[BBC]: "Has pop music lost its fun?" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 02:21:14 am
content: I know it's one of those "well, DUH" articles, but I have been told I am "biased" or "old and grumpy", and yet, throughout all that cliched nonsense, dimissing my claim, I had this underlying "feeling" of knowing I was right, but not ALL of why... but it seems others know:https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/fb84bf19-29c9-4ed3-b6b6-953e8a083334In a (SUPPOSEDLY!) "advanced" age, where we like to congratulate ourselves on how very pleased we are with having "solved" problems that were already solved thousands of years ago, and more intelligently, this is of no surprise whatsoever. In an age where teenagers think an Arduino is needed to flash an LED, and where YouTube "fame" merely for its own sake, is a worthwhile "career", well, call me cynical - I am - this is VERY true, and music IS UTTER SHITE now.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 04:33:09 am
content: From 1981 to 2018, I can't tell the difference.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:22:01 am
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on December 29, 2019, 04:08:36 amIt's not TV talent shows alone. I remembered some years hearing the same song 4 times an hour on radio after the adverts and that use to annoy me terribly but then others who wanted the radio on liked it and loud as well. I am not sure if they were forced to like it or whether it appealed to them but playing the same stuff repeatedly every hour and I don't find that fun at all.There was one time when they played some old pop stuff on one of the BBC Radio channels 2? which sounded okay then they switched to something else where the singers sounded high on something and was screaming down the microphone. I couldn't understand what they were saying. The sound of it ruined my day and I got put off.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:53:41 am
content: What does this have to do with engineering? Or is this just where the old guys go to yell at kids to get off their lawn?A lot of music sucks, a lot of music has always sucked. We remember the hits and forget about most of the crap which can make it seem like it used to be better in some other era. Also there are only so many ways to combine notes and a finite selection of instruments.Bottom line is who cares? Listen to the stuff you enjoy and don't worry about what other people are listening to or what they enjoy. You've got around 100 years of recorded music to choose from, none of it is going anywhere so it matters not a bit what anyone is recording today.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 06:17:51 am
content: Quote from: james_s on December 29, 2019, 05:53:41 amMuch of it well engineered. It could be argued that these days it's more engineered than ever before.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 11:49:16 am
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on December 29, 2019, 06:17:51 amBullshit! Justin Bieber is totally original and completely unmanufactured! He even has proper vocal talent! No computers required.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 12:07:35 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on December 29, 2019, 05:53:41 amThe interesting thing is that the music played on the radio & TV hasn't changed much since 1990. It is the same. I often laugh a little bit when I hear a new song on the radio which is then followed by a song from 25 years ago which has exactly the same style. Wash, rinse and repeat. It seems pop music has found an optimum where most people like it. Even songs from the 80's. For example: I have introduced 'take on me' from Aha to my youngest teenage son. Now his entire group of friends likes it.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 12:09:09 pm
content: Justin Bieber certainly isn't the worst vocalist around these days. What annoys me a lot about modern music is the half-arsed, whiny vocals, without a decent instrumental track to compensate. I accept that lots of music I listen to doesn't have great vocals, but the tune and beat somehow seem to make up for it. Now lots of it just whiny crap.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 12:10:37 pm
content: Mainstream pop stuff has always been shite. As has classical going back 300 years or so. You have to look between the lines. There are some gems out there. Hunting them is a hobby of mine. It is subjective so I’m not going to post any examples.As always marketed consensus is the issue.Edit: also go and see stuff live. Smaller things. Not headline gigs and pop stars.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 01:22:31 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on December 29, 2019, 11:49:16 amHalcyon... Whaa??? Obviously I do not know your 'age', but in my mind I was putting you on apedestal as a wise 'older' gentleman, with the knowledge of many decades !!!So many J.B.'s are just 'Fly-by-nighters'. And occasionally 'young' people hear some tunes/songsthat they think is really cool! but has been around for MANY years! My missus Susie & I ARE old,and are stuck in our timezone most of the time, re:Music... (1950's to 1990's).The main problem we have, is hearing 'modern' RAP crap!! I'm sorry, but that's not 'Music'. Why dosome 'lyrics' about drugs, mother-fu@#$%s, guns, & the Bronx in N.Y. have to do with life here??Real songs are about true love, happiness & joy, a bit of fun, and the occasional blues/country.Our music nights are happy, with sing-alongs & instruments, but that's just us...

