When did new music stop being entertaining..?

[Haselsh1]

Or has it actually stopped being entertaining..? Given the trend in purchased music, something has clearly lost its shine. Does the blame lie with the bands and the musicians..? Or does the blame lie with the media moguls who make all of the money..? I first became interested in music in the very late sixties around maybe nine years old so I had the pleasure of all of those great seventies bands but by the eighties I had all but lost interest in what those bands had become. For me nothing really took over until the Ozrics entered my life around 1990.

What's your personal view on this subject..? Do you feel strongly enough about it..?

[Tim]

I'm scratching my head trying to understand the question, music has never been more popular. Just because people aren't buying as much physical music, doesn't mean they aren't listening?

I'm listening to more, discovering/exploring more genres, seeing more live and enjoying music more than ever. I'm lost and certainly don't share your gloomy appraisal, seeing it totally differently. More live venues, festivals, streaming services, internet Radio, YouTube, talent shows on TV (X-Factor has about 20 million viewers) - I really don't know what you're on about

It may have become less entertaining for you, but not for me - maybe a wee dram with make it better

[Haselsh1]

It could well be my geographical location that makes live music difficult to experience but my question was based largely on stats and sales of recorded music rather than any other form and given that this forum is largely dedicated to Hi-Fi, live music doesn't really have much of a place. My overall perception is largely that it is the quality of the music that has dropped but that is a huge genralisation.

[Haselsh1]

I'm scratching my head trying to understand the question,

There are actually five questions

[Stratmangler]

Who is it that you once found so entertaining, and when is it that their music lost its shine?

[Haselsh1]

Who is it that you once found so entertaining, and when is it that their music lost its shine?

Chris, it's more of a generalisation than anything, its not really any one artist or band. I just find the whole music scene has lost it's edge. Of course it could very well be that I no longer find anything related to music stirs me the way it used to. It used to be refreshing and exciting but now it is just bland and uninspiring for me. Even my fave rave Ozric Tentacles have gone the road of everything being digitised and quantised and it sounds so bloody boring and lifeless when compared to their early stuff. I have though recently discovered 'Signify' by Porcupine Tree and that is really good after a few listens. I think regarding timings that Ozrics lost their shine about twenty years ago. The turning point for me was around the album 'Curious Corn'.

[Macca]

Aside from the very rare exception new music stopped being entertaining around the mid-'Nineties.

Last time music was really good was on the back of the big late 1980s recession. Loads of youngsters on the dole with nothing better to do than form bands and plenty of time to practice and write songs. Plus it was a way out of poverty, like football and boxing. Now they are all working for the man: so no time and no incentive.

[Haselsh1]

so no time and no incentive.

That is a very choice selection of words.

[Haselsh1]

Yeah, skipping college with no money and nothing to do so let's form a band. Next thing we have the likes of Cabaret Voltare or John Foxx.

OK so only examples that mean things to me but this is what I am getting at. Why does everything now sound so corporatised...?

Where is the free spirit..? Where is the sodding energy..? Where is the life in the music..?

[Haselsh1]

Hmm... Sue and I have just been discussing this very thing and she thinks that the rot started to set in with Stock, Aitken and Waterman which is slightly odd as I think it was with the onset of Cubase and would therefore be at around the same time. I just get the impression that maybe what I am pissed off about in music is recording and digitisation within music. Even the more recent albums by Acoustic Alchemy appear to be extremely 'robotized' and extremely false sounding. Everything is losing it's vitality and life.

OK, regarding pop music, take a look at this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnwZKTZr1Tc

Is there anything so vibrant around anymore..?

If there is, I am truly missing out.