Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

95% of the "music" that comes on the radio is garbage. "Got to find the hottie with the million dollar body"....these are lyrics to a new "rock" song.
think about the younger generation who is force fed this stuff...

this is not music. this is not music. this is crap designed in a lab by researchers that specialize in mass-appeal. designed to be used in short clips to sell things...I hate everyone.

I'm not fan of pop music, but I can find many a lyric from classic 50s, 60s, and 70s bands that don't make any sense at all. People justify it by saying "that's what they were doing at the time", but on paper it's no better than the quote you just put up.

[Maxattax3]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I'm not fan of pop music, but I can find many a lyric from classic 50s, 60s, and 70s bands that don't make any sense at all. People justify it by saying "that's what they were doing at the time", but on paper it's no better than the quote you just put up.

I assumed we were talking about mainstream music.
I know there is garbage music in every era...
I like to look at music as Art. Back in the 50s 60s and 70s there was (some) mainstream music that was Art...poetry set to music..beautiful sounds etc. and this was all mainstream stuff that everyone got to hear.

today, It seems that any shred of Art has been removed from mainstream music permanently...any artistic talent is scrapped in favor of marketability and mass appeal. What is marketable and has mass appeal in the current market? Overt sexual references...

i remember a time when a "rock" band didnt have to state "we have sex and do drugs and party!!! we are rockstars!! woooooo!!!" in their songs to get radio play. Take "Brown Sugar" for an example of a song with that same message, only done in an artistic way.

[mgoblue]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I think that society has changed in how it idolizes rock stars. It's not like the 60's where people cared about John Lennon's opinions on political matters. People want their musicians to entertain them and have cool music, not babble on about political issues. I make my own decisions on political/social matters, I don't give a damn what Bono or Nickleback thinks.

The music can have political/social issues in them, and songs can be about that, but people don't give as much power to the musician on a soap box like they once did.

[Maxattax3]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I agree with that. Now we have the internet and can do the research for ourselves. It is just a shame what music has turned into since imo.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I assumed we were talking about mainstream music.
I know there is garbage music in every era...
I like to look at music as Art. Back in the 50s 60s and 70s there was (some) mainstream music that was Art...poetry set to music..beautiful sounds etc. and this was all mainstream stuff that everyone got to hear.

today, It seems that any shred of Art has been removed from mainstream music permanently...any artistic talent is scrapped in favor of marketability and mass appeal. What is marketable and has mass appeal in the current market? Overt sexual references...

i remember a time when a "rock" band didnt have to state "we have sex and do drugs and party!!! we are rockstars!! woooooo!!!" in their songs to get radio play. Take "Brown Sugar" for an example of a song with that same message, only done in an artistic way.

I agree with most of what you're saying. I'd just like to add that time changes the definition of a band's "mainstream" legacy. Slayer is a great example. There was a time when no one knew what a Slayer song sounded like, outside of the underground. Now Slayer tshirts are "cool", and it's a household name at least in terms of pop culture significance.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Everyone keeps saying the people who can't find good rock just are not looking in the right places. Where are these correct places?

[RAZRr1275]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Everyone keeps saying the people who can't find good rock just are not looking in the right places. Where are these correct places?

Not the radio

[mgoblue]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I agree with most of what you're saying. I'd just like to add that time changes the definition of a band's "mainstream" legacy. Slayer is a great example. There was a time when no one knew what a Slayer song sounded like, outside of the underground. Now Slayer tshirts are "cool", and it's a household name at least in terms of pop culture significance.

On that note I think it's crap when a band becomes somewhat popular to the "mainstream" and therefore they then suck because they're popular. The underground/indie scene is filled with these people who get off on the fact they support some unknown, "hip" band. The instant they gain mainstream success they cease to be "hip" and they hate on that band instead.

[Cebby]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Previous eras/decades of music will always get the benefit of the doubt over today's music, especially as the crowd of people debating the topic gets older and older. Its been happening for at least 60 years and it will continue to happen. People tend to forget about the Frankie Avalons of years past and focus on the bands which have aged well over time and have continued on making an impact - even though the bands weren't perceived to be important or even popular in their own day and age. How many music critics and industry scholars were even acknowledging rock n roll as a legit genre of music, much less crowning Elvis, Chuck or Little Richard as the pioneers and king of rock. Its hard to honestly say the 50s were the best period of music etc when the best music was barely acknowledged by people that weren't teenagers. The industry and ASCAP was too busy pushing Pat Boone's "covers" and orchestrating the "payola" scandal to be even be thinking about how important Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters would be 50 years from then.

Each era is like this, though. My history of rock instructor last semester kept emphasizing that the most popular music isn't always the most important and that rings true for every decade. The first half of the sixties had Dick Clark's music assembly line and the British pop music stuff before getting into Dylan, folk-pop, psychadelic etc in the last half of the decade. Etc etc etc.

