Why does all new pop music sound the same?

It's crap.....    My kids are 19 and 22.   Their choice in music is pretty bad.   Although my daughter likes some classic rock ...Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty,  so that's a good sign.... 

My son is into rap,  hip hop.....  I'm no prude , believe me but I blush at some of those lyrics....   

Everything is mixed to sound best on lesser systems in my opinion.

Well , I believe that the standards are set by the likes of  "The Idols" reality TV programs all over the world and everybody think that is the "sound" that will make it onto becoming world famous or at least famous in their own countries. If you have noticed, there are very little distinction between the winners year after year. 

@boxer12 , it's what you said. This CAN go both ways but I think it's important to take as much as we want to give. You are showing an interest in what your kids are listening to and what's important to them musically and in turn they are doing the same. There are correlations between the bands you've listed and many deviations which could occupy a lifetime of exploration.

A great way to introduce older bands is through covers... Phish does this well...sneakin' sally through the alley, VU- loaded, TH- remain in light, boogie on reggae women, etc. Jim James and Mark Lanegan have both released cover albums. Many of the current indie bands released the massive GD tribute produced by by The National.

Hearing Phish play Sneaking Sally, I dug further and found Robert Palmer (the Robert Palmer I grew up with was addicted to love and letting the world know that some like it hot, not the 70's sneakin' sally and Pressure Drop Palmer I came to love.) I then dug further and found Allen Toussaint, who wrote the song. He exposed me to the NOLA sound and I became a fan of Professor Longhair, the Meters, Dr. John, Lee Dorsey, etc...

rok2id / It depends on what you're listening too. There are some gems out there, though I doubt they'll get air time. 
BTW, I just asked my son (he's 20 / 36 years younger than me) if he considers me a musical schmuck. He doesn't, there is hope :-). Seriously my kids have turned me on to some great music such as: Jason Molina, Moe., My Morning Jacket, Phish, Great Lakes Swimmer, Parquet Courts, Porcupine Tree, and even some that I previously ignored such as Radiohead & The Talking Heads. They in turn have come to love musicians such as Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, Dylan, Lou Reed, Wilco, and many others through me. A few months ago I took my youngest with me to see Mark Lanegan live. He thoroughly enjoyed it. This can go both ways.  

The great German Classical Conductor Hebert Von Karajan once said,"There will come a time when everything (music) will be 10th rate.   Question is, are we there yet?

Cheers

@chayro , lighten up...I wasn’t being serious about it being my worst nightmare...we’re debating the state of pop music...

@asp307 
"I hope I never become an old guy waxing nostalgia about Kurt Cobain (and the like) to anyone who will listen...my worst nightmare... "
_________________________________________
Bite your tongue my young friend.  There are nightmares out there like you can't believe just waiting.  I truly hope they never find you.  Really I do. 

@lowrider57 Did you ever ask your interns what music they were listening to? Did you ever follow up on those artists?

There might have been more "diversity" on the Billboard charts (though certainly not ethnic or gender diversity), but only because mainstream music had to be a variety show of sorts back then. There wasn't the niche marketing, the targeted playlists, the Sirius/XM stations, the Tidal and Spotify playlists.

And yet many kids today have access to and listen to a wider variety of music than kids in the 70's and 80's.

The documentary "Hired Guns" on Netflix helps put this discussion into perspective in terms of what producers have been doing to many of the songs we all know for years.

As the article stated, it's 1 or 2% making 80% of the pop music today.

Look at the artists who top the Billboard charts and tell me they are not part of a manufacturing process by the same hit factories.

Motown is a great example of a hit factory, and there have been others. I'm saying in the past there was more diversity on the Billboard charts. And I'm someone who was always seeking an alternative. 

I do agree that this is their time in music and pop culture, just as I had my day. But I'm not pining for it, I've moved on.

I always thought the similarity to Pop music nowadays is because they share the same writers, and producers. If you have a producer who works with a pop starlet and they make tons of money then the record label will use that same producer for other pop stars till the world gets tired of the producer's schtick.

Because in order to be popular these days it has to be generic enough to appeal to more diverse kinds of people in a vary basic way than ever. Much like fast food.

Better off forgetting about what is popular or promoted heavily and find your own good music. There is more of that out there than ever these days and growing. Its all up to you not others to find the music you like. The tools and material to do it is all out there. Some of it might even turn out to be or have been popular.

Don’t be afraid to go way back if needed. Great music was made and recorded as far back as the first 3rd of the 20th century and digital remastering and streaming works wonders. Way before The Beatles hit. Go figure!

@lowrider57 you mention a current hit factory...how is it different from Motown or Stax, etc.? I'm 38 and tend to think that I listen a wide range of music but I'm sure when my 2 1/2 year old is a teen, he may think I'm a musical schmuck as well. 

