Is Music Today Better or Worse Than Ever ?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"actual "bands" tend to get worse. the recording and skill level doesnt really mean shit to me in terms of the overall quality of the final product. if you release good music it doesnt matter how good the playing or recording are. if you release crap, the same applies."

Are you implying that bands get technically better, but their songcraft diminishes?

Obviously most bands don't improve beyond a point. But songwriting does develop/evolve too...

"Are you implying that bands get technically better, but their songcraft diminishes?

Obviously most bands don't improve beyond a point. But songwriting does develop/evolve too...

-- Nate Carson"

i feel like maybe when people have too much time to spend on nothing but writing songs (as would happen after a suddenly successful first album after years of toiling in brokeness/obscurity), they tend to overdo it to try to match previous efforts. same with the production values and even their instrumental ability. take Green Day for example, i dont think anyone would dispute that their songs are currently way more complex, well produced, and well played than their Lookout! stuff, but can you really say that the new material is better? i wouldn't. they are an extreme example, but a version of that same kind of trajectory seems to happen to almost everyone.

I would be curious to know what the people who voted "Better than ever" are listening to.

pipecock, you are oversimplifying things and making crass generalizations

It probably has been at least five or six years since I thought anything new that came out was fantastically, unabashedly great, up there with my favorite music, etc. That time also coincides with how long I've been out of college though.

"pipecock, you are oversimplifying things and making crass generalizations

-- Bo Jackson Overdrive"

if you say so.

"It probably has been at least five or six years since I thought anything new that came out was fantastically, unabashedly great, up there with my favorite music, etc. That time also coincides with how long I've been out of college though.

-- Hurting 2"

i had an album like that just last year, J Dilla "Donuts". in terms of singles, one of my favorite house/techno songs of all time came out this year Kevin Reynolds "Anonymous Room.....". it seems like a personal favorite comes out for me every couple years, which is about par for the course. not many tracks from the past reached those heights, either.

if you say so.

-- pipecock, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 10:47 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

there are few bands that I listen to in which their debut album is my favorite. There are some, sure, but that's a rarity...most of them have a quality 'arc'. But to posit that the majority of bands steadily get worse as they get older...I just don't get what you're basing that on.

"there are few bands that I listen to in which their debut album is my favorite. There are some, sure, but that's a rarity...most of them have a quality 'arc'. But to posit that the majority of bands steadily get worse as they get older...I just don't get what you're basing that on.

-- Bo Jackson Overdrive"

it doesnt even have to be the very first one, but at least the first two. i can honestly think of so few bands that dont peak in there. its impossible to start namomg them as its literally almost every band i can think of.

Here are some:

Metallica (peaked on Master, imo, their third album)
Slayer (peaked on Reign, imo, their third album)
Pain of Salvation (peaked on A Perfect element, imo, their third album)
Bad Religion (peaked on their third album, No Control, or maybe arguably 4th, Against the Grain)
Immolation (peaked on their 4th, imo, Close to a World Below)
Faith No More (peaked on Angel Dust, which was their 4th I believe)
Iron Maiden (my favorite is Powerslave which was their 5th or 6th I think)
Death (probably Individual Thought Patterns is my favorite. isn't within first two)
Led Zeppelin (I buck trends and pick Houses of the Holy)

I could go on....

It seems to me that pipecock is, quite simply, just a little (too?) in thrall with the mythos and romance of the 'indie band', that starts out pure and passionate and slowly gets jaded and cynical. In the case of a lot of (a certain type of) indie bands, this is true. In the case of almost every other kind of musician in existence, it isn't. When I was 18 I thought everyone's debut album was great and everything else tailed off afterwards; at 28 I've got much broader horizons and believe tat to be horseshit.

"Is today's music better or worse than Ezra?"

That's what I thought the thread title said at first...

I have a tendency to like first albums a lot too. But it usually has to do with personal taste more than objective quality or craft. A band's "best" record, and my "favorite" is quite often different.

NO SUCH THING AS OBJECTIVITY.

I generally like the first record I hear by a band/artist most, whether that be their first or their tenth.

I have heard 55 albums (and counting) with a 2007 release date that would have been good enough to make my year-end Top Twenty ten (or even twenty) years ago. That said, I agree with electricsound: "there is more good music but less amazing music".

Is that because, as 'experienced' or 'seasoned' or whatever listeners, we are less prone to being 'amazed' by music now than we were when we were younger?

^^this is probably more accurate

it's like computer games

I'm pretty certain I'm never going to listen to Andorra by Caribou with anywhere near the freakout frequency that I listened to The Stone Roses' debut album a dozen years ago, but I'm also pretty sure that, right now, if I were to play them back-to-back, I might prefer Andorra.

x-post; I never tire of the amazement when I score a great Pro Evo goal.

I never tire of the amazement when I score a great Pro Evo goal.

well i haven't seen you play but i'm sure you're not that bad at it.

xpost re getting older: Partly that, partly the continued absence of a damned good generational paradigm shift, but I'm of a generation that would say that, wouldn't I...

Is that because, as 'experienced' or 'seasoned' or whatever listeners, we are less prone to being 'amazed' by music now than we were when we were younger?

i'm sure it's that way for some, but i don't think that's necessarily always the case. although i do think for experienced listeners you do get to a point where you have heard "everything" in one sense or another.

Obviously most bands don't improve beyond a point. But songwriting does develop/evolve too...

