"Today's Music all Sucks" Growing Pains of Young Music Listeners

[Dscrapre]

This is kind of a rant.

 

Something that I find among a TON of young people is this uninformed hatred of "today's music". I used to be this way for sure. I started out as a "LED ZEPPELIN IS THE GREATEST BAND THAT WILL EVER EXIST! ALL RAP IS GARBAGE! MY GENERATION DOESN'T UNDERSTAND GOOD MUSIC!" guy. My favorite bands at the time were Zeppelin (obviously), AC/DC, Def Lep, and basically anything else that got constant radio play on the classic rock stations. I also wore a Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt despite not really liking the album much (too slow for me). I was that kid who would go on Aerosmith YouTube videos and say "I love this and I'm 15!". I had strong opinions about what was "real" music and what was "fake", but I had no real way of backing any of them up. All I knew was that "real" music always had guitars, was fast and that people stopped making it shortly before I was born.

 

I'm pretty sure I outgrew that (I'm 22 now). A some point I realized that quality knows no age. These days there is an absolutely huge assortment of really great music being made in all genres and thanks to the internet, we all have access to just about every note of it. Sure the music being played on top-40 radio is pretty lousy, but has it ever really not been? Sonny and Cher, Tommy Roe, and The Osmonds are the 60's and 70's equivalent to today's Taylor Swifts, Justin Beibers, and Katy Perrys.

 

Still, I find it to be a very interesting phenomenon among young people. I still see a lot of other people who are like this, some of which are my age. Obviously, a lot of it has to do with the parents. I know that my parents pretty much guided the development of my tastes, so naturally, I liked what they liked more or less. Also, obviously the lack of maturity and exposure to different things fuels that too.

 

Did any of you on here go through anything like this when you were younger? I'm especially curious to see if this kind of thing happened back in the 70's or if kids just recently started acting this way.

[KennyLee]

I remember the late 70's and early 80's radio being good music. There were different stations for your rock, your mellow music, pop, whatever... but it was all good as I remember. Even looking back at that time it was good. There were some 80's pop bands like The Cure or Boy George that were a little, um, fruity? but still decent music.

 

Rap really did ruin everything good musically. Let's see... melody? Don't want any of that. I'll just talk fast and monotone. OK, music, music.... hmm. I don't know how to play an instrument. I'll just borrow this riff from Jamie's Crying by Van Halen and see if people dig it. Loop this 4 second riff over and over again with a drum machine and... viola! I think I'll call it... a song. But what should I sing... I mean... talk about? Politics, religion, love, something deeper... no wait! I'll talk about me and how great I am!

 

A star is born. Honestly, before the rap movement (rap and then movement made me laugh to myself.. sorry) the radio was a good place. You maybe didn't like every song but I never wanted to rip out my car stereo and throw it out the window.

[bathory]

plenty of rap is political, socially aware, spiritual, etc.

[bathory]

and for someone like me, radio in the late 70s probably wasn't too cool - I don't like foreigner or reo or journey. or the bee gees.

[The Analog Grownup]

I remember the late 70's and early 80's radio being good music. There were different stations for your rock, your mellow music, pop, whatever... but it was all good as I remember. Even looking back at that time it was good. There were some 80's pop bands like The Cure or Boy George that were a little, um, fruity? but still decent music.

 

Rap really did ruin everything good musically. Let's see... melody? Don't want any of that. I'll just talk fast and monotone. OK, music, music.... hmm. I don't know how to play an instrument. I'll just borrow this riff from Jamie's Crying by Van Halen and see if people dig it. Loop this 4 second riff over and over again with a drum machine and... viola! I think I'll call it... a song. But what should I sing... I mean... talk about? Politics, religion, love, something deeper... no wait! I'll talk about me and how great I am!

 

A star is born. Honestly, before the rap movement (rap and then movement made me laugh to myself.. sorry) the radio was a good place. You maybe didn't like every song but I never wanted to rip out my car stereo and throw it out the window.

