
Nope dude you’re right! I grew up in Indy and all we had was hard rock and a ‘pop’ station on which you could here Duran Duran or similar, but it was veeery limited. Went away to VaTech and found out there was such thing as Echo & The Bunneymen, The Cure, and even REM! When home at holidays, I desperately tried to listen to a static-y broadcast of the IU station down in Bloomington in order to hear Alt. Took forever before the stuff I became accustomed to listening to could be heard on a regular radio station.
Alternative music was harder to find back in the day because, despite your personal preference, music in the mainstream was better than it is today and fewer people wanted something else.
I listened to a local station that played, Hendrix, Chicago, Bob Dylan WZUM, now a jazz station . They would go off the air at sundown. You can find new music today, you just have to take the time to look it up… My current favs. True Loves, Beirut, Cory Wong, Spoon, St Paul and the Broken Bones. Then there’s always Zappa🤩..
one of my issues with the music landscape is that there are so many new songs which are currently in smaller "niche" markets, that - if given the airtime - could actually be modern classics
thank you for saying it. their are entire bands that could be huge that will only ever have a deticated core following, but not large enough to be known everywhere.
I completely agree, the over "genrefication" of music is killing it, I know tons of people who will completely write off groups or band based on genre.
I've been waiting for you to talk about this group "sleep token" not new new but since I discovered them recently I can't stop listening to them. Such a great example of how this industry is with groups that try to be different, different being not beholden to a single genre or style.
Spot on!!
Great music always finds the way) the sad thing is that people who wrote it could be long gone 🙁
Wow. From one Gen X-er lifelong musician steeped in all genres to another: you're an inspiration, man!
My Gen X son's favorite band is Blue Oyster Cult. My daughter waited all day at one stage at the Firefly music festival a few years ago just to see Paul McCartney.
I loved BOC growing up. I feel like restricting yourself as a music lover to a decade or a few decades is silly.
Record stores and mixtapes were an introduction to new music. Mixtapes were a one off for a special person or a special occasion. (Including an FU mixtape for the special a-hole in your life!) Playlists are intended to do the same thing, but sending somebody a link to an FU playlist just doesn't provide the satisfaction of forking over a cassette.
Rush didn’t get real success until their 4th album 2112. That doesn’t happen anymore, where a label (if that even exists anymore) wouldn’t give a new band 4 albums to find their audience. If they can’t get a hit out of the box, they are dropped, right?
Island Records released four albums by Mott The Hoople before dropping them and they were signed by an even bigger label CBS Records.
That sort of thing couldn't happen today.
And even then, chicks never like Rush.
To be fair, Rush did have it's "hit song" with Working Man to float them into a label contract. The next two albums just didn't really do that well.
Rush basically did the "well, if we're going down we might as well go down swinging" and went all in on 2112 against the wishes of their label (who wanted a more "commercial sound"). It could just as easily have blown up in their faces. If that had happened they would have been yet another one-hit-wonder deal.
Bon Jovi only really hit the big time on the 3rd album. Bryan Adams too. Imagine that now.
Bowie didn't have a hit album until Ziggy Stardust, his 5th album. Many consider his earlier albums among his best.
This is an issue that goes way beyond music and the music industry. We are in a Strauss-Howe third turning and probably very close to a fourth. Our culture and civilization are increasingly atomized and we no longer have a "common culture". In part because of technology that allows us all to be the center of our own echo chambers. So it becomes harder (if not impossible) for any one thing (song, movie, book, etc) to have any "cultural impact".
We only had a "common" culture due to mass communications from the early 20th Century, when Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley sold film and music around the world through cinema and the phonograph. Before that every region had its own folk music idioms. Just look at the various types of Blues and Country music there was in American before it was standarised when it started to become recorded. Maybe it will go back to being like that. However online. Somebody in the UK and Croatia can dig the same music but in small online communities.
Hypothetically if everything else was the same, but only music didn’t exist on the internet and we still consumed it in the same ways we did in 1996, it would transcend this theory and it’s culitural relevance and innovation would have continued growing. The root issue isn’t attitudes, or culture, the root is the technology itself.
@@chuckhutch4104 Yep. About halfway through.
There's also the very real possibility that popular music has played itself out, and so we simply aren't going to hear much new music that is in any way innovative or exciting. This same phenomenon occurred in classical music and jazz--they just had nowhere new to go, so they hit a sort of dead end. I'm a painter, and the same has happened w/ painting--there are more skilled painters than ever, but there are no significant breakthroughs, nothing truly new; instead, there are some very good paintings, but nothing that looks particularly new or different from painting from previous decades/centuries.
