Yet ANOTHER opinion on why today’s music sucks
Over the past few weeks, I’ve run across a number of articles that contend that today’s music sucks. (See here, here, and here.) These aren’t just old people yelling at clouds as you might expect, but also younger critics.
Here we go with another article from Eudaimonia.
“Let’s talk about something completely different today. Something near and dear to my heart. Music.
“If you’re above a certain age, or even below it, but you listen to a lot of music from times gone by, you’ll notice something. Modern music sucks. It doesn’t even sound like…music…anymore. Not to me. And not to, well, a lot of people. Rick Beato did a very interesting series of videos about it on YouTube. They were ‘controversial’ — but only in the way that pin-sharp observations so often are.
“Caveats. This being the internet, let me insert a few, for the nitpickers out there. Obviously I don’t mean all music. Sure, there are pockets here and there. But music lovers, and music makers, I think, know there’s a problem. With the state of this…sphere. Domain. Field. Industry, though I don’t like that word. Just call it a space of artistic endeavor. You can qualify it however you like, if you need to. ‘Pop’ music, though I think it’s more than just that. The stuff you hear on the radio, see at the top of the various streaming platforms. The stuff that just makes up the soundtrack of an age — you know? Periods of history always have soundtracks. But ours? Something’s wrong, because this stuff sucks.”
Yeah, I kind of agree. Perhaps newer artists (not all) are just trying to appeal to what is “the sound” or “flavour” of the day. Chasing algorithms rather than being themselves. When it comes to writing good songs, as an artist, I believe one needs to first please yourself and not write with the mindset you need to please everyone else. Also, some songs written by a committee or panel of song writers just have too many cooks in kitchen that usually spoils the soup. And why the hell do artist use some of the same old samples all the time? Be creative, create your own “sound”. I’m so tired of cicada hi-hats and the same old trap beat snare. Imitation can sometimes get you part way, but being innovative wins the race in my books.