Where has all the music gone?
OK I'd better get this out of the way first - modern music is utter SHIT. So could I find anything I liked?
Not much, but here are a couple of tracks I think are worth checking out.
The Kills - Future Starts Slow (2011) - when this played in the final of Altered Carbon it was the perfect music for the scene, and the combination was pretty awesome.
The White Stripes broke up in 2010 so I can't include anything from them, and my favourite tracks from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all pre 2010 as well...
So I'm going to cheat a bit here and include this song because NOTHING THIS CENTURY comes close to The Pixies - this was 25 years on and they were still on a whole other level to everyone else.
Yes, this is the music of my generation, but even with only one ear that still works I can tell that this is the bomb shit. Listening to this brings back so many memories, and yeah, I wish I could go back - holy crap, the music was amazing!
The Pixies - Gouge Away (Live in 2014)
Totally depends on personal taste.
And, it’s quite likely that there’s a ton of great music coming out - perhaps more than ever - yet with so much, we just haven’t come across it yet. Granted, a lot of the “popular” stuff getting radio play and mainstream attention may be ‘shit,’ though there are definitely a lot of underground gems to be found if ya know where to dig.
I find SoundCloud to be a killer source.
Don’t typically like posting links to my own posts, but I just shared a few good finds a couple days ago from a recent dig on there:
https://steemit.com/music/@rok-sivante/sunday-s-top-soundcloud-gems
Definitely a different style that the Pixies, though hope there may be at least one track in there that refreshes your hope and leads you down a rabbit hole into a good wave to surf somewhere there in SoundCloud that’ll carry you to something particularly inspiring, as you’ve been craving... 😎🙏
Many thanks for that.
Did I like any of those tracks? - no...
But I did like the way you had all those links, on your post.
And the Wicked Game remix reminded me how good the original was so I went and listened to that:
The idea of remixes made me think of 808 State and all the amazing remixes of their tracks - they have just put out a new album and 28 years on they still have beats:
Not like this though - this 808 State track clean blew my head off when I first heard it at the start of the 90's - it said "The new decade starts here!"
All this made me realise just what it is I want in music - three essentials - 1. A really compelling intro, 2. Driving beats (preferably funky, or very rhythmic), and 3. Some sort of expression - opinion, humour, anger, wisdom, emotion, creativity (several if possible!)
And there was a time when these things used to happen!
I appreciate this.
As a music producer - who’s been inconsistent over the years, though refining focus as time goes on - this is some great feedback...
I’ve often unintentionally overcomplicated things when ending up producing. Yet to see this fresh perspective of what three, simple things most impact by an average listener is great.
Definitely provides some good food for thought / direction for a fresh approach as I get back to it soon.
🙏
For a brief but amazing time, Manchester was the epicenter of what I'm seeking:
The stuff played on the radio this decade... i stopped listening a few years ago and i haven't missed anything.
I can think of a handful of songs i would want to keep vs hundreds from the 90s and thousands from the 80 and before.
It is indeed like this decade had no music.
Music used to be fun as well as creative and awesome!
Don't we all get to an age where we think modern music is crap? 🤔 I'm guessing it won't get any better as we get older, either.
That is a question I've often pondered as well!
People do tend to say that, so I ended up doing my best attempt to look at it objectively, and came to the conclusion that there are all sorts of things going on, from social programming to auto-tuning, but ultimately it really has turned to crap in the past 20 years .
I'm not going to post any examples of modern music because I just don't want to go there - but sticking with The Pixies - check this out: Here Comes My Man (1989):
"Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies, and evocative, cryptic lyrics, Pixies were one of the most influential alternative rock bands. They were inventive, rabid rock fans who turned conventions inside-out"
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pixies-mn0000895136/biography
That actually has the feel of a decade earlier. I can't say I've ever heard of the Pixies before. I'm struggling to even remember what i'd have been listening to in '89. Probably the glam rock my sister was playing. 😆
The Pixies were to the 80's what the Velvet Underground were to the 60's - they invented all the coolest music for the next decade.
In 89 I was listening to The Pixies - Doolittle, and The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique - Such awesome times!
"Many critics in fact thought that Paul's Boutique was a muddled mess upon its summer release in 1989, but that's the nature of the record - it's so dense, it's bewildering at first, revealing its considerable charms with each play"
These guys re-invented rap (I'm not saying that turned out to be a good thing)
I couldn't argue with that, though I sound exactly like my mother circa 1980.
LOL - she was probably saying Led Zeppelin were awesome :)
"Led Zeppelin were so successful and innovative they wound up creating the prism through which their entire epoch was seen"
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/led-zeppelin-mn0000139026/biography
Actually, she was a big fan of Mario Lanza!
Well he's not exactly my cup of tea but I'd still rather listen to him than justine blubber!
I'd wager his fanbase or mostly deceased or tottering on the brink.
Eh, what happened to 80s music? And who the hell is the 4th person?
Apparently that is Rebecca Black - but I don't know, don't care, and can't be arsed checking her out...
"She has posted regular updates to her YouTube channel, including a series of covers of artists such as Miley Cyrus and Drake"
According to that chart 80's music was better than 70's but not as good as 90's...
The 80's certainly had brilliant, but there was also some some utter shit as well...
Sorry about that horrible wig metal pic - the 80's fully went off: