Am I The Only One be Who Thinks Today's Music Is Soul less?

[_priapism]

[GEMINIGUY]

Uhhh, at least four more people not to rework the song? 

[GEMINIGUY]

Four people wrote every original Van Halen song. At least five people wrote every Def Leppard song.
On the other hand, Jack Blades wrote most of Night Ranger's songs. Rick Springfield wrote most if his songs. And I know I can come up with a lot more.

[_priapism]

Four people wrote every original Van Halen song. At least five people wrote every Def Leppard song.
On the other hand, Jack Blades wrote most of Night Ranger's songs. Rick Springfield wrote most if his songs. And I know I can come up with a lot more.

Songs are written by committee now, tested to listening panels, over mixed, and over produced, and performed by a clueless “looker” with marginal talent, reading from a TelePrompTer.  That is the problem with modern pop music.

[ChirpingGirl]

Magnificent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFEk6Y8TmM

Mass produced McDonald's level garbage:

https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100

One is a work of art sung by a man at the height of his powers and with the voice of a god. The other is garbage that makes billions and isn't music. It's not even close.

How can you compare anything on that list to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=463jDvbw3LQ

[psiberzerker]

Pop never had "Soul."  You have to dig deeper.  That hasn't changed, only the fuddy duddies scratching the surface, and deciding that today's music sucks.

[ChirpingGirl]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGr6B6Rp4PU

[GEMINIGUY]

Songs are written by committee now, tested to listening panels, over mixed, and over produced, and performed by a clueless “looker” with marginal talent, reading from a TelePrompTer.  That is the problem with modern pop music.

Pop charts have been filled with pleasant drivel for as long as they have been a thing. 70 years ago, Elvis Presley built a career on being a "looker" and singing songs written by other people. Record labels have been creating and grooming acts for the public to consume for even longer than that. Listen to a demo version of any song you love from the last 40 years or more, and then compare with the album version and you'll find most of everything but the most minimal arrangements are heavily produced.

The market for rock music has basically died with the album market in the last decade or so, but other than that it's pretty much business as usual for the music industry. If you can't find great, exciting music then you're not looking very hard.

Excellent post!!!
By the way, a few Rock artists still put our new albums. Def Leppard put out an awesome one late 2015, I love it!

[atari guy]

Main stream popular music, pushed by the record industry is mostly crap. Scratch the surface and there is still some good stuff around

[MissBarbara]

Main stream popular music, pushed by the record industry is mostly crap. Scratch the surface and there is still some good stuff around

I think that's exactly the point.

If you limit your definition of "today's music" as the short rotation of songs played on your local pop station, then yeah, a lot of it is crap.

But if you expand your definition even a little bit, then you'll find all kinds of great contemporary music, and in a wide variety of genres.

[GEMINIGUY]

Main stream popular music, pushed by the record industry is mostly crap. Scratch the surface and there is still some good stuff around

I think that's exactly the point.

If you limit your definition of "today's music" as the short rotation of songs played on your local pop station, then yeah, a lot of it is crap.

But if you expand your definition even a little bit, then you'll find all kinds of great contemporary music, and in a wide variety of genres.

In the '90s I listened to this local station that wasn't Rock but played a good mix of genres. Over the years that station has de-evolved into a station for shitty music.

[Jed_]

Music is skilled musicians playing actual real musical instruments.  The one thing American Idol taught us is people that can sing are a dime a dozen.  I like vocals too, as part of a band, but it’s about the music.

There’s a lot of contemporary really good music out there if you look for it.  Those making this music don’t sell out huge venues, and they sure as shit don’t get nominated for a grammy.  But then when profit supersedes actual talent, that’s what you can expect with ‘popular’ music.

[Rustled]

Someone made a point that to hear soulful contemporary pop, you have to tune out the mainstream product. This is true, but a couple extra thoughts: 1.Much of the best-selling Top 40 pop ia written, arranged, produced, and programmed by one of five guys, all of them Danish, for some reason. 2.Modern pop has literally been designed to stimulate the brain's pleasure centers, just like cigarettes and chicken nuggets. 3.When I turned 40, I found my willingness to pay attention to pop culture waned. I think it gets harder to love the new as we get older

[bandit]

I grew up listenin to classic rock, when I was a kid in the early-mid-late 70's, that is the music I find to be the best.  I am a fan of classic rock, very little bit of cuntry, some punk (I do wish I had been exposed to a lot more when I was a teen),  and I do love the grunge era.  Other than some specific artists, I really feel that music post 80's is nowhere near the pre 80's. 