It's also important to note that not all music is made for you. Why would I sit here and spend time railing against a Taylor Swift album? It's not for me...I'm sure T Swift isn't sitting somewhere with her 6 string saying to herself "hmmm...I bet dudes pushing 40 will love this song..." I can say the same for Country music...something I will never ever understand but I can appreciate that many people do. 

You may not like what 'the kids' are listening to these days but It's important to understand what they are listening to because it's their soundtrack. I do not specifically care for trap music, Migos, Drake, Lil' Uzi Vert, etc. but this is what a lot of teens/20's are listening to at the gym. If I want a chance at identifying with them and staying somewhat relevant you have to understand what they are listening to and where it's coming from...

I hope I never become an old guy waxing nostalgia about Kurt Cobain (and the like) to anyone who will listen...my worst nightmare... 

In every aspect of American life fewer and fewer are in control of more and more .

chayro

... IMO, the "top 40" of the 60s and 70's was more varied in nature than the current music being played on stations like WKTU, which I listen to ...

That's certainly true, but it reflects the changes in radio broadcasting and corporate ownership as much as the change in popular music.

Because the ownership caps on radio stations were lifted - allowing giants such as iHeart (Clear Channel), Cumulus and Citadel to own hundreds of stations and "clusters" in many markets, formats fragmented. There is simply no reason for a corporate owner to compete with itself in a given market. The days of innovative station owners such as Gordon McClendon and Todd Storz are long gone. And the huge debt acquired as the radio consolidators started buying stations means they can't afford to take a chance with programming. 

After further deliberation on the subject, I think my final thought on this (and that's only because I don't feel like thinking about it anymore) is that, IMO, the "top 40" of the 60s and 70's was more varied in nature than the current music being played on stations like WKTU, which I listen to a lot more than I want to for reasons that have no relevance to this discussion.  Time marches on, music marches on - sometimes for the better, sometimes not.  Peace to all.  

Generally speaking, talking about modern cables is more interesting than talking about modern music. But there are exceptions. Listen to some Mongolian rock and rap music, as an example.
Also, just because someone is old doesn't mean he is rigid and sclerotic. In fact, I find most younger people incredibly stupid ignorant and underdeveloped. Generation of digital imbeciles. But not all of them, thank you.

@chayro agreed on this being way more interesting and socially enlightening than whether Cable B produces less deeptwitch crosstalk when paired with Widget C, and I’m not trying to shut anyone down or prove someone wrong just to be a troll.

For the record, this discussion seems limited to contemporary pop, so I’ll leave jazz, country, and the burgeoning and quite widespread folk-rock genre out for the moment.

I’m not saying that "today’s music" doesn’t reek of formula and over-production; much of it does. And I know that top producers and topliners will, like a fussing and flapping entourage, be summoned to surround a hot artist like Ariana Grande and Rihanna or Sam Smith, etc., and infuse their prodigious sonic and lyric talents into their clients’ equally prodigious stage and vocal talents.

(Much like Quincy Jones, George Martin, Mutt Lange, Berry Gordy, and a host of others did for the music of many A-list artists of the 60’s and 70’s.

And much like Carole King, Kris Kristofferson, and a bunch of others all sat in those little offices, churning out hits for the stars of the decade.)

Just as I know the whole shtick of "the same two guys" writing all the hit songs

https://nypost.com/2015/10/04/your-favorite-song-on-the-radio-was-probably-written-by-these-two/

But to write off an entire zeitgeist of music as simply insipid and sounding all the same is equivalent to admitting an inability or a reluctance (or a simple lack of care) to keep up with ever-changing music.

Also, to use an arbitrary "formally trained" label as a metric of what’s legit in the "contemporary music scene" seems out of touch. Every decade has its share of formally trained, talented, and respected artists alongside self-taught, talented, and respected artists. Here’re some formally trained, talented, and respected (as in, having received musical training, though not necessarily 'classically trained') artists of today who write their own tunes:

Nicki Minaj
Adele
Katy Perry
Bruno Mars
Justin Timberlake
Phish
Demi Lovato
Imagine Dragons
The XX
Drake
Linkin Park

Here’re some NOT formally trained, but talented and respected artists of 2-3 (or 5) decades ago who also wrote their own tunes:

Rush
Motley Crue
Tears for Fears
Heart
The Beatles
Madonna


Now, I’ll agree that, for example, when I browse through the Tidal Discovery charts, I barely recognize 90% of the artists on there. Are they legit? Many probably are, just not in a genre or style I listen to. And yes, a lot of them are flashes in the pan, much like much of the shite we listened to in the 70’s, 80’s, and beyond. For confirmation, browse the Billboard charts for any year in those decades and try to see things without the misty rose-tint of nostalgia. If any decades were formulaic, the 50’s and the 80’s were just as bad as anything today. Or how about the 2000’s - with all the rap-rock and boy bands everywhere?

