Most of us are suckers for fads and trends and have been responsible for taking music where its got to today most of it is becoming talking and less singing and I feel the music is now suffocating. This is evident from the number of cover version and bringing back old music through TV ads and commercials. The old magic, why did it stop or did we stop making music that makes us melt like chocolate whats wrong with being CHEESY. Lets bring back music TSOP lets bring back bands like WAR and singers like George Benson, Barry White and the small group I absolutely love to bits Sweet Sensation with hits like Purely By Coincidence and Sad Sweet Dreamer.

:) Merry Christmas

No dude!!

You can't kill the metal!
The metal will live on!
Punk-Rock tried to kill the metal,
But they failed, as they were smite to the ground.
New-wave tried to kill the metal,
But they failed, as they were stricken down to the ground.
Grunge tried to kill the metal Ha,hahahahaha..
..They failed, as they were thrown to the ground.
Techno tried to defile the metal,
But Techno was proven wrong!!

The metal shall live on always!

i dont think popular music is anywhere near as good as it used to be, i think it has to do with what's happened with the record industry. but there are still plenty of good artists out there, you just have to dig for them, you can listen to popular radio all day and just be treated to one turkey after another.

i dont think popular music is anywhere near as good as it used to be, i think it has to do with what's happened with the record industry. but there are still plenty of good artists out there, you just have to dig for them, you can listen to popular radio all day and just be treated to one turkey after another.


Right. Like right now the Northern European scene is huge with bands like In Flames, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir etc.
Plus, what a lot of people are refering to as the 'New Wave of American Heavy Metal' is really kicking off big time too! I'm happy as a pig in sh.it.

2 things are dying: Good music and people's knowledge of good music.  There are actually people walking the streets that don't know the difference between The Beatles and Panic! At The Disco. Watch TRL sometime and take a good look at the audience.....those are the people commanding the sh*t music you hear on the radio and see on TV all the time.  There are very few contemporary, current artists I can stomach.

There are actually people walking the streets that don't know the difference between The Beatles and Panic! At The Disco.


One sucks.. the other sucks worse?

One sucks.. the other sucks worse?



Andy, Andy, Andy.....I know you don't like The Beatles, but work with me here.

Andy, Andy, Andy.....I know you don't like The Beatles, but work with me here.


No, seriously Yo.

If you'd asked me this question about 7 years ago I would have agreed.. in fact, up to about 3 years ago I probably would have.

But the last few years have seen the rise of two kickass scenes on either side of the world. Both the European and American metal scenes are starting to rise up again.. this has never really happened at the same time and is very exciting.
Some KICK-ASS BANDS!! In Flames, Lamb Of God, Arch Enemy, God Forbid, Dimmu Borgir, Children of Bodom.. loads more. Plus bands that have been around for a decade or so but never really got that big to begin with are really starting to gain in popularity.. Satyricon, Emporer, Katatonia..etc.
AND! The old Guard have come back with a Vengeance after a few sucky years. Megadeth disbanded then released 2 awesome albums and are releasing a third album (by all reports kick ass) next year. Metallica are finally going back to metal after that pussy artistic experimental stage they went through. Slayer, Maiden, Kreator, Exodus all released freakin sweet albums. Fuc.kin.. Chinese Democracy is coming out soon, Sebastian Bach said it's one of the best albums he's ever heard, it's been like 12 years in the making, you know it's gonna own.

Even if metal ain't your thing.. although the whole 'brit-rock' thing is producing a lot of sh.it bands.. it's also produced a few diamonds. The Libertines, Snow Patrol, The Kaiser Chiefs.

Black Label Society, Anthrax, Iced Earth, all bringing up the rear, creating quality material. No.. I think things are taking a turn for the better.

One sucks.. the other sucks worse?


I'm not familiar enough with PATD!, but the Beatles rock, dude! ;) Especially their classic rockish/experimental period. Part 1 of The White Album is one of my all time favorites.

I've learned that there is still a LOT of good music nowadays, you just have to dig deep to find it.

One sucks.. the other sucks worse?

Dissing the Beatles?  I oughta put the smack down on yo azz biatch!

