I just got my iPod Shuffle yesterday. I loaded it with about 20 to 30 tracks of my favourite songs. After listening to the iPod for about 3 hours I realized I am outta good music! Thats why I thought this topic needs to be started.

I find myself listening to Aerosmith, Bon Jovi tracks from the 80s again and again. The pop music that Bryan Adams used to create cant be heard in todays tracks. There was a resurgence of great pop music with the likes of Robbie Williams, Savage Garden, Boy Zone. But either due to the spliting of the bands or ego problems the same kind of distinctive quality of music you would expect is no where to be found. Not only in the pop genre. In other genres aswell like Rock you cant find the same quality. For example all the contestants in the latest Rockstars:Super Nova reality show take up old, golden songs rather than really new so called rock songs.

The only genre where I still find good music being produced is Alternative Rock. With Maroon 5 and other groups you might expect some good music. But where did Creed go after giving us With Arms Wide Open?

There are of course expection to this for example John Mayors album Room For Squares, almost every song was good. But that was in 2001.

Also one problem is, where to discover great music? As a child I used to watch MTV to get the latest on the music scene and to find some really good artists. Now as an adult I dont have the luxury of watching VH1 or anyother channel for long durations. Also the radio isnt what it used to be. I am only 21 by the way. lol. I do find internet radio as a really good source but then again I have to sit next to my computer. Where can I discover great artists these days then?

We all have our iPod which reproduce great music with excellent quality but have we run out of great music?

You can say I might be biased based on my musical taste and I am not dening that. Thats why I invite you to give your unique prospective based on the music you like on how do you find it today and your plans to cope with it

Quite simply, music is even better. You're just not hearing it. The airwaves and cable are controlled by very few companies that fiercely control what you hear.

Clearchannel controls most of the radio world:

Here's a list of their channels
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/clearchannel.asp

All of the music television channels are owned by the same company (which also owns Blockbuster, radio stations, and newspapers.) This company is called Viacom.
Tv-wise they own:

MTV
MTV2
mtvU
Nickelodeon
BET
Nick at Nite
TV Land
NOGGIN
VH1
Spike TV
CMT
Comedy Central
Showtime
The Movie Channel
Flix
Sundance Channel

(source: http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/viacom.asp)

It's kind of a conflict of interest to own the news, television, and radio, but that doesn't keep it from happening.

The same thing is happening in the newspaper world. Gannet is eating up all the local papers. As huge corporations homogenize what you see, read, or listen to, they maximize profits for their ventures. Ever wonder why you can't get a Simpsons season DVD at Blockbuster? Perhaps you want to know why local radio stations are recorded thousands of miles away and then played on a tape?

Why does music nowadays suck? It doesn't, but it's harder to find!

See, I think that modern music - even the most of the good stuff - sucks in comparison to the greats of the 60's and 70's. Maybe it's because Rock was newer then, but there just aren't any great bands like the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, etc.

It just seems like there's not much creativity any more. There are exceptions, but when it comes to good Rock, I'm not sure there is much... at least when compared to the greats.

(Thread moved to Pop Culture)

I love the 80's! Especially europop bands. I am originally from South America, where the 80's, believe it or not, were the most listened to music at least when I left my country 7 years ago. Unfortunately, and I'm not being prejudistic, just giving some information, here in the States, this is the kind of music related to the gay community, such as Eurasure, Pet Shop Boys and a-ha. I love Depeche Mode and INXS too. But like I said, it kinda sucks that they stereotype people for the kind of music they listen to... I still like other genres such as trance and the likes, but like I said, I LOVE the 80's. (I know, I sound like the VH1 show, LOL).

You are right that alot of new rock is utter crap! Bands like Puddle of Mud, Nickleback etc etc are terrible even some of the 80's hair bands had more talent than them. I wish there were bands like Skid Row around now who incidentally were not part of the hair metal scene! they were a big step above of them... Sebastian! what a singer! most of the rock singers around today dont have any vocal power and are pretty boring.... You have to look back to the alternative scene of the 90s to find decent singers, guys like Chris Cornel and Eddy Vedder etc On rockstar supernova the girls are all the best and the men suck! its cause they all sing the same low tones.

well, I think its just a sign of the times, I think some bands like Tool compare to the greats, personally my favorite is 90's music, a little behind my time, but I think rap sucks the big one, and scream-o is pretty annoying, but theres still good things to be found, I think part of the reason for the "lack of good music" is that theres simply too much choice today, everybody listens to something different, in the 60's and 70's there was far less choice in what was listened to, so a band that would have normally been a bit faded came to the forefront.

