Does music actually get worse?

Home ▸ Archive ▸ Serious Business ▸ Does music actually get worse?
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:42 AM
A common statement is "music used to be so much better back when ______". Our parents said it. Their parents said it. We say it. Kids now think music out now is better than anything we listened to. It seems to me music just reminds you of different times in your life and usually reminincing is a favorable feeling.
So does music actually get worse or do we like music that reminded us of favorable times in our lives?

FWIW I hate most music that's out now.
Dec 4, 2013 11:42am
Q

queencitybuckeye

Senior Member

7,117 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:45 AM
Natural to identify more with the music of the day where you first started developing an interest in music.

There was great music in my day, and crap. True of my parents' generation, true today.
Dec 4, 2013 11:45am
Automatik's avatar

Automatik

Senior Member

14,632 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:48 AM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1547492 wrote: we like music that reminded us of favorable times in our lives?

This.

Also, music is great right now. If you can't find what you're into, I'm guessing you're doing it wrong.
Dec 4, 2013 11:48am
Iliketurtles's avatar

Iliketurtles

Senior Member

8,191 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:48 AM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1547492 wrote:A common statement is "music used to be so much better back when ______". Our parents said it. Their parents said it. We say it. Kids now think music out now is better than anything we listened to. It seems to me music just reminds you of different times in your life and usually reminincing is a favorable feeling.
So does music actually get worse or do we like music that reminded us of favorable times in our lives?

FWIW I hate most music that's out now.
I could listen to anything from the 60's to around 2008. There is some stuff after that I like but music overall right now is terrible.

Music is always evolving though so hopefully it does get better. I will admit that music I listened to mostly from junior high till I graduated college is stuff that never gets old for me.
Dec 4, 2013 11:48am
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:49 AM
Parents still think Jim Brown and Larry Bird are the best ever. None of these players would even be on an NFL or NBA if they played in today's game.

It's nostalgia; not reality.
Dec 4, 2013 11:49am
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:49 AM
Automatik;1547500 wrote:This.

Also, music is great right now. If you can't find what you're into, I'm guessing you're doing it wrong.
I've always been mostly into rap/hip hop.. I can barely listen to it now.
Dec 4, 2013 11:49am
TedSheckler's avatar

TedSheckler

Emporium Entrepreneur

3,974 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:50 AM
Today's music is fantastic!!

[video=youtube;kfVsfOSbJY0][/video]
Dec 4, 2013 11:50am
G

Gblock

Dec 4, 2013 11:51 AM
i find plenty of good music to listen to
Dec 4, 2013 11:51am
Automatik's avatar

Automatik

Senior Member

14,632 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:53 AM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1547503 wrote:I've always been mostly into rap/hip hop.. I can barely listen to it now.
Yeah, as a whole, hip hop is going down the shitter, but you can still find some good stuff out there.
Dec 4, 2013 11:53am
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:53 AM
Gblock;1547506 wrote:i find plenty of good music to listen to
I used to spend a lot of time on rap boards back in the day.. i dont spend any time anymore on them.. probably is part of the reason I don't like anything I hear now.
Dec 4, 2013 11:53am
G

Gblock

Dec 4, 2013 12:03 PM
twitter makes it a lot easier a lot of good blogs and stuff that i follow...lots of songs that never make the radio...been listening to august alisina recently...good r and b out of new orleans i think..you tube it..i also download most of my music from frostwire
Dec 4, 2013 12:03pm
M

MontyBrunswick

Dec 4, 2013 12:07 PM
[video=youtube;rF-hq_CHNH0][/video]
Dec 4, 2013 12:07pm
Me?'s avatar

Me?

Senior Member

547 posts
Dec 4, 2013 2:47 PM
Overall, I have no idea. But I do believe that commercial music has largely declined and declined over the years. Granted, there are many more options (stations) now than there used to be too, so you can find something. I do think that music has steadily improved though, it's just that now the best stuff is rarely what makes the mainstream radio.
Dec 4, 2013 2:47pm
ernest_t_bass's avatar

ernest_t_bass

12th Son of the Lama

24,984 posts
Dec 4, 2013 2:55 PM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1547503 wrote:I've always been mostly into rap/hip hop.. I can barely listen to it now.
Not even classic gangsta rap from our day?
Dec 4, 2013 2:55pm
vdubb96's avatar

vdubb96

Urbans Meyers Stache

2,210 posts
Dec 4, 2013 3:25 PM
Back in my day!!! Holla!

Dec 4, 2013 3:25pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
Dec 4, 2013 4:01 PM
I actually took a music history class in college (dumb electives to fill out requirements). It was "Exploring Music: Bach to Rock".