I remember in the early 80s when I was just a little child my parents would haul us all to the mall to go get the latest new release vinyl record and one that I could remember was Michael Jackson’s off-the-wall. That tradition carried on to us kids in our family and we would anticipate new music to be released on physical media such as a cassette tape and later a CD. I remember how excited it would feel to physically have that item in my hand after purchase and talk about it with my friends who would follow suit Just because it was a cool thing to do. Now everything is easily disposable as digital media. Not only has this practice infected in the music industry but it is also infected other enterprises such as movies video games and even home purchases. If we are all honest we can agree that this is an epidemic to entertainment. Saving a few bucks to not have to put things on physical media has had a negative affect.
There’s a radio station in Australia that does a “hottest 100” they played last year’s “hottest” tracks but then they played 2001’s hottest tracks the day after (on their online station). I can tell you now the level of heart and musicianship from 2001 that is lacking in 2021 is ridiculous.
I feel it’s also worth pointing out that the Wiggles (yes, that wiggles) took the spot with a Tame Impala cover (for a special covers segment that same radio station runs), and that Tom Cardy, a comedy musician on RUclips, took 2 of the top 20 spots
apart from King Giz (naturally)
Here, in The Netherlands, a radio station, about ten years ago, thought it wise to change from a broad variety of music genres to just new pop and r&b/hip-hop. They went from the most popular radio station to the least within two years, from about a share of 13 to just over 2%.
@@BD-yl5mh to be fair, The Wiggles are iconic and "Elephant" is about 5 years away from ending up on Triple M's playlist. No wonder it won.
@@BD-yl5mh I saw them do it, and not a bad effort for such little effort
I'm 14 and I've been getting into older rock music and other stuff in the past like year and a half. I've lost interest in pretty much all modern music. I wish there was still a legitamate rock scene today but it'll never be the same as it was. Music isn't thought out poetry anymore. Its just soulless blah. I've been trying to make older sounding/inspired music and stuff like that. Its all instrumental for now, but I might expirement with lyrics some time if I ever get the confidence.
there is. I'm around the same age as you and black country new road released a great album just the other day. also, yes there are great poetic albums coming out. listen to to pimp a butterfly by kendrick lamar. he won a Pulitzer prize for it
Wise and so young.
Part of the problem, I think, is because the music that is being promoted has had all of the heart and soul produced out of it. It sounds machine made. Not human made. Bands like Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown get next to zero plays but are 80 times better than most of the drivel that gets pushed. And to make it worse, for far too many young people, this is what they've learned to expect. Fortunately, when they suddenly do get to hear "real and natural music", (my phrase), they realize it's just better. Hopefully one day, producers and the people who decide what is good, (HA), will finally get their heads out of their collective asses and let "real and natural music" Be allowed to be played mainstream again.
yep, Melodyne and autotune have convinced a lot of dummies that they can sing. The ultimate test for me of an artist is when they're put on a live stage with no fixer effects. Let's see if they're still worth listening to without the effects. I'll bet most of today's hip-hop and R&B artists can't function without it. I don't even mind rap - I grew up with the NWA crew. I was mad as a kid that I didn't get to listen to 2Pac. I'd rather them rap if they can't sing.
I rate the best music that we have had came from The Beatles, Abba and U2. They wrote it and played it; especially The Beatles, where it mainly came from the song writing of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who have proven to be unmatchable.
I'll never understand the pope of the bugs Overrated and thrust upon US
Pls no U2
Beatles, yes, and don't forget XTC and Gentle Giant. All three carved out their own style and genre. Originals.
The Beatles are great because of their impact and the fact they were the ones pushing boundaries and innovation.
I don't believe they are untouchable as far as songwriting or performing or anything along those lines, what is unmatchable is their impact and pop culture influence.
I'm actually glad for this. Soulless corporate art machine is getting what it deserves.
Well put
Exactly. Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and even Spotify to a certain extent has terrorized industry heads by allowing anybody to post whatever they want and make money. Fuck the money men. Art is in the hands of the people.
It’s the listeners that suffer ultimately though. To quote Jurassic park I guess ‘good music will find a way’
Absolutely agree
@@liamobrien6044 the likes of spurtyphi terrorises musicians as it's possibly the worst thing that's happened to music/musicians in history.
Parasitic theft
Before our youngest daughter was born, my wife and I had a 4-piece el-ac band in the late-90's, The Cat's Pants, that had little problem getting gigs with our evolving 60%/40% cover/original setlist and laid-back rapport in small places.
Then we parented for 22 years and put live music on the waaaaay back burner. Mostly home-studio work for 2 decades.
Last year, she, I, and a great melodic bassist/mandolin player got back in the game using the same formula with The Bo Clevis Project. During the warmer months, there are plenty of 'OK'-paying vineyards here in Central NC/VA, with some restaurants and breweries that will book a band that 'pulls' once every other month or so. Being a retired teacher/SS recipient [and not reliant on gigs for sustenance] is what allows us to keep on keeping on. Having fun during the final quarter, as it were.
