For me : Trippie Redd’s “!” Is actually a great album
When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they’ve quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, “Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands”. Looking back I was such a tool. First because it’s such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I’m honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say “I don’t like new music” is absurd, and you’re exactly right, just means they just don’t even try.
I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You’ve already seen it happen to 00s music and we’re watching it happen with the 10s.
But yeah, it’s wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just… don’t go looking.
For so many artists, they’ll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn’t. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50’s. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren’t very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
I think there’s an important difference between “there is no new good music” and “I don’t like any new music”.
The former is making a broad proclamation. The latter is keeping it limited to your personal experience, even if phrased a little sloppily.
Though I guess you could argue people saying the former really mean the latter and are just communicating kind of badly.
Doesn’t this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there’s lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the “popular” music is getting more and more formulaic
The thing is, I don’t want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.
Growing up, everything you heard was new to you. An experience. People older than you was saying the same shit about the music you were enjoying at the time. That’s how it goes.
Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music (and modern-day “classical” compositions are just rehashes).
I can get down with this.
Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music
I don’t disagree, but can you explain your reasoning behind this?
Mostly because electronic music is made by a single composer and that the performance by the musicians itself is not as central to the composition.
And that Mozart would be probably making electronic music if he was born in this era.
Upvoted because of bad/unpopular opinion, don’t agree at all.
performance by the musicians itself is not as central to the composition
Extremely debatable. With Renaissance and Romanticism came the cult of personality around celebrities. Lisztomania basically mirrored Beatlemania but for the virtuoso Hungarian pianist and composer, in the mid 1800s. Haydn and Paganini reportedly had a rather large female followings who weren’t really interested in their knack for musical harmony. IIRC, there are accounts of Mozart indulging in the lifestyle of a young royal composer with some renown.
I don’t know if he’d be making electronic music, honestly. Mozart broke so many of his contemporary musical rules, with all that has been invented since, I find it hard to believe he’d limit himself to it. Maybe progressive/experimental stuff ala Aphex Twin lol?
The composers are usually not the musicians though when it comes to classical music, especially since most of the composers are already dead 🤪
But just imagine a Beatles cover band becoming more famous than the Beatles themselves. Something like is common when it comes to orchestras that play classical music though.
Sure, there is some personality cult around famous conductors and so on, but that is really more comparable to DJs that remix but do not compose their own electronic music.
I mean, of course it’s gonna be interprets nowadays if the composers are dead, but composers were also often musicians or directors for their own music when they were alive 🤷♂️ It’s very difficult to play multiple instruments by yourself to hear your own composition when multitrack audio recording wasn’t a thing lol
A more accurate equivalence for the Beatles cover band would be if they were from year 2187 and all of The Beatles’ recordings were lost to time, which wouldn’t be particularly weird at this point, considering nobody alive in this year would remember what hearing The Beatles was like.
I guess if you’re talking about classical music as we live it now the comparison kind of makes sense, but “classical music” means so many things, spanning a couple centuries through multiple countries and waves - e.g. Bach, Mozart and Glass barely have anything to do with each other.
Mozart would probably go fucking nuts looking at modern notation software like Sibelius/MuseScore/Dorico tho lol
I upvoted you, but you are not entirely right in my opinion.
Not all classical music is created equal. I am quite convinced that if J.S. Bach had lived today, he would make music like Squarepusher. However, somebody like Gustav Holst would probably be in some kind of doom metal or progressive metal.
Thoughts on Ummet Ozcan?
Taylor Swift is fine, her music is enjoyable, but ultimately kind of forgettable. Her popularity comes from the social-cohesion function of popular music.
She took what she learned in country music and applied it to pop, which has a much larger audience, catapulting her to success. Country songs tell a story, which engages the listener, and makes the songs memorable. That’s why people still get excited about a country song that was popular 30 years ago, they remember the story, and the lyrics. She has done that for pop music and listeners love it. Plus, she focuses on being popular. She has said that she really wants people to like her, so she actively works towards being likable. Last, but certainly not least, she was smart to remaster all of her songs, giving her full rights to the music. That put a lot more money in her pockets, and she has used that money wisely to continue promoting herself, her music, and her tours. She’s a smart lady, who seems to have a fun personality, and is very easy on the eyes too. She basically has everything needed to be immensely successful.
