Why does most new music suck?

I congratulate the posters who find the present times replete with "great" pop/rock music. Sadly, I myself cannot.

I'm not a statistician or mathematician, but I believe there is something to the contention that great melodies have been exhausted and we are in the era of repetition, imitation, and influence that eliminates originality. As much as I enjoy some of the contemporary rock bands such as The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Wolfmother, or Alabama Shakes (and countless others), they are all a far cry from the classic rock experience. Pop, well, is just hopeless.

Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Cream records are sought year after year at my local record store, just to mention a tiny few. Those acts stopped recording over forty (40!) years ago. Name one band that records today that you honestly think will be sought after forty (40) years from now. Any candidate linked or mentioned in this thread is a pathetic wishful thinking.

I enjoy certain modern acts, admittedly. I then put on Led Zeppelin, Jimi, Beatles, Doors, Cream, Black Sabbath, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, early Foreigner, Todd Rundgren, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Santana, Supertramp, and many, many more from that era, and I get the visceral reaction to the first few chords that no modern pop/rock act can possibly evoke. Please tell me what rock/pop songs in the past decade evokes the same reaction in you that "Stairway to Heaven," "All Along the Watchtower," "Light My Fire", "No Quarter," "The Long and Winding Road," or "Wish You Were Here," just to mention a tiny few, does in you. Fucking seriously, name one song from the year 2000 and later that gets you going as much as "All Along the Watchtower."

I am limiting the list abhorrently as there are dozens upon dozens bands and songs from the '60s and '70s that simply rock and put you in a different state of mind that no modern song or band could possibly put you in. Yes, most of new music sucks!!!

Please indulge me and go along with this analogy with me. My father was a truck driver in the communist Poland in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. The guy never missed a day of work his entire life. He would get up at 4:45 AM to make 6 AM at work (yes it was local). He would wet-shave every morning smoking a cigarette with nobody watching him. He would never shave without smoking a cigarette. To this day I still do not understand how and why he did it, but I look back at it and it epitomizes the notion of "cool" for me. Now, when I look at what's considered "cool" today, all I see is imitation, influence, pretending, and wanna-be cool. It is impossible to declare someone original or cool today as they are all in some way influenced by what already created the concept.

It is no different for rock (and pop) music. Metaphorically, show me a musician who shaves with a cigarette when nobody is watching. Nobody does. It is all imitation, repetition, and influence. Jimmy Page might have stolen or been influenced by the grass-roots blues, but what he did with it till today shapes peoples' musical tastes and defines what rock music is. With the best acts of the current era what is served is a very diluted attempt to emulate what was created a few decades ago with a few very, very rare exceptions.

Is it all hopeless for me? No, I do have a few "modern" acts that stand up to the originality and uniqueness of the classic rock/pop era. Kate Bush, Portishead and Jeff Buckley are my personal picks of acts that offered something so unique as to call them classic that bridged musical eras. U2 through "Achtung Baby" was another act that to me continued the originality of rock'n'roll music at its best. This is all gone today. It's all a regurgitation of all that was original and good a few decades ago. Not of all it sucks, but even the best acts today are a far cry from the originality of the classic era.

Oh, btw, I am 40-years-old.

Actusreus, the operative here is not that it sucks, but the 'why' it sucks. I think the answer does require getting out your calculator.

I take the OP's question to be rhetorical. To me it's irrelevant why it sucks. It just does. That said, I did answer your question nonetheless. You just need to read critically.

New music is like vinyl reissues - 99% is not as good as the original. You keep hoping and trying, but time after time you go back to the original release for the real thing. At some point, if you're smart, you give up and stop wasting time.

Aside from this metaphor (which to me rings very true), I keep discovering great new music from the '60s and '70s that will keep me enthused for years to come. Just the other day I discovered Colosseum and their "Valentyne Suite" album. Unbelievable. Why would I waste my time on bands that at best can try to emulate this level of musicanship and talent?

Mapman,

I'm 40-years-old and "some of those who are currently down on most new music." Many of the bands and artists I listen to and like were no longer in existence when I was born. I might not be a typical advocate for the superiority of older music over current music, but the notion that the musical preference is dictated by what one grew up with, came of age listening to, did drugs to, or what was playing then in general is simply untrue. If it were, I'd be stuck on the '80s and big hair metal bands.

I have a 24-year-old female friend who grew up in Southern California. She too wholeheartedly agrees with me that new rock and pop music does not hold a candle to the music that came out of the '60, '70s, and perhaps some out of the '80s. So just because posters on this board are older on average doesn't mean that only they represent a certain point of view.

Something magical happened in those decades, and you should not have to be on drugs to recognize it.

Snore. I grew up listening to The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and so on. I listen to The Beatles, Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones once a year. I can't stand The Who or The Doors anymore. I can't listen to the same stuff thousands of times any longer. When I hear The Doors 'People are Strange' I want to watch television.