Personally, my favorites are:

Tool
Nine inch nails
The mars volta
Massive attack
Smashing pumpkins
Bloc party

I dont know if those are good, but I think theyre pretty damn good, Id compare them to the greats, but then again, ive never really been a big fan of the greats, I only say theyre good because everybody else does (beetles, etc). Oh also, im partial to david bowie heheh.

Also, I think in my entire life ive seen about 45 minutes of MTV, forcibly by somebody else, and thats something I can be proud of...

I have to agree that it is harder to find good music... but I wouldn't say music sucks now...

Most rock bands today just sound the same... Most of the modern music I listen to is Third Wave Ska... it seems to have its own sound... the only genra that is currently producing orignal music. It's a shame the genre is dying.

here are some of the bands I like... Download some of their songs... you might like them... (Most of them are Third Wave Ska... and the rest are more common and you should have heard of...)

Streetlight Manifesto, Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, Catch 22, Less Than Jake, Five Iron Frenzy, Mad Caddies, Mustard Plug, Suicide Machines, Reel Big Fish, Barenaked Ladies, Swingin Utters, Nirvana, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones.

I was brought up in the 90's and the only good music i say is the old stuff (early 90's, 80's, 70's, 60's) i have heas of cd's. all the music today sucks pretty much apart from James Blunt , jokes, nah apart form The Knife, Artic Monkeys and a few other select bands. To me it doenst even sound like music it just sounds like DOOF DOOF to me.

Kiko... not all of today's music is like that. Really if you download some music from the modern bands I listed I'm sure you would like one or two of them.

a Recap of the modern bands I listed... download a few songs from a few of them.:
Streetlight Manifesto, Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, Catch 22, Less Than Jake, Five Iron Frenzy, Mad Caddies, Mustard Plug, Suicide Machines, Reel Big Fish, Barenaked Ladies, Swingin Utters, The White Stripes.

i like most of that stuff and more, theres just alot more to chose from, use pandora.com to find more new band s that ull like...

max

Yeah, I don't listen to the radio anymore. It's gone to crap. The key is to find a place (website, magazine) that has or reviews music. That way, you can find good music without listening the to the generic reheated stuff on the radio.

Wait do people still listen to the radio? are there still radio stations? wow I must be out of the loop.

I still listen to the radio... and to Conroe Mac pandora is good because no comercials, it plays alot of stuff youve never heard of (instead of the top 5 charts over and over) and it plays bands musicially similar in style to what ever band you enter into it...


max

I've used that program, it's pretty cool. Sometimes I listen to latenight local public radio. They play all sorts of genres that I would never even think to listen to. It's nice to find a radio station that's eclectic, but it's also pretty unlikely.

the only music that you hear on the radio is the popular crap like "the veronicas"... none of the good meaningful stuff that actually contains talent ever makes it onto the radio.

try downloading these albums :

[alt-rock]
smashing pumpkins - all albums best song : disarm
radiohead - all albums best song : i can't choose lol
muse - origin of symmetry best song : bliss or citizen erased
muse - absolution best song : sing for absolution
muse - showbiz best song : muscle museum
tool - aenema best song : eulogy

[not as heavy]
feeder - pushing the senses best song : morning life
evermore - real life best song : real life
evermore - dreams best song : into the ocean (calling you)
coldplay - all albums best song : dunno

[classics]
pink floyd - dark side of the moon best song : money
led zeppelin - physical graffiti best song : kashmir
dire straits - love over gold best song : sultans of swing
U2 - all albums best song : city of blinding lights


heaps more i could have added like chilli peppers and placebo but just get those to get you started.

you'll be able to fill your ipod with stuff within a few days once you get into them.