IDK if it’s unpopular, but I’m worried that TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube Shorts have completely screwed with what kind of music gets popular nowadays. It seems like every popular song has some kind of intense drop because content creators love the “quick build up to some kind of visual punchline” video format and it has ruined what I think could otherwise influence and encourage originality
Historically, music changes to fit the medium that’s used to deliver it to the listener. Short form video is no different. I just have to trust that artists will always find ways to say what they need to say. After all, “the enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
I have never heard that quote. From what context does it come? It sounds somewhat ridiculous to me
It’s often attributed to Orson Welles, but I don’t know if that’s accurate. It is paradoxical, yes, but I find it to be a commonly relatable sentiment though across many art forms. It almost seems like the art world’s version of “necessity is the mother of invention”.
Without limitations, there’s little opportunity for art; or to frame it another way, if everything is expected, nothing can be surprising. It’s when an artist’s work “jumps off the page” that people are in awe, so it’s important there’s a “page” to “jump off of” as it were.
Also record labels probably can pay to have tiktok promote their music and that makes people like it artificially.
The same thing happened in the mid 2000’s with ringtone rap. This phenomenon is older than people think.
Ditto
Separating the artist from the art is fine.
You can like music by someone who doesn’t share your social, political, or religious beliefs with.Upvoted because this is the one I most strongly disagree with.
Hitlers art but ignore the holocaust?
Lost Prophets but ignore the lead singers horrifying SA of children?
Kanye West and his anti semitism insanity?
Chris Brown and beating the shit out of women?
R. Kelly and SA a child?
Rowling and her hatred of trans children?
Michael Jackson and his … weird child obsession?
Gary Glitter and his SA?
Separating the artist from the art is fine for me as long as you don’t support them. There is nothing inherently wrong with consuming media you like from a controversial figure.
Of course it’s hard to separate the artist and the art if you actively give them money for it.
I like some of Kanye West’s music but I would never spend a single cent on one of his albums, watch an ad on Youtube for his music videos or listen to his songs on streaming services.
I cant stand listening to someone singing, knowing full well they rape children 🤷♀️
each to their own I suppose
the examples you gave
Yes, that’s what separating the art from the artist means.
Well aware. I am listing examples of why I cant separate. Hence my “disagree” comment
🤨
It depends: if you only listen to music (or view artwork) to feel “good” or enjoy “basking” in the emotions it evokes, then it makes sense to steer clear of artwork you disagree with or makes you uncomfortable.
But if you find value in viewing artwork that illicits a multitude of emotions, evokes introspection, throws you off balance, and forces you to consider concepts you wouldn’t otherwise, then taking a moment to peak into the mind of someone you fundamentally disagree with is a great way to do that.
As Werner Herzog put it, “the poet must not avert his eyes”.
Then apparently for a person who can separate them, there are zero examples. Or null
The Pianist is one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen… even though Polanski.
I’ll go a step further:
You have to separate the art from the artist because there is not a single artist I’ve ever encountered who wasn’t some kind of fucking trashhole of a person.
Artists spent their lives on being artists, not developing good interpersonal skills or understanding politics or philosophy.
Beleiving an artist is a “good person” is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Start out assuming they suck dogshit and you usually end up being right.
I think it’s reasonable to draw some lines that, when crossed, you’ll choose to disengage from their art.
The musician doesn’t have to be a saint. But if I find out they, I don’t know, love eating live puppies, I’m going to prefer spending my time and attention elsewhere.
I agree, but I like to start from a position of “this person probably sucks” because then I’m never disappointed.
This is a fair position to take.
I tend to avoid listening to interviews with bands I like in case they’re terrible.
Though weirdly I’ll chat with folks at merch tables.
Agreed. Show me a flawless human being, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t have anything interesting to share with the world.
Sam from Future Islands is a pretty dope guy.
My mind is telling me nooooo
But my body
My bodyyyyy is telling me yesss
This is actually really popular among my music students. I completely disagree on most case. X raped 300 kids but hey, he makes pretty good beats so let’s pay 200$ for a concert.
I’m alright with this as long as you pirate it lol
I guess it’s the same as buying Nestle Hot Chocolate knowing full well child labor was involved. It’s ok as long as your sweet tooth is satisfied.