 

I too remember a time when music on the radio was diverse.

[Rutlefan]

You're right, top 40 has always sucked, and still sucks, and will always suck. Whenever I come across someone who dismisses a whole era of music, whether today's or whenever, it's always based on what's played on the radio.

 

And to your question, yes, I was like that coming out of the '70s, when I thought that the classic rock was the only rock worth considering. Pretty common phenomenon. I've been through this before too:

 

http://www.theonion....tarting-to,199/

 

Teen Who Just Discovered Led Zeppelin Starting To Piss Off Friends

 

" In addition to naming his '91 Prelude the "Honda Of The Holy" and renaming his cat of four years "Bonzo" as an homage to late Led Zeppelin drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, Campa has irritated friends with his constant barrage of Led Zeppelin trivia."

Edited March 20, 2014 by Rutlefan

[bathory]

god, I remember when one of my friends first got into the beatles in 8th grade. I think he really thought they were HIS little secret or something!

[Rutlefan]

god, I remember when one of my friends first got into the beatles in 8th grade. I think he really thought they were HIS little secret or something!

 

Exactly. Another line from the Onion piece:

 

"I've got nothing against Zep—they're awesome," said James Savich, 16, a longtime friend of Campa's. "But Mark acts like he's the first person ever to really get into them when he's, like, the 59 billionth."

[KennyLee]

One of my favorite Onion headlines was,

 

"Despite fervent refusal for the past 30 or so years the members of Twisted Sister have come out saying that they are now willing to "take it".

 

Haha

 

I don't know. Classic rock back in the '70's was... just rock. It was current. I did like Journey, REO, Foreigner, Styx, (Rush of course). This is what was on the radio. Also some cool gems from Free, Grand Funk, CSN, The Eagles, etc.

 

All of this is finding the right radio station of course. In my area it was WMMR and WYSP. I dug the radio back then.

[hobo73]

I TOTALLY used to be that way in middle school/high school lol

If it wasn't classic rock, I didn't listen to it. Period.

 

These days I listen to a whole mess of different genres/bands, and it's really opened my once-narrow mind to some really great music :)

[Mara]

Nope. I was a John Hughes Breakfast Club generation kid and I fully embraced the 80's music. Still do, in fact. However, I HATE 90's music and loathed it back then as well.

[Dscrapre]

Rap really did ruin everything good musically. Let's see... melody? Don't want any of that. I'll just talk fast and monotone. OK, music, music.... hmm. I don't know how to play an instrument. I'll just borrow this riff from Jamie's Crying by Van Halen and see if people dig it. Loop this 4 second riff over and over again with a drum machine and... viola! I think I'll call it... a song. But what should I sing... I mean... talk about? Politics, religion, love, something deeper... no wait! I'll talk about me and how great I am!

 

Lots of uninformed and outdated generalizations here.

 

First off, who says that all music has to be based on melody to be good? If you are listening to rap for the melody, then yeah you probably aren't going to like it. A lot of rap is fully percussive music. Everything from the drums to the instrumental tracks to the rapper's flow is all working towards a percussive effect. It's sort of like how a good drum solo works, only with voices.

 

Secondly, it's not a rule that in order to make rap music, you must be incapable of playing an instrument. Sure, not every rapper can play an instrument, but nobody ever seems to call out rock lead singers who don't play instruments, and there are plenty of them too. Plenty of rappers are also very skilled record producers who write and perform their own music. The Rza, Dr. Dre, and even guys like Kanye West come to mind.

 

At it's best sampling can be a tool for the creation of new music from existent recordings. The Beastie Boys were particularly good at borrowing elements of other music and making them their own. It's really not all that different from when rock musicians borrow pieces from other compositions *coughlavillastrangiatocough*.

