I was definitely looking for your input, my mistake; I thought you were the OP. You're probably trolling, but assuming you aren't, I'm genuinely baffled. If you were to say that what's been played on mainstream radio in the last 30 years isn't worth listening to, I wouldn't fully agree, but I could at least wrap my head around it. This just sounds to me like you're not that interested in discovering new music.
No it doesn’t. Of course, I’ve allowed myself on occasion to be subjected to having to listen to new music. There is rarely any new song or artist that is even considered worthy of being called music. I did use the word “almost” in my post. Very rarely has anything decent been released besides Radiohead.
1995-2000 The emergence of alternative rock in the wake of grunge. All those bands like Counting Crows and Semisonic sucked. Greenday and Sublime are bad bands that at the least had some redeeming qualities but we’re not great. Pop music emerged with Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, and a horrific strand of boy bands. Nu metal and rap during this time were atrocious.
2000-2010 The unfortunate and forgettable emergence of Indie Rock, emo rock, and metal corps. Bad pop punk bands which included acts like the no talent Avril Lavigne of this thread. Kanye West sucks. Jay-Z sucks. Eminem was a joke. Nelly was a joke. Rap continued to be lousy. The downturn of quality country music and the emergence of the plague known as Taylor Swift. The White Stripes were passable but still not great. Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon sucked.
2010-2020 Stomp clap stupidity with Mumford and Sons and a bunch of other horrible bands like them. The slow disappearance of rock music. The emergence and stability of mumble rap. Horrible rappers like Drake and Nikki Manaj. The reemergence of bad pop stars like Cardi B and Ariana Grande. The Jonas Brothers and One Direction were dreadful. Bruno Mars was a joke. Imagine Dragons were atrocious. Adele was loud and obnoxious.
2020-Current. Bad pop bands like The Weekend. Billie Eilish and her ridiculous stupid whisper singing. Too many bad pop stars to name but don’t let me neglect the overwhelming empty stardom of Taylor Swift, who is almost as bad as Avril Lavigne, but just records more and has a cult like fan base for some mysterious reason.
The above of course is only scratching the surface. There’s a lot more horrible music acts of the 21st century so far than I listed, as well as whole genres. Radiohead has produced some very interesting music and as I mentioned some other bands like Coldplay, Sublime, Greenday, The White Stripes, and The Mars Volta we’re not great, but at least listenable and occasionally released something decent. But that is a microcosm in an otherwise barren music landscape where each song is mostly just produced as a cheap dance to it product that is easily disposable so it can be replaced by another bad song next week.
You may not agree with me, but as a musician I feel like I know what I’m talking about and have good taste. Most of the new music out is just poorly produced crap with no meaning other than to sell the image of the singer along with whatever products the singer is advertising. They’re not real songs, they’re just cheaply made consumer products.
I mean, sure. You listed a bunch of trends at the tops of the charts, and some extremely popular artists in mainstream genres that are all played on commercial radio. This is like just listening to Kenny G and deciding jazz is no good. There are a staggering number of musicians and bands putting out records on tiny DIY labels that they'll lose money on, just because they love making music. You like what you like, and although I feel bad for you, I have no stake in you broadening your horizons. But to just declare all music from the last 30 years besides Radiohead, Coldplay, etc as worthless is a ridiculous take.
I mean, sure. You listed a bunch of trends at the tops of the charts, and some extremely popular artists in mainstream genres that are all played on commercial radio. This is like just listening to Kenny G and deciding jazz is no good. There are a staggering number of musicians and bands putting out records on tiny DIY labels that they'll lose money on, just because they love making music. You like what you like, and although I feel bad for you, I have no stake in you broadening your horizons. But to just declare all music from the last 30 years besides Radiohead, Coldplay, etc as worthless is a ridiculous take.
And it is easier than ever to "discover" those artists who do not rely on major labels' marketing. It is actually great time to be a music fan today.