If you eat filet Mignon for dinner every night, you will also grow tired and bored of it, and you might even reach for McDonald's for a different flavor. But at the end of the day, filet Mignon is still filet Mignon and McDonald's is still McDonald's, and the fact that you no longer want to eat the former can't change it.

Csontos
Bad analogy. Nobody wants the same gourmet meal every night.

It's a great analogy. The point of the analogy is that whether you want to eat the same gourmet meal every night or not, that meal is still a gourmet meal, not something mediocre because you don't feel like eating it anymore, for whatever reason. Same with great rock music from the '60s and '70s. Just because someone is tired of it, doesn't mean that it has become mediocre. As a litmus test, I sometimes wonder what rock or pop band t-shirts kids will be buying in 30 or 40 yrs. I'd like those who think there are better (or even equal) acts compared to the '60s or '70s artists out there today to name one band that started recording in the 21st century that they honestly think will be selling T-shirts in 40 yrs. It is as silly as it is telling what endures.

Frogman

Doomed to not being open to letting musical tastes grow and evolve. Not simply being open to new music in a given genre, but open to other genres that offer music created with more sophistication and a higher level of craft. We love our rock and roll (I do), but the undeniable truth is that classical, jazz and some ethnic music offers far more substance, sophistication, and if one is open to understanding these genres on a high level, just as much of the visceral feeling that good rock and roll does.

A true music lover sees (hears) no boundaries. Music is music. A cliche for sure, but there are only two kinds; good and bad.

Frogman, I absolutely agree. My musical tastes have certainly evolved a great deal as I began exploring other genres, and I pity those who limit themselves to a particular genre and never branch out given the incredible variety of music across the world. However, going back to the original post, I feel strongly that rock and pop music has been in a steady decline musically since the '70s with perhaps a few rare exceptions. Conversely, some of the newer genres, such as rock electronica (Massive Attack, Portishead, etc.) or heavy metal, just to name a few, have explored new musical territories and expanded musical horizons for bands and music lovers alike.

I'm not familiar enough with contemporary classical music to offer an opinion, but contemporary classic jazz, in my opinion, is as incredible as the stuff from the classic jazz golden eras of Coltrane, Davis, Evans, Monk, Mingus, and other classic jazz musicians of yore. As I drive to work every day, I listen to 88.3 in San Diego and I'm in awe how much great young talent is out there. Sadly, I cannot say the same about rock and pop artists today...

Mapman,
I don't understand your point in this post at all. First of all, in my case, I'm not an old guy as I pointed out before. The classic rock and pop music was not "my music" when I was growing up; it was not made by my peers, and I was not the target audience. I had to get older to truly appreciate it. In fact, I did not really began exploring what came of those decades until I was well into my 30s. But now that I do appreciate it and have a five-decade comparison database, I feel confident in my opinion. I respect your opinion, but you need to get rid of the premise that preferences are dictated by age.

Also, how is who the target audience is relevant to the discussion of the quality of the music?

You mean from the classic menu? :)

The problem is most of new (contemporary) music doesn't make me want to stand up and play air guitar like older stuff does. It just makes me turn it off...It has nothing to do with laziness.

As a side comment, a LOT of contemporary artists shoot themselves in the foot by releasing inferior sounding records when it comes to audiophiles. Greater attention to the sound quality of their recordings and releases would go a long way to get audiophiles excited about the music. It would definitely get me more excited. But since the public doesn't care, why should the artists?

Toddnkaya,

It pays to read the thread before you respond, my man. My response was to Donjr's post about air guitar. I took it to be a metaphor for getting excited about the music. If he meant it literally, oh well...

I'm actually surprised that the issue of the sound quality of contemporary music recordings has not been raised in this thread. After all, the OP's question was asked on an audiophile forum. As an audiophile, I cannot connect to new music unless it sounds good. The great majority of contemporary music sounds like crap sound-wise so to me it is no surprise I cannot connect even if the music has potential. If some of you can connect through your car radio, good for you; I cannot. I need more than compressed mash recorded and processed digitally to spark my interest, and I'm not going to make apologies for it.

Why does most new music suck? Because it fails to connect at the most basic level in our brains like older music does. If your brain knows what music should sound like, you should not accept anything that does not sound right. If you accept that new inferior level, I don't understand how you can consider yourself a music lover. Music deserves better. No doubt there was a lot of bad music back in the day, but at least it was recorded properly. I can accept Count Basie's records sounding awful, but not contemporary bands' that have at their disposal the most advanced recording technology and still release ear-bleeding music. Every once in a while I buy a new record, and then invariably shake my head. Another lost opportunity...

Goose,

Thank you for putting the record straight. I guess after nearly two months and nine pages' worth of posts, the full content of your original post got lost in the discussion. I'm still surprised nobody put their finger on it earlier though. Looks like you answered your own question then, at least partially :)