The one thing I remember from that class, is that from the original "classical music" through today's rock, there is a trend that has changed ratio of consonance chords/sounds to dissonance chords/sounds.

Consonance chords/sounds are things that are "stable" and "harmonious" (or basically sound pleasant, think classical music).

Dissonance chords/sounds are things that are "unstable" or they sound 'odd' (unpleasant sounds).

In original classical music (Bach, Beethoven, etc) the stuff we consider the best music ever (not us as in you and I, society in general) there were hardly any dissonance sounds on a ratio basis (almost all consonance).

As time went on, to sound "different" composers slowly added in more and more dissonance sounds/chords, and that honestly eventually became rock/metal music.

So, even 'scientifically', yes, music has become less pleasing to the ears and "worse" over the years.

It's not just perception, it is SCIENCE!
Dec 4, 2013 4:01pm
T

Tiernan

Senior Member

13,021 posts
Dec 4, 2013 4:10 PM
The best music is when I used to drive my old man's Belair out to the levy and then one day, I'm pretty sure it was in Feb, I heard the music had died.
Dec 4, 2013 4:10pm
G

Gblock

Dec 4, 2013 4:11 PM
Working in middle schools def has me singing a lot of rich homie quan in my head from hearing it all day
Dec 4, 2013 4:11pm
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
Dec 4, 2013 4:16 PM
jmog;1547796 wrote:I actually took a music history class in college (dumb electives to fill out requirements). It was "Exploring Music: Bach to Rock".

The one thing I remember from that class, is that from the original "classical music" through today's rock, there is a trend that has changed ratio of consonance chords/sounds to dissonance chords/sounds.

Consonance chords/sounds are things that are "stable" and "harmonious" (or basically sound pleasant, think classical music).

Dissonance chords/sounds are things that are "unstable" or they sound 'odd' (unpleasant sounds).

In original classical music (Bach, Beethoven, etc) the stuff we consider the best music ever (not us as in you and I, society in general) there were hardly any dissonance sounds on a ratio basis (almost all consonance).

As time went on, to sound "different" composers slowly added in more and more dissonance sounds/chords, and that honestly eventually became rock/metal music.

So, even 'scientifically', yes, music has become less pleasing to the ears and "worse" over the years.

It's not just perception, it is SCIENCE!
But what does the bible say jmog? LOL
Dec 4, 2013 4:16pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Dec 4, 2013 8:00 PM
ernest_t_bass;1547721 wrote:Not even classic gangsta rap from our day?
I mean I can't listen to nearly any newer rap.
Dec 4, 2013 8:00pm
Ironman92's avatar

Ironman92

Administrator

49,363 posts
Dec 4, 2013 8:07 PM
For me I've always liked the stuff you hear on the radio.....about age 18 I was sick of it and how it had changed from what I grew up liking....for 5 or 6 years I liked very few mainstream songs. As I neared 30 it started going back to what it was like when I was younger......since I got XM in 2005 I've liked "today's" music enough to keep listening.

All this being said.....music is possibly what I have the least in common with everyone else on here.
Dec 4, 2013 8:07pm
Mohican00's avatar

Mohican00

Dirty White Boy

3,394 posts
Dec 4, 2013 8:41 PM
Automatik;1547510 wrote:Yeah, as a whole, hip hop is going down the shitter, but you can still find some good stuff out there.
Mainstream, for the most part, is shit. Thankfully, there are enough bandcamp/mixtape releases to keep me busy and some of it's quality (see: Da Mafia 6ix)
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1547929 wrote:I mean I can't listen to nearly any newer rap.
hopefully that includes not listening to Tech N9ne's garbage anymore
Dec 4, 2013 8:41pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Dec 4, 2013 8:47 PM
Mohican00;1547945 wrote:


hopefully that includes not listening to Tech N9ne's garbage anymore
I haven't liked a tech cd since sickology and that was 4 years ago.
Dec 4, 2013 8:47pm
HitsRus's avatar

HitsRus

Senior Member

9,206 posts
Dec 4, 2013 9:55 PM
Is music 'worse' ? No.
Nor has people's subjective attitudes towards what they consider "shit".

Whatever trips your trigger.
I've got friends that think you can't dance to anything but classic rock:RpS_blink:, and anything after 1980 is crap.
About the only thing I don't like to listen to is headbanging stuff and rap that is nothing but mysogynistic,...gratuitous violence, and vulgarity.

.
Dec 4, 2013 9:55pm
pmoney25's avatar

pmoney25

Senior Member

1,787 posts
Dec 4, 2013 11:00 PM
I do think that with any art, music does go through cycles where there is a creative boom where it's influence and cultural impacts are greater.
Dec 4, 2013 11:00pm