Older Guys: Does Today's Music Annoy You?

[Solitaire]

I'm 50 years old, and have played bass guitar since my teens. I've toured twice in my life, with two different all-original bands - studio time, signed autographs, sold albums/t-shirts, etc. One band almost made it (had Sony A&R girl come down to FLA to watch us). With all that being said in order to provide some bona fides, I'll say that the only music I've enjoyed listening to in the last two decades is electronica/chill type stuff. Thievery Corporation is one example. There's something about the genre, the way the music is kinda trippy and relaxing, that makes me happy. Pop music is 99% garbage. Hip-hop is not within the bounds of the definition of music, in my opinion, so I don't need to even address it here.

Digital distribution has completely changed how talented musicians are elevated to various levels of success. Most of the best music out there is being performed by local musicians in your particular town/city, sweating out the songs together in someone's garage or storage unit and playing because they love the stage, they love their songs, and they love the chance, as I did and occasionally still do, to help other human beings forget about the real world for a couple of hours.

 

[Thomas More]

^^^I agree on the local bands. When I was younger, I went to a lot of concerts of big name bands. Now I mostly see bands playing in local bars that specialize in having a lot of live music.

Many are just cover bands putting their own flair on popular songs, but there are a lot playing originals and selling merch and CDs at the venue.

You can see some amazing virtuoso musicians and a lot of great original music this way.

 

[CynicalContrarian]

Speaking of hollow, hedonistic if not hellish music...

Communist goals circa 1963 :

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

https://redice.tv/news/communist-goals-1963

 

[Belgrano]

Based and God-pilled is the way to go:

 

[Bain]

I have become now a fan of classical music.

 

[BlastbeatCasanova]

Here's a God-pill jam for you. This band got tons of hate for being an outspoken Christian band in the mostly secular heavy music scene. There was a big fiasco a few years ago when their previous guitarist made a comment about homosexuals and sin on Twitter, not all too different from the Foleau controversy going on in Australia...Their songs slam though

 

[Hermetic Seal]

Computer-manufactured pop music is absolutely intolerable for me. I play guitar and bass as a hobby and have very little respect for music that isn't played on actual instruments (though I have a bit of a weakness for chiptune and retrowave.)

The murky, mumbly indie rock I like is about the furthest you can get from some dumb bimbo singing about the hamster carousel.

 

[RWIsrael]

I used to hate it. I grew up on 60's music and classic rock and used to really look down on pop and worship classic / progressive rock for being so deep and edgy.

Now I actually don't mind it that much as long as I have limited exposure. I can listen to UK radio for an hour a week and actually enjoy some of it, but once the same songs begin repeating themselves it does get annoying.

I will say though that it depends on my mood - sometimes I'd like to hear deep progressive tunes and wild guitar riffs, and sometimes I just want some cool background music.
Also, you can't invite friends over (especially female) and put on really deep or serious music. It's just not fun and light enough.

 

[El Chinito loco]

The murky, mumbly indie rock I like is about the furthest you can get from some dumb bimbo singing about the hamster carousel.

This sounds like Smashing Pumpkins with less unique vocals. I'm not criticizing that because it's pretty good but i'm wondering is this the trend of current indie? Is it a revitalization of the 90's.

 

[RichardCranium]

Yes. 100% yes. Little background I'm 51 and have been a musician most of my life. Been making a living the past 8 years strictly from music and I've studied with several top teachers.

Today's music is shit. I hate to think I'm turning into a crotchety old man going "these kids today don't know music" but you can't help it.

It's been a couple of things that accelerated the downfall. There's always been good music and shit music but never like it is today.

One thing is the advances in technology is now anyone can sit on her laptop now and create music. Back in the day you had to actually save up money and going to a real recording studio and that set the bar higher. Nowadays just about anyone can cut-and-paste a couple of things together and call it a song.

The other thing is the popularity of rap, hip hop and electronic music has certainly done a number on quality listening. To watch the likes of Carly B and mumble rappers make it big when 20 years ago they would've just been absolutely laughed at and told go home and practice is absurd. They are literally the Karsashians of music and I really question the sanity of anybody that would listen to that dreck.

I had a humbling conversation recently talking to a millennial kid he was probably 22-23. He asked me what I did and I said I'm a musician. He said "Oh so you make beats?" I said no I play guitar and play music. He was totally bewildered and had no idea what I was talking about. I literally had tho show him pictures going see there's me with my guitar, there's the drummer, there's the singer and we actually play music. He had no clue and I said at that moment oh man we're fucked. I can see him going "that's cool but I don't listen to old people music" but to literally not even have a clue about how music is made just really threw me for a loop.

 

[mr-ed209]

I think today's music is shit because large scale producers and recording companies have gotten a monopoly in terms of having massive marketing budgets to promote their artists. In the past, music was more 'organic' because it was harder to advertise. It was dependent on word of mouth or attending gigs to hear it, and then on people taking the physical effort of going out and buying the records.

The phenomenon of a 'manufactured pop star' was almost a niche in the early 2000s; now its the vast majority of charting artists, who have ghost writers and teams of personnel behind the scenes pulling all sorts of strings to ensure their talent cash cow can be milked for as much as possible. It's so bad that the 'market' is now so saturated it's difficult to see how new independent artists could ever have the chance of breaking through.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

Modern pop music boils my piss but I have special venom reserved for mumble rap

 

[Geomann180]

I'm 27 and don't like most of today's music.

G

 

[Gradient]

I can’t stand it, and not because I’m old, but because the music is garbage. Auto tuned, electronic garbage.

Correct. "A Dose of Buckley" pretty much echos my thoughts on "pop" music.

I know every generation thinks new music is garbage, or what my parents used to say, “noise” but this is really different fundamentally.

Correct again. The former generations of musicians whose music was "garbage" actually could play instruments, and compose musical scores.

They didn't just loop a shitty electronic beat, drag a needle over someone else's music, and talk in a monotonous pattern.

 

[Eklavya]

After my recent trips to Africa, I listen to afro beats to pump myself up.

Otherwise its classical Indian or western music on repeat

 

[MikeS]

I keep listening to the same old playlists on Spotify - mostly 70s to 90s or early 00s rock and pop music, or more recent stuff from artists who have been around since that time - because whenever I force myself to listen to the new hitlists showing up on the front page I can't stand listening to more than the initial seconds of about 1 in 50 songs on a very lucky day. Occasionally I find a few recent songs worthy of bookmarking but it's definitely rare.

 

[Johnnyvee]

This is "today`s music," as far as I`m concerned. (I`m mostly a jazz guy, but I like country and bluegrass etc. as well.)

 

[Enhanced Eddie]

Don't move to the Philippines. They have the worst taste in music in the universe and blast it at full volume everywhere. Usually two different songs at the same time, plus a TV going as well.

But yeah most the modern Western crap is annoying too. There's all kinds of subliminal pozzed messages in it, I think our subconscious is rebelling against that too since we're aware of the agenda... this unconscious reaction just gets interpreted by the conscious mind as "I don't like this music".

 

[Johnnyvee]

It might be related to the limited attention spans in the younger generation, as a consequence of smart phone/social media addiction and so on. Current pop music requires extremely limited investments for the listener. It`s straight in on ear and straight out the other, nothing that sticks with you...on to the next tune. Seems like some kind of comforting (for some people) background noise or jingles to me, rather than real music which tend to stir your emotions.

 

[RexImperator]

"A Dose of Buckley" pretty much echos my thoughts on "pop" music.

Almost hard to believe that #1 is a real song... what a great ‘hook’:

“Ass
Cash
Bags...”