I’m not the OP, but I would like to substitute for him by saying there is almost nothing worth listening to that has been recorded in the last 10, 20, or even 30 years with the exception of Radiohead and arguably some of Coldplay’s stuff, though they are admittedly hit or miss.
You just sound so ... basic.
If you like Radiohead and haven't found anything else interesting in 30 years, you are just looking in the wrong places. (Evidenced by your next pick, the truly insipid Coldplay - ha!)
I'm genuinely baffled. If you were to say that what's been played on mainstream radio in the last 30 years isn't worth listening to, I wouldn't fully agree, but I could at least wrap my head around it. This just sounds to me like you're not that interested in discovering new music.
No it doesn’t. Of course, I’ve allowed myself on occasion to be subjected to having to listen to new music. There is rarely any new song or artist that is even considered worthy of being called music. I did use the word “almost” in my post. Very rarely has anything decent been released besides Radiohead.
1995-2000 The emergence of alternative rock in the wake of grunge. All those bands like Counting Crows and Semisonic sucked. Greenday and Sublime are bad bands that at the least had some redeeming qualities but we’re not great. Pop music emerged with Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, and a horrific strand of boy bands. Nu metal and rap during this time were atrocious.
2000-2010 The unfortunate and forgettable emergence of Indie Rock, emo rock, and metal corps. Bad pop punk bands which included acts like the no talent Avril Lavigne of this thread. Kanye West sucks. Jay-Z sucks. Eminem was a joke. Nelly was a joke. Rap continued to be lousy. The downturn of quality country music and the emergence of the plague known as Taylor Swift. The White Stripes were passable but still not great. Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon sucked.
2010-2020 Stomp clap stupidity with Mumford and Sons and a bunch of other horrible bands like them. The slow disappearance of rock music. The emergence and stability of mumble rap. Horrible rappers like Drake and Nikki Manaj. The reemergence of bad pop stars like Cardi B and Ariana Grande. The Jonas Brothers and One Direction were dreadful. Bruno Mars was a joke. Imagine Dragons were atrocious. Adele was loud and obnoxious.
2020-Current. Bad pop bands like The Weekend. Billie Eilish and her ridiculous stupid whisper singing. Too many bad pop stars to name but don’t let me neglect the overwhelming empty stardom of Taylor Swift, who is almost as bad as Avril Lavigne, but just records more and has a cult like fan base for some mysterious reason.
The above of course is only scratching the surface. There’s a lot more horrible music acts of the 21st century so far than I listed, as well as whole genres. Radiohead has produced some very interesting music and as I mentioned some other bands like Coldplay, Sublime, Greenday, The White Stripes, and The Mars Volta we’re not great, but at least listenable and occasionally released something decent. But that is a microcosm in an otherwise barren music landscape where each song is mostly just produced as a cheap dance to it product that is easily disposable so it can be replaced by another bad song next week.
You may not agree with me, but as a musician I feel like I know what I’m talking about and have good taste. Most of the new music out is just poorly produced crap with no meaning other than to sell the image of the singer along with whatever products the singer is advertising. They’re not real songs, they’re just cheaply made consumer products.
This just reflects how basic and boring your listening is.
You seem to be unaware of anything other than mainstream FM radio music.
The bands you names as decent are boring popular music: Coldplay, Sublime, Green Day, White Stripes. The Mars Volta are at least interesting.
But when you say "Most of the new music out is just poorly produced crap with no meaning other than to sell the image of the singer along with whatever products the singer is advertising," you are really only talking about the commercially successful end of the spectrum.
You seem to be someone who cares about music, but you are looking in the wrong places. Where do you try to find new things?
I mean, sure. You listed a bunch of trends at the tops of the charts, and some extremely popular artists in mainstream genres that are all played on commercial radio. This is like just listening to Kenny G and deciding jazz is no good. There are a staggering number of musicians and bands putting out records on tiny DIY labels that they'll lose money on, just because they love making music.
