Modern Music........ good/bad?

[Gritter]

I think part of the problem with modern music might not be the music but the listener. When I was in my teens and twenties, I used to lie on my bed and listen to an album in its entirety. The next day, I might listen to the same album again, and maybe again the next day, and so on. I really listened to the music and did nothing else. But as I got older, I found that I had no time for proper listening like I did when I was younger. Instead, music became a pleasant noise in the background while I did other things. I wasn't really listening anymore. The internet age has made matters worse because now I tend to listen to playlists of favourite songs from the past instead of albums.

Here's an interesting article on the subject:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12209143

I think I should try to make a point of listening to one whole album each week.

Well put. There is not as much discovery on the listeners part because one can download all his/her favourite songs now instead of finding an album in a record shop that may contain gems that aren't for mass consumption.

[Greeny]

I think part of the problem with modern music might not be the music but the listener. When I was in my teens and twenties, I used to lie on my bed and listen to an album in its entirety. The next day, I might listen to the same album again, and maybe again the next day, and so on. I really listened to the music and did nothing else. But as I got older, I found that I had no time for proper listening like I did when I was younger. Instead, music became a pleasant noise in the background while I did other things. I wasn't really listening anymore. The internet age has made matters worse because now I tend to listen to playlists of favourite songs from the past instead of albums.

Here's an interesting article on the subject:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12209143

I think I should try to make a point of listening to one whole album each week.

Well put. There is not as much discovery on the listeners part because one can download all his/her favourite songs now instead of finding an album in a record shop that may contain gems that aren't for mass consumption.

It's also a big difference to the days when I was 14 and working part-time in a grocery store - all my pittance of a wage went on buying cassette albums. When I worked that hard for them and knew that I REALLY wanted them, I damn well made sure I listened to them. Over and over again. So yeah... that's a big difference to the present day when you can download something on a whim (not even a whole album usually) just to try it out.

[Oldrottenhead]

same life experience as me then greeny. i had a saturday job in a grocery store and my days pay of £2.50 bought me one lp. and yes i played them to death in some cases forcing myself to like them. that said crisis what crisis by supertramp was the worst money i ever spent on an album.

[Geir]

Yep there's a lot of good music out there !! A LOT !!!!!!!!! I've always said that at any time in history there are at least 5 "Paul McCartneys" out there .. we just don't get a chance to hear them. Well now we actually have a chance of doing that, only problem is that we have a gazillion artists to listen through before we find them

Sandy, that was a good selection, and I have actually stumbled upon three of them by chance on the net. One of them actually inspired one of my first original songs I posted here (guess who) another one I have done a cover of (which I should really redo as it sounds crap ).

[Greeny]

same life experience as me then greeny. i had a saturday job in a grocery store and my days pay of £2.50 bought me one lp. and yes i played them to death in some cases forcing myself to like them. that said crisis what crisis by supertramp was the worst money i ever spent on an album.

I remember that sinking feeling when you slowly realised that you'd spent your hard earned money on a pile of crap! And then trying to trick / force yourself into liking it! I remember being very unhappy with the Thompson Twin's 'Quick Step and Side Kick' album. But nothing upset me more than when I spent my xmas vouchers at the age of 13 on 'Prince Charming' by Adam and the Ants. Truly a car crash of an album artistically, and commercial suicide all in one, lol.

[peterp]

Modern music has gone straight down hill, ever since the stick bang on hollow log was invented.

Although some pieces done on the legendary mouse-o-phone and ouch-o-phone were not bad!

[IanR]

There is lots of new music out there.  Here are a few sources I use:

1. Songcrafters originals
2. Songcrafters "what are you listening to now" post
3. Community radio stations (melbourne's 3PBS and 3RRR) are great - all genres
4. my local library - I go there about once a month and take home about 10 cds by artists I have either never heard of, or have heard of but not heard, and I check them out.  If I like them, I might actually buy the cd.  Or, I'll copy them onto my pc.  The library is fairly good at keeping their collection up to date.

[ODH]

I was watching Daybreak (UK morning TV) this morning.  They had the boyband du-jour on.  Absolute tosh, it winds me up that these clueless oiks that can barely string a sentance together get a successful career in music and all the trappings, when proper talented musicians (I don't mean me, I mean real musicians) get nowhere.  Thing is they are just working for big business.  There's a massive team of fat cats behind them, it's all about harvesting the market.  This seems to be true of the majority of chart music.  But it's really not about music and therefore not worth paying attention to (or getting worked up about) if you like music.

However, there is good news - I think that largely thanks to the internet that market is and the business that chases it is dwindling.  And even if it isn't, those interested in good music are no longer constrained to getting their new music from chart-radio.  So it's easy just to walk around that big machine.

And because of that, modern music (as a whole) is better than ever, in my opinion.  More people have access to making music and getting it 'out there'.

So, in summary; modern music: Good.  Rant over.  And before you say, I realise some of the best musicians ever could barely string a sentance together.  That's not the point...

[Greeny]

Going back to an earlier point, it does feel as if the magic of listening to a WHOLE album intensely and repeatedly has gone out of fashion in these days of downloads and short attention spans. I begin to wonder whether bands these days even set out with full, lovingly-crafted albums in mind, or whether it's just about singles (for download, and as a trailer for their next / current tour). I just can't see where something so complete, conceptual and downright amazing as Dark Side of the Moon would come from or fit in these days. I'm sure there are exceptions (there always are...), but whenever lists of the best albums of all time are compiled, it doesn't usually get any more modern than 'OK Computer' by Radiohead. And most of it will be a lot older than that.

Even the advent of CD had a detrimental effect on albums; I liked that whole 'two sides' thing, where a band could play with the concept and track order of each side rather than just having a single list of (skippable) songs.

Or am I just a miserable old nostalgic git?!

I still try to craft my albums 'properly', but it's only for my own satisfaction and sense of perfectionism, lol

[Oldrottenhead]

 you are just a miserable old git tim lol. only jesting, i love listening to entire albums, but the beauty of modern mp3 players , is not that you can have your entire record collection in one place, but you can make up playlists of your favourite songs. i make up playlists for different situations.  beach, driving, walking , etc. or just switch my piepod to random. i also stick lots of stuff on it that i havent heard  or want to hear or have been recommended and that way i get introduced to new stuff.
a worry tho is the harder to listen to stuff may get ignored by this method, not by myself i might add, after 20 years of trying i am still trying to "get" trout mask replica and that's an album by one of my heroes.