where did all the GOOD music go? (Page 1 of 2)

It's purely a generation thing.  Most people don't like the music of a different era as well as the music they grew up with.  I don't care for Metallica.  I was too old when they came out.  Now Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zep.  Those were great bands.  For me, probably not for you.  We all tolerate or just plain hate the music of a later time in our lives.  Kinda crazy, huh?  I love old country, but don't care much for the newer country.

bensonp Freud

Metallica hasn't had a decent album since 1989.   You want awesome and heavy and complex, like Metallica used to be?

Meshuggah.   They've been doing it for 20 years, and haven't dropped a beat.

You'll never go back.

Though I can't play it on guitar I love the jazz of the 20 - 50's Ella, Duke, Cole etc.

There's good music out there. It just isn't Top 40 any more.   Smaller venue acts are where the talent lies.

I pretty much agree with bensop,I was a teen in the sixties and at that time there was a ton of bands and players,this was fused with drugs etc. the compititon was strong and alot of songwriters musicans etc came out of the sixties,seventies and some of the eighties. The people now do not seem to want too work at it so hard. There are some good singers and groups out there now. I would really like to see some super groups ,and players come out of this generation.

Our local rock station seems to play the same songs over and over. I tune into A M radio good time oldies hits from the 50's, 60's, and 70's and have been for 30 + years. So the good music is on AM radio.

badeye   

Aaron Wilburn always makes me grin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr1zsgC7a4U

I can't read music but I think about this. You have "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" "F"G" and your back to "A".Throw in some Flats and some Sharps and that's all you have to work with.
   With all the different genres of music and different languages, sooner or later you run out of combinations to come up with new songs.
     Just a thought.

Really? You think so? I suspect we've barely scratched the surface.

If you were to only take those 12 notes with no note repeated there are 8,916,100,448,256 possible permutations of those 12 notes, (calculation is 12 to the power of 12). That's just using each note once leaving none out, use each note twice in a 24 note sequence and its 12 to the power of 24!!!!! You do the math. Now, while I can't prove it and I have no idea how to calculate it, I suspect that there may be an infinite number of ways to arrange those 12 notes as theoretically a song doesn't have to end! Any mathemeticians available? That's of course assuming that we only use the notes available in standard notation and stay within a single octave and don't use any of the stuff used in Asian or Arabic music that has notes that fall in to the gaps between our tones!

As for whether the music produced these days is good or bad, I think there's plenty of rubbish but there's also plenty of good stuff too. Some of this is down to the fact that there's more accessible music about. Before the advent of the internet bands had to convince a record company to back them and that took talent and commitment. These days you chuck a few tracks onto Myspace and you have access to most of the planet and we have to work our way through the dirge to get to the good stuff. Like many earlier posters I'm a child of the 60's and I was weaned on Led, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Hendrix etc but there's plenty of newer stuff I like and I've found that as I've got older my musical tastes have broadened and now I'll listen to anything from rock, blues, jazz, classical, pop, country, I'll even admit to a liking for opera!
I certainly don't believe your tastes should be limited by generation and I don't believe that bands have got worse, however they may have moved a particular genre on. A good example of this is Muse who while many believe to be Queen resurrected, have move the genre on. Matt Bellamy is an exceptionally talented musician whichever way you dice it and I love they they've fused Chopin into the last album.

Saying that I do believe that whoever invented rap should be tried for crimes against humanity.

Jerry

My music tastes vary to differeing styles of rock. I have found that most enjoy the music that they enjoyed while in high school or the few years after. I don't do that. While I do like bands such as Rush, Triumph, Floyd, etc... they are merely an extension of my music tastes. I do enjoy Metallica, Megadeth, Alice in Chains (My favorite band all time and I have my guitar tuned half-step down to play them), Pearl Jam and some of the newer stuff. Do not like the Beatles nor do I like the Stones. It's just me.

What do I judge my music by? How good does it sound? Does it sound like the musicians are putting in an effort or did they just go through the motions? Does the guitarist show some talent or is he just playing the power chords and a few simple licks?

I like Soundgarden because Cornell's voice is a work of art and Morello makes his guitar interpret just how HE wants it to sound. used to not like SRV but as I got older I realized the dude can play thus I like him now.

Hell, I liked that Enya song from about 89-90 because the sound of her voice.

One thing I don't like now is the pop music with the voice synths. I feel it hides the lack of talent in many singers. Just like Synth-Pop of the 80's hid lack of talent of many musicians IMO.

If it sounds good I will listen and enjoy. If it's rap I will turn the station.

Just saying...

I think we just miss the "supergroups" because there's clearly good music around, but the bands don't have the staying power or mass appeal they used to.  Perhaps Supertramp, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Stones, etc had different competition than today's bands.  Internet means you don't have to have the radio on to immerse yourself in popular music.  And also seems to mean music listeners don't have to brag about what they listen to.  Seems individual taste in music has never been more popular. 
I agree with the comment about voice synth, and just like Disco came and went you can see lots of music fads between the current flashes of brilliance.     Let's just hope the next fad's an improvement.

I agree about good music being existent, just not popular. People should make music because they want to create, not because they want to BE famous, but unfortunately thats not the result of our entertainment focused society. Music is art, not JUST entertainment, but often you find bands who are good entertainment, but not true artists. Its all a matter of taste, of course. Music means different things to different people, and different people respond to different sounds in different ways. I try not to be too close minded about music. Try listening to some different bands and do your best to let yourself respond to it in an objective way. You might not ever find a band just like metallica but you might find something else that you like!
The big question is do you mind screaming? Bands like As I Lay Dying have a lot of classic metal vibes in their music you just have to handle the vocals. You should check out a band called "Unearth", I think they MIGHT be along the lines of what you're looking for. Hope you find something, music hunting can be so frustrating!