There’s a lot of change happening with music. Which ones are you having trouble with? What’s making you sad about music?

If it seems like the world is changing at warp speed, I’m with you. And frankly, I’m having difficulty adjusting to the slow, continuous upheaval and evolution. It’s making me quite sad. Maybe it’s just because it’s January and there are months of cold weather ahead. Or maybe it’s because things that I’ve known and held dear for so long are disappearing. For example, I’m having trouble with:

• The decline in popularity of physical newspapers and magazines
• QR codes instead of proper menus at restaurants
• The decay of Twitter into the cesspool that is X.
• Fast food that’s now insanely expensive.
• Take-out pizza that seems to be skimping more and more on cheese.
• The struggles of network and linear TV.
• Too many confusing streaming choices. When I hear about what could be a cool new show, I spend half an hour looking through all the platforms to find it. (Addendum: The endless scrolling through Netflix to find something both me and my wife will want to watch is really, really annoying.)
• The fact we can’t buy an actual box of Kleenex in Canada anymore. Silly, I know, but…

Then there are the changes in the world of music. Here’s a list of things that have me bummed out.

• Sum 41 has announced their last tour and last show after which they will be no more.
• Rage Against the Machine says we’ll never see them play live again.
• It’s doubtful we’ll ever see Ozzy live again.
• Memories of browsing through multiple record stores hoping to be surprised by something.
• Elton John has retired from touring and I never got a chance to see him live.
• Music charts that actually mean something instead of just being a collection of gamed statistics.
• The loss of radio and music publications like Radio and Records.
• The prospect of AI announcers on the radio.
• Music no longer has any centre. In the pre-internet days, there was a collection of artists that everyone would rally around. Everyone is now free to do their own thing–a good thing–but at the expense of being part of a larger community of music fans.
• Madonna is 65? Paul McCartney is 81? William Shatner is 92?
• Fewer and fewer rock acts are being booked for Coachella and Lollapalooza.

Anyone else want to contribute? Vent away.