what happened to good music? no seriously

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Bgamer90 said:
Yeah... you didn't get what I meant?

Basically, record labels realized that they don't have to work as hard to get good sales as long as they get people to think that their music is good via marketing/advertising.
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No it's exactly what I was looking for. Makes perfect sense. Wouldn't that make artists not work as hard? Or not even want to? It loses being an art and just becomes mass produced junk.
 
The Mana Legend said:
My favorite album of all-time just came out last month, so yes, good music still happens. A lot. The ratio of good/bad music has always been the same.
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I do tend to believe that popular music (read: radio) was better back in the days. But that good music died years a go is not true of course.
 
Gilby said:
Maybe someone should make a thread about our favourite music blogs/aggregators so that old people like him can listen to something besides Katy Perry :P
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Well there's probably been 50 suggestive posts in here so far.

Getting into 'weird' music is about bridging yourself to it. A lot of people seem to start with something like Floyd when they realize music can mean more. I'm about 10 years past that moment but it gets to a point where you feel like you know 'good' music.

Cosmic Bus is/was GAF's tastemaker if you want to jump to the top of the mountain.
 
Apart from friends with similar music taste's recommendations, my single largest source of new, good music is the "Similar artists" on Spotify and the artist radio. That latter is: choose an artist you like, album or even song, and you'll get a "radio station" that plays that kind of music. Awesome!

Oh and OP: you're not looking hard enough.
 
bill0527 said:
I understand current top 40, pop, American Idol and Disney garbage perfectly.

Anything that I have to go digging for - then no I don't understand it.

I don't have time to go digging and that's the problem. 20 years ago, I didn't have to dig for good music, because I could turn on the radio and listen to it.
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The Radio plays whatever is popular. So what you are really trying to say is, "Why doesn't everyone else like what I like?"
 
With the number of ways to discover new sounds and music these days, I'd argue that there's even more quality music then ever before. Yeah, there's a lot of disappointing and by the numbers shit out there on the radio and getting high play on youtube/pandora/whatever. All it takes is a little time to dig in and you'll have more music than you can listen to.

2012 has been a stellar year for music for me, even if some of my favorite artists haven't put anything out in the past few years. Lots of new and fresh sounds that keep my speakers and headphones busy.
 
thirty said:
No more like how'd everyone get brainwashed into loving garbage.
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Jesus, do you people realize that these people love this music because it's what they grew up hearing on the radio? No different than when you grew up hearing music that all old people called "garbage" on the radio.

You guys are no different than the people you say were "brainwashed."
 
Pegasoos said:
Every generation has said this, along with the "kids these days" bullshit. Stop thinking you had some holy fucking grail all to yourself 10 years ago. You didn't. Someone thought that shit sucked and you probably said or thought something similar regarding their sentiments. Fucking cyclical "hur dur what I liked will always be the best forever" is annoying.
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This. This. One thousand times this.
 
In someways i blame technology, because the world is so small now theres this feeling of unoriginality to everything, that constant feeling that theres somebody else out there who has done this already, but probably better, and whilst people have to tools to create a masterpiece so readily at their disposal, this kinda is a bad thing, as it requires no effort so everybody tries to do it, so say 1000 people have downloaded FL studios and whacked in some midi instruments, maybe added some poorly recorded instrumental work or vocals, regardless of how many are great songs, it makes it so much harder to separate the shit from the gold, and then half the time you realise its just been ripped off, after such a powerful grunge movement it was like the world was brought to our fingertips, but then nothing really happened but the commercialisation of music as a whole, yes you can argue people have already taken full advantage of music for financial gain, but its getting silly, not only is 90% of it passionless crap that has had a few samples from great old songs whacked in to get the masses behind it, i feel the general standard for everything has just dropped in the past decade, nowadays everyone is easily pleased, nobody is willing to take on the companies and there is this 'Get what your given attitude'

And even though you have 100s of thousands of people that probably all think this and are stuck just remembering the good times, there is no drive to unite to make everything better as it just feels so helpless...

SO this is a big subject and its hard to condense into so few words so if parts don't make sense the highlight them
 
The Mana Legend said:
Jesus, do you people realize that these people love this music because it's what they grew up hearing on the radio? No different than when you grew up hearing music that all old people called "garbage" on the radio.