Oddly enough, while electric guitar sales have been steadily declining for years now, acoustic guitar sales are actually increasing thanks, in part, to teenage girls (yes, you heard it right - teenage girls), learning guitar thanks to their hero, Taylor Swift. Who, incidentally, writes and produces many of her own songs.

No, not really. I accept the world as it is. Reality is the reality. Not what I think. Regardless of the outcome of this discussion, I still think it is infinitely more interesting and relevant than whether expensive wire is better than cheap wire. That’s tiring. Have a drink.  I'm having one.  

In other news, aging rock fan shakes fist at sky...

I respect the opinions and I realize the validity of those who say we think all new music sounds the same because we are "OLD", as if that is a condition, which it probably is. But, anyone with actual ears knows that Zeppelin did not sound like SLY, did not sound like Joplin, did not sound like the Who, did not sound like the Fudge, did not sound like Creedence,  did not sound like Earth Wind and Fire, did not sound like Blood Sweat and Tears, did not sound like Jethro Tull, did not sound like the Stones, et al. Whether our parents thought it did or not is not relevant because our parents were musical schmucks for the most part. I’m addressing a group of people who pretend to actually know and like music. Contrast this to most of today’s popular music, which is predominately written by the same two people, using the same formulaic hooks. Yes, there are probably many newer artists with validity, but they will never get the airplay or make the money of a Taylor Swift, Chainsmokers or whomever, who could not kiss the musical ass of anyone mentioned above. IMO of course.

I've been a musical outcast most of my life. Never really took to mainstream music much with the exception of the truly (IMO) talented like Bowie, Dylan, Steely Dan, etc., who were somehow able to put non brainless music on the radio. That stated, there is so much excellent music available to us today. Literally decades of it.  

@simao , the college interns and recent grads I work with in the film and video field generally do not know or care about the history of modern music. Some listen to Pop/Rock, many listen to recent alternative bands (some that I know, most I don’t), but have never heard of the bands that influenced the music they like. For instance, I’ll hear music coming from a work station and I’ll comment that it sounds like Smashing Pumpkins or another alternative group (1980s, 90s), and they’ve never heard of them.

I don’t expect them to know Led Zeppelin’s music, but weren’t they exposed to their parents’ music while growing up? I knew about Perry Como, etc. as a kid. That was my what my parents listened to, I listened to Top 40 or Rock.

The iPod generation has missed out on an incredible music education.

And yet the high school seniors I teach have a musical knowledge base and listen to a wider variety of artists than my generation ever did at that age. 

The generation gap argument is valid, but music was never packaged the way it is now. Look at the artists who top the Billboard charts and tell me they are not part of a manufacturing process by the same hit factories.

I only surfed past Dick Clark's Rockin Eve, but I heard enough to know that this contemporary genre of music sounds like it was written and produced by the same group of music manipulators.
Of course, using certain "hooks" and style has happened before over the years; e.g., disco, but never so tightly controlled and accepted.

There are a few exceptions in this genre like Lady Gaga...I give her props because she writes her own songs and has been formally trained since a very young age.

But there's plenty of good off-mainstream stuff to hear if you do your homework

This is true, but we always had to search to find alternative music.

Musical inbreeding, encouraged by the industry which is convinced that there's a formula based on recent trends.  But there's plenty of good off-mainstream stuff to hear if you do your homework and there's bound to be someone refreshing and good to come along sometime (probably not soon enough) who will be popular.

It sounds the same to all of you because you are OLD.  Don't you all remember your parents saying to you "all your music sounds the same".  Old people have been saying that to younger music fans since 1955. New music sounds different to young people.  Your grandmother couldn't tell the difference between Bob Dylan and Bobbie Sherman.  

What I have heard the last 20 yrs does sound more similar to me than not. Which most all of that music is not my cup of joe to begin with. The you tube video seems to make sense.
People relate to things they are familiar with. In the past few decades people have probably been raised without a connection to original music, acoustic instrumentation, creative music, personal ability to play an instrument even simple ones. So maybe that is why they want to hear the same not very good thing over and over. Just my opinion. 

I’m with @onhwy61 ...you could say that all genres of music sound the same, although, If you are a fan and follow certain genres you’d be able to pick out what makes it different. 

As if the music you listened to when you were a teenager didn't sound that way to your grandparents.

That is an excellent 20min synopsis of this Horror Story:
"The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory"
I could not finish the book (too disturbing for me) but it finally "flipped" me onto "classical" for 90+% of my listening. I still follow a few "new" acts like Steven Wilson, David Sylvian, Bjork but the only recent 'top 100" album in my collection is "Black Star". Makes me feel old...

Because it has little or nothing to do with music and everything to do with current "lifestyles " .