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 01:34:26 pm
content: I thought that Taylor Swift was just like Beliber until someone sent me this:Reminded me of Neil Young at the Beeb(er)

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 02:30:53 pm
content: Look up "keygen music" for some examples of nice music that few people know about.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:23:56 pm
content: Answer, yes, because the entire music industry has changed out of all recognition.When most of us grew up music was still supplied on 45 RPM singles and it was still possible to compile a weekly chart of the best selling records. Competition, especially for the lucrative Christmas number one, was fierce and because of that the music producers had to make a quality product. Now I don't think that they even bother producing a singles chart as everything is downloaded.One other thing that has changed (and I'm showing my age here). Record producers had an easy test to see if a tune would be a hit or not, play it to a random person on the street and see if they could whistle the tune. This was called 'The Old Gray Whistle Test' and it worked. Now pick a random modern tune off of the radio and see if you can whistle it or sing along to the lyrics.Thought not.You want some fun music? Here's some.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:27:04 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on December 29, 2019, 01:22:31 pmI don't know much about the current state of rap, but that pretty well describes rap and hip-hop from 25-35 years ago, it might be a bit late to be calling that stuff modern."Real songs" are any music that a person enjoys listening to, music often conveys a message from the artist to the listener, no one person gets to define what music is "real" and what isn't. Personally my taste spans all the way from classical to hard rock and heavy metal, covering nearly everything in between. About the only genre you're unlikely to ever find me listening to is gospel.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:40:02 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on December 29, 2019, 12:07:35 pmThat has happened to everything really. Look at cars, mobile phones, white goods, consumer electronics, software, fast food, movies, clothing, etc. Everything is virtually identical, there is less choice than ever before. I've pondered the reasons and suspect a lot of it has to do with the way development and marketing has become so data driven. It's all based on the result of the same algorithms processing the results of the same studies. Everything has been refined for maximum appeal to the largest group of people while ignoring everyone else. It all appeals highly to the ~70% who are in the hump of the bell curve of the "unwashed masses" and everyone else is stuck dealing with this.Those of us who want a mobile phone that isn't gigantic and doesn't have a stupid notch or hole in the screen, a car that isn't a CUV, a refrigerator that isn't clad in a layer of cheap unpainted stainless, movies that aren't yet another remake, reboot or prequel, software with an interface that isn't flat and bland, or a radio station that plays something other than crappy music from a manufactured group are left out in the cold because there's more profit and less risk in following the trend than in being unique.BUT the nice thing about music in particular is that it doesn't have to be manufactured for profit, it has been around for millennia and can be created by any individual with the skill and motivation. There are lots of independent artists out there, turn off the radio and go find them.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 05:57:26 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on December 29, 2019, 05:40:02 pmYes, I think it has a lot to do with this. Optimizing EVERYTHING based on large samples has become the main way of dealing with marketing, and increasingly pretty much every aspect of life. Of course what it does is just asymptotically tend towards just one thing. Whereas it statistically optimizes "satisfaction" (and thus revenue), it's completely flawed. One flaw is of course ignoring all those that are not in the largest group as you said, but another one is that it assumes that whatever most people like the most at some point is the only thing that matters, and the only thing that they'll like! It's just brain-dead.But it's the current trend for humankind, and I don't think it's going away any time soon. We must OPTIMIZE everything (but of course with always limited and flawed models).Getting back to the original post, "fun" is an interesting point here actually. Optimizing what people are supposed to like is kinda the opposite of doing things for fun.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 11:18:21 pm
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on December 29, 2019, 01:34:26 pmSurprising side of Taylor Swift. Not sure I agree with the Neil Young comparison even if I can see why you might postulate it.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 11:34:07 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 29, 2019, 11:18:21 pmThe format of the performance is similar, I did realise that Joni Mitchell might perhaps be a more apt performer.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 01:48:45 am
content: This thread is like a zoo for grumpy old men.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 01:59:13 am
content: Get off my lawn!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 02:50:30 am
content: Quote from: Mr. Scram on December 30, 2019, 01:48:45 amMillennials don't know what they're missing... lucky for them, or they'd be terminally depressed. Then again, the suicide rate for young women in the Millennial generation increased to 6.3 per 100,000 from 4.4 per 100,000 in Generation X - a ~50% increase - so maybe they actually are terminally depressed...Proper stereo systems that groups of friends could enjoy together were replaced with personal masturbatory aids stuck in the ears, conducting musical garbage into their heads that makes Muzak look like a virtuoso performance. No drug used in the 60's or 70's created addicts as sad as the cell phone addicted millennials, sitting alone together with white bits of plastic sticking out of their ears.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 03:26:57 am
content: I would not say "lost its fun", but more diluted, Every new song that gets released makes up a smaller portion of what appeals to a given person out of the entire back catalog.Back in the 70's you may have had say 100 artists you liked enough to seek out hearing them again each year, Why was that song you listened to as a teenager so Memorable?, because of lack of variety it was played a large amount and had time to cement itself, e.g. You would record it to tape when the radio played it to make up mix tapes, if the radio did not play it so you bought the record, and because they where not cheap you would listen to it multiple times including there B sides, likely more than once.But now each week a catalog of a similar number of 8/10 or better songs are being released to the average persons taste, so the need to seek out hearing that song again instead of just continuing playing through the service your using is much lessThese days you find a handful of 10/10 songs that speak to you every month or so, but it does not mean you will enjoy the rest of the artists releases on the first listen, all this leads to given songs having less impact,I personally get trapped on those 10/10 songs, usually listening to them on repeat until my mind has understood what hooked it, then they become occasional treats as time goes on.pop music is popular music, if you don't have enough exposure, then its not really pop,