You guys are no different than the people you say were "brainwashed."
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Not at all. Maybe people just have a different appreciation of music. I don't see many people running back and bumping soulja boy tell em 10 years from now saying MAN. THIS WAS AMAZING WORK.
 
I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now what I'm with isn't "it", and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me..
 
thirty said:
Not at all. Maybe people just have a different appreciation of music. I don't see many people running back and bumping soulja boy tell em 10 years from now saying MAN. THIS WAS AMAZING WORK.
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Yes, because you can totally see into the future.

Stop denying it, you're absolutely no different than them.
 
Tashbrooke said:
In someways i blame technology, because the world is so small now theres this feeling of unoriginality to everything, that constant feeling that theres somebody else out there who has done this already, but probably better, and whilst people have to tools to create a masterpiece so readily at their disposal, this kinda is a bad thing, as it requires no effort so everybody tries to do it, so say 1000 people have downloaded FL studios and whacked in some midi instruments, maybe added some poorly recorded instrumental work or vocals, regardless of how many are great songs, it makes it so much harder to separate the shit from the gold, and then half the time you realise its just been ripped off, after such a powerful grunge movement it was like the world was brought to our fingertips, but then nothing really happened but the commercialisation of music as a whole, yes you can argue people have already taken full advantage of music for financial gain, but its getting silly, not only is 90% of it passionless crap that has had a few samples from great old songs whacked in to get the masses behind it, i feel the general standard for everything has just dropped in the past decade, nowadays everyone is easily pleased, nobody is willing to take on the companies and there is this 'Get what your given attitude'

And even though you have 100s of thousands of people that probably all think this and are stuck just remembering the good times, there is no drive to unite to make everything better as it just feels so helpless...

SO this is a big subject and its hard to condense into so few words so if parts don't make sense the highlight them
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Another great post. Glad to see some people get it.


The Mana Legend said:
Yes, because you can totally see into the future.

Stop denying it, you're absolutely no different than them.
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Honestly?
 
thirty said:
Not at all. Maybe people just have a different appreciation of music. I don't see many people running back and bumping soulja boy tell em 10 years from now saying MAN. THIS WAS AMAZING WORK.
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Hey, guess what? People probably said the same thing about that crap you linked in the OP!
 
jNFqw.gif
 
I would like to see a thread discussing why popular taste has gone down the shitter.

Its true good music is still being made, you just have to dig. But why do we have to dig?
 
Gouty said:
I would like to see a thread discussing why popular taste has gone down the shitter.

Its true good music is still being made, you just have to dig. But why do we have to dig?
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Because the ones in control want us to feel like shit and be accepting of shit.
 
We should just make a thread in off-topic community for people to rant about how much new music sucks and how everything was amazing 20 years ago. Hell, if NeoGAF sticks around, it'll still be running strong in 20 years.
 
Gouty said:
Its true good music is still being made, you just have to dig. But why do we have to dig?
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People are lazy and don't want to put in effort. Instant gratification is a facet of peoples' lives more than ever. It's just easier to turn off your brain and join the popular culture. People are willfully ignorant and actually enjoy being spoon fed, so the mainstream continues doing whatever it wants to keep the audience (which involves making music even more shallow and homogenized for an easy buck). Taste goes down as people continue to enjoy what's given to them without questioning the moneymaking machine, as that machine continues to take advantage of lazy listener stupidity.

But yeah, it can't be stressed enough that music is probably as good as it has ever been. People downplay the 21st century's output so far but a good deal of it has actually been amazing. You just have to realize that the radio is not the place to look if you want high quality, interesting, well-written, and passionate music.
 
