This decade may be musically the SHITTIEST one of the century?

[cosmic.synth]

 

Completely agreed. Some of the stuff you guys think is great on here (mainly some 80's cheesy crap) is garbage compared to Animal Collective. Animal Collective is amazing, better than most of the music some people here listen to.

 

 

 

This decade hasn't even ended and what other decades of this century can we compare it too. :-) Funny.

 

By the way, IMHO, Animal Collective used to sound pretty boring. Their last album is more electronic, better rhythms and find them more listenable. They've cleaned up their live act, sound tighter, are in key and much better live. Could be they use autotune now, but at least they sound tighter live.

[zzzxtreme]

i remember it started to get {censored}ty when Wilson Philips won the song of the year by America's Top Ten.

 

Now the brits follow with introduction of {censored}ty boybands.

 

Luckily some canadians are still sensible

[Fuzzball24]

 

 

 

If you want something to disturb you, listen to some garbage like Brutal Death or something.

 

 

 

1:48

 

Also, LOL at the guy that said Animal Collective uses auto-tune.

[jskpongoui]

This decade hasn't even ended and what other decades of this century can we compare it too. :-) Funny. By the way, IMHO, Animal Collective used to sound pretty boring. Their last album is more electronic, better rhythms and find them more listenable. They've cleaned up their live act, sound tighter, are in key and much better live. Could be they use autotune now, but at least they sound tighter live.

 

Oh dear...

 

roflcopter

[jskpongoui]

Animal Collective is amazing

 

[cosmic.synth]

 

Also, LOL at the guy that said Animal Collective uses auto-tune.

 

 

Yes dig up their past performances of the same song with their later performances on the recent talk shows. They sound perfectly in tune.

 

I am not suggesting they use auto-tune like how Kanye West or how current artists use autotune to sound robotic.

 

I could be wrong, maybe AC have practiced harmonizing better. :-)

 

I don't want to make this an Animal Collective autotune thread...but check this out here.

 

Animal Collective Autotune controversy:

http://trackcrack.com/2009/05/animal-collective-using-heavy-auto-tune-andor-lip-synching/

[soundxplorer]

I think every decade has its share of "crap" that somehow garners a popular following. Maybe today's crap is worse than 90s crap. I dunno.

 

But there are plenty of current bands that I really like. The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, The Shins, TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire, Boards of Canada. I listen to them as much as I did my favorites from other decades - Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, NIN, etc.

[setAI]

 

Arguing about personal preferences in music is only useful in finding out how close minded others are. We each have an opinion and we each have personal tastes.

 

 

this is true- but what I think all of you who are being defensive about the lower volume/quality of new music today miss is that we are not talking about the spectrum of opinion of each person- we are talking about the statistical distribution of these spectra over the whole society over the years-

 

and it is clear that there has been a major decrease and diminishing of music and enthusiasm for music in recent years after several decades of increase- there are always bands that cause excitement and fans that are enthusiastic- but the numbers of interesting quality new artists and level of enthusiasm as a WHOLE has decreased dramatically-

 

basically there aren't nearly as many kids making new music or supporting underground scenes - and the ones that do are not as passionate or dedicated as all the previous generations were- this is a new development because from the 30s through the 90s the youth culture/subcultures only INCREASED in number and intensity- the Rave movement was at the peak with huge numbers of kids literally dropping out of society to just produce illegal parties and vast amounts of new forms of dance music from ambient to gabber and everything in between- large sections of cites around the world were taken over by giant raves -

 

since the 'Rave-o-lution' all the subcultures dissolved and there hasn't been any new ones since- now little scenes pop up and get a following on the internet but it is all so restrained and contained and marketable- even the angst is restrained into a marketable and socially palatable quality-

 

like I said it's just like painting after the 60s- regurgitation of past ideas updated into safe marketable product

[Chando]

 

like I said it's just like painting after the 60s- regurgitation of past ideas updated into safe marketable product

 

 

That reminds of I blanket statement I used to say.

 

"Our Parents killed art, we killed music"

 

I don't let it get me down too much. It's just the passion thing that bothers me. I once again blame 9/11 quite a bit. Everything is so politicized. Thus a bit "wimpy" at the moment.

 

yeah, the only underground right now is the loft party scene. Not much compared to the old days. .. but better than nuttin.

 

I get where both sides are arguing here. I just get annoyed when 90's bands get labeled modern ..