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 10:51:44 am
content: Fascinating series on music-Pat

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 03:08:57 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 30, 2019, 02:50:30 amI'm not sure whether that is a bad thing or a good thing. My teenage sons have no interest in having their own stereo sets in their rooms. It sure does wonders to limits the amount of noise. OTOH I overheard a few (about 15 years younger than me) people talking in the train the other day and one of them was going on about having a good stereo set and how listening to music becomes an experience. He did have a good point IMHO.I had my own audio system in my room since I was 8 or so (mono because I had one speaker and an amplifier on which only one channel worked; gifted horse, mouth...). Ofcourse that got upgraded over the years.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 04:33:31 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on December 30, 2019, 03:08:57 pmMy recollection is that we would hang out and listen to records together, which led to spontaneous parties, friendships, love affairs, etc. etc. - the "one thing leads to another" principle. Hard to see that kind of dynamic happening with headsets...

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 05:20:25 pm
content: I once visited a friend of mine in Switzerland, at the time he was living with a pretty blonde and they shared a love of music. As they lived in an apartment their stereo system had two headphone sockets and there were two pairs of headphones hanging by the side of the amp.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 05:31:58 pm
content: The "stereo system" is still a thing, it has just changed forms. Virtually everybody under the age of about 35 has at least one bluetooth speaker that gets paired to the mobile device of anyone who wants to play music. People still listen to music together and have parties and gatherings, none of that has changed.I'm not going to knock headphones, I use mine on the bus all the time and I'm very thankful that others have embraced this as well. Does anyone remember the idiots who would lug their "ghetto blaster" onto the bus or train and force everyone to listen to whatever they were listening to? That era is pushing up on 40 years ago so it's not some newfangled trend either. The original Walkman was also released 40 years ago in 1979 so people listening to their own music through headphones is certainly not new.

