Why Today’s Music SUCKS! Everything Wrong With Today’s Music!

Why Today’s Music SUCKS! Why Today’s Music Can’t Compete with the Music of the Past!
STOP THE PRESSES!
Is it even possible to identify what is wrong with today’s Pop & Rock music?
Why does music from especially the 60s, 70s, & early 80s still sound fresh and exciting decades later, and today’s music bores us at about week 2 after it hits the charts?
Is it because all of the talent for Rock & Roll, Pop, and Pop/Rock came and went with the passing of those fabulous and hallowed decades?
Or is it the approach used by producers and engineers in the studio, while recording artists that probably shouldn’t be there in the studio to begin with?
Is TV shows like America Got Talent and American Idol responsible for producing new recording stars who, although look good, couldn’t sing themselves out of a wet paper bag to save there own lives?
In tonight’s video, I discuss AutoTune, Distortion, Drum Machines, Keyboards and sampling, and the using of just 2 songwriters, Lukasz Gottwald and Max Martin, to supply songs to dozens of artists, as just some of the reasons why…
TODAY’S MUSIC SUCKS!!!
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So let’s get into what is destroying our beloved art forms Rock &Roll, and Great Pop/Rock!
Michael Noland
The Bottom Line

[@jackdawson5490]

This is so embarrassing to me, I don't know who tought grandpa to use youtube, but you're screaming at the clouds. You just can't handle that you're generation is not making any moves any more artistically, rock did what it did and said what it had to say, do you really think there are any more masterpieces left to be made in that genre that aren't entirely derivative? Any kind of revival for past musical styles won't last long as it's just nostalgia, it's a gimmick. Everything changes, everything passes, and it's just embarrassing to me that someone as old as him could not be mature enough to accept that by now, especially Justin Bieber hate, I associate that with teenagers from the early 2010s, not the elderly in 2022. There are things that I don't like about today's top 40 music, but that goes for any generation, and personally I believe that much of what is being put out today is evolving music for the better and some of the best tracks and records ever have been put out in the past decade or so. Like what you like and I encourage people to make whatever makes them happy, but dont talk down or oppress any musical innovations because it wasn't what you fell in love with when you were young.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

The same person who taught you to spell the word taught, Jack! You know Jack, It’s not so much that we’re mad that our generation hasn’t made any real moves artistically anymore, as much as it is pure disappointment that YOUR generation hasn’t picked up the torch, brother! Of course things and styles in all art forms change! And there’s good music out there! But most of it doesn’t get the focus that some of these dweebs do! You always have your Renaissance periods, as was true way back in a my ancient youth, when we used to hitch our horses to the hitching post! I’ve said several times that ‘my generation’, (God, I hate it when people need to pigeonhole people by sex, color, sexual orientation, or age, btw!) had it’s horrid excuses for music as well! But you know son (I called him son!), Way back then we used to take those artists and feed them to the first hungry T-Rex we could find! We held them accountable! Pretty soon Helen Reddy wasn’t ready any more! And when Olivia Newton John told us that she honestly loved us, we ended her freakin’ movie career! We sent Debbie Boone back to daddy, and spanked Terry Jacks for his retched little ‘Seasons in the Sun’! But you know Jack, that’s how we did it back before there was electricity for our awaiting electric guitars! Why even YOU say there’s crap out today! But your young and therefore get to have an opinion on things, solely because your a youngster, youngster??? But your whole non-condescending comment was so refreshing, and totally unexpected (NOT!) The only thing missing in your comment was …. ‘OK, Boomer!” But that’s OK, Jack! I’m sure That’s just early-onset Alzheimer’s, not because of actual old age! Still embarrassed, Jack? In the words of Justin Timberlake “Bye, Bye Bye!”

[@Griffinblack559]

Man just got the pin of shame 🙏

[@haniyarvas]

To be honest most 90's/80's/70's music are extremely good and far greater than the music released today

[@haniyarvas]

Also older age doesn't mean less knowledge so I don't know what you mean with "who taught grandpa to use KZbin"

[@michaelnoland4732]

@@Griffinblack559 Oh I know it’s not kosher to take shots at an unarmed man like Branden PS, but I guess I got a mean streak in me left from m’ days inventing the wheel & well, fire!!!

[@Beeracuda922]

I think MTV was music's downfall. Once MTV became established, it was more about image and much less about music. Then Disney swooped in and placed any young good looking kid behind a microphone and had them sing. Some of whom had no business singing, but thanks to auto-tune, they could manufacture a singer who looks good and will sell based solely upon that. Once that happened, corporate greed took over. Video did indeed kill the radio star. Back in the day, people would buy records solely on the music. In fact, many people didn't even know what artists like Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, or Steely Dan even looked like. They sold strictly on their music.