I think this is one of the things a lot of people don't realize.

The great Dark Side of the Moon had all of 1 top 100 single. The Wall had 2. Led Zeppelin had 1 top 10 hit in the 1970s (Pink Floyd had 0). Stairway to Heaven peaked on the radio at...it never made the charts because it wasn't a single.

Chances are, you weren't turning on the radio and hearing Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin all day as some here would have you think. If I listed all of their singles and asked everyone here which of the songs were top 10 singles, everyone would fail miserably.

Radio music sucks. It sucked in the early 2000s. It sucked in the 90s. It sucked in the 80s, the 70s, and the 60s. Chances are, it'll suck every year forever. The same things that make hit records now have always made hit records, a catchy beat and hook.

Here's a link to billboard's top 100 hits of 1970. You can change the year to any year you want. Then get back to me about how great the music used to be and how modern radio is garbage. This goes for complainers about rap music as well (Nuthin but a G Thang finished behind Informer, Rump Shaker, and Whoomp There It Is)

http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1970.htm

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Today's music is very prefabricated right down to the image that most of the singers portray themselves in. Now that's not to say that there isn't important or relevent music being made but it's so far buried beneath the pop music scene that you have to dig very deep just to find it. I also think the ratio of very talented singers/songwriters to crappy ones is far far greater now then it was in the past as even some of the novelty acts back then actually had some talent. A lot of what passes for talent these days wouldn't get you through the door of some record companies back in the day.

Popular music has always been like this, though. Berry Gordy's approach to most of the Motown acts was essentially a music assembly line, which included lessons on dance, fashion, and etiquette. Even Elvis changed his image to have a wider fan base. Early British pop music (Beatles, Who, Stones, etc) propped itself up on the different fashion styles of the era, sometimes even prompting violent events.

Its hard to really compare ratios of today's good/bad songwriters with those from the 50s, 60s, etc because ASCAP controlled popular music for much of the time, literally relying on formulas to get hits on the charts.

today, It seems that any shred of Art has been removed from mainstream music permanently...any artistic talent is scrapped in favor of marketability and mass appeal. What is marketable and has mass appeal in the current market? Overt sexual references...

i remember a time when a "rock" band didnt have to state "we have sex and do drugs and party!!! we are rockstars!! woooooo!!!" in their songs to get radio play. Take "Brown Sugar" for an example of a song with that same message, only done in an artistic way.

I understand what you're saying, but I think the explicit nature of rock has gotten more explicit as our culture becomes less innocent. Its hard to imagine, but some of those 50s songs were racy as hell. Today we don't even bat an eye when listening to them and some people would probably label the lyrics as corny. I think rock tries to keep its edge by trying to keep up with the culture of its fan-base. If you want to, check out Bessie Smith's "I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl" and let me know how overt you think that is.

[chilli311]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Everyone keeps saying the people who can't find good rock just are not looking in the right places. Where are these correct places?

-Concerts are a great place to start if you live somewhere that gets a lot of different kinds of concerts on a regular basis.
-Some magazines have sections dedicated to newer, non-mainstream bands. I know that this magazine has gone severely downhill in the past few years, but AP (Alternative Press) has about 40 pages per issue devoted to bands you've never heard of, and reviews. The best part is, they name three other bands that you probably have heard of so you can know what to expect.
-iTunes now has the Just For You section that takes the music that you download, and recommends different stuff to you.
-Read/listen to interviews with bands you like, and usually, they will throw out props to other bands that they like, or liked when they were growing up.

Those are my primary ways of finding music. I stopped listening to everything except sports radio YEARS ago, so I've had to look everywhere for new stuff.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

A lot of the smaller labels/bands offer free music downloads to try out. If you're into roots rock, Bloodshot Records is a great place to look around at. Pandora is another good tool. If you listen to music on your PC a lot, last.fm is great as well.

[CS10029]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Blink being back is important IMO.

[Ridgeberg]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

Everyone keeps saying the people who can't find good rock just are not looking in the right places. Where are these correct places?

You kind of have to do your own research. There is no one mecca of good rock. I think first identifying what you like is key. Someone suggested iTunes, which is a good start. There are websites like pitchforkmedia.com, magazines like Rolling Stone, Spin and Paste. Allmusic.com, AV Club.com. I think you can find a ton of music on MySpace, pretty much every band has a MySpace page.

Resources can be found all over the web. Just takes a little work in identifying your tastes and taking time to listen. Plus music is subjective. It is silly to think one person's opinion of 'good rock' is the same as someone else.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Is today's rock as important as yesterdays?

I do use Pandora but my playlist is pretty much Metal, Grunge, and classic rock. Maybe I'll give iTunes a try.