 

These threads should have a disclaimer, "LET OFF SOME STEAM AND TAKE NOTHING PERSONAL". It's really hard to talk about this stuff without being in a room together and establishing that were all friends.

[soundwave106]

 

and WHERE is the underground? where are the bands that sound like no one else ever and have begun their own new genres like Throbbing Gristle or Skinny Puppy or Sonic Youth did? and where was all the pop-culture/political commentary during the Bush Administration? where were all the top of the charts artists pushing the edge like Modonna having sex with a black guy in a church with burning crosses and other bands getting banned for obscenity or protested by church groups and senators?- it seems like Marilyn Manson was the last pop music to {censored} WITH SOCIETY- but even he was derivative yet that was 15 years ago!

 

 

Yesterday's rock shock has been replaced by the Internet. Today's generation is too cynical of shock tactics, MHO -- it's hard to push the envelope without getting stupid.

 

Plenty of pop-culture commentary about the Bush administration -- did you miss Green Day, System of a Down, Ministry, NoFX, and others? Even Ben Folds did a song on the McMansion malaise. Many more commented more underground than this, of course.

 

What are you looking for? The last movement to really {censored} with society was raves, so if you are saying that nothing has really taken its place, then yeah, there is that. If you are looking for *sound*, well, new sonic styles *have* been developed. Who else sounds like a Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Girl Talk, Strapping Young Lad, Dalek (to give some examples that I thought of)?

[zoink]

I also used to think this was about the worst decade ever for music -- worse than the 90s, which is saying something. But if you do a bit of looking around, you'll find that there is quite a bit of good and interesting music being made. It's just not where you used to find it.

 

What has changed is the market for music itself and the method of its delivery. In other words, good music is being made, but now you have to go out and find it, since major labels, television, and radio stations are no longer interested in bringing it to you. Maybe this was always the case (at least since the 80s), but it's especially true now. To find good and edgy music -- and this has been the case for quite a while -- you used to have to look to college radio stations and/or spend time at out of the way night clubs to find the good stuff. Today, the internet is the place to find it.

 

In the meantime, mainstream media conglomerates have settled into what they consider to be safe business models. They're more interested in replicating what has already proven to make money. And that's that.

 

The other day I discovered the group/artist "Of Montreal." I had never heard of them before, and I would certainly never find them on the radio. But their music has a catchy sound, with nice harmonies and very inventive melodies. Where did I find them? Youtube.

[Chando]

 

Girl Talk

 

 

ugh ... he just samples top 40.

 

I hate how irony has taken over and it's cool to listen whatever your little sister listens to. Remember when it was cool to like Justin Timberlake? Thanks pitchfork.

 

ps. I think the irony thing is going away soon (crossesfingers)

[Suilebhain]

 

The 70's? That was another level of awful entirely. Punk wasn't so much a musical trend as it was a public service.

 

 

Hmmm. What does the '70's make ME think of?

 

King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, Gong, Hatfield and the North, Zappa, Roxy Music....

[suitandtieguy]

 

Hmmm. What does the '70's make ME think of? King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, Gong, Hatfield and the North, Zappa, Roxy Music....

 

 

yeah but that guy is saying that stuff is terrible.

 

if he thinks the 70s were bad, i'm not entirely sure WHAT he could like.

[zoink]

I think the 70s marked a real turning point (arguably several turning points) for music. One thing people don't often talk about or think of is the fact that technologically and artistically the methods of production changed radically in that period. Sound textures even evolved in that time -- the first really widespread use of sound synthesis in music, new tones and uses of the guitar, the use of the piano in rock and pop in different ways, the rise of arena rock and progressive/art rock.

 

There were also significant cultural and social changes that made the 70s a watershed for music. You can see this in artists whose careers bridged that decade and the one before. The Stevie Wonder who sang "Fingertips" in the 60s became the Stevie Wonder of "Innervisions" in the 70s. The Marvin Gaye who was "too busy thinking 'bout his baby" in the 60s used music to protest the Vietnam War, racism, and ecological destruction in the 70s. Various forms of urban funk and soul arose, decrying urban life and socioeconomic inequality.

 

Rap and hip hop (pre gangster) were born. Metal was born (Kiss, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper). European techno music was born (e.g. Kraftwerk). Even disco (like it or not) changed a lot of things in music -- for example, the birth of the 12" extended single, and new uses of orchestral instruments in composition. Punk was born (again, like it or not), which influenced a variety of other musical forms in the decade following, and arguably set the cultural precedent for grunge rock in the 90s. Consider also how bands like Blondie often tread the seemingly impossible line between punk rock and disco.