I'll just let you in on the concerts I've seen.  Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, Ronnie James Dio, Twisted Sister, Van Halen (twice with Sammy Hagar), The Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica (twice), Robert Plant (a decent show but not Zeppelin), The Black Crows, Rush, Candlebox, AC/DC, Kings X, SevenDust, Def Leppard, Kiss (not my fave band just had nothing to do), Lynyrd Skynyrd (3 times), Ted Nugent (don't like his political views but he's a hell of a guitarist), Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, 2002 Oz Fest, Alice in Chains (twice, once with Layne Staley and once with William DuVall), Puddle of Mudd, Limp Bizkit, Motley Crue and a few other smaller shows.

Bands I wish I could have seen: John Lennon/The Beatles, Tom Petty, Queen, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black SAbbath/Ozzy w/Rhandy Rhoads, Judas Priest, INXS, Elton John, Van Halen (with David Lee Roth), Joe Satriani, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Journey, Heart, The Cranberries, Aerosmith, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Winter, Robin Trouer, Joe WAlsh/The Eagles, The Who, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and many others.

[psiberzerker]

I'm not going to list off all the shows I've been to.  It would take up a whole page, and I probably can't remember a significant fraction of the ones when I was in my twenteens.

Hands down, the band I have seen the most is Clutch:

Here

ProRock.com

[Fjellvant]

Songs are written by committee now, tested to listening panels, over mixed, and over produced, and performed by a clueless “looker” with marginal talent, reading from a TelePrompTer.  That is the problem with modern pop music.

Pop charts have been filled with pleasant drivel for as long as they have been a thing. 70 years ago, Elvis Presley built a career on being a "looker" and singing songs written by other people. Record labels have been creating and grooming acts for the public to consume for even longer than that. Listen to a demo version of any song you love from the last 40 years or more, and then compare with the album version and you'll find most of everything but the most minimal arrangements are heavily produced.

The market for rock music has basically died with the album market in the last decade or so, but other than that it's pretty much business as usual for the music industry. If you can't find great, exciting music then you're not looking very hard.

You said what I'm feeling.

Also, literally the first year I looked up on the Billboard charts (1965) "Wooly Bully" is the #1 hit for that year. It's like a copy-paste blues progression tune with dumb lyrics you can't understand anyway. Next we have at #2 another Four Tops song that they didn't write. At least #3 for that year is a solid track.

[blackdog]

I gave up on most modern so called music about 20 years ago and now I mostly listen to the music from the great days of hollywood musicals much of which is today played by great orchestras such as The John Wilson Orchestra that performs each year at the BBC Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. However I have found some great C&W on youtube and this number from the George Strait concert "The Cowboy Rides Away" is one of my favourites.

[GEMINIGUY]

It's ironic how the generation gaps include such huge music gaps. Blackdog sounds a lot like my father in his love of big band music [as well as his brother and sister, who loved Country music]. Though they all accepted Elvis as well.
Me, I was a child of the '80s, an "MTV baby" raised on music videos. For me, my favorite music is late '70s to early '90s. But I'm more open with my music tastes. I appreciate The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, and I'm a big fan of Elvis Presley. But I also appreciate a lot of modern Rock. I'm a big fan of Nickelback, Daughtry, Lifehouse, and I enjoy a song here and there by various other modern Rock groups. I'm also happy to see a lot of '80s Rockers still active and putting out new, awesome material, such as Def Leppard and Rick Springfield. So I'm haven't given up on modern music, and I feel bad when others write it off without having given it a chance.

[JulesVern]

Perfectly said GeminiGuy. I'm pretty much there with you. I'll add Linkin Park, Muse, and Coldplay among many other 'modern' groups that I like.

[GEMINIGUY]

Perfectly said GeminiGuy. I'm pretty much there with you. I'll add Linkin Park, Muse, and Coldplay among many other 'modern' groups that I like.

Yes, Linkin Park does have some songs I've heard that I like. And I'd heard Coldplay team up with a solo artist on a song I liked, can't remember the name of it though...