author: Jan Audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 05:41:32 pm
content: Pop music sucks.Michael jackson is dead, then they come with a hologram.People like music from they was young, so those old radio people still play the same shit.By the time they all dead there is room, for new old people who push a bit newer music.You can make anyone famous, just use the name in all TV channels, like they do, its all rigged.Not a fair chance you get anywhere there near those illuminati shit artist.Now we just have to wait until madonna is dead.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 05:58:57 pm
content: Most of the music these days sounds pretty much the same formula.It also what I call black mans music with talk on it which is not a native English accent.I haven't bought anything new for at least 10 years.In the 1960/70's the charts were full of very good music and say 80% of the top 20 was good stuff.Now its down to a couple of percent.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 06:10:23 pm
content: Every generation says that.Don't you remember how in the 1950s-60s "rock and roll" was destroying music, Elvis and The Beatles were the devil, then in the 70s it was synthesizers that were going to ruin music, then rap, then...This happens over and over and over. People get older and continue liking the music of their youth, and moan that whatever music is now popular is crap and everything was better back in the day. It's not like this is a new occurrence.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 06:17:02 pm
content: For some reason in grossery supermarkets they play 60-s through 80-s songs, not rap. I wonder why

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 06:23:17 pm
content: They play carefully curated music that has no cursing, no controversial or offensive topics, it is all very carefully selected to be bland, neutral background. There's a lot of high quality music of all eras that you'll never hear playing in a supermarket.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 06:42:09 pm
content: Reading this, listening to LM radio, something from when I was younger, though I was more a fan of Capital Radio 604, at least after sunset, when you could get the sky wave in. was a big change from the dull as mud SABC, though there were some gems there in the radio shows.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 07:05:55 pm
content: Bland and neutral do not invoke positive emotions. The music in the stores is crafted to create positive mood which is good for shopping both ways. The music from 40-50 years back era does that well.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 07:39:23 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on December 30, 2019, 06:23:17 pmThat depends on where you are. When in New Zealand I noticed all songs where censored unlike in the Netherlands. I guess the US is mostly the same. And then there is the language barrier. Last year my wife and I where sitting in a restaurant in Luxembourg (where they speak mostly French and next to no English) and they played a rap song where a lady was singing about what her boyfriend should be doing with her genitals in great detail.

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 08:25:52 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on December 29, 2019, 01:22:31 pmI don't endorse many of the recurring themes in (popular) hip-hop, but I think you are missing some of the interesting/different perspectives that hip-hop often provides. Again, not a fan of the derogatory treatment/objectification of women, violence, etc...But, it is interesting to view some of these "bad things" through the lens of the people who create it. And, I should mention, there is a lot of highly intellectual and introspective rap out there. It's just the big labels like to push the most derogatory stuff...big surprise.A lot of rap/hip-hop is based on the hardships of urban life. Sure, "it doesn't have much to do with life there, if that's the attitude you want to have about it. But, there's always something to be learned about life (in general), when we listen to others. Don't we read books, fiction or non-fiction, to do something like that?Again, there is a lot of crappy, popular hip-hop music which probablywon'tmake you a better, more "worldly" person. But there definitely is some which can give you some perspective.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 08:43:29 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on December 30, 2019, 07:39:23 pmYes, it's irritating with people that feel the need to talk/sing about it, instead of just getting on with the job!

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 08:53:53 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on December 30, 2019, 07:05:55 pmIt does for some, not for others. Someone who is 30 today has no connection to music from 40-50 years ago aside from possibly being the stuff their grandparents listened to. Music like all other forms of art is subjective, everyone has different tastes and that's fine, at least in reasonably civilized parts of the world we all have the freedom to listen to whatever kind of music we like without having to care if someone else approves. I've never understood why anyone would care what music someone else enjoys listening to but some people do seem to have an innate need to validate their preferences.I still don't think I know anyone who wants to listen to grocery store Muzak at home. I don't normally notice the background music other than when I notice they're playing Christmas tunes already in early November and grumble about it. Seems like it's usually bland easy listening, tolerable but not something I'd listen to by choice.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 08:55:59 pm
content: It's not just rap music that can get a little, ahem, colourful. (Requires min. 100W/channel or good headphones)Quote

author: Synthtech
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 09:01:20 pm
content: Everything I hear playing in inner city cafes now sounds like Autotuned autism.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 09:40:23 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 30, 2019, 08:55:59 pmBon was better. Sorry.Actually, not sorry. Bonwasbetter.\~/ \~/

