Obviously nothing revolutionary happened in regards to the style of music in the 2020s yet, if we're being honest, no new unique style/genre has been popularized to be the sound of this decade.

I agree.

Im not even sure if its possible to create new genres anymore.

Im not even sure if its possible to create new genres anymore.


Are you saying that, unlike the relentless forward thrust of the 20th Century, Kennedy's "New Frontier", where new genres were seemingly created every day and creativity was at an all time high, that the 21st century is in some kind of endless loop? Are we at the end of humanity's sociocultural evolution? This is an existential problem to ponder!  ???

We should mix Ambient music with Dance music so that it becomes one genre and the main genre of the 2020s: Ambidance. But that name sounds more like a prescription medicine lol!  ;D ;D ;D

Anyway, as a musician I will do that. See where it goes.

Are you saying that, unlike the relentless forward thrust of the 20th Century, Kennedy's "New Frontier", where new genres were seemingly created every day and creativity was at an all time high, that the 21st century is in some kind of endless loop? Are we at the end of humanity's sociocultural evolution? This is an existential problem to ponder!  ???


Well yeah. I mean try thinking of one. It's like thinking of a new colour.

But hey, if people are desperate enough there's always... hyperpop...

Obviously nothing revolutionary happened in regards to the style of music in the 2020s yet, if we're being honest, no new unique style/genre has been popularized to be the sound of this decade.


Well we’ve been in this big hip hop era since the 90s, so now it’s just a waiting game to see what’s going to evolve past that or move on from that direction in terms of music.

Are you saying that, unlike the relentless forward thrust of the 20th Century, Kennedy's "New Frontier", where new genres were seemingly created every day and creativity was at an all time high, that the 21st century is in some kind of endless loop? Are we at the end of humanity's sociocultural evolution? This is an existential problem to ponder!  ???


Did people really create new genres out of nothing ? It seems like a lot of music from the 50s to 1990s was just about evolving Rock music from the rock and roll of the 50s to alternative rock of the 90s and then came Hip hop in the 80s/90s and people went on to evolve on that and it went from the cheesy rap of the 80s to the mumble rap of the 2010s

Did people really create new genres out of nothing ? It seems like a lot of music from the 50s to 1990s was just about evolving Rock music from the rock and roll of the 50s to alternative rock of the 90s and then came Hip hop in the 80s/90s and people went on to evolve on that and it went from the cheesy rap of the 80s to the mumble rap of the 2010s


Yes, in the 1960s they absolutely DID. Has so much time gone by that people are genuinely unaware of this, or wish to challenge it for the sake of challenging? That's so sad. YES, in essence they created it out of the clay of what came before...the Beatles were inspired by Elvis, Dylan was inspired by Woody Guthrie...but out of this was an alchemy that created something so NEW that it was WORLD CHANGING. A Jefferson Airplane line of the time really sums it up "we're doing things that haven't got a name yet".  Of course it also didn't hurt that it came at such a pivotal moment in history that the world was ready for it, was open to it. When Bob Dylan did "Like A Rolling Stone" in 1965, there had literally, really and truly, been NOTHING like it before. And it doesn't matter that the chords already existed or that he was using instruments that had been used before on other songs, etc. He had ELECTRIFIED folk music (being done concurrently by Byrds) and put INTELLEGENT, POETIC lyrics to it to create a third thing, an entirely new kind of popular music. No single person that heard it in 1965 could say they had heard anything like it previously. This is the kind of thing that was going on back then. This was the FOREWARD THRUST of the 20th Century that I am talking about. Silly me, I didn't think it would end. Little did I know.

As if on cue to this discussion, I just came across this new article:

No more heroes: Six decades after the Beatles did it all, is pop culture finally dead?

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19606310.no-heroes-six-decades-beatles-pop-culture-finally-dead/

Yes, in the 1960s they absolutely DID. Has so much time gone by that people are genuinely unaware of this, or wish to challenge it for the sake of challenging? That's so sad. YES, in essence they created it out of the clay of what came before...the Beatles were inspired by Elvis, Dylan was inspired by Woody Guthrie...but out of this was an alchemy that created something so NEW that it was WORLD CHANGING. A Jefferson Airplane line of the time really sums it up "we're doing things that haven't got a name yet".  Of course it also didn't hurt that it came at such a pivotal moment in history that the world was ready for it, was open to it. When Bob Dylan did "Like A Rolling Stone" in 1965, there had literally, really and truly, been NOTHING like it before. And it doesn't matter that the chords already existed or that he was using instruments that had been used before on other songs, etc. He had ELECTRIFIED folk music (being done concurrently by Byrds) and put INTELLEGENT, POETIC lyrics to it to create a third thing, an entirely new kind of popular music. No single person that heard it in 1965 could say they had heard anything like it previously. This is the kind of thing that was going on back then. This was the FOREWARD THRUST of the 20th Century that I am talking about. Silly me, I didn't think it would end. Little did I know.