My impression is rather the opposite. A band's playing usually gets better and better (the vocals may go the other way after a certain age is reached though). The songs, however, tend to be better early on and then gradually the good song ideas that used to exist in that band's songwriters heads have already been used.

"My impression is rather the opposite. A band's playing usually gets better and better (the vocals may go the other way after a certain age is reached though). The songs, however, tend to be better early on and then gradually the good song ideas that used to exist in that band's songwriters heads have already been used.

-- Geir Hongro"

haha, its funny that after people have compared me to you that we actually agree on something!

hey clown, where did you come from?

The songs, however, tend to be better early on and then gradually the good song ideas that used to exist in that band's songwriters heads have already been used.

This is the rationale for drilling for song ideas in the Alaskan Wetlands.

Exxon Valdez = RHCP

Braer = Dave Matthews Band

Sea Empress = Coldplay

sadly, worse

sadly

tragically

heart-rendingly

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40762000/jpg/_40762884_beslancrowd_ap203b.jpg

music fans, earlier today

music is sadder than it used to be

http://www.guyana.org/features/Funeral-6.jpg

can't believe music today is worse than it used to be, just when so many young forward-thinking fans were hoping to get into it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_considered_the_worst

Hey, Mr DJ put a record on
I wanna dance with my baby

Do you like to Boogie woogie, do you like to Boogie woogie,
do you like to Boogie woogie, do you like my dancing?

Hey Mr. DJ put a record on I wanna dance with my baby
And when the music starts
I never wanna stop, it's gonna drive me crazy

Music, music
Music makes the people come together
Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel

Don't think of yesterday and I don't look at the clock
I like to boogie woogie
It's like ridin' on the wind and it never goes away
But she's everything I'm in got to have it everyday

Music makes the people come together
Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel

Hey Mr. DJ

Do you like to
Boogie woogie, do you like to
Boogie woogie, do you like to
Boogie woogie, do you like my dancing

Hey Mr. DJ put a record on I wanna dance with my baby
And when the music starts
I never wanna stop, it's gonna drive me crazy

Music makes the people come together
Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel

Music makes the people come together
Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel

I wouldn't listen and I couldn't see
And all I have left now are words you said to me,
Sing your song sweet music man,
'cos I won't be there to hold your hand like I used to,
I'm thro' with you.

You're a hell of a singer and a powerful man
But you surround yourself
With people who demand so little of you.

You touched my soul with your beautiful song,
You even had me singing along right with you,
You said I need.

Then you changed the words and added harmony
And you sang the song you had written for me
To someone new.

But nobody sings a love song quite like you do
And nobody else could make me sing along
And nobody else could make me feel
That things are right when I know they're wrong
(that things are right when you're wrong with the song)
Nobody sings a love song quite like you.

Sing your song sweet music man
You travel the world with a six piece band
That does for you what you ask 'em to.

And you try to stay young
But the songs you've sung to so many people
They've all begun to come back on you.

So sing your song sweet music man,
You're making your living doing one night stands,
That prove to you they don't need you.

You're still a hell of a singer but a broken man,
But you're keep on looking for one last fan
To sing 'em to.

But nobody sings...
So sing your song sweet music man
I believe in you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_posters_considered_the_worst

Everything you do it comes back to you.
Whatever it may be.
If it isn’t one thing rest assured that something.
Will come back and pay you for your deed
A shortcut’s a self defeating means, if you cannot do it clean.
You’ll never reach your reward.
And when the day is done, what you receive is the sum.
Of what you took out, from what you put in.

Times deep in a dream seem a veiled realm.
Shadows what I think and feel is real.
Times in our tribe feel the tribe when we thrive.
We have no fear of death and no fear of life.

I can’t forget you and our version of paradise.
I can’t forget you and our version of paradise.

Everything you do it comes back to you, whatever it may be.
What you did as a devil or did as an angel.
The favor returns itself somehow.
If you take my money I’ll buy you a drink and you’ll see.
That no one rides for free.
Afraid of what I said then your mind is stricken.
I’m wearing my heart sleeveless and I’m always up for kickin’.
This is my favorite city pity everywhere the enemy.

From the beginning serious history
Nothing’s ever given to no one. Rides for free.
From the beginning radiant energy’s
Music what I need to keep my sanity.

I say we fear no evolution stand up musical revolution.
Follow me now when I say we can never stop in we never give.
Cuz this is how we breathe and live.
Some of them whine and some of them bitch.
They cannot do it we never switch.
We do it for ourselves and we do it for you.
If you don’t like it well I hope you do.

I’ve got to be honest.
I’ve got to be honest.

http://dahtrump.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/6037578578_8411c25a9f_z.jpg

A man looking at some pictures in a famous art gallery commented to a friend: "I don't think much of these pictures." "Excuse me, Sir," said an attendant who overheard him, "the pictures are not on trial."

Down in a hole there are so many ways
to find yourself some light
it’s always the miracles
keep waiting all you like
ain’t got no time to waste
I know the end is near
and if I run away
I’ll always end up here.

Walking away
from the things I adore
telling the truth
for once I’m sure
it’s always a sign
when you feel yourself bleed
I’m walking away
from all I need

I can’t escape the tragedy
that always brings me down
if I could eliminate
those things that make me frown
take all the baggage
that follows me around
and just disintegrate
burn it to the ground

I’m walking away!

Any thoughts on trends since this thread was started? Has the collapse of recorded music revenue affected the output?

the notion of music today has become muddier

yesterday: worse
today: better
who knows what tomorrow will bring