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 10:05:15 pm
content: don't carekaty perry hot

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 11:12:08 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on December 29, 2019, 12:09:09 pmBut he is the worst behaved.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2019, 11:40:04 pm
content: music reflects the level of moral degradation & violence in the communist-unity or community,as we are no longer called a society.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 03:36:21 am
content: Quote from: jonovid on December 30, 2019, 11:40:04 pmI'm not even sure what that means.Most of this thread just sounds like old geezers moaning about the same thing old geezers have moaned about since the dawn of time, those stupid young folks and their newfangled <insert thing here>, back in my day everything was so much better, yadda yadda.Much of the "new" music being complained about is literally decades old at this point. Rap appeared nearly 40 years ago and peaked in popularity 20-30 years ago. It's older now than the 1950s music was when I listened to it on the oldies station when I was a kid.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 03:41:20 am
content: Quote from: james_s on December 31, 2019, 03:36:21 am** Really? Well then, that's VERY alarming, and shows a distinct lack of discernment and wisdom (not a cricitism, an observation) - you don't see a huge degradation in the moral fibre of western society over the last 20-30 years?Wow... you must be very young, or walk around eyes closed, or don't care (the latter would be very sad indeed, and frankly, I fear for you greatly.)

author: alpher
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 03:54:39 am
content: https://www.youtube.com/embed/FN7r0Rr1Qyc

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 02:10:05 pm
content: Quote from: eti on December 31, 2019, 03:41:20 amConsider that you, as a person, have changed too, over the last 20-30 years. It can be very hard to isolate what is actually changes in you, versus what is changes in society.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 01:17:29 am
content: Notice most of those cheesy "Dancing With The Stars" type TV shows have young people dancing... to the music of the 60's and 70's mostly. None of that Justin Beiber frogshit. I listen to OakFM a lot whilst working...https://radio.garden/listen/oak-fm-101-3/nY4VSwxR. The station is 250km NE of here, but it really does have good music with very few ads. Yep it is fun and it is mostly pop music from the 40's through to the 80's.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 07:00:25 am
content: Quote from: eti on December 31, 2019, 03:41:20 amI'm not a senior citizen but I am over 40 so while I'd like to say I'm "very young" I'm afraid I can't really claim that anymore.No, I haven't really seen a huge degradation in the moral fiber. Some things have changed for the worse, I think the whole political correctness thing has gone way too far, politics have become very polarized and people seem to have forgotten how to agree to disagree. Other things have gotten much better though. Violent crime rates have gone way, way down and continue to drop. People have become a bit less obsessed overall with what other people do in their personal lives, I see much less racism, much less homophobia, overall the world is a better place. You shouldn't fear for me, I'm doing quite well, I've got a great family, great friends, love my hobbies, enjoy my job and my coworkers, I've got a roof over my head, food on the table and for the most part I've got my health, I really can't complain. I'm not really sure what you're so alarmed by but you seem to hold quite a lot of anger and angst.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 10:16:07 am
content: Some day, you too will find yourself yelling at the clouds.We all swear blind that we'll never let it happen.Having success, food and shelter should not forbid anyone for saying what they think. Quite the opposite.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 03:40:38 pm
content: Just a quick thought for those saying "it's just older people again claiming new stuff is not as good as old stuff". I think they are kind of missing the point of the topic here, even though it was probably tempting to just take this easy shortcut and call it a day.As the title suggests, it's all about FUN. Is new pop music as FUN as it used to be? That was the question. Not whether new pop music is actually crap. It could be very good, but not just as fun.Certainly older people have said bad things about jazz, then about rock, when they appeared. But I think this was still quite the opposite of what is talked about here: those new music styles were definitely FUN and even a bit "transgressive". They were really NEW as well. The very question now is, does recent pop music have any of these characteristics? Is it really fun (whether you hate it or not)? Is it really transgressive? Is it really new? Not very IMO.And as I said earlier, I think it's mainly due to the fact pop music, like many other areas, has just come to an "industrial" state that progressively makes it lose its fun. It's almost mechanical. It's not about it being crappy even, or non-musical, or whatever (even though it often is). Not the point. It's the fact that it has become almost uniform, boring, and is increasingly made with a lot of automated tools/reusing recipes known to "work" just to please the maximum number of people. Is that really what FUN is about? To make the question a bit more elaborate even, is it possible to automate/optimize "fun"? Does it make sense?

