This sums up today's music, not just rap/R&B

[crash_davis 23,114]

Just seeing where this thread goes. Pop, country, rap, R&B, and most "alternative" rock...most of the new artists and songs played on the radio are absolute shit and unlistenable.

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

She should not have put air quotes on "old."  

[jimmyjazz 46,094]

Welcome to the last 70 years.

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

"songs played on the radio" is another indicator of old* by the way.  This complaint has been levied by seemingly every generation ever.   Which I think makes it an old compaint.

 

*I'm old but I could not tell you what is being played on mainstream radio in any genre.  

[irishtexan 11,522]

I don't want to say all music today sucks, because I recognize I'm 45 and no one's making music for my demographic. That being said, I don't really get it. My 7 year old son listens to the second song from that clip (or at least I think he does. It all sounds the same to me). I just don't get autotune rap and drill rap. I like a lot of rappers making music today like Freddie Gibbs (especially with madlib), Danny Brown, Kenrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, etc. And it's because I can actually understand the words they're saying. But most of those dudes are also old as fuck, and I'm an out of touch 45 year old white father of two. 

[miguelito 11,290]

[Red Five 40,881]

54 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

I don't want to say all music today sucks, because I recognize I'm 45 and no one's making music for my demographic. That being said, I don't really get it. My 7 year old son listens to the second song from that clip (or at least I think he does. It all sounds the same to me). I just don't get autotune rap and drill rap. I like a lot of rappers making music today like Freddie Gibbs (especially with madlib), Danny Brown, Kenrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, etc. And it's because I can actually understand the words they're saying. But most of those dudes are also old as fuck, and I'm an out of touch 45 year old white father of two. 

I've never been "They don't make music like this anymore" guy, but now when I listen to the 80s channel or Lithium, "Why don't they make music like this anymore?". 

[Celery Man 20,996]

why are her eyeballs made out of eyelid skin

[Deej 76,897]

When I was a kid, I was exposed to my older sibling's music, my parents music, etc., and had an appreciation for music that was much older than I was. We have college kids working in our office who all have almost zero knowledge of music before them. It's odd. 

[irishtexan 11,522]

I think a lot of me not understanding shit about modern popular music is because kids are not really into, or making, rock music. Am I wrong about that? Has a rock group that formed in the last 10 years had a number 1 album or song over that same period of time? I can imagine someone like Foo Fighters hitting number one based on nostalgic olds buying a new single/album. 

[Red Five 40,881]

3 minutes ago, Deej said:

When I was a kid, I was exposed to my older sibling's music, my parents music, etc., and had an appreciation for music that was much older than I was. We have college kids working in our office who all have almost zero knowledge of music before them. It's odd. 

I have a friend who is a high school teacher. He said a few years ago that no one in his 20-ish person class could name either 1) One Beatle, or 2) One Beatles song. 

[Deej 76,897]

These kids can't name anything from before the mid 2000's.

[jimmyjazz 46,094]

2 hours ago, Deej said:

When I was a kid, I was exposed to my older sibling's music, my parents music, etc., and had an appreciation for music that was much older than I was. We have college kids working in our office who all have almost zero knowledge of music before them. It's odd. 

Eh, one of my kids has a near encyclopedic knowledge of rock history.  It's an almost preternatural ability to sing along with any song on the radio that came out after 1955.  It's really eerie -- and the peer group is pretty knowledgable, too.  Maybe they're just the music geeks of the day.

[jimmyjazz 46,094]

2 hours ago, irishtexan said:

I think a lot of me not understanding shit about modern popular music is because kids are not really into, or making, rock music. Am I wrong about that? Has a rock group that formed in the last 10 years had a number 1 album or song over that same period of time? I can imagine someone like Foo Fighters hitting number one based on nostalgic olds buying a new single/album. 

I don't pay attention to #1, it always surprises me to find out who hit it and who didn't, but the Foos are an obvious answer.  Did Greta van Fleet end up selling a shit ton?  Spoon has technically had "platinum" records but no dominant hits I can recall besides "The Underdog", and even that wasn't that big (nor was it within the last decade).  Wilco?  Nah.  Green Day might have sold some, I don't pay attention to them any more.

Good question.

[Deej 76,897]

6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Eh, one of my kids has a near encyclopedic knowledge of rock history.  It's an almost preternatural ability to sing along with any song on the radio that came out after 1955.  It's really eerie -- and the peer group is pretty knowledgable, too.  Maybe they're just the music geeks of the day.

I think it's because they've grown up with a screen and earbuds. Never forced to listen to their parents music. 

[TwiceHorn 31,529]

26 minutes ago, Deej said:

I think it's because they've grown up with a screen and earbuds. Never forced to listen to their parents music. 

And they never listen to the radio so are not constrained to listen to whatever station comes in, or "oldies hour" or whatever.  And they don't watch or see TV reruns or classic movies.

[GenXer 2,946]

I think there’s a lot of great new music.

I asked my Gen Z kid what his all time fav song was. Sabotage. Beastie Boys.

