Everything changes; you can't stop it. And I'm an old fogey enough to know that I'm grumpy and no longer "with it". But I listen to music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and I hear singers with real emotion, musicians who could really play, and bands that were tight, tight tight.
Nowadays, the big hits seem to belong to women with big voices but little emotion, backed by throbbing beats that are about as exciting as a metronome. And there is too much autotune.
I never even consider paying for the new stuff, unless it's obscure and unlikely to be found on any sort of "popular" radio station. The "popular" stuff just has no soul at all. And that's because the industry lost it's soul a good 20 years ago (at least).
A lot of young people treat music like wallpaper -- they don't actually listen to it, and the idea that people used to sit and pay attention to this stuff seems very alien to some of them.
You've nailed it. Few people have any interest at all in the content, they just can't stand silence. The broadcast industry is geared to that, so most stations deliberately avoid playing anything that would make people stop and listen.
Yep, but they rarely do any ONE thing...they’re always doing 2 or 3 things at a time.
A lot of young people treat music like wallpaper — they don’t actually listen to it, and the idea that people used to sit and pay attention to this stuff seems very alien to some of them.
I do that lately, use music as background, but my big kids listen and listen and go nuts to see their favorites live (they hate pop, they both have serious and differing indie tastes). They share music with me and teach me. One of them is learning two instruments from scratch.
Great post and I agree wholeheartedly.
I would add that not too long ago we liked to be audiophiles and dreamed of that perfect speaker system. Two channel stereo was simply amazing.
Now the kids think a mini boom box that they plug their iPhone into produces great sound.