The Decline of Phenomenal Bands and Music?

[Lorraine]

When do you think it began?

 

The sixties were mind blowing.

 

The seventies can't be beat for epic music.

 

The eighties were somewhat of a continuation of both.

 

But...sometime after, I would say, 1985 or so, it all started to change.

 

What do all of you think? Admittedly, I am out of touch with current music. In fact, anyone that came on the scene after 1992 is unknown to me music-wise.

 

Is there anyone currently that can hold a candle to past bands? Or even comes close to them?

[Narps]

[The Analog Cub]

Tastes changed around the mid 80's and people focused more on the image than the musicianship. Hair bands and watered down pop artists like Tears For Fears, etc. I think people were getting tired of the overblown-ness that the 70's music was putting out.

 

Then the 90's rolled around and grunge killed any sort of musicianship the 70's and 80's had to offer.

 

Then the abominations of pop, punk, and nu-metal combined the ludicrous idea that image and "the message" were more important than the musicianship as well as the nasty grunginess from the 90's.

 

I think there are still mind-blowing bands out there but you just have to look through all the garbage. The Foo Fighters were born out of a gross time period of music but as I listen through their catalog it's easy to see how well Grohl, Hawkins, and company have evolved as musicians, and today they're some of the best performers I've seen. Then you have the lesser-known overworking musicians like Joe Bonamassa who's been around since the early 2000's.

 

I think the problem with today's music is the focus on image and just the overall trends of either unsettling dream indie pop/rock or whiny pop-punk bands, as well as the regular top 40 drivel.

 

Edited October 6, 2014 by BowlCity

[Rod in Toronto]

I have to agree that music hasn´t been the same recently, but we had great bands coming up in the 90´s: Living Colour, Faith No More, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana (and then Foo Fighters), Dream Theater...but from the 2000´s the only good band I can point out is Muse.

[ReRushed]

First off, I think the 1990s had many great bands and artists.

 

Great bands emerged from the late '80s into the '90s: Prog-wise there's Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater. And a lot of Grunge bands were/are great. I love Nirvana and from Nirvana rose Foo Fighters. Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, NIne Inch Nails, Radiohead - great bands, all of them.

 

There's a ton of stuff post-1985 that's more than worthwhile.

 

Currently, I love two bands that have similiar names - Deerhunter and The Dear Hunter.

[x1yyz]

In fact, anyone that came on the scene after 1992 is unknown to me music-wise.

 

Well, there's your problem!

 

Also, "phenomenal band" is extremely subjective. There are plenty of people who do not consider Rush, whom we all think of as phenomenal, to be so.

 

If you mean "popular bands with above-average musicians" then they are probably just as many around now as there were in the 60s; probably more, in fact, as musical styles have progressed. Bands like Dream Theater and Muse (at least Muse circa mid-2000s) are above average and quite popular.

[Lorraine]

In fact, anyone that came on the scene after 1992 is unknown to me music-wise.

 

Well, there's your problem!

 

Also, "phenomenal band" is extremely subjective. There are plenty of people who do not consider Rush, whom we all think of as phenomenal, to be so.

 

If you mean "popular bands with above-average musicians" then they are probably just as many around now as there were in the 60s; probably more, in fact, as musical styles have progressed. Bands like Dream Theater and Muse (at least Muse circa mid-2000s) are above average and quite popular.

 

Did I mention Rush?

[Narps]

:codger:

[Segue Myles]

Mastodon

Opeth

Porcupine Tree

Pineapple Thief

Dir en Grey

Paradise Lost

Alter Bridge

Muse

Thrice

Coheed and Cambria

Klervtak

Soundgarden

Pearl Jam

Isis

Neurosis

Khoma

In Flames

Jimmy Eat World

Nightwish

Baroness

 

In my opinion, even thoughnsome of these bands aren't to my taste, I think they are pretty legendary and many are the shining example of their respective genre! I would rank a handful of these bands as wonderful, if hardly as groundbreaking, as many of the highly regarded classic bands of the past.

[J2112YYZ]

There's still a lot of great music out there now. Unfortunately, radio doesn't play that stuff like they used to 30-40 years ago. You gotta dig around on the internet to find the good stuff today. It's a bit of a pain to have to weed through all the crap that's out there but once you find something you really like, it's worth it.

[Narps]

There's still a lot of great music out there now. Unfortunately, radio doesn't play that stuff like they used to 30-40 years ago. You gotta dig around on the internet to find the good stuff today. It's a bit of a pain to have to weed through all the crap that's out there but once you find something you really like, it's worth it.

