Music was better in the 1970s than it is now

"I really question the notion that the basis for these styles of music lay in the 1970s. Every style of music from the 70s sounds like something that came earlier, or a mix and match of things that came earlier. Punk bands sound a lot like garage rock and surf rock bands in some cases, and bubblegum pop in others. The heavy blues sound of groups like Led Zeppelin was literally taken from electric Chicago blues folks, like Howlin' Wolf. Progressive rock groups like Yes and Emerson, Lake" This statement is illogical becuase I mentionerd earlier, the 70's indeed use basis from previous years, but the improved and transformed this basis to actual genres. In our current day, we have not created any specific or even unique genres. "The problem with this sentiment is that you're looking specifically at top 10 music. Looking up a random year, 1974, we see that the top 5 hits were: 1. The Way We Were - Barbara Streisand 2. Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce 3. (I've Been Searchin') for So Long - Chicago 4. I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John 5. Haven't Got Time for the Pain - Carly Simon" When looking at these lyrics, you find that it not only talks about love, buit also goes deep in analyzing true human emotions. It does not talk about love as a part of nature, but talks of the emotion that leads to love, the feelings that drives you to proclaime that you love someone. "The problem with the list of song comparisons my opponent has made is that they are poorly matched. Every song shown from 2011 draws from R&B-influenced pop music, whereas his sampling of music from the 1970s draws from everything from new wave to folk-rock. Let's take music with greater comparisons. Instead of comparing new wave group The Knack to R&B artist Usher, let's compare them to the very popular post-punk influenced group Interpol, a band that often focuses on alienation and depression. Instead of comparing sensitive singer-songwriter Don McLean to dance music producers LMFAO, let's compare him to Tom Morello's folk project, The Nightwatchman, which focuses on economic hard times and political struggles. Instead of comparing peace icon John Lennon to reggae-influenced pop diva Rhianna, let's compare him to Peter Doherty of The Libertines and Babyshambles, who writes about his observations of youth culture and life in England. And let's compare pop-rapper Drake to one of the original pop-rap groups of the 1970s, the Sugarhill Gang, who sang in their top 10 hit of 1979, "Rapper's Delight": "I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you don't stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat" The only problem with this analysis is the fact that I did not compare these musics based on genre but based on there popularity. The fact is that if a music is popular, then there is sure to be another if not more that directly compies its style, thus it is only relevent that i choose the best of 2011 asefined by there popularity and the billboards. "The idea that the 1970s are a pinnacle of music (pinochle is a card game, I think) seems completely subjective. The music of the 1970s ties together what came before; it does not explore completely new territory, because that's not how imagination works. Anything you come up with is a synthesis of what you've been exposed to. You can't pull anything out of thin air. If we have bland taste for borrowing certain elements from their music, a flawed notion in itself as it assumes that everything made in this day and age is just a rehashing, then I would say that by that standard people in the 1970s must have had bland taste themselves, given the fact that they were listening to what was essentially blues music played by bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, garage rock played by the bands of the punk movement, etc. As for bland lyrics, see the Sugarhill Gang lyrics above." Ones again, i am forced to say that the seventies did base there music on previous mnusic, but did not stay with the traditional form. They revolutionalized it and turned it into something that they can own up to. My opponent fails to understand the fact that just becuase you are exposed to a certain type of music doesn't mean that you have to strick with it. Just like averything else in this world, music can be improved upon and that is exactly what the seventies did. Thank you for a wonderful round.