Nails it. There is SO MUCH good music coming out every year.
And it is easier than ever to "discover" those artists who do not rely on major labels' marketing. It is actually great time to be a music fan today.
So true.
Up until the late 90s and even the 00s, music fans needed to comb independent magazines and spend hours at the listening station in a music store to find new things. Basically no online streaming or even MP3s. Mainstream radio was as bad then as it is now, and the internet as we know it now simply didn't exist. If you were lucky maybe you had a college/community radio station you could tune in.
If anything, these day discovering new music in one's genre of choice is so easy that it is almost less fun. It is less of a hunt, less likely that some opening band you never heard of will blow you away, less likely than someone from out of town hands you a CD/tape/record you would never have found locally...
I’m not the OP, but I would like to substitute for him by saying there is almost nothing worth listening to that has been recorded in the last 10, 20, or even 30 years with the exception of Radiohead and arguably some of Coldplay’s stuff, though they are admittedly hit or miss.
You just sound so ... basic.
If you like Radiohead and haven't found anything else interesting in 30 years, you are just looking in the wrong places. (Evidenced by your next pick, the truly insipid Coldplay - ha!)
It was my instinct to disregard Coldplay but I was encouraged by a friend to dig in years ago, and while certainly no composer of masterpieces, they’re not that bad. It’s a very restrained compliment. Radiohead is far more consistent. They released landmark album after landmark album until slowing down just a few years ago. Each album was an exciting journey into a new soundscape. How could the same be said about Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift? Of course it couldn’t be. Radiohead cared about the craft and actually making groundbreaking music. Most of the others on the long list of bad recording artists didn’t even try. It was all just about producing the next stupid vapid hit.
If you like Radiohead and haven't found anything else interesting in 30 years, you are just looking in the wrong places. (Evidenced by your next pick, the truly insipid Coldplay - ha!)
It was my instinct to disregard Coldplay but I was encouraged by a friend to dig in years ago, and while certainly no composer of masterpieces, they’re not that bad. It’s a very restrained compliment. Radiohead is far more consistent. They released landmark album after landmark album until slowing down just a few years ago. Each album was an exciting journey into a new soundscape. How could the same be said about Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift? Of course it couldn’t be. Radiohead cared about the craft and actually making groundbreaking music. Most of the others on the long list of bad recording artists didn’t even try. It was all just about producing the next stupid vapid hit.
Yeah, I remember thinking Radiohead was the last good band back in 2010 or so. I just wasn't looking nearly hard enough.
Do yourself a favor and acquaint yourself with instrumental music. You've got prog metal like Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Berried Alive; Metal fusion, like Covet, Polyphia and Plini; Funkier stuff like Vulfpeck and Snarky Puppy; Pop-adjacent stuff like Khruangbin and Ratatat. A bunch of middle-aged virtuosos still doing great work: The Aristocrats, Buckethead, Bumblefoot. And these are just some of my favorites off the top of my head.
There's plenty of killer stuff of there that you will NEVER encounter if you're only looking at pop charts or rolling stone magazine or something. Even if it's not all up your alley, if you are a musician, you should at least be able to appreciate it as "worthy." All of these bands feature musicians who are in a different stratosphere than Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood as far as technical ability.
No it doesn’t. Of course, I’ve allowed myself on occasion to be subjected to having to listen to new music. There is rarely any new song or artist that is even considered worthy of being called music. I did use the word “almost” in my post. Very rarely has anything decent been released besides Radiohead.
1995-2000 The emergence of alternative rock in the wake of grunge. All those bands like Counting Crows and Semisonic sucked. Greenday and Sublime are bad bands that at the least had some redeeming qualities but we’re not great. Pop music emerged with Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, and a horrific strand of boy bands. Nu metal and rap during this time were atrocious.
