Most of us here are of the opinion pop culture sucks today, including myself, though I think it's actually seeing vast improvement. I really enjoyed music this year, 2012 is probably the best year for music since the 80s IMO.

When do you think pop culture started to suck? I think you could start to see a decline as early as the late '80s. You had throwaway music like Rick Astley and this was also the time Hollywood started to do too many remakes and sequels. I also think that was the last time there were a large number of original tropes and genres being innovated in the underground. Aside from sub-genres like dubstep, there isn't a style of music today that didn't already exist in some form in 1987.

With that said though, pop culture was decent as late as the early 00s, I don't think it become a parody of itself until maybe about 7 or 8 years ago. Late 2000s, was absolutely terrible in every way for just about all art but I think we're seeing somewhat of a renaissance now.

There are various turning points.

*When we're talking about pop music, I'd say around 1991 when that 80s' sound was gone; but it became better again in the late 2000s.
*Fashion styles became boring after 1994.
*Technology started to get that boring 'modernish' style in the mid/late 90s.

I don't think it does because it is a matter of taste.  What one person thinks sucks another person loves.  Personally, I am stuck in the 80's and not a fan of much after.  But I know there are those that hate my decade but love the others.  Just a matter of taste.

I don't think it does because it is a matter of taste.  What one person thinks sucks another person loves.  Personally, I am stuck in the 80's and not a fan of much after.  But I know there are those that hate my decade but love the others.  Just a matter of taste.


Vouch.

The popculture does not suck even if it does not personally appeal to me.

Vouch.

The popculture does not suck even if it does not personally appeal to me.


I guess the topic should have said, 'when did pop culture stop appealing to you'?

This is totally a generational question. My grandparents think everything after The Beatles came to America sucks, while my parents love the 80's and think Grunge killed good music. Some older Boomers that idealize the 1964-1974 time period think that everything went south when Punk and Disco took over the scene. I'm even seeing some people around my age opining about how music went "downhill" after the early 00's.

Luckily, I've never been that way. I've always been very open in terms of what music I like (including some admittedly "bad" songs).

When polls appear about when pop culture starts to suck, is when it starts to suck.  There are certain things in pop culture in every decade I am not a fan of, but doesn't mean it sucks.  It's just not everyone's cup of tea.

Not everyone likes the music of the 2000s and on, but everyone will have a movie or maybe TV show they really liked.  You can't lump pop culture in as a whole

When polls appear about when pop culture starts to suck, is when it starts to suck.  There are certain things in pop culture in every decade I am not a fan of, but doesn't mean it sucks.  It's just not everyone's cup of tea.

Not everyone likes the music of the 2000s and on, but everyone will have a movie or maybe TV show they really liked.  You can't lump pop culture in as a whole


This is true, but certain times have more suck than others.  ;D In everyone's own experience, of course. ;)

It happened in stages:

1. In the mid-late 80's music turned more fake
2. The 90's - most of the 90's music is cheesy
The early-to-mid 00's like 2001 to 2004 had some fantastic songs, so that was a good time.

Who really is in control of pop culture anyway?  Who actually makes the decisions as to what style of music is popular in a certain year? Is it teenagers and twenty-somethings who decide? Or do they just go along with whatever the TV and radio tells them is popular? ???

My favorite period in pop culture was the '67-'75 time frame and to a lesser extent '79-'85 and the dance music(french-house, vocal trance) from '98-'04.
I dislike '90s music the most so I'd say the '90s and most of the '00s.

Who really is in control of pop culture anyway?  Who actually makes the decisions as to what style of music is popular in a certain year? Is it teenagers and twenty-somethings who decide? Or do they just go along with whatever the TV and radio tells them is popular? ???


It's probably manufactured and gullible people eat it up, and then they phase it out once people get sick of it.

Who really is in control of pop culture anyway?  Who actually makes the decisions as to what style of music is popular in a certain year? Is it teenagers and twenty-somethings who decide? Or do they just go along with whatever the TV and radio tells them is popular? ???


I think that, for the most part, teenagers have been the driving force for pop culture since the 50's. It's been shifting younger and younger for the last several years though. It seems like historically it's been older male teens (maybe around college age) that sort of set the pace for what types of music and fashions were popular during past eras, whereas over the last several years, the most "popular" artists have been those liked most by 12-year-old girls that spend copious amounts of free time watching The Disney Channel. Really, you could argue it's been that way for the last decade and a half or so.