 

And then there are the lyrics. Please tell me more about how nobody from the 60's 70's or 80's rock scenes ever wrote braggadocios music about themselves, their sexual prowess, rampant drug use, or any of those other things that "rappers always talk about". Just like how not every rock band was Whitesnake (the band named after a penis), not every rapper just raps about themselves or how great they are. A lot of rap has very serious spiritual and emotional lyrics.

 

I'm not saying that you or anybody else has to listen to rap or enjoy it. I mean, I'm not really a huge rap guy myself, but I at least respect that there actually is a good deal of artistry that can go into it.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Dscrapre

[Dscrapre]

double post Edited March 20, 2014 by Dscrapre

[Rutlefan]

"I don't know. Classic rock back in the '70's was... just rock. It was current."

 

Yeah, what I meant was "what we now call classic rock"; of course when Get Your Wings came out no one said, "This classic rock album is destined to become a classic!" ;)

 

 

As I saw things then in the late '70s and very beginning of the '80s, there were these bands (usually called New Wave) -- the B-52's, Sex Pistols, Devo, etc -- which just sounded different from the rock bands I grew up with. Except for the first couple Cars albums, which I grudgingly admired, I avoided it all, thinking it was all a novelty. As well, I thought it wasn't "manly" to like music that didn't have (at least) occasional power chords. I had even misinterpreted (I now realize) the title "Permanent Waves" as a snub aimed at "New" Wave, in the sense that new wave is a fad, unlike traditional rock. A couple years into the '80s I broke out of this myopia and came to love those weird/quirky/whatever bands, but I was dead set against it all, like the crazy neighborhood curmudgeon, until I was about sixteen or so.

[Dscrapre]

All of this is finding the right radio station of course. In my area it was WMMR and WYSP. I dug the radio back then.

 

This was another thing I wanted to touch on.

 

The distribution model for music has very radically changed since then. Radio now is pretty much exclusively a platform of the advertisement of singles. Therefore your chances of actually hearing independent music on the radio are very slim. Nowadays artists go directly to the audience via the internet, meaning that the only music that gets radio play is the stuff that has huge corporations backing it. So, judging today's music versus the past based on what gets played on the radio is flawed.

[RushBoingo]

I have always been an odd bird when it came to music growing up in high school and university. Now granted, my first two years were largely dominated by the fact that I loved Rush, but beyond that I was not much of a classic rock fan. I did not enjoy much top 40 pop, but was not ashamed to admit when I liked something (hell I love the song that has been at the number one spot for the past 11 weeks as of this post). Rap was a concept I was willing to accept, but no one had at school could give any justification for it. It was all bland, and for the longest time the only rap I could appreciate was Run DMC, and rap that was done for comedy.

 

Overall people knew I really liked music, just nothing on the popular spectrum. But at the same time I was definitely not a hipster or anything like that. I was always kind of on my own with my tastes. There are quite a few idiots out there who hold one genre as king, and think of all others as dirt. I always personally tried to introduce people to other kinds of music with a similar sound, but it did not work as often as I would have liked. University has been a much better experience though, being at music school and everything.

[x1yyz]

I'm an old (almost 50—yipes, how did that happen?!) person and I don't understand "kids today." Well, more accurately, I don't like rap/hip-hop music AT ALL. My introduction to music was AM radio somewhere around age 12 (1976) and I listened to that for a couple years until I learned about FM rock radio. What *really* influenced me were the two older brothers of my best friend. I still remember my friend and I sitting in one brother's room and listening to the first Boston and Foreigner albums somewhere about 1977. Also about that time her oldest brother had a pirate radio station and I got my first taste of DJing there, where I would play stuff like Devo, The Sex Pistols, Ramones, etc., although it was years before I realized the significance of those bands.

 

Once I was in high school, about 1979-80, I was getting into hard rock. AC/DC, Van Halen, Zeppelin, and of course, Rush. I'm not sure where I heard about those bands—I don't remember hearing them on the radio, but then again, that was a long time ago. My parents were never into any music that was at all rock-like, just classical and easy-listening, so I wasn't influenced by them at all. But neither was I trying to be contrary. I just liked the hard stuff.