I only listen to AM radio, I know thats f***in lame heheh, but whatever heheh, I hate FM quality, sounds like {censored}, ipod, or CD sound alot better

Haha, isn't AM radio mono?

Ive got an ftp with 30gb of mp3s.... pm me


max

Blur
A Whisper In The Noise
The Decemberists
Thrice
Circa Survive
Saosin
Dredg
The Folk Implosion
Glassjaw
ISIS
Minus the Bear
Darkest Hour
As I Lay Dying
Modest Mouse
The Receiving End of Sirens
Refused
Sigur Ros
These Arms Are Snakes
Tiger Army
Unearth

These are some of the bands I enjoy.

Atmosphere
Danger Doom
MF Doom
Common
Talib Kweli

After that I tend to get lost in a vortex of

Sisters of Mercy
Beborn Beton
Covenant
Psychadelic Furs
Echo and the Bunnymen

etc.

There's a lot of good music, you just have to know where it all is. Just because you turn on the radio and all the music is bad doesn't mean there aren't any good bands out there.

Hm,

I think technical of course the music is better today. I also think there are a lot of good songs from small labels.

But I think there is a huge lack of creativity in the mainstream. Too many bad covers, some are good, but it is all about these "how can we make a killer-hookline that fits the mobile phone".

But be lucky if you are not living in germany. Our radiostations are like

<begin playlist>

Bryan Adams - f*cking Summer of 69
Joe Cocker - In The f*cking Air Tonight
Robbie Williams - f*cking Rock DJ
Tina Turner - Private f*cking Dancer
Mariah Carey - f*cking Butterfly

<do loop until ears are bleeding>
<end playlist>

I mean: what are these idiots supposed to do? Bore us to death? Dunno.

im gonna guess that not many of you here listen to country music but it has really declined. in fact, country music is dead. all you hear now is what I affectionately call "southern pop." its horrible. everynow and then kenny chesney or alan jackson will make a good song but otherwise its dead. and its a damn shame because country music had a son, and he named it rock and roll and music dont get any better than old country and early rock n roll. (Elvis, Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis etc.)

as far as rock goes, the popular stuff is ok though im not a big fan of today's radio. im still living in the late 90's and early 2000's listening to "rap metal" like Kid Rock (his newer stuff is good to and he is a really underrated artist) Limp Bizkit, P.O.D, and Rage Against the Machine etc. (btw, f*** linkin park)

pop = crap

rap has had a few good songs over the years, mostly between 1986-1996. overall, rap sucks ass. LET'S GO!!

I don't get why everyone hates pop. I'm open in my tastes. I like most stuff except country because it's just so farmer-ish (no-offence to anyone, BTW).
Why is pop so well hated? It isn't. If it were, people wouldn't listen to it.
So why don't many of you like it? I'm curious...

I can't even listen to most of the radio anymore. All the rock stations around me have switched over to playing hip-hop and other crap. I try to stick with some country, and rock that i've downloaded.

Some bands I'd recommned are (favorite song in the parentheses):
Jet (Put Your Money Where You Mouth Is)
Audioslave (Original Fire)
The Killers (When You Were Young)
Live (Lightning Crashes)
Collective Soul (How Do You Love)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (By The Way)
Train (All I Ever Wanted)]

Enjoy!!

I love pop, Beegees, Foreigner etc etc. Pop R0x0rs, i just dont liek mariah carey (her music)

Just for fun I'll reply to that:

I've got a Usenet account with 11TB of mp3 files... you should get one too.

I would say since I'm a product of the 80s - oh the days in high school from 80-85... that's the type of music I latch onto first and foremost. Hell I just grabbed about 2GB of strictly 80's tunes the other day just to listen.

As for radio, while I don't listen to any stations directly here in Las Vegas (don't own a radio), I did used to listen to one of the "MIX 94.1" kind of stations that played a lot of pop alternative stuff (Vertical Horizon, etc, that sort of music) and enjoyed it. Nowadays if I want to listen to "radio" I fire up the stream from FM99 back home in Norfolk, VA and enjoy it here while I'm at the laptop or doing stuff in the apartment.