Aren’t people already doing this with like computers and technology ? Idk this sounds like a whole bunch of “music was better back then” rhetoric that just sounds so biased 

Yes, in the 1960s they absolutely DID. Has so much time gone by that people are genuinely unaware of this, or wish to challenge it for the sake of challenging? That's so sad. YES, in essence they created it out of the clay of what came before...the Beatles were inspired by Elvis, Dylan was inspired by Woody Guthrie...but out of this was an alchemy that created something so NEW that it was WORLD CHANGING. A Jefferson Airplane line of the time really sums it up "we're doing things that haven't got a name yet".  Of course it also didn't hurt that it came at such a pivotal moment in history that the world was ready for it, was open to it. When Bob Dylan did "Like A Rolling Stone" in 1965, there had literally, really and truly, been NOTHING like it before. And it doesn't matter that the chords already existed or that he was using instruments that had been used before on other songs, etc. He had ELECTRIFIED folk music (being done concurrently by Byrds) and put INTELLEGENT, POETIC lyrics to it to create a third thing, an entirely new kind of popular music. No single person that heard it in 1965 could say they had heard anything like it previously. This is the kind of thing that was going on back then. This was the FOREWARD THRUST of the 20th Century that I am talking about. Silly me, I didn't think it would end. Little did I know.
"Judas!"

Aren’t people already doing this with like computers and technology ? Idk this sounds like a whole bunch of “music was better back then” rhetoric that just sounds so biased


It has nothing to do with with being biased because I am not saying the music was better or worse. I'm saying it was NEW, it had previously not existed as such, which is the topic at hand, "can new ideas still exist". As a result, by the way, some people were scared to death of it. Pretty much all of this is established fact, rather than opinion, so I don't understand why people want to challenge it now as some kind of intellectual exercise or rejection of the past. OPINION or BIAS would be "it was the best music ever". The true FACT is "it previously did not exist as such".

"Judas!"


That's a perfect example, but I don't think our young friends here would ever get the reference. So I'll tell them. When Bob Dylan and The Band (his backing group, later to go on to great fame on their own) played Manchester Town Hall in England in 1966 and performed his new style of music, the audience, who wanted the OLD style of music (ie folk) booed, loudly reacted negatively, and one pratt screamed out "Judas!". it was a very confrontational performance. THAT'S how NEW the music was in that window of time. it made some people uncomfortable, even so-called "fans".

That's a perfect example, but I don't think our young friends here would ever get the reference. So I'll tell them. When Bob Dylan and The Band (his backing group, later to go on to great fame on their own) played Manchester Town Hall in England in 1966 and performed his new style of music, the audience, who wanted the OLD style of music (ie folk) booed, loudly reacted negatively, and one pratt screamed out "Judas!". it was a very confrontational performance. THAT'S how NEW the music was in that window of time. it made some people uncomfortable, even so-called "fans".
In south east London, there is a hairdressing shop called Dylan's Barbers, I have always wondered, do there use scissors or electric shavers?

People still have the ability to create something new and original. Humans did not stop evolving. Something new can and most likely will come soon.

That's a perfect example, but I don't think our young friends here would ever get the reference. So I'll tell them. When Bob Dylan and The Band (his backing group, later to go on to great fame on their own) played Manchester Town Hall in England in 1966 and performed his new style of music, the audience, who wanted the OLD style of music (ie folk) booed, loudly reacted negatively, and one pratt screamed out "Judas!". it was a very confrontational performance. THAT'S how NEW the music was in that window of time. it made some people uncomfortable, even so-called "fans".


Old school hip hop fans complain about rappers like lil yatchy all the time about how bad his music because it’s not lyrical

People still have the ability to create something new and original. Humans did not stop evolving. Something new can and most likely will come soon.


I really hope you're right, I'd imagine it would involve something technological, a new way of making sounds or rhythms.

I really hope you're right, I'd imagine it would involve something technological, a new way of making sounds or rhythms.


AI bands? That'd be something.  :o

I really hope you're right, I'd imagine it would involve something technological, a new way of making sounds or rhythms.

There would need to be some weird frequency stuff for that to happen, too weird for me. I still think new genres can be explored the traditional way with traditional instruments.

It is true, there are no new instruments being invented. Even electro/EDM doesn't sound much different from 1980's synth.

It is true, there are no new instruments being invented. Even electro/EDM doesn't sound much different from 1980's synth.


Correct. Electronic instruments never truly advanced beyond simply the electronics of them becoming more complex, more functions, etc. The SOUND of them didn't particularly advance. I think there is a still a place for a radically new style on traditional instruments. It's more in the attitude than in what it is being played on. if the attitude changes, the playing and the sound changes. And if new instruments are needed to accommodate the attitude, they will emerge.

The only thing unique this decade so far is the whole distorted guitar sound but that's been done before too. Hyperpop, lo-fi, & emo trap are the most novel things going on in the music field rn, I hope these genres keep rising & eventually become mainstream