Why Lots of Current Music Sounds Miserable...

Hmm, let me play the devils' advocate here. Maybe we're being myopic, not seeing the bigger picture. We at Audiogon are concerned with sound quality issues whereas I think the general music consuming public is caring less and less about such things. I work with lots of people in their 20's & 30's that are very well educated & are obsessed with popular music of all genres. As a rule, they couldn't care less about high fi issues. They do care about HOW they get their music delivered to them and vastly prefer their Ipods and computer hard drive storage/Itunes because of convenience. All they care about is maximazing file storage space and choose MP3 as a rule because it uses less storage space. This phenomena isn't limited to my friends, it's world wide. Loud bass and zippy treble with compressed sound cuts through the ambient noise that's the backround for most music consumers. People tend to use music as an sound track to daily life now, and they don't approach music listening as a passive activity requiring concentration. Even many older people I know have given up their component stereos for the convenience of the Ipod/Itunes music delivery systems. The audiophiles world is one of increasingly less less relevance I'm afraid.

Onhwy61, you raise a point that I has amused me too: are we becoming our parents as we piss & moan about current music being crap? Mark Twain (I believe it was) said 90% of all art is crap. It was true in the early days of rock & it's true now. I work with a guy who's in an alternative hip-hop band who plays me alot of what he thinks is cool. While I can't say I'm a convert, some of is interesting and witty. The one thing that gives me pause in some cases is the overt promotion of crass materialism, violence, & Neantherthal sexual outlooks. Yeah I know, the same things were bemoaned by authority figures when Punk was around. Bad attitudes seem to keep getting ratcheted up though, where does it end? How low a common cultural denominator do we need to promote? I don't presume to know the answer, I'm just aware of the cultural tension. I know Rap/Hip Hop just reflects the world of those making the music and that world can really be miserable. An honest reflection doesn't bother me, art can be ugly and frightening. At what point does cultural reporting become agrandising promotion of negativity?