___________________________________________________________________

IMO, music is becoming soundbites.  Nowadays people download songs instead of buying hardcopies at record stores.  When I was buying pop music I'd hear a song I liked on the radio, then go out and buy the album.  Sometimes I liked the rest of the album, sometimes not.  If I liked the rest of the album, I'd go out and buy more albums by that artist.  Furthermore, I would make note of producers.  If I liked the producer, I'd seek out other artists the producer worked for.

For instance, Adrian Sherwood.  I noticed Adrian Sherwood's name on the credits for Ministry's 'Twitch' album when it came out in '86.  I discovered dub reggae via Adrian Sherwood.  I noticed his name on albums by Mark Stewart and the Maffia, Tackhead, and African Head Charge.  From there I met Mad Professor and Lee 'Scratch' Perry. 

The method was exploration.  These days with the "download" culture, everything is more fragmented and less conducive to exporation and discovery.

I listen mostly to contemporary classical music at present.  This is a thriving genre in recorded music, though not commercially viable. 

Most of us are suckers for fads and trends and have been responsible for taking music where its got to today most of it is becoming talking and less singing and I feel the music is now suffocating. This is evident from the number of cover version and bringing back old music through TV ads and commercials. The old magic, why did it stop or did we stop making music that makes us melt like chocolate whats wrong with being CHEESY. Lets bring back music TSOP lets bring back bands like WAR and singers like George Benson, Barry White and the small group I absolutely love to bits Sweet Sensation with hits like Purely By Coincidence and Sad Sweet Dreamer.

:) Merry Christmas


There'll always be some good music, but nowadays you do have to search it out more. I like more pop/soft rock/classic rock, so it's just a matter of looking past some of the glam rap.

I'll admit, in some senses, musical trends are kinda frozen in 2001/'02. There haven't been as many "household name" artists or bands that, say even grandmas would know about.

It seems like since about sometime in 2003, music has been just about dead. Rap is friggin joke now, it has gotten so so bad. I'm just about done and sick and tired with a lot of the crap now, can't defend it anymore. Outside of the fray and a couple other artists, there's nothing much good now.

i dont think popular music is anywhere near as good as it used to be, i think it has to do with what's happened with the record industry. but there are still plenty of good artists out there, you just have to dig for them, you can listen to popular radio all day and just be treated to one turkey after another.


What ceases to amaze me is, the large number of young (15-28) people who like music of the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and call current music junk.  When I was in that age bracket, even if I liked older (60's something) music, I didn't call the current music junk (during the 80's).

What a telling symptom.  I blame the recording industry, too.

Why does the recording industry continue to blame "illegal" music copying and downloading?  That's one of the problems.  Rather than expend their effort on making a superior product, instead the industry sues teenagers and grandmas who downloaded some songs.  Makes you wonder where their priorities are...  ::)

Why does the recording industry continue to blame "illegal" music copying and downloading?  That's one of the problems.  Rather than expend their effort on making a superior product, instead the industry sues teenagers and grandmas who downloaded some songs.  Makes you wonder where their priorities are...  ::)


Tin-eared. Graph-paper brained accountants instead of music fans, call all the shots at giant record companies now.
The lowest common denominator rules. Forget honesty, Forget creativity, The dumbest buy the mostest that's the name of the game.
But sales are slumping, And no one will say why...
...Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?

What ceases to amaze me is, the large number of young (15-28) people who like music of the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and call current music junk.  When I was in that age bracket, even if I liked older (60's something) music, I didn't call the current music junk (during the 80's).

What a telling symptom.  I blame the recording industry, too.

Why does the recording industry continue to blame "illegal" music copying and downloading?  That's one of the problems.  Rather than expend their effort on making a superior product, instead the industry sues teenagers and grandmas who downloaded some songs.  Makes you wonder where their priorities are...   ::)
troodat. although when i was a teenager in the 80s we were listening to a lot of older stuff too. we were convinced the synthesizer was the ruination of music, everything was supposed to be analog! analog! so we were these jimi hendrix purists. for some reason jetro tull was huge. (?) and all that stuff came out when i was, like, 4.

there were exceptions. rush (sorry davey), the police, 80s punk and hardcore, metal for some people, some new wave (like blondie and such) all got some respect. but mainly the folks i knew were largely into old school.

anyway, i personally blame the "lo-fi" movement for what ails the music biz. it's like -- reduced-music music. the second you want to add some texture or anything marginally interesting suddenly it's, wait! that's not hip lo-fi anymore! it has to be three simple chords and mind-numbing lyrics. so... how is that different from, i dunno, the turtles?

