I found the whole thing depressing. I've been complaining about how "new music" sucks since I was 13 years old. I've been searching for bands that prove me wrong for about the same length of time, with only occasional success.
Ron the Drummer and I have tried to do our part. Sadly, commercial radio isn't playing Cinder Bridge, and I don't want to limit my consumption of newer music to songs I wrote myself.
Anyway. Around the time all of those articles hit, I started noticing a tiny handful of tunes that were actually pretty good. Mostly they played on KFMA, Tucson's alternative radio station. I acquired a couple of the CDs featuring said tunes and finally got around to listening to one of them last week: Megalithic Symphony by Awolnation.
First listen: This is surprisingly not bad. "Kill Your Heroes" isn't the only good song. I hear strong influences from the past, but it still sounds new.
Second listen: I could've sworn they reminded me of the Bee Gees in a couple of those songs. Which ones were they?
Third listen: Although I've just listened to this twice, I'm in the mood to hear it again.
Fourth listen: In fact, I don't think I want to listen to anything else.
Holy hell. It's rare enough that I find a new artist with a song or two that I like. I almost never replay an entire album. Four times in the space of a week is unheard of. Offhand I can only think of a small handful of albums I've encountered in the last 15 years that stood on their own. Sheryl Crow (1996). Whatever and Ever, Amen by Ben Folds Five (1997). White Ladder by David Gray (1998). Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron and Wine (2004). Eye to the Telescope by KT Tunstall (2004).
Thank you, Awolnation, for proving that it can still be done.
Queen and the Bee Gees get into a dance fight. Everybody wins.
3 comments:
When you say "new music sucks", what you're really saying is that you think the overall lyrical quality, musical ability, and production values have declined since the days when [insert favorite old band here] were in their prime.
Part of it is personal preference. You mention Sheryl Crow (who I personally don't care for) and Ben Folds as being artists you like. If one extrapolates your tastes from that (and from living with you for some time), I'm not surprised that you don't like more new music. The singer/songwriter stuff you like isn't as prominent as it used to be, and certainly not on the mainstream radio that often. There are, however, bands like The Shins, The Decemberists, and Death Cab For Cutie who do amazing songs with brilliant lyrics. Have you tried them? Heard of them, at least? If not, that's probably because of the second problem.
That being, there's a LOT of music being made today. WAY more than was ever produced in the 20th century. Part of that is the democratic nature of music-making tools and the internet. Sometimes you get fun, smart geek-friendly artists like Jonathan Coulton or MC Frontalot, and sometimes you get "Friday" or "Call Me Maybe". Then there's the million or so other bands working in every conceivable genre. The signal to noise ratio is difficult to even calculate. But I would say that the best stuff today is as good as the best stuff in [choose your favorite period in music history]. It's just harder to find an audience.
Besides, there's a third factor at work, which is cherry-picking nostalgia. Think about all the amazing songs that were written in the 70s, and then consider that in 1976, "Afternoon Delight" was a #1 hit and won a Grammy. We tend to remember the albums like The Clash's "London Calling" or Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde", and not the hundreds of shitty or second-rate albums that came out in those same years.
The #1 songs the month that "London Calling" came out? "Babe" by Styx and "Escape (The Piña Colada Song).
So basically, if you're having a hard time finding good music, just try harder. It's out there.
I was hoping you'd stop by, Brian! I usually wait until more people have had a chance to respond before I jump back in (new comments still welcome!), but there's a lot of good stuff here.
Part of it is personal preference.
No argument there. (BTW, I updated the post after thinking of a couple of other artists that I shouldn't have left out.)
There are, however, bands like The Shins, The Decemberists, and Death Cab For Cutie who do amazing songs with brilliant lyrics. Have you tried them?
Never heard of the Shins. I heard one or two songs by the Decemberists and thought that they were talented, but they didn't really resonate with me. Ditto Death Cab for Cutie. It's cool that they're doing something outside the mainstream and making headway, and they definitely don't suck, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen.
... there's a LOT of music being made today. WAY more than was ever produced in the 20th century. Part of that is the democratic nature of music-making tools and the internet.
Agreed. My music listening these days is mostly limited to (a) what I can play on my iPod, and (b) what I can play in the car. Occasionally, if there's no other background noise and I'm not working, I can sneak online and find music that way ... but I don't know where to start. The signal-to-noise ratio is pretty high (for me at least -- my tastes are far narrower than yours), and I don't have the patience to wade through stuff I don't care for to get to the good stuff.
I used to solve this problem with XM radio, which I don't have anymore because I bought a new car that wasn't XM-compatible, and I wasn't sure I wanted to pay $500 to make it Sirius-compatible. Giving new music a chance while driving is easier than giving new music a chance while giving it my absolute full attention, if that makes sense.
Besides, there's a third factor at work, which is cherry-picking nostalgia.
Absolutely agree with you there. I discovered classic rock before it was called classic rock, but after its time had passed. That means that what I got to hear was the cream that floated to the top. So not so much nostalgia for me, but cherries galore.
Though, I do tend to prefer past bubble gum hits to current bubble gum hits. Something about the production just rubs me wrong. It's too loud, and not in the good rockin' out way.
I think your caption summed up the music well. I'd like to hear more
of them sometime. To join the discussion, I'm musically nostalgic. I
know there is a lot of good stuff out there (I've heard Edward Sharpe
and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford and Sons, and I know there's a lot of
good folk music coming out now), but you know what I want? A place I
can go to with all these categories explained so I know what I'm
choosing to listen to, and different channels that I can try that play
the best of those styles. I'm not old enough that I don't know how to
find an internet source like that. So I listen to online classic rock,
or I listen to a station called "Suburbs of Goa" that plays soothing
Indian music. It's music you don't have to think to.
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