[@ChromeDestiny]

There's unedited footage of Frank Zappa being interviewed for MTV you can find here on KZbin where Frank mocks MTV for airing four minute commercials (music videos) all day.

[@Diablokiller999]

But MTV also gave many small artists like the Beastie Boys and upcoming underground genres like Hardcore a platform (Headbangers Ball), as well as saving metal with Beavis and Butthead. it paved the way for Grunge and New Metal, which influences music up to this day. Without it, many kids wouldn't have the opportunity to discover niche artists like Korn back in the day, since you don't see those bands touring the smallest of backwater towns. First MTV was a transmission medium that tried to air what's fresh, new and cool. Later they were used to manipulate the audience but for me they did way more good than harm. Would blame major labels though, it's easier to create hype and exploit cheap artists than to find the next big thing.

[@jaybirdk7414]

You ever watch Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert, or Burt Sugarman’s Midnight Special? That imagery was still important before MTV ever happened. Let’s face it, rock radio was stagnating at the end of the Seventies, and even the giants like Journey and hot new acts like Van Halen were feeling the slump. BOTH bands benefited from MTV, which came out at exactly the right time! I would sooner blame it on reality television, which has pretty much ruined EVERYTHING (and MTV’s The Real World was among the first, granted). Even something so mundane as cooking or knife making has become a freak show, and it’s why I quit watching television in the first place.

[@DAWNSURVIVOR2853]

Yes, and that is the way it should be, about the music, not the looks. Now it is all smoke and mirrors without any life or soul.

[@paulw6057]

Yep, but there's probably a bit more to it than that, as well. For a number of reasons, there was also a gradual change in the perception of what was/is actually good; artists would be less inclined to make rubbish if it didn't sell and/or wasn't praised to high heaven by the critics. Critics became gradually less inclined to give bad reviews to music they knew was marketable. If the New Wave equivalent of The Beatles at their creative peak arrived late on the scene during the stadium rock era, they probably would have been dismissed as too twee and dated, it wouldn't have been promoted and wouldn't have sold so much. Bands would not have been influenced by them. Quality promotes quality. The opposite is also true and it snowballs. To be controversial, if someone is going to site bands like Metallica as evidence that good music was still being made (despite what was happening) instead of wondering why they weren't still niche, perhaps we have ourselves to blame.

[@grogueQ]

I love watching young people on KZbin reacting to classic rock and pop music, the look of amazement and joy on their faces as they hear what music can actually be like. There IS a lot of great music being put out today, but it's mostly independent and it's not being given to us, we have to go find it ourselves, and very few people seem to want to hunt for it.

[@kayoss11]

Yeh, kids don't nick apples these days, they only want a flat screen apple, to turn there head into mush.

[@entertainmenthell2396]

@@kayoss11 Shut up. I'm in my 40's and I watch flat screens all the time. I still love old music AND new music. Whatever you're saying, it's dumb.

[@atheistleopard7671]

today has no music-its just noise. cancel-culture ZOGonzo-tribe is WHY. among many other things they've ruined in my country. that's right...MY country.

[@matthewdennis1739]

I'm glad you mentioned there is great music out there because there is so much awesome music out there across different genres, it just isn't what is on the charts anymore because of corporate greed.

[@NoirL.A.]

tons of younger people are into older bands and that's because no matter how much money you throw at the cause some people will always know the difference between a gourmet lasagna and cotton candy.

[@lafleurR1ddl3]

The most shocking thing to me is that people have access to the entire catalog of written and recorded music at their fingertips and most people will never explore it. We have access to it all and we’re worse than ungrateful about that, we are completely apathetic to it.

[@cupheadfan2011]

That's true that you said, Gorillaz fan! Everyone doesn't knows how music is created nowdsys..