That post explains alot when you are old and lazy. Its just easier to listen to a sure thing.... Edited October 6, 2014 by Narpski

[Lorraine]

Do you think any of these bands be talked about or listened to in fifty or more years?

[KennyLee]

Music has continued to be good. The radio is what has s**t the proverbial bed. Corporate music makes what they want to sell into hits by shoving them down your throat. They don't want or need good music... they want "music" they can sell. They don't care about the longevity of an artist because they can create on in no time. They don't care about art.

 

Scale The Summit is another fine band. They're out there.

[KennyLee]

Do you think any of these bands be talked about or listened to in fifty or more years?

 

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

Still great bands out there. More than ever.

[Narps]

This has really nothing to do with "bands" per se but I gotta give my wife some props. She listens to what would I guess be considered today's top 40 all the time in the car. She has made a concerted effort to stay "hip" for our kids sake and know the current music, movies, pop culture and television shows. I have not however . Gotta give her credit though. The current popular music makes me wanna throw something....

[x1yyz]

The time I have spent listening to commercial radio in the past 30-plus years can be measured in mere hours. I have no clue what gets played on the radio, I have no clue who the "popular" artists are and what they sound like, and I don't care.

[Union 5-3992]

Do you think any of these bands be talked about or listened to in fifty or more years?

Yes, certain bands mentioned so far could. Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, are Mastodon are giants today and (some) were giants 20 years ago. When Pearl Jam or Foo release an album, they still top the charts and sell out arenas well beyond their relevance.

[Union 5-3992]

Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater are bands that hold their own very well to bands formed in the 70's. Though they're now turning 20, you can still find new bands. Baroness and Truckfighters both excellent bands that released their debut within the decade. Anathema is a band that revolutionized their sound into something that is miles beyond what they used to make 20 years into their career. Ghost BC, Orchid, and Graveyard are bands that came about around 2007 have a great hard rock style They sound like they were created 40 years ago.

 

There is a lot of fantastic music out there, You just gotta know where to look for it. Music Of The Spheres is a great place to find some of it.

[troutman]

Do you think any of these bands be talked about or listened to in fifty or more years?

 

 

[invisible airwave]

When poppy shit like Coldplay, One Republic, Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons et al is considered to represent "rock" in the mainstream, you know the shit just hit the fan. Not that MTV has any credibility anyways but Lorde winning "rock" video?

 

Adam Levine, Ryan Tedder et al are this generation's Pat Boone and it makes me sick.

[Powderfinger]

Just a few points to contribute to the discussion:

 

1) It is a mistake to suggest that bands only began caring about their image during the 1980s. There are countless examples of style over substance from decades prior.

 

2) If I were reaching for a sweeping conclusion, I would suggest that much of what we perceive as the decline of phenomenal music more accurately reflects the decline of artist development. Men with business degrees gradually replaced people who had firm backgrounds in making records and nurturing artists' development. Moreover, something was gained and something was lost during the indie revolution that attenuated, if not altogether denied, major labels' power.

 

While artists gained greater control of their careers, they also lost a significant amount of financial and media support. Bands don't just roll out of their practice spaces prepared to record Dark Side of the Moon or Pet Sounds in between shifts at the the record store or coffee shop. Such magnum opuses are the product of years of development and refinement. Sure, a great punk or lo-fi album can be cut over the span of a weekend at a local, amateur studio. But the types of "player bands" that most of us adore need more time to hone their craft and realize their vision. There are of course exceptions from both ends of the spectrum, but that's as good a summation of what happened as I can piece together.

 

3) Listeners change just as much as the music.

[adace1]

There's almost nothing that annoys me more than people who assume that there's no good music anymore or that "rock is dead" when there's tons of fantastic rock and metal bands out there that aren't played on the radio.

[x1yyz]

There's almost nothing that annoys me more than people who assume that there's no good music anymore or that "rock is dead" when there's tons of fantastic rock and metal bands out there that aren't played on the radio.

 

:goodone:

[The Analog Cub]

When poppy shit like Coldplay, One Republic, Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons et al is considered to represent "rock" in the mainstream, you know the shit just hit the fan. Not that MTV has any credibility anyways but Lorde winning "rock" video?

 

Adam Levine, Ryan Tedder et al are this generation's Pat Boone and it makes me sick.

 

Imagine Dragons is close, and I find them pretty listenable. Kinda like The Killers early stuff in a way.