 

The 70s was a decade -- THE decade -- of musical fusion.

[Suilebhain]

 

The 70s was a decade -- THE decade -- of musical fusion.

 

 

Well said. Even (what we know as)Fusion was born in the '70's, with John McLaughlin reaching from Jazz into Rock to form the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

[Suilebhain]

 

yeah but that guy is saying that stuff is terrible. if he thinks the 70s were bad, i'm not entirely sure WHAT he could like.

 

 

The sound of his own voice, perhaps?

[setAI]

 

Plenty of pop-culture commentary about the Bush administration -- Ministry

 

 

well this actually is a good example on a similar subject that had me riled up a while back when there was all that controversy about Madonna's TV special and getting strapped up to that disco cross thingy-

 

it seems like whenever anyone DOES stir up trouble these days- it is one of the old guard from the 80s! Ministry's last few albums are by far the most pointed statements against the Bush administration- and the Madonna cross thing- and everyone remembers Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction'- [how dare a black woman expose her naked breast- the source of nourishment for all new human life- at a sporting event that glorifies violent combat! it's immoral!]

 

it looks like it is still up to the 80s artists to perturb society while todays young bands are in board meetings discussing the design of their merchandising and setting up their next promotional reality show appearance with their agents

[soundwave106]

it seems like whenever anyone DOES stir up trouble these days- it is one of the old guard from the 80s!

 

Heh. Newcomer Kanye West got more {censored} than Ministry ever did.

 

The worst recent stirring of the pot was, oddly enough, the Dixie Chicks. Because, even though country has plenty of "rebels" on the left side (hi, Steve Earle!), the Dixie Chicks were thought of as one of those mass-appeal sanitized white washed Nashville Establishment groups. Which if anything make vague right-wing feel good proclamations (but not too right wing, please!).

 

That episode showed just how wimpy the corporate radio audience is these days. Don't be like them. Join the rest of us on the Internet.

[setAI]

I have to admit- that Kanye moment was the STUFF- but it was kind of handed to him- still- he does deserve the credit

[jskpongoui]

Yes dig up their past performances of the same song with their later performances on the recent talk shows. They sound perfectly in tune. I am not suggesting they use auto-tune like how Kanye West or how current artists use autotune to sound robotic. I could be wrong, maybe AC have practiced harmonizing better. :-) I don't want to make this an Animal Collective autotune thread...but check this out here. It could be worst...it could be lip-syncing.... Animal Collective Autotune controversy: http://trackcrack.com/2009/05/animal-collective-using-heavy-auto-tune-andor-lip-synching/

 

Sooo?

 

Are you saying the only way musicians can sound better is through autotune and lip syncing?

 

Could it be that they are just improving as musicians? Sorry this post is ridiculous, not just because I am a huge fan but because you are suggesting that because they sound better they are lipsyncing or autotuning.. what the hell.

 

[P321]

yeah but that guy is saying that stuff is terrible. if he thinks the 70s were bad, i'm not entirely sure WHAT he could like.

Actually, "that guy" (being me) went on to say good music isn't simply about a particular point in time, and what you like (and hence think of as "good music") is largely a product of what you grew up with in combination with your own personal preferences. Just because I think most of that stuff is "bad" doesn't mean I dislike all 70's music (that would be silly), although I do find a lot to dislike about that decade personally.

 

If you want me to "boil it down" I suppose I'd say there's a thin line between virtuosity and "wankery" (for want of a better word), and that line was most definitely crossed in the 70's for me. It often became more about the performance than the music (that kind of sums up a lot of jazz for me too). It's not like I need evidence for that because it actually went on to manifest itself in a trend like "Glam Rock" (which was neither glamorous nor rocking), and then the eventual "antidote" - punk.

 

So, to answer your question, I like plenty of things from ALL decades, I just find more to dislike in the 70's than some other periods, and I went on to point out several things that (hopefully) put my initial remarks more in context.

 

It's always a source of amusement to me how people attach greater significance to what THEY like, then apply that as a template for how all other people should think when it comes to musical taste and what is "important". Kinda like the original poster, who deemed the 60's, 70's and 90's as "worthy and important" musical decades, but apparently not the 80's? The futility of it all was written in his first few words It's like debating whether raspberry or strawberry jam is better, except debating musical preference and how this or that decade was "more important" will result in slightly fewer minds being changed.