[@ThinkerOnTheBus]

Growing up in the '80s, able to appreciate some of the mainstream music, but truly having a strong preference for the unusual, the unpopular, the underground, the independent types, and genres of music, I had to do my own work in seeking out those artists. The search frequently consisted of me attempting to either stay awake, or the foolish futility of trying to catch a couple hours of sleep, and then wake back up just to listen to a radio show that would likely put me right back to sleep. The work of these musicians, for which I searched, would never grace any corporate radio airwaves, but if fortunate smiled down upon them, their works would occasionally attain some airtime on some college or public radio station, during some obscure show which aired extremely late at night, or more precisely, during the ungodly early morning hours prior to sunrise, when listenership would be at its lowest minimum for any radio station, and this is one main method I had at my disposable for which I could attempt to discover new music I would appreciate. Still I was limited to around three hours of these shows each week, one of which was from such a distant radio station, the reception was awful, and still I would suffer through that unpleasant sound occasionally, gambling upon having a new discovery, if but for only a single band. Additionally, I could discover other bands once in awhile from the liner notes within albums which I already owned, the least productive method, but still a method which produced some results. However, I frequently would discover numerous bands to check out by way of music scene zines, especially ones with record reviews by musicians I could trust, once having a good feeling in regards to their own musical tastes. The final method of discovery was basically word of mouth from the few other obscure music lovers, with whom I was acquainted or who I considered to be my friends, these were people roughly my age, and who possessed a similar taste in music as myself, although I usually had a much broader appreciation than most, for many music fans often limited their music to a single genre, and looked down upon most other types, yet even in the snobbery of their love, they were a source of decent recommendations for bands that definitely deserved a listening by me, and which I likely might not have discovered by any other means . . . or at least until the internet grew too popular for our own good! I never had a world's worth of information wealth which was easily accessible to me via my fingertips when I was developing, and expanding my musical tastes and preferences. I can only imagine the number of bands which would fill my awareness and knowledge. I always had to work to discover music I liked, it was never conveniently delivered to me via a podcast, spotify, social media connections, forum board, nor any other digital recommendation. I had to earn my musical awareness. Although, it came by no easily, convenient way, I appreciated having been turned on to true alternative music of numerous genres, and was happy I had means to discover more and more artists. Yet, appreciation, and gratefulness seem to be lacking amongst today's youth in what they have available to them which previous generations did not. Such a society of convenience must be the perfect breeding ground for selfishness, narcissism, and hyper-sensitivity.

[@handles_are_useless]

ay ur name's from a french book i read

[@brianeno608]

Radio was something everyone could use or access, it was a common place where people could discover new music. Spotify tries to emulate this, but it's detached from culture and just is exclusively accessed by small communities. Music ultimately is somewhat dead right sadly, no one wants to be a artist, when streaming is so much easier to do, the requirements of being a streamer are minimal.

[@matthewdennis1739]

​@@brianeno608I disagree, there are lots of supremely talented artists out there making music.

[@pftvfc66]

I couldn't agree more with everything you've said in your video. These days music sounds all the same. Creativity is gone, innovation is gone, greatness is gone. And the most scary thing is that a whole new generation is praising what must be the worst quality music that humanity ever had.

[@evacody1249]

Do you just wait for radio and major labels to tell you what to like? I don't because if I did I would not have found a lot of great rock and metal bands.

[@cabellero1120]

I disagree. There is a lot of talent out there, Today Creativity is gone? innovation? There are recording artists with great vocal talents! Greatness is gone? I doubt that We all have our favorites! There are Many different genres of Music would you say all Opera or Country music sounds the same? Vocalists, Rock singers, Performers... Music is Not relegated to a singular era or time. A child born several years ago, may grow up to be the next musical prodigy.... You're widely assuming that all creativity in Music is gone I disagree

[@jackstraw4222]

but in other genres it isn't as bad...its mainly pop and thats the only thing you see and hear on tv,radio and cinema...so obviously it will look one sided...

[@emasu8145]

i agree,i couldnt force myself to listen to modern music,im stuck in the 2000's thats the limit

[@yamiyo6050]

Amen

[@pendragonfilm]

It doesn’t help that most of these modern stars don’t write music or play instruments. They just put on a soft porn show or yell at you

[@jeffreyg4626]

Good point

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Yeah, and then when that’s too hard, they collapse and run to daddy, and then take him to court! Oops, sorry Britany, didn’t see ya there!

[@michaelcraig9449]

They suck so bad..

[@ralphm5801]

And see how many f bomb's they can drop in 3 minutes.

[@theodoreritola7641]

You got that right Nick ....

[@bobdylan3013]

I'm 61 yrs old. A lot of pop music has sucked throughout the years. There is still an ample amount of musicians playing wonderful music. Musicians aren't to blame. It's the music industry that sucks. My two cents. Be Grateful and God Bless. ✌

[@salinagrrrl69]

I graded HS in '78. I was in an early wave band in HS. I tell people that 72/78 the MASS MOST of music back then bringing in bux but was TOPpop40/RnB/Disco.

