People always say how current music "sucks", but I've never seen a good consensus on when exactly music really lost its feel. I voted 1999 because of Britney, the invention of Napster, ProTools starting to become useful, and also the god-awful nu metal crap and the rap (while already bad), really became insane around this time; plus many big R&B/Pop divas were starting to lose their luster around this time and the new ones coming up didn't have voices as good as the previous generations. Plus, Rock music had pretty much run it's course and was basically recycled shlock. Also, MTV really became unwatchable that year with non-music programming beyond unacceptable that year. No wonder music sales have no longer been as high as their peak in 1999.

Barring a handful of worthy later items, 1986 was when it started to lose its flavour for me... :P

1997...

Though wasn't 'til 1998 with "TRL" when everything went sour

About 1990. Although it started going dowhill in 1989 as well.
If I can find 3 songs a year that I like over the past 10 years, that's saying alot.

When did you first start to get cynical about today's music? 

When my ears started to bleed

With today's music, there are good songs, the only trouble is you have to weed through tons and tons of crap to find them.  If it wasn't for the UK and other music charts outside of North America, I'd never listen to anything past 1999

Part of pop going under, or jumping the shark was, admittingly, me just getting older.  :-X

Right about 1997 (the year I turned 30 BTW) the stuff on the radio became annoying and I didn't know and didn't care who the bands/artists were, pop music was over for me.

For good or for bad, other things started, Napster, and a big ska, funk and lounge revival happened, so I just started looking elsewhere for tunes, even going backwards to the past...

2005 was when I started to get a bit cynical, before that I didn't really have any issues. I still think there's some good stuff but generally it seems weaker now than it was 5 or so years ago and it has less staying power for me.

1999-the year Britney Spears got big

I voted 1999, because once I heard teen pop, my instincts told me music would suck from then on.

And 'modern' rap is also another reason why I hate today's music!

Oh, and my instincts were right!  ;D

I'm still not too cynical about today's music. I noticed a decline in good songs starting in 2003, but then I got really into music in 2005 again. And then again in 2007 I noticed another decline, but this year I'm liking a lot of the songs. So I guess I'm just gonna vote for 2003 since I feel empty without voting.

Damn I just realized that there's a "Never" option...

1999-the year Britney Spears got big



I was just about to post that!!  When Britney and N'Sync became popular, I had outgrown the current pop music and was into metal, and my niece thought that Britney and Lance Bass were the Second Coming of Christ.  ::)

I agree with alot of the people saying 1999, although it wasn't so much because of Britney for me, it's just that the feel changed alot that year. Despite still being a kid in high school I was already imprinted by what I liked in the '80s and up to '94ish, so when more of the current songs started sucking I lost interest.

Before then, of course I didn't like every new song, but I could always find at least a decent percentage of mainstream stuff I enjoyed (I guess '95-98 was transitional from the old days). I was never a rap fan, so I just ignored that anyway... but that's the first time alot of POP music started getting on my nerves = Ricky Martin (although I envied him for all the girls who thought he was hot, lol), Nsync, all the nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit and stuff like that.

1990

I've been fine with music that came out up to 2003. I feel that's when the majority of music started to turn into crap.

Ricky Martin (although I envied him for all the girls who thought he was hot, lol)



And he still IS....even though his sexual preference is in question (not that there's anything wrong with that!  Seinfeld ) and he's a single Dad of twin boys. I'd Babysit for him anytime!  Or the babies.  ;D

I don't think 1999 is a bad year in music, but I do think rap that was released that year no longer had the old school sound and vibe that any rap song before that had. A 1998 rap song still had a sound of old school.
If a song like "Back That Azz Up" came out today, nobody would say it sounded old school.
But if a 1998 rap song like Deja Vu (Uptown Baby) came out today I think people might say it sounds like an old school rap song.

1989:  the panorama of Grunge.
8)

1989:  the panorama of Grunge.
8)
Uh, Max there wasn't grunge on the charts in 1989. Hair-Metal was still the main rock music sound at the time.

I'd say probably in 1998 when I was 12. I was listening to Brit before she went ape crazy and the Backstreet Boys, but it was also the year I first bought the Thriller album and I saw Purple Rain for the first time. I just remember when I bought Thriller, I felt like I had arrived as a Michael Jackson fan. Because in the MJ fan world, you ain't Jack Doodle if you don't have a copy of Thriller. It's an unspken thing, but all the real fans know it.
And when I think about Thriller, like no other music album can touch it. 104 million copies? My boyfriend calls me a snob when I start talking about Thriller in comparison to other artists, but really let's think about it. I can go grab a five year old, a fifiteen year old and a 50 year old and play Billie Jean for them and I bet you a steak dinner that they'll know it's Michael Jackson.

Give me a song by some current artist, I'm pretty sure the younger kids will know who made it, but it's a crapshoot if the 50 year old knows it. I just like to stick with people with lasting power. Michael has lasted, Prince has lasted. (Morris Day and Apollonia collectively because of thier ties to Prince)

Like I said, I don;t like to waste my money on flash in the pan acts. I'd rather sit and wait 2 years for a GOOD new album from Michael, that toss my money away on cheap imitators. Maybe I am a snob about my music, but isn't everyone. They listen to what they like and what makes them feel good whetheer it Michael, Aerosmith, the Beatles or the Stones (all of which are acts that HAVE lasted!)

And really in the freaking digitozed world, my pinky finger could get a record out.  >:( It's just not worth it. I miss originality. And now everyone looks the same. And if Paris Hilton can have a record out, we know the entertainment industry has shot striahgt to hell on a one way ticket.

Uh, Max there wasn't grunge on the charts in 1989. Hair-Metal was still the main rock music sound at the time.


You're right, it was not rising to the top of charts as it was in the early '90s.  However, I was listening to "alternative music" in the late '80s, and that's when the "grunge" (aka "the Seattle Sound") sound was really picking up steam on college/alternative stations.  That's where you were hearing bands like Nirvana, Green River, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and so forth.

My sister went to Evergreen State in Olympia in the '80s.  She sent me a mix tape of proto-grunge circa 1985, which I didn't like.  I sent her a mix tape of New Romantic synth pop, which she didn't like.  So there!
8)

Ironically, Nirvana released their first album "Bleach" in 1989

I like new romantic synth pop.  ;)