Is music getting better?

[bigdog5994]

Outkast, Christina Aguilera, gnarles barkley, and others have been making some pretty decent music and i think its all because they are getting in touch with my favorite brands of music, blues, soul, funk, and jazz(i dont like jazz so much). But maybe im wrong what do you guys think.

http://www.outkast.com/

http://www.christinaaguilera.com/

http://www.gnarlsbarkley.com/

 

[Mr. Dictator]

outkast=amazing

CA=meh, better than brittney

Gnarls Barkley=saviours of popular music

but i'll stick with my more indie flavored stuff

broken social scene
arcade fire
kasabian
stars
mew
nada surf

i dont know why but it all appeals to me so much

so yes, music is getting better. i havent heard from 50 cent in a while so thats a good omen.

 

[.Shane.]

Music is always getting better, even when it sucks in the short run.

Why? Because you cannot undo the legacy of past music, you can only add to it.. and time separates the great from the pretenders.

 

[Perfection]

Gah, music is overated. Can't you just sit in a room and be quiet?

 

[Ramius75]

Gah, music is overated. Can't you just sit in a room and be quiet?

and listen to the "The sound of farting" ?

@ OP - well, i think even in the old days, there were "good" and "bad" musics too. Just that those that were popular got passed to the present where those that sucks got filter out.

 

[Stylesjl]

Gah, music is overated. Can't you just sit in a room and be quiet?

Not so perfect are you perfection?

 

[Arcadian83]

By itself, there would be no reason to believe music has gotten significantly better since classical composers, but rather simply that tastes changed and music appealed to the audience of its time. This would make recent music seem better, but not really improve in the sense of making people more pleased at the time.

However, better communication (like the internet) and technology (for profiling and guessing tastes) is allowing people to find music they like more easily, and allowing potentially popular artists to be 'found' by the public instead of recording industry scouts. Thus more people actually listen to what they really want to hear, and music actually gets better.

So I would say yes, music is genuinely getting better.
Your taste in music, however, is appalling
(just kidding, to each their own)

 

[Rambuchan]

~ Aguilera's music is populist shite imho.

~ I hadn't heard of Gnarles Barkley, but I'm liking what his website is dishing out. Thanks for sharing. Yes, it's an example of music that is "getting better".

~ I think Outkast are a fascinating, funky and a high quality outfit - musically, technically, intellectually. Their whole approach (music videos included) is one of the best embodiments of what makes certain walks of music "better" these days - ie. the power of postmodern pastiche. Or as .Shane. said...

Because you cannot undo the legacy of past music, you can only add to it.. and time separates the great from the pretenders.

Agreed, Outkast are 'standing on the shoulders of giants'.

bigdog5994: If you're into the funky stuff and open a thread such as this, I wonder if you have heard of the new wave of funk being produced these days by labels such as "Desco", "WahWah 45s" and "Daptone Records". Have you? These guys, mainly based in NYC, are also 'standing on the shoulders of giants' but they are not coming with the pastiche approach, as folk like Outkast are. They are going back to the basics of classic funk recordings from the 60s and 70s ie. raw instrumentation, analogue recordings, no electronica, high levels of musicianship - back to the roots. Bands such as "The Dap Kings" and "The Breakestra" are producing funk that both takes one back to this golden age but also progresses the genre. It's "getting better" for different reasons, if you see what I mean.

Also, if you're into the funky stuff, check the music links in the orange line of my sig. Plus this: http://www.deepfunk.org/speedometer.htm

 

[Eli]

Gah, music is overated. Can't you just sit in a room and be quiet?

QFT.

The last thing I need is cheap distractions that drown out my thoughts or artificially influence my emotions.

Some music does become better thanks to the usual improvement that comes with time and experience. But most of the music today is crap. Mozart was writing for a much smaller and elite audience than any modern tune-maker and that, by the laws of nature, makes most of the stuff written today to crap in comparison.

 

[Phlegmak]

Popular music only gets worse. The popularity of rap, anything on the radio, the song "Life is a Highway", and so-called "R&B" antimusic are all evidence that music is getting worse.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

You all know what 'junk food' is. Well, guess what theres 'junk music' too. Its whatever the top 40 songs are. Its McMusic.

 

[classical_hero]

I hate listening to "Radio" music. Every time I am in the lab or balance rooms, my coleagues will have it on crap radio stations and I here the same thing over and over each and every day. Sometimes when I hear some "music", I almost want to just get a hammer and smash the stupid radio. iT would not be so bad if there was variety, but it is basically the same thing each day. One of ths stations claim they never repeat a song eac day, but unfortunately the list of songs is just sorted from the previous day. The bad thing is that they are actually the two most listened radio stations in Perth. Idiots, can't they get a brain and listen to some variety for a change. Here is the end of my

Give me classical any day. At least there is variety here.

 

[Godwynn]

I've seen a downward trend in music.

For example the biggest stars from 1991-1997 were Nirvana, Sublime, 2pac, The Notorious B.I.G. The biggest stars from 1998-Present are Eminem, 50 Cent, and Slipknot.

Case Closed.

 

[Till]

c_h: It's the same here. Some stations still play 80% of the songs they played 10 years ago. And needless to say, the music they play never was good in the first place.

But this doesn't mean that music has become worse. It is just that it now caters to far more people than it ever did before. This increases the likelihood that there is music that appeals to you, but it also makes it more difficult to find it in the ocean(or swamp) of stuff you hate.

 

[Raisin Bran]

The ones mentionned in the OP exept C.A. are good.

I think Pop music now prefers looks over music. If you are a nice chick you have better chances of making a hit song that someone with talent and less looks. IMHO

 

[Urederra]

Popular music only gets worse. The popularity of rap, anything on the radio, the song "Life is a Highway", and so-called "R&B" antimusic are all evidence that music is getting worse.

Quoted for truth.

However, I must say that good music is the one that stands the test of time. So It'd better to wait for ten years before judging todays music.

I might be getting old, but my impression is that music bands and singers are not as good as they used to be. It is not only that The Beatles still are listened a lot, but also veteran groups still are giving concerts (Rollings, Metallica (how old are they?) Madonna's come backs).

And I don't see groups with the force and quality as the ones in the 70's, 80's or 90's. Any album as good as The Wall or A night at the Opera? Nowadays groups and singers release a good song or two worth hearing in the whole album, that's why people don't buy albums any more, I does not worth it. Don't blame piracy for poor sells, blame poor quality, and the fact that you can buy the good song for $1 and discard the rest of the rest of the album.

 

[Cannae]

Gah, music is overated. Can't you just sit in a room and be quiet?

I agree with that

 

[Shaihulud]

I say better, but the naysayers will propably put this down as lack of good taste , their taste. Youall talking as if your favourite singers or bands will die, and take away all their music.

 

[classical_hero]

Some singers are only there because they are very physically attractive and use their looks for their act, rather than their singing.

 

[Raisin Bran]

I say better, but the naysayers will propably put this down as lack of good taste , their taste. Youall talking as if your favourite singers or bands will die, and take away all their music.

bold by me.

They will not die but instead be overwhelmed by crappy musin in radio stations. Take POP music radios where I live, they prefer crappy POP music to more talented and intelligent music.

in a way too much crappy music will kill good music.