Who really is in control of pop culture anyway?  Who actually makes the decisions as to what style of music is popular in a certain year? Is it teenagers and twenty-somethings who decide? Or do they just go along with whatever the TV and radio tells them is popular? ???


This is the real question, since similar to what we say in our "business", one man's junk is another man's treasure.  Seems to me that pop music has always been big business even when its on the up and up. ie not a product of payola.  As to the "quality" of music, there are lots of followers out there, and very few talented innovators

I don't think it does because it is a matter of taste.  What one person thinks sucks another person loves.  Personally, I am stuck in the 80's and not a fan of much after.  But I know there are those that hate my decade but love the others.  Just a matter of taste.


That's a good point. It's all a matter of taste. "What one person thinks sucks another person loves". What might suck for me, might not suck for others, and vice-versa. I prefer pop culture of the 60s, 70s and 80s. I'm not a fan of much after either, except for movie special effects, Fantastic advancement in animated films (such as The Incredibles  and Finding Nemo), and youtube (my internet friend.... ;D).

When polls appear about when pop culture starts to suck, is when it starts to suck.  There are certain things in pop culture in every decade I am not a fan of, but doesn't mean it sucks.  It's just not everyone's cup of tea.

Not everyone likes the music of the 2000s and on, but everyone will have a movie or maybe TV show they really liked.  You can't lump pop culture in as a whole


Bingo. Every decade has its trash culture and then it has stuff that will stand the test of time. Today is no different from any other decade in that regard.

So to answer the question, pop culture has always sucked, ever since the first cavemen decided to do whatever it was that they did for entertainment.

That being said, I do think that advertising has started to suck more.

Commercials used to be a lot more entertaining than they are now. The cheesy, over the top advertising kind of started to die off in the late 1990s. Commercials nowadays are just too serious, so much so that it's even harder to take them seriously.

That being said, I do think that advertising has started to suck more.

Commercials used to be a lot more entertaining than they are now. The cheesy, over the top advertising kind of started to die off in the late 1990s. Commercials nowadays are just too serious, so much so that it's even harder to take them seriously.


Not to mention commercials are much longer these days too.  ::)

Well, I always hated commercials. Even before the late 90s. I have never considered them 'entertaining' at all since they were interrupting the program.

But I have to admit, that during the 90s there were still some classic commercials everybody remembers - even 10-20 years later. I have never seen such a commercial since the early 2000s... it's just an overload.

For me, mid-80s onwards...

Why? Because I started getting old...

You'll find the same thing will happen to you in several years time...

Pam Anderson.
;)

Well, I always hated commercials. Even before the late 90s. I have never considered them 'entertaining' at all since they were interrupting the program.

But I have to admit, that during the 90s there were still some classic commercials everybody remembers - even 10-20 years later. I have never seen such a commercial since the early 2000s... it's just an overload.


I don't like how ironic and self-depreciating today's commercials are. Even f*cking State Farm commercials pull the irony card now.  ;D I miss when commercials were one of the few parts of pop culture that were untouched by irony. Though infomercials are still pretty irony free, lmao. God bless Billy May's soul!

I don't like how ironic and self-depreciating today's commercials are. Even f*cking State Farm commercials pull the irony card now.  ;D I miss when commercials were one of the few parts of pop culture that were untouched by irony. Though infomercials are still pretty irony free, lmao. God bless Billy May's soul!


Yeah, new commercials don't really do it for me either, they try so hard to be funny and ironic that they wind up really being neither. I will guiltily admit that I do kind of miss the really, really over-the-top cheesy style of ads that seemed to have peaked in the late 80's/early 90's.

Like this type of ad, which actually almost makes me want to go eat at McDonalds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Qmyk16c20

When do you think pop culture started to suck?


When I was 13.

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/4/20/7nBTDZ0KoEmSywjjmDhwIw2.gif

Because everybody has concrete and objective proof that pop culture hit its peak whenever they were 12.

When I was 13.
]

Because everybody has concrete and objective proof that pop culture hit its peak whenever they were 12.


Dez rah, baby.  Superfreak was the apogee of Western Civilization!
8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M

Not to mention commercials are much longer these days too.  ::)


and quite boring.