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 04:58:44 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 02, 2020, 03:40:38 pmThere was a live band where I spent new year's eve. They played several Rolling Stones and Beatles numbers, to great enthusiasm from the guests (young and old) who streamed out onto the dance floor. The magic of a good tune and lyrics created by a song writer armed with just a piano or a guitar isn't going to come out of a computer any time soon - because as any good lover knows, you have to throw in a surprise or two along the way to avoid everything getting stale. And that's the problem a lot of music has today: it's stale.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 07:45:34 pm
content: There's some truth to that, but still we've seen most of this before. People said roughly the same thing when synthesizers appeared back in the 1960s, it was going to ruin music, it would never be the same as having real instruments, it's all terrible and everything sucks, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Obviously that didn't happen, synthesizers led to entirely new types of music and new takes on existing types. Traditional instruments are alive and well and will continue to be. The computer stuff that people are moaning about now is just another take on synthesizers, they produce a lot of crappy music but a few classics will emerge. Every decade has produced a lot of crappy forgettable music but we remember the hits. For every band you can name, there are probably at least 20 other bands of the same era doing vaguely similar stuff that nobody remembers now because they weren't very good.It's getting progressively harder to come up with truly new music though, there are only so many notes, so many chords and riffs, and so many ways to arrange them in pleasant sounding ways. The thing about music though that is unlike cars or mobile phones or computers or any other manufactured goods is that the old stuff never goes away and never degrades. If you don't like any of the cars being made today you are pretty much SOL because the old ones get used up, they wear out and are scrapped, they're gone. Old music though sounds just as good today as it did 30 years ago, you can walk into your favorite store and buy a new copy of an album released in 1955 and it will sound the same now as it did back then. None of the old stuff ever goes away so it doesn't matter in the slightest what kids are listening to now, you can ignore it and listen to whatever you want.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 10:39:40 pm
content: Actually people and their morals do change over time regarding music. In the 1930's there was a debate raging over the ethics of playing music over the radio by people who have since died. These days no-one cares. We all listen to pop music from dead people. What was considered to be satanic music in the 1970's is now acceptable to religious extremists. In any case, most people do not hear or understand the lyrics - I do.I remember playing Dark Side of the Moon on a community radio station I was doing test transmissions for in the 1990's when I got a call from the station manager to get that rubbish off because it will damage the radio station's image. The manager only knew two genres - Country AND Western. In protest, I played the bubblegum crap from Kylie Minogue ("I Can Be So Lucky" and "Locomotion") continuously one after the other for a half hour, and then walked out.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2020, 11:21:16 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on January 02, 2020, 10:39:40 pmI once set up a cd player in a restaurant owned by a good friend and client. During the time in between lunch and dinner I arrived there to remove a Musak device and replace it with a 5-disc tray cd player that I had been supplied with and dozen or so discs. The idea was to load up the player and set it to random.So I cranked this thing up for the first time. Threw in 5 discs. Pressed play. Disc one, track one. "Don't tell my heart... My ackey, breaky heart..."The restaurant manger, whom I never really liked, gave me a undeserved ribbing saying stuff like "You like that C&W stuff don't you!"I'll fix this c***, I thought to myself. Took me half an hour, but I sat there feeding a full 99-song program into this cd player. Instead of just setting it to random, I programmed two 'random' songs and then acky breaky heart. Two more 'random' songs. Ackey breaky heart. You get the picture.Two minutes before opening time, I set the volume, pressed play and I bundied off. A waitress told me later that they realised what I had done but were too busy to deal with it.Nothing happened to me because everyone hated this guy and everyone he complained to just laughed at him.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2020, 02:19:47 am
content: ^LOL the last two would make great BOFH stories!