[@biblebadcopycatofcuneiform8210]

Gratitude is lame. Appreciation is much stronger energy. Oh, and what God are you pointing towards? The Bible thug that in the Bible commits a lot of horrible sadistic acts towards humanity and leaves clear instructions of how to enslave people? That's a horrible God. I sure hope you weren't point to that thing. There are plenty of other very cool Gods. Rush was the best..yet he didn't comment about them once.

[@johnwilliams8130]

So this is about pop music and current top 40 not music in general. I have no clue about what any of that is right now other than maybe Starcrawler. I don't know if they're big enough for any of you to know about them yet but you probably will lol

[@bobdylan3013]

@@johnwilliams8130 check out King Buffalo. Trio out of Rochester NY. Good stuff. ✌

[@johnwilliams8130]

@@bobdylan3013 sure thing Bobby D I think I've heard of them before. Pretty sure I saw them come up on new music on Twitter search

[@SR-xk8cd]

Why does modern music suck?, simple because the record companies want to push manufactured pop stars (who look good), down our throats rather than genuinely talented musicians.

[@michaelbean2478]

Agree 100% with everything you said. I received Led Zeppelin's "Mothership" CD set for Christmas just after it was released...what a huge disappointment it was. As soon as I heard the first track I knew something was wrong, it sounded awful-horrible-terrible. I ripped the whole set to my computer and looked at the spectrum of each track...every single one was compressed to the point that all the music was squeezed out. So I re-created the whole thing from my existing Led Zeppelin collection with tracks that are minimally compressed...it sounds much better now.

[@handles_are_useless]

👍👍

[@marcedwards5583]

For those who want it, there’s a load of good music out there. I easily live my life without ever listening to any of the mainstream that’s around. It’s easier now than ever before to ignore the music you hate. Yes, it sucks that the majority of people are listening to garbage, but all the good music we’ve ever had still exists, and there’s a lot of it being created now. I think we’ll see a resurgence of good, proper music with actual structure and surprises. People are already seeing how good that all is with the likes of Kate Bush and Metallica making their way back into the charts.

[@secretmessagesaroundthewor504]

Dude, the real problem here is that music is getting worse... thats something to worry about.

[@sebass337]

easier now than ever before honestly still isn’t that easy. this shit’s played EVERYWHERE.

[@thomasbell5417]

There is a great young female rock trio out of Mexico with great lyrics and musicianship called the "The Warning". Check them out. I'm a old school rock dude that swears by them. They are touring this summer in the US with Halestorm.

[@chasingpsychos889]

@@secretmessagesaroundthewor504 Why would that be something to worry about?

[@secretmessagesaroundthewor504]

@@chasingpsychos889 let me put it like this, music is like food, if you eat junk food you will get a disease sooner or later... same with music if you feed society with junk music you will basically destroy it... this is something to worry about, dude.

[@gametime2473]

I have been a musician and music fan my entire life and love pretty much all styles of music but modern music is just horrible. Autotune abuse, generic hooks, audio levels pushed to the limit with almost no dynamics, everyone trying to sing like Whitney Houston, lack of instrumentation all make modern music unlistenable. Modern country has become pop music with a FAKE exaggerated country accent. A lot of country is hard to even describe how it is country if it didn't have a thick pretense of southern drawl forced into it. I pretty much only listen to modern obscure artists at this point. There are a couple of exceptions but not many.

[@daphne4983]

Auto tune makes me homicidal

[@heidyozuna6693]

Is is me or is modern music not only uncreative but also depressive and boring ?

[@ronpost587]

OMG, you nailed it man. Glad I grew up in the era I did.

[@ash2357577]

I mostly listen to j-pop nowadays (which has its own problems but still miles ahead of much western pop) and there is this project called "The First Take" in which arists record a song in a single take. It's interesting to listen to these songs and compare them to the studio album versions. Edit: If you want an example from the person I consider to be the current best jpop singer, look up: LiSA - homura / THE FIRST TAKE

[@fredriksvard2603]

Metal, postrock, stoner rock and so on is better than its ever been imo

[@lyniseuk]

The way we make music today has changed. Everything is done in computers using DAWs now. We need to get more musicians interacting and jamming with each other again. Also music has to come from the right place e.g. one needs to be inspired, not just made for commercial reasons.

[@hermanmunster714]

Well said !

[@matthewdennis1739]

Absolutely...and there are a lot of artists who fit the bill, they just aren't mainstream chart toppers. Brian Fallon and Charley Crockett, Dave Hause, Greta Van Fleet and Sierra Ferrell .