Conciliator said:
We should just make a thread in off-topic community for people to rant about how much new music sucks and how everything was amazing 20 years ago. Hell, if NeoGAF sticks around, it'll still be running strong in 20 years.
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Nostalgia destroys everything from politics to social change to entertainment. It's the great unifying joke of the human race.
 
teruterubozu said:
Yanni, Michael Bolton, Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Garth Brooks? Fuckin' hated that radio shit in the 90s.
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Not sure what stations you were listening to in the 90s, but mine were playing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, and this was on top 40 pop radio. If any of these bands came out new today, they'd never come close to sniffing top 40 or a pop station, and they would be relegated to YouTube or an Internet radio alternative where they would have a small fraction of a fan base. They also wouldn't get any push at all from a record company and wouldn't sell anywhere near the amount of records that they sold in the 90s.
 
blame space said:
good music was actually outlawed in 1974 following the release of Radio City.
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haha.

bill0527 said:
Not sure what stations you were listening to in the 90s, but mine were playing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, and this was on top 40 pop radio. If any of these bands came out new today, they'd never come close to sniffing top 40 or a pop station, and they would be relegated to YouTube or an Internet radio alternative where they would have a small fraction of a fan base. They also wouldn't get any push at all from a record company and wouldn't sell anywhere near the amount of records that they sold in the 90s.
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This last decade's equivalent to that stuff was Nickleback, Daughtry, Hinder, and Linkin Park. Even a few 90s favorites, like Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Weezer managed to get songs on top 40 radio.
 
Gilby said:
There's not even an argument, every genre of music is at it's peak right now thanks to people in each genre being able to easily access everyone else's work from around the globe, instantly, take inspiration, and learn. Combine that with no longer needing a manager/record company to get into the business and you've got a creative wet dream. It's really hard to listen to people complain about this when it's the best we've ever had it.
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hey, im withya brotha
 
Gouty said:
I would like to see a thread discussing why popular taste has gone down the shitter.

Its true good music is still being made, you just have to dig. But why do we have to dig?
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Thats a point i was trying to make, yeah there is great music out there, but damn son, things like music magazines have even gone downhill, I mean i have a fairly diverse taste in music, but at the minute it feels like everyone is just being oblivious to it, instead of kicking up a fuss they just pretend to be back in the 'good ol days, of course some people will disagree and say every generation does this but honestly, with the state the world is currently in... has this ever happened before or something similar? i don't think think it has in this particular way
 
bill0527 said:
Not sure what stations you were listening to in the 90s, but mine were playing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, and this was on top 40 pop radio. If any of these bands came out new today, they'd never come close to sniffing top 40 or a pop station, and they would be relegated to YouTube or an Internet radio alternative where they would have a small fraction of a fan base. They also wouldn't get any push at all from a record company and wouldn't sell anywhere near the amount of records that they sold in the 90s.
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Those were the good 90s man.
 
bill0527 said:
Not sure what stations you were listening to in the 90s, but mine were playing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, and this was on top 40 pop radio. If any of these bands came out new today, they'd never come close to sniffing top 40 or a pop station, and they would be relegated to YouTube or an Internet radio alternative where they would have a small fraction of a fan base. They also wouldn't get any push at all from a record company and wouldn't sell anywhere near the amount of records that they sold in the 90s.
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Exactly. The more I think about it all being controlled by the media the more it makes sense. Look at shows like American idol and the voice. They take this talent and grind it up and churn out junk for the same people that watch such shows and eat it right up. Money is made on both ends now.
 
bill0527 said:
Not sure what stations you were listening to in the 90s, but mine were playing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, and this was on top 40 pop radio. If any of these bands came out new today, they'd never come close to sniffing top 40 or a pop station, and they would be relegated to YouTube or an Internet radio alternative where they would have a small fraction of a fan base. They also wouldn't get any push at all from a record company and wouldn't sell anywhere near the amount of records that they sold in the 90s.
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You both are right. Pearl Jam was playing right next to Shania, right next to Nirvana, right next to Matchbox 20.

Like every decade, like every point in time, there was crap and good stuff playing on top 40 stations. You need only look at the charts from each year to see this.
 
I used to care about this sort of thing, but then I stopped watching TV and listening to the radio completely and made a point of discovering good music all on my own. What I discovered was that there was a vast, near endless amount of stuff that catered to my tastes and standards. It takes a lot of searching to find it sometimes, but it's out there if you're willing to look for it.

Just remember, good music has existed for centuries. Don't limit yourself to what's current or trendy and you're good. Good music is timeless.
 
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