2000-2010 The unfortunate and forgettable emergence of Indie Rock, emo rock, and metal corps. Bad pop punk bands which included acts like the no talent Avril Lavigne of this thread. Kanye West sucks. Jay-Z sucks. Eminem was a joke. Nelly was a joke. Rap continued to be lousy. The downturn of quality country music and the emergence of the plague known as Taylor Swift. The White Stripes were passable but still not great. Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon sucked.
2010-2020 Stomp clap stupidity with Mumford and Sons and a bunch of other horrible bands like them. The slow disappearance of rock music. The emergence and stability of mumble rap. Horrible rappers like Drake and Nikki Manaj. The reemergence of bad pop stars like Cardi B and Ariana Grande. The Jonas Brothers and One Direction were dreadful. Bruno Mars was a joke. Imagine Dragons were atrocious. Adele was loud and obnoxious.
2020-Current. Bad pop bands like The Weekend. Billie Eilish and her ridiculous stupid whisper singing. Too many bad pop stars to name but don’t let me neglect the overwhelming empty stardom of Taylor Swift, who is almost as bad as Avril Lavigne, but just records more and has a cult like fan base for some mysterious reason.
The above of course is only scratching the surface. There’s a lot more horrible music acts of the 21st century so far than I listed, as well as whole genres. Radiohead has produced some very interesting music and as I mentioned some other bands like Coldplay, Sublime, Greenday, The White Stripes, and The Mars Volta we’re not great, but at least listenable and occasionally released something decent. But that is a microcosm in an otherwise barren music landscape where each song is mostly just produced as a cheap dance to it product that is easily disposable so it can be replaced by another bad song next week.
You may not agree with me, but as a musician I feel like I know what I’m talking about and have good taste. Most of the new music out is just poorly produced crap with no meaning other than to sell the image of the singer along with whatever products the singer is advertising. They’re not real songs, they’re just cheaply made consumer products.
This just reflects how basic and boring your listening is.
You seem to be unaware of anything other than mainstream FM radio music.
The bands you names as decent are boring popular music: Coldplay, Sublime, Green Day, White Stripes. The Mars Volta are at least interesting.
But when you say "Most of the new music out is just poorly produced crap with no meaning other than to sell the image of the singer along with whatever products the singer is advertising," you are really only talking about the commercially successful end of the spectrum.
You seem to be someone who cares about music, but you are looking in the wrong places. Where do you try to find new things?
My listening isn’t basic or boring. I’ve listened to everything from Purcell, to Chopin, to Stravinsky, Edgard Varese, Balkan folk music, Mali Kora music, to jazz fusion, Joni Mitchell, to hundreds of other genres. I’ve listened to music you’ve probably never heard of. I’m an amateur musicologist. I’ve listened to something like thousands of hours of music. I know what I’m talking about.
The bands I listed as passable, I already said were okay but not great. My only point was that they were not as bad as most other music acts of the last thirty years. Here’s an example. Sublime was by no means a great band. Mediocre musicianship, at times immature songwriting, crude language, fine. But at least Bradley Noell wrote songs that millions of people resonate with and that sounds like real music. Their style is an integration of ska, punk, stoner rock, reggae, and beach rock. There is some attempt at creativity. Now compare them to somebody derivative like Lady Gaga. You see my point.
As for your last point, of course I wasn’t saying that one cannot find good music in hard to reach places. I know that there are great musicians out there who have been ignored by the mainstream music industry. I was referring to popular music that has been easily accessible for the last thirty years, not the underground stuff that you have to make some effort to look for. Janis Joplin was a great singer and was still mainstream. There’s no reason that high quality artists like that need to be suppressed by the music industry these days. In the sixties and seventies you had phenomenal talent that was still mainstream. Today that isn’t the case.