You got downvoted by someone who didn’t understand sarcasm so I evened it back out.
Most rap sucks and it’s effects on mainstream media have had detrimental effects on society as a whole.
It literally just glorifies the ghetto lifestyle of being a piece of shit and acting like it’s the only way you can live life.
I felt that was true for a long time. There are a lot of sub-genres out there that don’t promote that kind of thing. Honestly, and this is probably me wearing a conspiracy theorist hat, a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
Counter example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k (sorry about the YT link, but that’s where I know this lives)
a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
Arrested Development touches on that in at least a few of their recent songs. This is one that immediately springs to mind, but there are others:
do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
they wanna promote us as the lowest things around
stereotypical images of blacks all around
police beat us to the ground
do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
promote the thugs with the criminal sound
stereotypical images and white supremacist images of us never innocent it kills
kills, snitches and witnesses
i guess the business is exploit us sexually
but keep us intellectually primitive
sedate the sensitive
nullifying all their initiative
to ever unify, just relying on representatives
our english is now seen as this, opposite of geniuses
the truth is meaningless
they deliberately been deceiving us
…
Edit: Realized the lyrics site had a couple words wrong.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
its* effects.
Yup. Unpopular opinion indeed. Upvoted.
Look into underground hip hop, there’s all sorts of awesome music of much higher caliber than mainstream rap/hip hop.
Mf Doom, Busdriver, Kool Keith (and his many many aliases), Aesop Rock (not ASAP Rocky or whatever), and I’m sure lots of newer stuff I’m not even familiar with. Digable Planets are pretty big and they’re good (and old, like me)
.
Yes unpopular, but your final sentence indicates a deep lack of understanding regarding the origins, purpose, and breadth of the genre.
You are welcome to your opinion, and I’m 100% sure that no one coming in like that is going to look any deeper. I’m just sharing my opinion that yours is uninformed and superficial.
Hey that’s fair. I’m not privy to a lot of the socioeconomic shit that took/takes place that led to the rise of rap and what I call ghetto culture.
I just think it’s been glorified to the point people who have no experience with ghetto culture outside of rap music start acting like they thugs n shit. Like “gangster” shit started happening everywhere with a shitload of people fully embracing not only the visual look but the “hustler” “gangster” lifestyle.
Also don’t mistake my ignorance for inability to learn. I’m willing to listen and learn about it all I just don’t think it’ll change my outlook on how it’s effected everyone everywhere negatively.
And you know maybe I’m wrong and I’m just upset things aren’t changing the way I want them to. In that case oh well I’ll live.
Rap was important and had a clear goal; to inspire afroamerican people, kids to learn, to live their life and fight for their rights. to get up from the ghetto, to keep on going, make them see they aren’t alone, they have their backs by the community. (In the US)
this all was rather successfull.
but then, I don’t know what rap’s function is today. if there is any… so what you are saying, I can aggree with it, but I tend not to forget what was the original goal of this genre, and this is why I can’t completely dismiss rap.
Agreed wholeheartedly. And just to pile on another unpopular opinion: it all sounds like trash. Literally it’s not music. Just a repetitive beat while some douchebag talks fast at you.
Some music is made by and for lowlifes, where I live is Vallenato, Campesina, Rancheras, Bachata, and 90%of reggaeton.
Lyrics about asking for forgiveness after cheating, smoking, domestic violent (being the one that does the domestic violence), admitting to spike drinks and brag about it, simping for drug Lords, and women are nothing but a sex object.
The people who listen to that music is just as you imagine them. Uneducated, sexist, wife beaters, going around in huge SUVs blasting that music outloud with no respect for anyone around then, they are the ones who start blasting the music at 1AM on a Wednesday and doesn’t let anyone sleep in their entire neighborhood.
People give me shit for this and claim is “culture” but I think there is such a thing as music for lowlifes.
While I can see where you’re coming from, about 90% of the music I listen to is some kind of metal. Most of it is just about cool nerdy stuff but there’s definitely some truly horrible shit in there. I have yet to and don’t intend to do any of it.
I think the bias comes from how loud some of these shitty people are. They build the stereotype. For the most part, people just mind their own business, go to work, raise their kids, and bob their heads to the beeps and boops.