 

A few years later I began listening to electronic music, and that was Rush's fault! After Signals came out I read an interview with them that said they had been influenced by a band called Ultravox, so I went out and bought an Ultravox album and fell down that rabbit hole.

 

For years I tended to like a certain type of music to the exclusion of other types. It was my way of thinking "MY musical tastes are better than YOURS," and also that way people who also liked my sort of music wouldn't think less of me for liking a different kind. But finally about the year 2000 something inside my brain changed and I thought who cares what other people think, and that's when I stopped caring. Now I listen to new wave and electronic and metal and alternative and prog, etc.

[Rutlefan]

All of this is finding the right radio station of course. In my area it was WMMR and WYSP. I dug the radio back then.

 

This was another thing I wanted to touch on.

 

The distribution model for music has very radically changed since then. Radio now is pretty much exclusively a platform of the advertisement of singles. Therefore your chances of actually hearing independent music on the radio are very slim. Nowadays artists go directly to the audience via the internet, meaning that the only music that gets radio play is the stuff that has huge corporations backing it. So, judging today's music versus the past based on what gets played on the radio is flawed.

 

I grew up in the D.C. area and would listen to DC101 on the way to and from school, and sometimes at night. A young (pre-New York) Howard Stern was the morning DJ and the station offered a steady diet of Led Zeppelin, Rush, AC-DC, The Scorpions, Pink Floyd, etc etc. Eventually The Police, Cars, Talking Heads, etc. became standard fare as well, as what was at first "New Wave" became the norm, though there was always still a healthy offering of the traditional rock. As my tastes spread out, I switched over to the indie/alternative 103.1 out of Annapolis, MD. Great stations, great music, good times. Have no idea what either station plays anymore; if I turn on the radio for music at all, it's XM radio. If I want to check out a band I go to YouTube.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Rutlefan

[Lorraine]

and for someone like me, radio in the late 70s probably wasn't too cool - I don't like foreigner or reo or journey. or the bee gees.

 

That's all you think it was? Too bad you weren't there.

[KennyLee]

Rap really did ruin everything good musically. Let's see... melody? Don't want any of that. I'll just talk fast and monotone. OK, music, music.... hmm. I don't know how to play an instrument. I'll just borrow this riff from Jamie's Crying by Van Halen and see if people dig it. Loop this 4 second riff over and over again with a drum machine and... viola! I think I'll call it... a song. But what should I sing... I mean... talk about? Politics, religion, love, something deeper... no wait! I'll talk about me and how great I am!

 

Lots of uninformed and outdated generalizations here.

 

First off, who says that all music has to be based on melody to be good? If you are listening to rap for the melody, then yeah you probably aren't going to like it. A lot of rap is fully percussive music. Everything from the drums to the instrumental tracks to the rapper's flow is all working towards a percussive effect. It's sort of like how a good drum solo works, only with voices.

 

Secondly, it's not a rule that in order to make rap music, you must be incapable of playing an instrument. Sure, not every rapper can play an instrument, but nobody ever seems to call out rock lead singers who don't play instruments, and there are plenty of them too. Plenty of rappers are also very skilled record producers who write and perform their own music. The Rza, Dr. Dre, and even guys like Kanye West come to mind.

 

At it's best sampling can be a tool for the creation of new music from existent recordings. The Beastie Boys were particularly good at borrowing elements of other music and making them their own. It's really not all that different from when rock musicians borrow pieces from other compositions *coughlavillastrangiatocough*.

 

And then there are the lyrics. Please tell me more about how nobody from the 60's 70's or 80's rock scenes ever wrote braggadocios music about themselves, their sexual prowess, rampant drug use, or any of those other things that "rappers always talk about". Just like how not every rock band was Whitesnake (the band named after a penis), not every rapper just raps about themselves or how great they are. A lot of rap has very serious spiritual and emotional lyrics.

