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Thread: Has Pop Music Got Worse In Recent Decades?

  1. #21
    Join Date: Apr 2017

    Location: Cheshire UK

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    I'm Martin.

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    It does seem to have become homogenous and more cynical. Darker but still very shallow if I even understand what I'm getting at.

    It will be my age talking and I understand that. I long for the days of the true crap novelty record like the Wurzels. A bit of Dee D Jackson automatic lover which actually sounds pretty good compared to this recent stuff . Baccara...now we are talking.

    Even Madonna seems to have way more merit than this current stuff...heck even Britney Spears and thats saying something. I wonder what the next generation will be into to get one up on their parents.

    We knew where we were when Abba were around I would force these kids to listen to some Nat King Cole

    More seriously a good weekend with Bob Dylan until they learn
    Last edited by Minstrel SE; 10-08-2017 at 14:42.

  2. #22
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: NE England

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    I'm Jez.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Minstrel SE View Post
    Hi

    I feel I need to start a thread about what I feel is the dire nature of most pop music these days.

    I refer to artists like Sia, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and all related "artists" in this pop production machine. I just think its rubbish. It pretends to have depth and soul but I feel its as shallow and throwaway as yesterdays chip paper.

    It just seems to be packing in all the latest autotune and digital effects but it has no real melody or lasting impression. Maybe a melody is buried in there somewhere. The lyrics are overblown and over dramatic. Has nobody told them that less is more! I may be generalising but I cant seem to like any of it. Has it just got more cynical in ticking the boxes?

    The music just seems to be narcissistic in a more cynical industry concerned purely with the money. It seems to serve a look at me, self interested generation totally out of control. Its all me, me me and this seems to be reflected in shallow lyrics which pretend to be anthemic but are just naff. Is it aimed at kids only as I thought I would like some of it?

    Is it me? Was pop music always this way or will the younger generation eventually return to better music from an earlier date

    Heck I've tried this weekend to like something. I heard the Harry Styles one in the pub and thought that's ok on a first listen. However as soon as I realised it was him and heard it again, I didn't like it and thought it was ultra shallow/naff. Is that my prejudice showing as a fifty year old bloke?

    I supose I've now become my dad. I will take a bit of Melanie or the Bulgarian womens choir anyday over this naff pop music which seems to have rapidly declined since the turn of the Millenium Lets discuss it

    Best wishes
    Martin
    I completely agree! I also say bollocks to the idea that "it's an age thing"! If it is merely that one is somehow programmed to like the stuff from when you were 16 or so years old then how come so much of the stuff I rate highly is from before I was old enough to remember it when it was first released!?

    Any one with lug 'oles can compare the best in the charts from say 1971 with that from 2017 and it doesn't go well for the latter shite!

    IMHO the music has little to do with it these days... celebrity, "image" and fashion is what it's about and the "music" is a mere setting for the video...

    Lots of stuff has so much auto tune on it the voice sounds barely human for a start... maybe deliberately as an "artistic choice" or maybe 'cos they can't sing in many cases...

    The rot really set in around 1985-6 IMHO and Stock, Aitkin and Waterman have a lot to answer for! They surely must shoulder a lot of the blame... The likes of "Two unlimited" and "Black Box" caused it to fester further....
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  3. #23
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: Valley of the Hazels

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    I'm AMusicFanNotAnAudiophile.

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    But then you have the occasional high spot.
    Remember Kylie's version of Rob Davis' "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"?

    Sheer genius, and a major earworm to boot!
    Chris



    Common sense isn't anymore!

  4. #24
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: London SW

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    I'm Anthony.

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    I was not aware that annoying Kylie track was a cover
    Partly age , but agree the pop today is very vain and self centered.
    And the gangster / slut appearance of the youth does not help
    Saying that , there is enough great music around not to get too bothered
    Our education is wrong, it takes no note of the subtleties of human nature, it places more importance on the memory of an individual than how memorable an individual is. Bernard Sumner 1995

  5. #25
    Join Date: Apr 2008

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    I'm Neil.

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    Listen to "Off The Wall" by Michael Jackson, or "1999" by Prince and I think we know what the answer is.