[gsoda3 3,281]

smashing pumpkins has a single playing on the radio pretty regularly for a few months.

[ztejas 43,528]

I think The 1975 are the biggest rock band right now that came along in the last decade. It looks like all of their albums have hit #1 in the UK including one that also hit #1 in the US and others that have been top 5-10. 

Arctic Monkeys are still huge but their irst record was 2006.

I'm assuming we aren't counting, like, Imagine Dragons. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by ztejas

[Mdhorn 5,984]

11 hours ago, miguelito said:

No kidding.  I've now heard Joy Division in the produce aisle and Sisters of Mercy in the deli at Safeway.  

[CooterBrown 18,022]

For a few weeks, the Allandale H‑E‑B was mainly playing Black Sabbath. I don’t know who was controlling their store music but I appreciated the effort.

[CooterBrown 18,022]

I have a friend who is a high school teacher. He said a few years ago that no one in his 20-ish person class could name either 1) One Beatle, or 2) One Beatles song. 

I graduated high school in 1990. That would be the equivalent of me naming a song or members of the most popular band from 1927.

[CooterBrown 18,022]

I think there’s a lot of great new music.
I asked my Gen Z kid what his all time fav song was. Sabotage. Beastie Boys.

My 16 YO has a playlist of current stuff and I recognize one band…Wet Leg. Her 2nd favorite playlist is 90s alt and trip hop. I can at least take credit for that second playlist.

When I bought her car, I signed her up for SiriusXM and a month later she told me to cancel it since it’s never used. She can’t wrap her mind around a playlist she can’t control.

[WhatTheBuck 28,797]

1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

I graduated high school in 1990. That would be the equivalent of me naming a song or members of the most popular band from 1927.

I’ll bet you know who starred in The Jazz Singer. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,797]

1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

My 16 YO has a playlist of current stuff and I recognize one band…Wet Leg. Her 2nd favorite playlist is 90s alt and trip hop. I can at least take credit for that second playlist.

I may have been wrong.

[Red Five 40,881]

2 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

I graduated high school in 1990. That would be the equivalent of me naming a song or members of the most popular band from 1927.

Go further back. Would it be like a room full of high school students not knowing who Mozart and Beethoven were? At some point it's just ignorance. 

[irishtexan 11,522]

20 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't pay attention to #1, it always surprises me to find out who hit it and who didn't, but the Foos are an obvious answer.  Did Greta van Fleet end up selling a shit ton?  Spoon has technically had "platinum" records but no dominant hits I can recall besides "The Underdog", and even that wasn't that big (nor was it within the last decade).  Wilco?  Nah.  Green Day might have sold some, I don't pay attention to them any more.

Good question.

Yeah. The point i was trying to make is that I haven’t heard a “new” popular rock band formed by people in their 20s in decades. All the groups you cite have been around for more than 20 years and are well into their 50s and 60s. 

[jimmyjazz 46,094]

Except for Greta van Fleet.  They are the outlier.

Royal Blood is pretty cool, too.

[NTVTXN 1,432]

23 hours ago, Red Five said:

I have a friend who is a high school teacher. He said a few years ago that no one in his 20-ish person class could name either 1) One Beatle, or 2) One Beatles song. 

This country is going to hell in a hand basket. 
#ihateithere

[CooterBrown 18,022]

Except for Greta van Fleet.  They are the outlier.
Royal Blood is pretty cool, too.

No guitar though.

Royal Blood kicks ass.

[Paul Wesley 3,289]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:50 PM, miguelito said:

My mother lives in an "independent living" community.  I had lunch with her this afternoon on their campus, and their little bistro/restaurant had a DJ set up.  He had two turntables and a big PA.  

And the DJ used those turntables to crossfade "Runaround Sue" into "Jailhouse Rock," etc.  

It was beyond amazing - and no, I don't think it was being done ironically. 

I thought about shooting some video just to show people that I wasn't making this up.  Now I wish I had.  

[Homercles 10,206]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:10 PM, Deej said:

When I was a kid, I was exposed to my older sibling's music, my parents music, etc., and had an appreciation for music that was much older than I was. We have college kids working in our office who all have almost zero knowledge of music before them. It's odd. 

I group a USAF brat and really got into music seriously as a teen…when we were stationed in Turkey from 93/96.  No internet, AFN-only tv.  

All I had was my parents turntable and their record collection…Fleetwood, Steppenwolf, Floyd, etc.  Gained an appreciation for 60’s-80’s, along with properly exploring an album, because it’s all I had.  Made my own mixtapes to carry around, which helped me appreciate good ‘production’ as I had to normalize, use DNR, etc if I wanted a good tape made from wildly varying vinyl sources.  

I recognize things/tastes change, but definitely lost something of an art with singles-focused, digitally-produced music.  

Floyd/Parsons had to make a loop of tape around a mic stand to repeat the Money sound effects…now you just ProTools it with one click, and it’s perfect.  However now I appreciate creativity even more when it happens in the digital era:

 

[Rip76 4,947]

On 7/29/2023 at 1:01 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Except for Greta van Fleet.  They are the outlier.