[frogmonkey]

Love Girl Talk, hate Girl Talk, he has a different sound, no? (Descended from the sample-collage lineage of Negativland and Plunderphonics, but different enough to count.) Heh. Newcomer Kanye West got more {censored} than Ministry ever did. The worst recent stirring of the pot was, oddly enough, the Dixie Chicks. Because, even though country has plenty of "rebels" on the left side (hi, Steve Earle!), the Dixie Chicks were thought of as one of those mass-appeal sanitized white washed Nashville Establishment groups. Which if anything make vague right-wing feel good proclamations (but not too right wing, please!). That episode showed just how wimpy the corporate radio audience is these days. Don't be like them. Join the rest of us on the Internet.

 

I love this post. And it reminded me to go find Plunderphonics on the internet. I read John Oswald's plunderphonics chapter in "Archana: Musicians on Music" years ago, but never heard it.

[The Severalist]

 

 

 

Immoral and completely creepy looking. Half the stadium was likely pretty pissed to begin with at the sight and sound of that lousy little fleeb Timberlake, singing and dancing of all things, for whatever reason, before tit gate became our long national bogus contorversy. But, source of all nourishment for new human life or not, it was just the thing to push the distasteful little display of dumb, arrogant, self satisfied Hollywood phoneys prancing about to their sub disco funeral dirge over the edge of vaugely contempuos absurdity. Source of all nourishment? Maybe. But any trolls wingus is the source of creation and you don't want that slapping you in the face when all you've come to see is a wholesome game of violent combat. They we're trying to blow our minds with their stupid, faux provactive crap attack, as manufactured as swift boat and about as insulting. That was the time. Everything was staged and usually purposely brain dead. Whatever you might hear, it wasn't a womans breast that pissed people off, look at the cheer leaders. No problem with nourishment there! The fuse had already been lit before yoda had slithered it's way out of Janet's brazierre.

 

It was no wardrobe malfunction, of course. All but the most mentally special can smell the BS wafting off that term from a mile away. It was, perhaps, the sense that they thought they we're getting one over. They wanted to shock. Why? No reason. That's all some "artists" have left, and certianly the labels can see the value in a little faux subversive charade every now and then. We we're just their little puppets, not as enlightened as their syphullus or free as their velvet underwear, a role most of us sadly played all to readily into. To make as if it is or was the basis for an honest and heated debate about race or sexism was, and is, likely, missing the point. The point, obviously, was and is the necessity for space migration. Then again, it usually is.

 

So, the crowd came ready for combat, favorite teams and opposing sides. This was courted about as subtely as a whore on a gynecological table by the wheezing and sighing, smug extra terrestrial performers on stage and the calculating nerds behind, for the sake of the phoney controversy that keeps the news papers in buisness, mediocre artists in the spot light, worthless media pundits employed, souless buisness types well fed and our country chugging a long to where ever the hell it thinks it's going.

[The Severalist]

I'll add it's no surprise that this thread has turned into people naming off their favorite bands from their favorite eras as if that means anything.

 

I'll echo what many are saying in that the most egregious crap is being pumped (surprise, surprise) directly out of the main stream. This is what you hear on crap commericals, crap films, crap award ceremonies and crap radio, which when taken as a whole is obnoxiously pervasive and gives the illusion of a musical climate much different then what it in fact is in it's totality. There are plenty of genuine, authentic, thoughtful, forward, backward and sideways looking and thinking bands out there. Which is all you can ask really, without being a back seat band member, propagandist idealouge or picking up your own instrument and putting your money where your mouth is. These things in mind, if you find the music and it still, after a couple of fair shakes, doesn't float your boat, it's only a matter of taste, or worse, nostalgia.

 

Listen to what you like, make what you like and try not to speak to much about a whole decade of music with to much finality when you've only heard a fraction of what it has to offer, or you're just to busy being lost in some bygone and likely overrated era of music (most are after their proponents are done espousing their virtues). I'll continue listening to what I concieve of as good music from all ages and continue not caring what decade it was made. Becuase I'm rational and great and a lot of fun at pizza parties.

 

All that said, music peeked at doo wop. All real musicians know that.

 

Peaces.