Our rejection of so-called new music is nothing less than our rejection of a repugnant culture that is being forced into our homes and lives. It’s also a large reason why the cable TV industry is haemorrhaging customers.
Old music isn’t killing new music. Talentless “artists” and nefarious special interest industries are.
Spot on, people like Doja cat should be working in KFC
You watch to many RUclips videos.
@@robsternicol4499 ehhhhh i'm not the biggest doja fan but i disagree, she has some good sensual music imo.
@@robsternicol4499 I'm not a doja cat fan but she is a very good performer
@@maxflow151 Why not? As opposed to all the people spending huge amts of time on video gaming as well as streaming music. What is the difference?
It’s really interesting, my two sons that were into Rap in middle school, I loving rock from the 70’s and 80’s(Boston, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Dire Straights, etc). We are exchanging playlists daily, it’s amazing.
Back in about '83 If you told me my favorite music show by 2019 would be " Live at Daryl's House" I would have hit you with my " Too Fast for Love" album.
Great video. We love you, Rick.
I think one factor is that people are having less and less real life experiences too. That leaves people less and less inspired. You don't live you have nothing to say.
We live in a copy and paste world
One person does something and everybody else copies it and puts it out as content and it all sounds the same.
Technology has been marginalizing humanity for a while. In all aspects of society,and most definitely in music. We live on our phones endlessly..My self included
When I used to live in Cleveland, OH as a youth, the big rock station was WMMS 100.7. It started out kind of like a professional college radio station in the late 60's as I could hear Santana, Miles, Hendrix, Coltrane, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Weather Report and a plethora of different kinds of bands/music. As I came into my [middle/older] teen years there was still a sense of adventure at that station, but as I grew into an older teen I began to notice more formatting in their programming. I remember hearing Stairway to Heaven so often that I can't stand that song to this day.
Gone were the jazz tracks and it became more and more a corporate behemoth. Rock itself had also become more of a corporate behemoth as well. While I still listened to WMMS as more of my steady diet of consumer radio, I also discovered real college radio stations locally like WCSU, WRUW, WJCU and alike. I also found real jazz stations as well as public radio with jazz programming and what I called "jazz lite" radio.
I was hearing such fresh new sounds of music (e.g., reggae) along with much older tracks of jazz, rock, folk, etcetera that piqued my musical curiosity and had me searching out these various artists and tracks. I was on, what would be for me, a life long quest to find good/great quality new music.
As Mr. Beato continued reading from parts of the article it took me back to when, at 17, I began playing out and making money. This is significant because my digestion of corporate rock radio had already began to wane though I still maintained something of an alliance with WMMS, the giant rock radio behemoth of Cleveland. In coming into my 20's I truly was gravitating away from that type of formatted radio - becoming more and more dissatisfied with it (it had begun to remind me of AM top 40 radio). I started turning more and more to the local college radio stations largely BECAUSE of the diversity of programming.
As the 80's began this new thing called MTV sprang up on cable TV and yes, I bought into it. I was at least hearing new bands as well as some old establish ones - it was a good mix of rock. It was kind of cool to both see the artist and hear the song. Yes, some of those early videos were crappie but I didn't care about that. This was a new format in which to consume new music.
In entering the 80's my level of playing out increased and I was in a quasi-folk rock band, a bona fide rock band, a reggae band and had made my way into a jazz fusion band. Playing, touring, recording was great fun and I was discovering new music in each new city/town from various local, regional or national artists. I was still consuming MTV, the local college stations, etcetera, but my horizons were being expanded with each new record I heard and then of course as CDs came into vogue through that medium as well.
That brings me to the present. Through the years I completely turned my ear away from "commercial radio" in favor of MTV, college radio and alike. I began finding more and more great artists out there, and I wondered how could this person/band not be signed by a major label? And ironically enough I also turned my ear away from college radio and alike as I was swapping music with other traveling artists who you've probably never heard of, but they've made some great music. Since the early 90's (circa 93) until now I have discovered new music/new artists from other working musicians.
The articles author is correct in his assessment: there IS great new music and artists out there. There always has been. The real question is will any of the 3 major labels allowed them to be heard? There is no longer the real room to grow an artist these days. Geez, it's been that way since the late 90's, in my opinion. So, without the room to grow, mature and develop as an artist, to make great music - that could move units - the landscape will be as the author's article foresees: stagnate, commercially safe, regressive (in some ways), too much of a conformist approach to music.
This is truly a sad state of affairs for music. It doesn't even have to be revolutionary - just an artist/a band that's making viable new music that folks might just gravitate toward - and who knows, they might even sell millions of units at some point. I'm glad I've been an independent artist all of my adult life. I've been able to make the type of music I want, have it heard before appreciative folks (large and/or small audiences) and have been to some pretty cool places as a result.
Thank you Mr. Beato for your insights, your energy and efforts educationally and the great interviews. It's greatly appreciated by this individual.