 

I'm not saying that you or anybody else has to listen to rap or enjoy it. I mean, I'm not really a huge rap guy myself, but I at least respect that there actually is a good deal of artistry that can go into it.

 

Wow. That was a beating.

 

Sorry, man but rap is rhythmic but I do not find it musical at all.

 

From Webster:

 

 

mu·sic

 

noun, often attributive \ˈmyü-zik\

 

: sounds that are sung by voices or played on musical instruments

: written or printed symbols showing how music should be played or sung

: the art or skill of creating or performing music

 

And an additional note in Websters:

a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity

 

b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony

 

 

Melody is very important, to me anyway, in music. I guess Webster agrees? It is of course my opinion and I am not stating it as fact. Being a musician I was very disappointed in the direction "music" took when rap came out.

 

Also, borrowing a small section in a song is not the same as using a very famous riff as the only musicality in your "song". Kid Rock did a song (Summertime or something) and used the riff from Sweet Home Alabama and Warewolves of London. Hmmm. Wonder if I can write a hit song using those two riffs? Maybe I'll take Sweet Child 'O Mine and mix it with Hotel California and see if people like it?

 

That's all I'm saying.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KennyLee

[bathory]

and for someone like me, radio in the late 70s probably wasn't too cool - I don't like foreigner or reo or journey. or the bee gees.

 

That's all you think it was? Too bad you weren't there.

 

missed out on some toto and harry chapin too I'm sure

[Dscrapre]

b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony

or is the key word there. ;)

Also, borrowing a small section in a song is not the same as using a very famous riff as the only musicality in your "song". Kid Rock did a song (Summertime or something) and used the riff from Sweet Home Alabama and Warewolves of London. Hmmm. Wonder if I can write a hit song using those two riffs? Maybe I'll take Sweet Child 'O Mine and mix it with Hotel California and see if people like it?

 

Oh god, that crap!? I hated that song! People used to play that all the time at work. Talk about blatantly pandering to people who only like classic rock! The worst part was that those same people who were dismissing rappers for being uncreative were eating up this All Summer Long crap like it was the best thing ever. Just goes to show that a lot of people only want to hear the same thing over and over.

 

Obviously, I'm not talking about Kid Rock or the Black Eyed Peas' similar antics when I say that sampling can be positive when used the right way. That's just insulting the audience and plagiarizing.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Dscrapre

[bathory]

b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony

or is the key word there. ;)

Also, borrowing a small section in a song is not the same as using a very famous riff as the only musicality in your "song". Kid Rock did a song (Summertime or something) and used the riff from Sweet Home Alabama and Warewolves of London. Hmmm. Wonder if I can write a hit song using those two riffs? Maybe I'll take Sweet Child 'O Mine and mix it with Hotel California and see if people like it?

 

Oh god, that crap!? I hated that song! People used to play that all the time at work. Talk about blatantly pandering to people who only like classic rock! The worst part was that those same people who were dismissing rappers for being uncreative were eating up this All Summer Long crap like it was the best thing ever. Just goes to show that a lot of people only want to hear the same thing over and over.

 

Obviously, I'm not talking about Kid Rock or the Black Eyed Peas' similar antics when I say that sampling can be positive when used the right way. That's just insulting the audience and plagiarizing.

 

using those "artists" as examples of samples is like holding up warrant as your example of heavy metal

[KennyLee]

Well I'm certainly not a good judge of "good" plagiarizing as opposed to "bad" plagiarizing.

 

I play in a tribute band so I obviously am OK with covers of other people's music. I do disagree with using someone else's genius riff to base your own song around and selling it as your own. Big difference in my opinion. I haven't heard "every" rap song but most do just that. That "Lose Yourself in the moment" one by Eminem doesn't sample but the whole thing is one bass note and a chord/suspended.

 

I guess how intricate does your chord structure have to be to not sing over it.

 

We can agree to disagree. I think rap is to music what bowling is to professional sports.

[bathory]

hey motherf**ker, bowling IS a sport!!!