It was my instinct to disregard Coldplay but I was encouraged by a friend to dig in years ago, and while certainly no composer of masterpieces, they’re not that bad. It’s a very restrained compliment. Radiohead is far more consistent. They released landmark album after landmark album until slowing down just a few years ago. Each album was an exciting journey into a new soundscape. How could the same be said about Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift? Of course it couldn’t be. Radiohead cared about the craft and actually making groundbreaking music. Most of the others on the long list of bad recording artists didn’t even try. It was all just about producing the next stupid vapid hit.
You sound like such a boring, whiny loser.
Considering the fact that I’ve written album reviews for several publications, I think people who know what they are talking about would be inclined to disagree with you.
Yeah, I remember thinking Radiohead was the last good band back in 2010 or so. I just wasn't looking nearly hard enough.
Do yourself a favor and acquaint yourself with instrumental music. You've got prog metal like Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Berried Alive; Metal fusion, like Covet, Polyphia and Plini; Funkier stuff like Vulfpeck and Snarky Puppy; Pop-adjacent stuff like Khruangbin and Ratatat. A bunch of middle-aged virtuosos still doing great work: The Aristocrats, Buckethead, Bumblefoot. And these are just some of my favorites off the top of my head.
There's plenty of killer stuff of there that you will NEVER encounter if you're only looking at pop charts or rolling stone magazine or something. Even if it's not all up your alley, if you are a musician, you should at least be able to appreciate it as "worthy." All of these bands feature musicians who are in a different stratosphere than Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood as far as technical ability.
I’m generally not much of a metal head, but I have listened to a fair amount of the groups you mentioned in your second paragraph. For me it sounds a bit monotonous, but occasionally I’ll hear something from those bands that is okay.
For your third paragraph you are making a bunch of assumptions from misunderstanding what I wrote in earlier posts by taking my words out of context. Now, in terms of these musicians outmatching Johnny Greenwood, Thom Yorke, and Ed O’Brien as guitarists with their technical ability you are right, but let’s consider that for a moment. You just mean that they are playing all the different scales on the guitars (pentatonic, mixolydian, aeolian, ionian, etc.) as fast as possible. I don’t mind that on occasion, but it gets redundant and guitar playing is much more about melody and songwriting than trying to sound like engine pistons. Radiohead is way more creative than the bands you listed and use a much broader musical palette.
Considering the fact that I’ve written album reviews for several publications, I think people who know what they are talking about would be inclined to disagree with you.
At the risk of exposing myself to blistering criticism for referencing such a pedestrian film, you remind me of the restaurant critic from Ratatouille.
She’s lip syncing here to a pre recorded vocal track. I can tell from her facial expressions and lack of neck muscle straining that she isn’t actually singing. Her smiling and head movements are out of timing and movement with the notes. An unsuspecting fan wouldn’t be able to tell because her lips are at least saying the lyrics. She’s as much of a fraud as any fake performer in the history of recorded music. Milli Vanilli couldn’t defraud people this well. Look at her piano playing. It’s also fake. She’s playing chord shapes with her right hand but her left is sometimes accompanying with bass notes and sometimes she forgets. You people need to learn a little bit about music so that you aren’t so easily played by these crooks. If I were you guys I would be embarrassed about being so easily duped. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be so gullible.
Considering the fact that I’ve written album reviews for several publications, I think people who know what they are talking about would be inclined to disagree with you.
At the risk of exposing myself to blistering criticism for referencing such a pedestrian film, you remind me of the restaurant critic from Ratatouille.
You are under the impression that I’m being a music snob. I know you are joking here, but as far as blistering criticism of the film Ratatouille, you won’t receive that from me. Ratatouille is a great film.
You are under the impression that I’m being a music snob. I know you are joking here, but as far as blistering criticism of the film Ratatouille, you won’t receive that from me. Ratatouille is a great film.
You’ve softened your position somewhat, but you came out guns blazing with what can only be considered textbook musical snobbery. But good call on the Balkan folk and kora. Love me some Toumani Diabate. You should check out Bombino if you don’t know him.