I mean aren’t we all audio files here? Music sounds so good right now.
I'll preface this all with saying that I was born in 1981 and I have no idea what that makes me to be honest. Kind of like a generational border baby?
Good music today is just an aural experience that nothing else can even touch. The recording, production, and technology put into good modern music is just mind blowing. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s very rare when good music is made nowadays (as opposed to the past), but at the same time to idolize all these old musicians from the 60s and 70s, when we have incredible musicians nowadays that can create artful music at the pinnacle of music technology, it just doesn’t seem fair.
Yeah, definitely less bloat music in the 60-70’s but music making was so laborious and expensive that only truly talented artist could make it to that level and get the backing an support they needed in order to get studio time. That’s also why there was such a monumental push to make as much money as they could when artist did reach that level that so many people/entities backed artists that music/musicians became a cultural phenomena, epic concert tours, massive stadiums, merchandising, advertising. Music was so prohibitive and exclusive that when there was a major record that was going to drop everyone involved needed to make as much money as possible and there were fewer players in the game.
That’s like saying Standard Oil was the best oil company even, and so was the East India Tea Company at making tea.
Don’t get me wrong that must have been an incredible time to experience music, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best of times. Maybe just the most memorable and well documented, especially for those people who live through it.
I feel this is kind of akin to the first time I drove an electric car. I had a Tesla back in 2014, and the first time I ever put my foot on the accelerator completely blew my mind away. That doesn’t necessarily mean Tesla makes the best electric vehicle, but as far as my memory goes that was an experience that will never be replicated. A little bit of a fondness bias on all our parts when it comes to the past I’m sure.
People nowadays can make music from their own homes and to a fairly high degree in quality, so of course you’re going to get a lot more crap, but still imagine what true professionals and talented musicians can create today. And then imagine how very few people will ever hear their music, because music can be cheaply made and there doesn’t have to be a windfall profit to follow. Not to mention there’s more music now than there’s ever been.
I always tell people my favorite song is one that hasn’t been written yet and my favorite album is one that I haven’t heard. I am a die-hard music progressivist when it comes to what the future could hold. Probably the most optimism I have for Humanity in this world when it comes to anything of culture or art.
Hope it delivers 😉