I see where you’re coming from, because I kinda also hate the genres you mentioned in specific, but man, it’s not ALL bad. You put on some Juan Luis Guerra and he makes better bachata than anyone else you can think of. It’s actually fucking enjoyable. It took me decades to even begin to appreciate some of the more pop music (or even tolerate it, cause fuck regueton…but everyone listens to it where I live), and he definitely stands out.
That’s it, I just wanted to mention the 440.
“the Beatles are overrated” is a poorly defined statement often made by people who give the impression they want to be seen as an iconoclast of some sort.
Ok. Overrated on what metrics? Historical impact? Popularity at the time? Popularity now?
“I don’t like the Beatles’ music” is probably closer to what people mean, and that’s fine. I rarely listen to them on purpose. But the whole “I don’t like them, and neither should you” thing is kind of insufferable.
When I say they’re overrated, I mean I don’t understand why they’re so popular. They’re not bad but they’re not that good, either. I don’t understand the praise lauded on them. It’s too much relative to their quality.
I can understand if someone loves them in their time. For example, Nirvana was absolutely amazing in their time. However, it’s been 30 years and that sound is a lot more mainstream, but in their day, they were breaking new ground.
But my kids age? Why do people think they’re that good?
TBH people listened to these Beatles high on acid. And somehow the radio stations where persuaded to play their songs more frequent.
Perfect recipe for verse rush
I generally assume that “popular thing is overrated” is generally said just to troll people. At least, I like to dog on things that are popular that I’m not in to just to get a raise out of people that can’t accept any criticism of their thing.
Eric Clapton is wildly overrated
YES! He’s a massive idiot too.
Cocaine is his only good song.
I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don’t think that’s a very good song :)
Now this is an unpopular opinion, mostly about Cocaine being good in any capacity.
Cocaine is great! If it’s good cocaine. And as long as the person doing it is not a fiend.
Layla is also pretty good imo.
There are too many damn love songs. 75% of all music does not need to be about love, relationships, and breakups. I stopped listening to radio because all the damn love songs got annoying.
Can we please have more songs about literally anything else. Weed, flowers, rainy days, animal companions, construction work, types of cars, card games, anything. There’s more in life to sing about than just relationships and/or the lack of them!
Sincerely, A person whose sexuality is “No” and has no interest in that kind of relationship.
There is, in fact, good country music that isn’t just about trucks, beer, flags, and right-wing U.S. propaganda.
People have a lot of hate for the genre due to the mass appeal, common denominator examples. But like with all music, dig a little deeper beyond what gets radio play and you can find some good shit.
Had a chat with a coworker about this. I’m not a big fan of the genre as a whole, but something happened to the genre around 20ish years ago. The country twang went from being a natural signature sound of some artists to being something everyone emulated while singing their bird cage bottom piece of shit piece about their truck.
My grandparents used to watch this show on TV called Club Dance. Imagine Soul Train for old white people; it was shot in a fictional “saloon” and they’d have both professional country dancers and amateurs who wanted to be on the show. Most of the music I remember hearing about the show was basically about dancing. The whole “truck jeans beer girl creek boots truck” phenomenon hadn’t been invented yet.
I have a real love hate relationship with country music, I love almost everything except it feels very low energy most of the time and like you said the classic truck songs
I’ve found bands like poor man’s poison and the dead South, hurry up and wait by ben miller band is a great example of something decent
dig a little deeper beyond what gets radio play and you can find some good shit.
Don’t leave us hanging! What are your suggestions?
Here is a random list of songs I like, in my opinion under the umbrella of country in one way or another (though some stretch that a little. Or a lot. Don’t @ me, die-hard country fans).
Some may, indeed, involve beer, trucks, and American Christian propaganda - but pleasant sounding at least. I’m also confirmed to be pretty lame, and that may be reflected in my choices here.
I also never said you needed to dig deep - some/most of this is like, a fingernail scratch. But if you find something here you dig, strongly recommend diving deeper into the artist.