It seems like since about sometime in 2003, music has been just about dead. Rap is friggin joke now, it has gotten so so bad. I'm just about done and sick and tired with a lot of the crap now, can't defend it anymore. Outside of the fray and a couple other artists, there's nothing much good now.


Yeah, The Fray rock - "Over My Head" was one of my favorite songs of '06.


What ceases to amaze me is, the large number of young (15-28) people who like music of the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and call current music junk.  When I was in that age bracket, even if I liked older (60's something) music, I didn't call the current music junk (during the 80's).

What a telling symptom.  I blame the recording industry, too.

Why does the recording industry continue to blame "illegal" music copying and downloading?  That's one of the problems.  Rather than expend their effort on making a superior product, instead the industry sues teenagers and grandmas who downloaded some songs.  Makes you wonder where their priorities are...   ::)


Yeah, people are more into their own thing now and everyone's tastes are different. I think that's pretty cool. I'd say over half of the people I went to HS with were into classic stuff. The '50s/60s/70s/80s tended to have a more trendy mindset for, say teens being more into what was current. But since so much is "older" now, it's hard to write it all off.

If you count Elvis, rock has been around for over 50 years now. How much new stuff can you really come up with without it being just a modification of older styles?

Yeah, the last 4-8 years hasn't been that creative, you can't blame the sagging record sales. There's some good individual songs, but it's not as exciting as it was in past decades. Like, people in the '80s who watched MTV for hours on end, or people in 1964 who stayed up late to see The Beatles playing on Ed Sullivan or something.

I agree, the answer should be making music more affordable/better, not prosecuting downloaders.

From The author of the Question:

Guys I have read all your responses some quick remarks:

Industry: They are in it for MONEY - illegal music is bad news for them - Trends in music the don't care as long as money keeps rollin in.

Young people: Lack of knowledge - still a lot to learn and discover.

No one is to blame but what we can do is not get on any of the money making band wagons "Because these guys are promoting crap and making money" they are killing the music. What use are talent shows when they all in the end steal sound bytes and mix old songs or do cover versions.

Cheesy music NO its just from different time and era like Beatles yeah and people who label music or using fancy word such GENRE are actually killing it. Discrimination of music what is R&B I wish people new what R&B is or was.

Lets carry on the good discussion......

From The author of the Question:

Guys I have read all your responses some quick remarks:

Industry: They are in it for MONEY - illegal music is bad news for them - Trends in music the don't care as long as money keeps rollin in.

Young people: Lack of knowledge - still a lot to learn and discover.

No one is to blame but what we can do is not get on any of the money making band wagons "Because these guys are promoting crap and making money" they are killing the music. What use are talent shows when they all in the end steal sound bytes and mix old songs or do cover versions.

Cheesy music NO its just from different time and era like Beatles yeah and people who label music or using fancy word such GENRE are actually killing it. Discrimination of music what is R&B I wish people new what R&B is or was.

Lets carry on the good discussion......


Um... Well, mixing and covering can take talent. Especially if you're doing complicated arrangements. Cover songs don't have to be just like the originals, sometimes they can be rearranged and sound totally different.

There is some good music out there, the problem is you have to look real hard for it.

we were convinced the synthesizer was the ruination of music, everything was supposed to be analog! analog! so we were these jimi hendrix purists. for some reason jetro tull was huge. (?) and all that stuff came out when i was, like, 4.



What happened if you didn't care for electric guitar-driven pop?

Synth-pop was a godsend for me.  Critics described synths as cold and robotic.  That's subjective.  I never found much warmth or humanity in screaming electric guitars. 

Guitar Synth whatever the instrument whoever the person, "music" is an international language of expressing and conveying emotions and messages from one human being to another.

What happened if you didn't care for electric guitar-driven pop?

Synth-pop was a godsend for me.  Critics described synths as cold and robotic.  That's subjective.  I never found much warmth or humanity in screaming electric guitars. 


i like digital keyboard stuff now more than i did then. it sorta seemed like it was gonna take over the world, little did i know lo-fi was gonna come along and ruin everything.

guitars are capable of all sorts of extremes -- you can make it sound like a screwdriver shoved in an electrical outlet or get a clean tone with a little chorus and it sounds warmer and nicer than just about any synthesizer out there, imo.

