one way I know the lemmy population is old is how frequently we complain about the youths these days. we’ve become our parents, and their parents before them, moaning about how no one has good taste anymore
The kids suck, but the olds suck even harder. Moral of the story, “I don’t like people”.
Idk, man. I started feeling this way when I was ~14, at least about the music I heard on the radio. I rarely got any say over what we listened to in my parent’s cars so I’d constantly be praying that the next song wouldn’t be something that had come out recently
it’s one thing to not like new music, i think that’s normal, people discover the music they like fairly early on and usually get kinda stuck in it. but all the people saying new music is objectively garbage and people just have garbage taste now? yea they got that boomer mentality where the stuff they like from their youth is the golden age, everything else is inferior, and their opinions are facts
I dig new music and follow a bunch of artists who are releasing things right now. Over the last few years I’ve been introduced to entirely new genres and have fallen in love with them. This is the best time ever to be into music, there’s unprecedented variety and even very niche things can grow a strong community. Suffice it to say I do not believe that my personal taste has been cemented
But at the same time imo the typical pop music you hear in public has genuinely been getting worse. Some stuff is okay but a lot of it feels inauthentic. Just my 2c, I wouldn’t argue the point in objective terms
I frequently burn myself out on music so I listen to a lot of new stuff, mainly hip hop and all sorts of electronic. I’ve just been a top 50 chart hater for years
I want new music. I love new music. My problem is that it’s mostly all been done and everything sounds the fucking same. Even the vast majority of bands from my youth, when they put out a new album or song, it’s just the same old thing. And that’s what sucks— I don’t need 20 albums that all sound the same. That being said, sometimes new stuff really does suck. Perfect example: mumble rap. I love some good rap of varying sub-genres, but mumble rap is just [mumbles something unintelligible]. As a musician, I approach new stuff fairly objectively and try to give it a fair chance. That doesn’t mean it’s objectively good. It doesn’t mean that just because it’s old, it’s good, either. There is plenty of old music that sucks. There will always be music that sucks. That’s just how it is. Elder Millennial, BTW, just for the record.
Top pop has always been trash.
Occasionally there are earworms like Toxic, Shape of You, or Padam Padam but it’s mostly committee produced garbage.
I’m either still young or just a contrarian but so far I’ve successfully managed to avoid becoming this person. I constantly look for new stuff to experience and I still haven’t felt like things have peaked. As in, no, I don’t think music nowadays sucks, are you insane? There’s so much cool stuff being made all the time that my only complaint is that don’t have enough time to experience it all.
yea im in the sweet spot too lol, 30 and still regularly discovering new music i like. i hope we both maintain this positivity as we age, i think it’s a much nicer way to wade through life. even if i reach a point where i stop liking new music, i hope i can still see the value in it for others, i never want to be that old grump
What’s weird is that I don’t even know how people know what the “kids these days” are into. Like where are they getting that information? Maybe I’m just divorced from the zeitgeist, but I dunno how people ever think to look at “oh this song has 4 billion listens” or whatever. I guess what I’m saying is, is the perception of “the kids” a real thing, or is it just kind of this weird fake thing people make up so they can get mad at their own hallucinations?
I stopped caring about online music charts once I found out how people bot their favorite artists to trending cuz they’re insecure in their own music tastes
That and main stream music has become homogenous and formulaic. It was before, but it’s more blatant now.
people bot their favorite artists
That’s less “people” and more “marketing departments”. So much mid-tier music gets blown up and then dropped overnight, as the promotion models change.
When streaming started to become a thing, and it became incorporated into the Billboard hits ranking algorithm, hit songs started to stay at the top a lot longer than they used to. The reason was exactly what you pointed to. Industry marketing campaigns would be push songs on TV and radio to the top spot in order to drive sales, then drop the campaign immediately for the next song to push. When listeners started to have more control over the music they listened to, they didn’t hyper-cycle like the marketers wanted. I would assume the marketers have adjusted to the new listening model, but I haven’t kept up.
I blame radio. They only shovel garbage into your ears and shit you’ve heard a thousand times.
I think it’s moreso the effect of big music labels figuring out how to make music with the broadest possible appeal. Clearly it worked, because these songs do really well statistically, but the result is songs with the blandest possible personality
Man, I can’t remember the title, but whatever that Ed Sheeran song that exploded in like, 2018 or something? That was so bland and boring. I was baffled at how popular it was.
Also, how the hell did the Chainsmokers hit it big? Every single song is the same, monotonous “melody”. I don’t get how anyone listens to them without going mad.
It isn’t radio though because hardly anyone listens to the radio anymore. It’s probably because there is a practically small amount of radio listening that people have started grabbing onto anything that sounds basic and easily digestible. The less they’re challenged, the better they feel about it.
I feel like someone (radio, record labels, etc) is dictating what is easily available to the public and it usually isn’t good, it’s formula stupidity or old music. Old music is usually better music, but I personally can’t listen to most of it anymore.
