[Windflier]

There's something basic and just plain "good" about the spartan sound of Presley and the straightforward playing of the band (The Tennessee Two?) not altered by autotune and the rest of the modern marvels.

For a long time, recording technology and artistic virtuosity were expanding in tandem. Somewhere in the late 80s - early 90s, it seemed that artistic expression and skill began to take a back seat to the fast developing technology side, and even began to fall off. Quite a bit, actually.

Over the decade of the 90s (and into the next century) the general quality of musicianship among top recording artists seemed to fall like a stone. Gone were the singers, players, and writers, who forged whole new genres, and pushed the boundaries of popular music to greater heights of excellence. In came the synthetic pop bands with their drum machines, sequenced loops, sampling, and soul-deadening rap 'music'.

Quality artists were pushed to the wayside, and know-nothing, talentless hacks were pushed to the front.

In my view, the forward march of degraded leftist ideals has much to do with the degradation we've witnessed in popular music over the last twenty years. It's an insidious contagion that infects and poisons everything it touches.

[Dartman]

For a long time, recording technology and artistic virtuosity were expanding in tandem. Somewhere in the late 80s - early 90s, it seemed that artistic expression and skill began to take a back seat to the fast developing technology side, and even began to fall off. Quite a bit, actually.

Same thing can be said regarding movies. The star now is the special effects, not the actors or the acting.

[PoloSec]

Your words reflect exactly my thoughts, I've found it hard to express to others why for me the music died, also you confirmed I was right on about when it died, I distinctly remember how outraged I became when someone tried to demonstrate how cool it was to scratch play vinyls.