My tastes are pretty wide open: as long as it's got a good beat and I can understand the lyrics, I'm pretty cool with it. Some jazz I like, not the super slow "let's make love" kind of stuff, but again, if it's got a nice beat - uptempo style - then I'm game.

As for if music is getting worse or not, I think it's not only a matter of personal taste but the artists themselves. Some artist(s) like Coldplay just make some good music, period. Then people like Britney Spears comes along and makes catchy pop jingles that you can't seem to get away from because they're (i.e. ClearChannel and the like) are shoving it down our throats.

My fave band of all time is Rush, and I have many reasons for it. Most people either like them or they don't, and I'll admit Geddy Lee certainly isn't the best singer that's ever lived, but it's the whole package that works for me: the musicianship, the lyrics, the blending of the artists that makes it my favorite band.

Some stuff kicks out there, but most of it is useless dreck I'd pass on when I hear it. I stick with what I know and like: 80's music with some occassional 90's stuff thrown in for good measure, with an ear out for new stuff that gets recommended to me by friends - in other words, I'm like most people in that respect.

bb

I think there are alot of good comments on this board. I especially agree with what MAC said about corporates trying to influence what we see and here. That's a serious issue that needs attention. But we can control what we see and hear.

I agree that today's music sucks. I am 34 and grew up obsessed with music and eventually became a musician and recording engineer. Music has evolved sometimes in good ways and then bad but it's been a steady curve. At least up until the 90s. That's when the curve took a big nosedive in quality of material and originality. The 90s was a time when the corporates took creative control of music away from musicians and gave it to what i call the "sales puppets" of the industry. This created an exploitative type of control in order to make music that sells more than it provides. That's why so many songs of the 90s will be forgotten completely. The new millenium is the eventual result of the exploitation. A bunch of immoral souls have basically voluntarily became %$@#!* slaves of the industry and are ready to provide ANY kind of service necessary to hold a career. Music used to stand for something great and it still does except the industry has turned it's back on those who won't sellout. So really REAL music is in limbo but I see a good trend that will eventually straighten things out. More people are becoming aware of how today's music compares to yeaterdays. THERE IS NO COMPARISON!! That's why VH1 is doing what theyre doing and why radio has more and more flashback stations. When a song came on you knew exactly who it was the first second! That doesnt exist with todays garbage. "Umm....who is that guy? He sounds like George Strait, Merle Haggard, George Jones all rolled up into one." The even bigger crime is that they are using the very same session musicians to play on ALL the albums which basically gives us one band to listen to. YUK!! DO you notice on the late shows how when a young rock band comes on? They all have their guitars hanging down and strum the hell out the strings in the same fashion GREEN DAY does and make you wanna puke cause you feel like your watching numerous knockoffs of the same act? YUK!! These kids don't know anything. When I was 16 in high school I was the only kid who could play guitar. I entered the talent show and burned up Van Halen solos. Kids nowadays dont know %$@#!* anymore. It's a shame they dont have the opportunity to have guitar idols like we did and have the chance to dream about being better than the rest. It's a musically sewage pool out there today. All I can say is dont buy todays music and it will die. Keep sharing the good stuff online and evetually the corporates will die along with it and all that will be left is what WE want!! ROCK ON.

The problem is that todays youth sucks. (I know this first hand)... They like this crap... They are the ones driving the market... This music won't die anytime soon.

This isn't 100% true tho... I know alot of people my age who listen to Led Zep., Pink Floyd, Queen, Van Halen, and The Rolling Stones (to name a few). The problem is that these bands are not making music anymore and my generation needs music to listen to... we need music from our time.

Again not all of todays music is like that... There is still bands making their own sound... You just need to look for some bands that have yet to "sell out".

I would highly recomend you listen to "Everything Goes Numb" by "Streetlight Manifesto"

Check out New Zealand music there is some bloody good music being made here.

Check out

Green Room CDs
Evermore - Dreams
The Datsuns
Blind Spot - Nil by mouth
Shihad
Pitch Black

There will always be bad (music you hate) and good music (music you like).
We all like different things if we didn't nothing new would be made.

All there is to it really.