I dig what you all have to say about your likes and dislikes - I also agree about personal choice of musical instruments and the creativity factor. I was not speaking about music dying in that sense.

I have guitars, synths, mixers all the best known software music creation tools - But thats for my own satisfaction I don't share that music - I create that to satisfy myself  ;D

I have thousands of CD's of Rock, jazz, Pop you name it. NO thats not what I meant

I was speaking about how music is being used to manipulate all sorts of things such as fashion, life styles, politics religion and I can go on and on - this is killing the music - greedy people who take music hostage for their own purposes be it money or something else. It is changing what music use to be. Not just talking to music or chanting.

This is killing music or thats what it feels like ???  :-\\

i like digital keyboard stuff now more than i did then. it sorta seemed like it was gonna take over the world, little did i know lo-fi was gonna come along and ruin everything.

guitars are capable of all sorts of extremes -- you can make it sound like a screwdriver shoved in an electrical outlet or get a clean tone with a little chorus and it sounds warmer and nicer than just about any synthesizer out there, imo.


Electric guitar has been adopted by quoteunquote "serious" contemporary classical composers such as
Tim Brady, Nick Didkovsky, Phil Kline, Steven Mackey, David First, David Lang David Starobin, Arie Shapira, and Glenn Branca.  Glenn Branca leads to Thurston Moore leads to Sonic Youth who indeed apply screwdriver to guitar.
All would pay tribute to Jimmi Hendrix. 
Electric guitar is like any other instrument.  It is only as versatile as the composer/performer using it.  I just didn't find '70s rock groups made electric guitar very interesting.

Maxwell dude I am impressed with all those names.

But I don't think I entirely agree with you about no guitarists in the 70's apart from what you know.

Jimi Hendrix Santana John McL. Eric Clapton and I think I could come up with a longer list than you and I have not included Jazz, Rock and Rhythm & Blues guitarists.

What ceases to amaze me is, the large number of young (15-28) people who like music of the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and call current music junk.  When I was in that age bracket, even if I liked older (60's something) music, I didn't call the current music junk (during the 80's).

What a telling symptom.  I blame the recording industry, too.

Why does the recording industry continue to blame "illegal" music copying and downloading?  That's one of the problems.  Rather than expend their effort on making a superior product, instead the industry sues teenagers and grandmas who downloaded some songs.  Makes you wonder where their priorities are...   ::)
Yeah I;m tired of the industry year after year blaming downloader for their sagging CD sales so far this decade. The music industry does not listen to their customers. That is the problem with their record labels today. What I don;t get is the labels were in touch with their customers(the music buying public) in the 80's and 90's but I think lost touch with them in 1999 when teen-pop became big I think. Also radio has to stop playing sex rap and stop playing the same songs over and over again. That gets boring after awhile.

The music industry now is being what General Motors were in the automobile industry 80's, and 90's by not listening to their customers. People are turning off their radios because they don;t like what they are hearing. I hope Glam Raps decline or backlash brings us some good music.

Reward System could be the answer

I think public should only pay to buy or download music which can achieve a certain rating (acceptance) a kind of a reward for producing good music. This will sort out the good music from the bad and maybe give a new life to music.

Reward or Rating can be done by on line play - that is people should listen to a track and give their % vote when the track has reached a certain rating it gets permission to be released on-line or shops. This does not mean the whole complete track should be made available to listen for voting/rating - a good 1.5 - 2 mins. is enough.

I wish someone can implement this method.

Different geographical areas would get their own ratings to create local Hit Charts or Bill Boards or Top Of The Pop.

No longer will any Music Organisation recording giant push the wrong kind of music out their.

I think people like to buy and reward when they are satisfied. It is when their so much of same old %^%& people tend to loose respect and I know it does hit some real good artists financially, via illegal downloads.

Music isn\'t dying, it\'s sleeping.

Music isn\'t dying, it\'s sleeping.



Where have I seen this style of typing before?

Where have I seen this style of typing before?
Wouldn\'t ha\ve a clu\e.

Lets wake up the sleeping giant < Just like we did at WOODSTOCK >

Love devotion and surrender