Royal Blood is pretty cool, too.

Royal Blood is great.

[PRONG HORN 3,150]

18 hours ago, Paul Wesley said:

the DJ used those turntables to crossfade "Runaround Sue" into "Jailhouse Rock," etc.  

 

 

Did you get his card?

[ajax 2,620]

The link in the OP was deleted. I'm curious what exactly it said.

I've just accepted that rock music won't be popular. I just looked at the top of the charts and it's dominated by country, pop, rap, and spanish language music. But the rock music that's out there right now is outstanding IMO. Certain trends in current rock music have made it better IMO. Specifically:

- More breakdowns and fewer guitar solos. As much as I love listening to and playing guitar, a breakdown is way more enjoyable and engaging than a guitar solo. During a concert, even the best extended guitar solo is likely to put everyone to sleep *except guitarists) while a kickass breakdown gets everyone amped up

- The popularity of 7 and 8 string guitars, especially in heavy music, gives a drive and power to riffs that I feel was missing before

- Is it just me, or are drummers nowadays insanely talented? Maybe they always have been and they just play differently now. The other day I heard Spiritbox and Sleep Token back-to-back and I noted how sick the drumming was.

And I'm in the minority but I can't stand Greta Van Fleet.

[ztejas 43,528]

21 minutes ago, ajax said:

And I'm in the minority but I can't stand Greta Van Fleet.

I doubt you're in the minority. They're one of the most shameless rip-artists I've ever heard. Why the fuck would I listen to them when I can listen to actual Led Zeppelin? 

Pitchfork is hit or miss for me and they've gotten way too political the past 5-6 years but here they are just absolutely crucifying GVF:

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/

Edited July 31, 2023 by ztejas

[ajax 2,620]

12 hours ago, ztejas said:

 

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/

Wow, that review reads like the reviewer has a vendetta against them. I may hate GVF's music but there are people that like them and that's cool. 

[ztejas 43,528]

9 minutes ago, ajax said:

Wow, that review reads like the reviewer has a vendetta against them. I may hate GVF's music but there are people that like them and that's cool. 

I mean - that was PF's shtick for awhile. And that one is pretty tame compared to a lot of what they used to write.

I'm largely ambivalent towards GVF and their fans. I just find them hilariously derivative and boring as a result. 

[jimmyjazz 46,094]

I'm pretty ambivalent about GvF, but criticizing them for lifting Led Zeppelin's sound w/o acknowledging how much music LZ pilfered is classic Pitchfork dumbassery.

[CTC2 2,798]

I remember being a teen in the 80’s and looking at the liner to Let It Bleed where it said something like “not to be listened to by anyone over 30”. I definitely understand that now. 

[Macanudo 13,009]

On 7/29/2023 at 9:10 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

I’ll bet you know who starred in The Jazz Singer. 

Adam Sandler, right?

[troph 24,905]

Kids narrow music knowledge is another indictment on parenting. My 15 year old can listen to Guy Clark, Hall and Oates, Nelly, Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bob Schneider, REK, JJW, Jimmy Buffett, Sturgill Simpson, the Boss and about 4 dozen indie bands we both like and sing along. Shit the kid has a play list filled with Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver and Neil Diamond hits. Now don’t get me wrong he listens to some current day garbage with his friends, but we explore music together and I show him what’s out there. 

it’s our job to keep the good music alive, not theirs. 

[ajax 2,620]

22 hours ago, troph said:

but we explore music together

Have you found any new stuff you like?

[troph 24,905]

24 minutes ago, ajax said:

Have you found any new stuff you like?

Yes. Most recently he turned me on to Andrew Duhon. There are others but I can’t look right now. 

[G650 14,273]

There's a lot of old man yells at cloud up in this bitch.

[Celery Man 20,996]

I think the original post was a TIkTok clip (reposted on Reddit or something). I thought Pinegrove was an interesting story regarding new music, "rock" music in today's landscape, etc. Pinegrove is a band that was around in the late teens, were a little successful but not big mainstream success or anything and went into hiatus in early 2023. And then someone on TikTok posted this dance

and the "Pinegrove Shuffle" became a whole thing

which is bizarre just in how small something can be for it to catch. I was doing music stuff whenever the OK Go treadmill video hit, and everyone tried so hard to make that kind of stuff happen. Even my group - the most success we eventually had built off of a very intentional twitter campaign supported by a kinda novelty music video. And in 2023, some guy does this weird little shuffle dance to one small part of not even one of the main songs from a New Jersey indie band and it blows up.

They're not a band I've followed closely or whose music I know that well, but Spotify has slide them into my playlists for a long time and I like this recording

 

also since we keep talking about greta van fleet - they're heavy tiktok fodder, had a big trending thing where people re-enacted their SNL performance but shit like this cracks me up

 

almost nothing makes me feel older than trying to embed tiktok into a message board

[ajax 2,620]

1 hour ago, G650 said:

There's a lot of old man yells at cloud up in this bitch.