I’m going to somewhat disagree, at least in principle. In the past three years I have heard so much good new music, music made in the last five to ten years, or even music made the year I heard it, that I think it’s out there. It’s just much more difficult to latch onto. There’s so much new stuff that’s just palatable, there’s a lot more access to music making gear and equipment that just about anyone can release an album now.
Popular music is mostly dictated by the law of supply and demand, if an artist is easily marketable then a record label is going to invest. Most streaming platforms are designed to spotlight up and coming artists (most marketable artists), or those artists who already have massive fanbases (market stalwarts). This wasn’t any different 50 years ago, but 50 years ago there was a higher standard for what music got to be released. There was also a much higher bar to entry for recording studio-quality music.
Old music is usually better music
There is so much music being created right now, that there is simultaneously more good music and bad music than in the older days.
Radio hasn’t been a metric since like 2010. The indie scene is where it is at and it has never been bigger. Plenty of bands making classic rock music if you are into that.
Check out King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Something different.
Oh man, great recommendation. The Bug Club is another good one. Their newest album is awesome.
Is this your band or something? Because I just listened to a bunch of songs and while it’s… fine? Lo fi garage rock, it is really nothing similar or on the same level as king gizzard? Just an all around strange recommendation.
I realized a long time ago that music “sucked” because I would never open myself up to it and genuinely allow myself to find value in it.
It’s like my dad who has just decided that all rap sucks even though he has basically zero experience with it. I said the same thing until I was around 21 and almost missed all the really, really good stuff. Tai Verdes’ album “TV” is incredibly musical, for example.
What do you listen to right now?
I try my hardest to find new songs, because I don’t want to be some boomer bastard.
I don’t know what exactly counts as ‘new’, but I’m enjoying these songs a lot lately
AronChupa & Little Sis Nora - Tangaman
Little Sis Nora - MDMA
These two remind me of late 90s eurobeat shit like Aqua.
Shotgun Willy - Bombs Away
bbno$ & Yung Gravy (BABY GRAVY) - Goodness Gracious
I actually just like anything by this bbno$ guy, but I’m loving the beats and flow on these styles of rap.
Pickle - Stompin’
Makes me feel like I’m on drugs in a club back in the day.
I feel like a lot of new music is probably hidden away on shit like TikTok where I’m never going to be exposed to it because I don’t use it. I have noticed Drum ‘n’ Bass seems to be back, but I was never a fan of that but I’m sure it’s someones jam.
Just want to take a moment to point out that two of the three you seem to like because they remind you of the past.
I fully support your take on trying to find new stuff, I personally have found that many good songs that I love take a few listens for me to actually like them, some do not catch on tho.
Given that, may I suggest you add new songs you want to try in your rotation? When they come up just take some effort to listen through and take them in, think of what you like and what you don’t, see if it changes.
Don’t torture yourself tho
It’s more that they’re a genre that I haven’t seen in 20 years, than that they remind me of the past. I love happy, upbeat, energetic bobby shit. Because it felt like a few years ago everything was that slooooow boring rap style by people fucked up on some sort of downers.
But y’know what I’m going to force myself to listen to everything on this page.
Okay so first 10 are done and I’ve enjoyed ‘Miley Cyrus - Flowers’, ‘Troye Sivan - Rush’, and ‘Olivia Rodrigo - Get Him Back!’. The other 7 were pretty slow and boring for my tastes.
I try my hardest to find new songs, because I don’t want to be some boomer bastard.
I got news for you, pal. The harder you try to be young and hip for the sake of being young and hip, the worse the outcome will be. You’re not getting any younger, and the sooner you accept that, the better.
Instead of forcing yourself to listen to music that has the single attribute of “released less than 6 months ago” in some sad, vain attempt to relive your glory days, try exploring music based on what you actually enjoy. What artists inspire you? Who influenced them, and what genres influenced their sound? Where did the roots of that sound originate? If a song you love is a cover, who wrote or performed the original? What style of singing is it, or what kind of beat?
Listen to what you want to listen to. The most interesting conversations I have with people about music always involve the history and roots of sound, not that last hip shit my aging hipster Lyft driver subjected me to.
I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to keep up with what “the kids” are listening to these days, and there certainly ARE some pearls to be found occasionally, but there’s also nothing wrong with enjoying the stuff you’ve already found to be worth your while, and introduce the younger generation to classics that are worth THEIR time, to show them that true greatness can stand the test of time and is capable of surviving whatever the current trend prescribes.
I lived the “Pop/rap/etc is bad” life for way too long, but fwiw most of it was during childhood, so mostly repeating my environment. Made the deliberate decision to get out of that mindset and have only increased my appreciation of music. That’s not to say I don’t still have opinions or preferences, but I’m not willingly shutting myself away from potential goodness.
I have a handful of complaints about rap, abd I generally don’t enjoy it, but I no longer say it sucks outright.
Yesterday at work, I listened to Yes, SPELLLING, Black Sabbath, and the newest Martina Topley-Bird album. In the last few weeks I’ve bought albums by Brandi Carlisle and Talking Heads. The world is so full of great music.