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
George Jones - White Lightning
The Highwaymen - Highwayman
Dick Curless - The Heartline Special
Eddy Arnold - Cowpoke
Conway Twitty - Hello Darlin’
Townes Van Zandt - Waiting Around to Die
Sons of the Pioneers - Empty Saddles
Marty Robbins - Running Gun
Willie Nelson - Bubbles in my Beer
Hank Thompson - A Six Pack to Go
Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
Sonny James - Baltimore
Del Reeves - A Dime at A Time
Dale Hawkins - Everglades
Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West - Blue Bonnet Rag
Tim Carroll - I Think Hank Woulda Done It This Way
Buddy Emmons - Orange Blossom Special
Tommy Collins - You Better Not Do That
The Louvin Brothers - Satan is Real [here’s that propaganda I told you about - still love this song]
Eddie Noack - Psycho
Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed - Jerry’s Breakdown
Tom T. Hall - That’s How I Got to Memphis
Roger Miller - Dang MeI like the list, but there’s a disturbing lack of Steve Earle.
Go listen to Ray Charles’s album covers of country songs, “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.”
And then go listen to Sturgil Simpsons “Meta Modern Sounds in Country Music”, both incredible albums
Not them, but Red Headed Stranger is probably one of my favourite concept albums ever.
Disturbed’s cover of Sound of Silence is not only awful, it is an antithesis of the meaning of the song. Anyone who likes that version better than S&G’s arguably doesn’t understand the point of the song, and the fact that everyone holds it up as the gold standard of “covers better than the original” is even worse.
A close second is Postmodern Jukebox and their horrendous tendencies to take tempos to an opposite extreme instead of finding more meaningful ways of changing the genre of a song. I like some of their stuff, but the number of people who love their cover of Welcome to the Jungle is mind-boggling to me.
There are plenty of songs that I prefer the cover of to the original (Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’), or ones that just give the original a modern coat of paint without changing much else (Smash Mouth’s ‘I’m a Believer’), but these songs in particular are just awful imo.
I don’t mind a cover changing the meaning of a song, but stuff where the cover is just the song again is…lazy as fuck?
Like Fast Car by (country music guy) is fantastic, but it’s the same as the original, which is also fantastic. Feels cheap or something, I don’t know. Like the whole Weezer cover album was boring as fuck. The songs are technically great, but why listen to that over the originals? Rivers said his goal was to try and reproduce the original sound, which seems like an interesting exercise for the band, but not for the listener. So that wraps back around to respecting the band.
Anyways, I have a lot of strong feelings about covers. Make it your own, even if you don’t change it that much.
I think Johnny Cash’s cover of ‘Hurt’ is probably the gold standard of a cover exceeding the origional
Modern music slaps. Just gotta find the right albums.
There’s people on spotify with less than 5000 monthly listeners pumping out music so good it would have topped charts 10 years ago. The quality and talent of artists these days is insane.
These days? This has always been the case. I remember downloading mp3s from unknowns who offered their music for free in the internet on the early 2000s. Great music.
Care to share some of your favorites?
One of my favorites recently has been Djesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier
Depends on how new you want it, but Rime of Memory by Panopticon is great.
Lyrics ruin most music. This is one is weird because I actually love the sound of the human voice, but it most music its just ugly. Also most of the lyrics themselves suck. Usually vague, meaningless, hoping you’ll interpret them as something deep. There’s just so many songs that most lyrics have to be bad.
Also drums ruin most music. They are harsh, dissonant, overly loud, overpower subtler instruments, and reduce complex, varying melodies to a simple beat. Even when I want simple heavy beats, I prefer electronic alternatives (no idea what they’re called) so it’s not so harsh
Most hip hop is missing key musical elements and just isn’t good. I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
It’s why I got so into Busdriver for a while. Not a lot of rappers out there trying to rap to a melody instead of just a beat.
Further, even if they are out there, they aren’t as popular.
Yeah there is definitely some hiphop that I do enjoy but it’s a small minority of the overall scene.
Are you a Ben Shapiro fan?
Lol no, why?
Not saying it makes you like him but he has the exact same take
Well that’s probably the best argument against my hot take I’ve seen haha.
What till you hear that “hip hop” track that Ben guests on… Or better yet just don’t bother.
The only thing that ole Benny Shaps has ever said even remotely related to music anyone should listen to is him reading the lyrics to Wet Ass Pussy.
Hah. Yes that was actually funny.
He also has no idea wtf he’s talking about
I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
Trash talking, scandalous