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  6. #26
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: North East

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    I'm Alan.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Minstrel SE View Post
    Hi

    I feel I need to start a thread about what I feel is the dire nature of most pop music these days.

    I refer to artists like Sia, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and all related "artists" in this pop production machine. I just think its rubbish. It pretends to have depth and soul but I feel its as shallow and throwaway as yesterdays chip paper.

    It just seems to be packing in all the latest autotune and digital effects but it has no real melody or lasting impression. Maybe a melody is buried in there somewhere. The lyrics are overblown and over dramatic. Has nobody told them that less is more! I may be generalising but I cant seem to like any of it. Has it just got more cynical in ticking the boxes?

    The music just seems to be narcissistic in a more cynical industry concerned purely with the money. It seems to serve a look at me, self interested generation totally out of control. Its all me, me me and this seems to be reflected in shallow lyrics which pretend to be anthemic but are just naff. Is it aimed at kids only as I thought I would like some of it?

    Is it me? Was pop music always this way or will the younger generation eventually return to better music from an earlier date

    Heck I've tried this weekend to like something. I heard the Harry Styles one in the pub and thought that's ok on a first listen. However as soon as I realised it was him and heard it again, I didn't like it and thought it was ultra shallow/naff. Is that my prejudice showing as a fifty year old bloke?

    I supose I've now become my dad. I will take a bit of Melanie or the Bulgarian womens choir anyday over this naff pop music which seems to have rapidly declined since the turn of the Millenium Lets discuss it

    Best wishes
    Martin
    No...It's not you at all...the pop industry is absolutely shocking, with only a handfull of today's young artists, able to produce a good melody with meaningful lyrics..the 60,s 70,s and 80,s produced some great music, from musicians, who actually played instruments and could sing in tune... however there was some poor music back then too....but no where near the amount of rubbish there is today...
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  7. #27
    Join Date: Oct 2018

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    I often wonder if any of today's offerings will become "classic albums" in 40 years time, in the same way as Dark Side, White Album, Led ZepI etc are today?

    I guess the 70s churned out plenty of crap albums too but I'm not aware of anything as groundbreaking as DSOTM coming out in the last 20+ years.
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  8. #28
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Central Virginia

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    I'm Russell.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gaz View Post
    I often wonder if any of today's offerings will become "classic albums" in 40 years time, in the same way as Dark Side, White Album, Led ZepI etc are today?

    I guess the 70s churned out plenty of crap albums too but I'm not aware of anything as groundbreaking as DSOTM coming out in the last 20+ years.
    I was recently thinking the same thing. I can’t recall a song from only 5 years ago? Not that I listen to Pop, but I am unaware of any truly classic albums being made? A few rare cases, Ozzy and Priest and Iron Maiden have made albums in recent years, but that’s not pop music. What about Jazz and Classical? Are there any good artists making works of art? Other than the score to Star Wars? Which, was written back in ‘76, now that I think.

    Russell

  9. #29
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: Suffolk, UK

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    I'm Paul.

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    Generally I would expect the availability of good new music of any genre to get better and better. Large record companies probably release music based on least commercial risk and not actual talent for the most part. With the quality of non-professional equipment available and the ability to make available online there is actually a lot of good stuff out there. I think many new artists really need savy marketing company rather than a record label these days.
    ~Paul~

  10. #30
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: Essex, United Kingdom

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    I'm givingyouaprettygoodclue.

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    I think it's worth remembering that there are (at least) a couple of ways of defining "pop music".

    Where it's synonymous with mainstream daytime radio and especially singles charts, then it has become more homogenous and therefore poorer - e.g. the number of singles featuring the same merry-go-round of "featuring..." the same guest mates, or trends such as not having an intro before the vocals come in.

    Where it means wider contemporary music the game has changed. Paul is spot on - Pro-Tools plus Bandcamp means that we now have the opposite challenge to yesteryear - there's too much "underground" music to digest. No chance of most of it being flagged to you by mainstream media, you have to get out there and discover it. Some of it is even free and lossless. Nice problem to have.

    Pete

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