[@marquette6944]

Grew up listing to strictly rap and r&b met my wife she grew up listening to bands like rat, poison, Metallica, Fleetwood mac, the who, David bowie, led zeppelin, Neil young, and so on and I absolutely feel in love again with music again and its awesome

[@sarizonana]

Cool , just like how the Aerosmith comeback happened: hip hop and Rock got married lol 😂 Who knew Walk this way would sound so cool with Run DMC adding some Rap hip hop to that song. We never saw this before an artist covering his own song or better said cHing their songs and re releasing it.

[@matthewdennis1739]

I'd recommend checking out Brian Fallon, Greta Van Fleet, the Black Keys, Kaleo, Gary Clark Jr, City and Colour, Dave Hause...

[@mark-o-man6603]

Agree with everything you've said, but for me the main reason is the "cultural shift" that happened somewhere down the line. Back in the days music was the main influence on youth culture, nowadays it's social media and music is only one part of that.

[@bencarlson4300]

Artistic creation as a whole is now a subsidiary of social media. Movies and tv are going the same direction (with several exceptions, but you have to look for the good stuff).

[@robertpolnicky7702]

Right except which came first the chicken so on. If we still had mom and pop radio like we did in 69 would that gave happened...

[@js0988]

Cultural shift??? Could you specify exactly what that was? Because there was a cultural shift that had a profound impact on music in the 50's and 60's that influenced most of the artists that came after that. And that cultural shift was black people!

[@mark-o-man6603]

@@js0988 Black music was the big bang and broadcasting and recording technology made Blues, R&B, Jazz,... accessable to kids all over the globe which kickstarted the industry (Elvis, Beatles..). But I was talking about what happened afterwards (let's say by the mid 70s). Punk, Hip-Hop, Techno, Disco...> today: not one single shift but incremental steps. The entry level to making music has significantly been lowered for good and for worse- good: more people making music, bad: quantity can out-compete quality. But there's more to the cultural shift than that so i used "" because I don't want to write a book here ;). Marketing, psychology, social studies...there are so many angles on this topic so I feel a comment section discussion just isn't the right format to cover it all.

[@j.dragon651]

@@js0988 When the "cultural shift" was happening in the early sixties the producers didn't know what to do. If you played halfway decent and had long hair they gave you a shot, which led to a lot of diversity and creativity. By 75 they had put the genie back in the bottle and were once again churning out three minute formulated songs.

[@David-ng7cr]

So So glad I grew up as a teen in the sixties and seventies. All that is called classic rock now was fresh and new then. Still finding great music from that time on utube.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Who would have thought that after listening to such great music, we’d be in the mess we’re in today? SAD!

[@pat5882]

I was born in ‘64. When I was 5-6 years old my two older aunts were in high school and I would be dropped off at my grandparents house. Down the basement I would go and listen to my aunts records: The Who-Tommy, iron butterfly and steppenwolf. Caught a lot of hell for scratching the vinyl and ruining a needle on the stereo but I would keep on listening. Also, plenty of AM gold in the car with my mom going into the ‘70’s. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing.

[@henryrogers5500]

@@pat5882 I’m your aunt’s age and I couldn’t agree anymore with you!

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine , please please, you need to discover Japan, they have saved rock, metal, and all variants of it. Not only is it great music, it’s far better than the 70s and 80s from the west

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine I’d suggest a few bands from Japan to check out, NEMOPHILA, Band Maid, Ningun Isu, Maximum the hormone,

[@65tosspowertrapl36]

Jazz playing in background, at 60 i find myself listening to this music more and more. Timeless!

[@AndreNitroX]

My dad raised me listening to classic 80s and 90s songs and now I only have a taste for that era of songs, because they are timeless and well crafted.

[@markjastrzebski2065]

That’s why rock has died. It’s not the music but the attitude. When did liking your parents music become something to be proud of?

[@AndreNitroX]

@@markjastrzebski2065 when its good its good

[@djmeagaaim17antman]

@@markjastrzebski2065 If anything, that attiude is why the music scene is so bad now. The complete rejection of the past just for the sake of it.

[@juanpablosaenz9037]

​@@markjastrzebski2065 When today's music is just gangsta rap and porn pop made to appeal to people barely smarter than a amoeba...I think looking into the past for better music becomes natural.

[@kydzs]

Theres great music throughout time stcking to one period is wasteful you have to face the unknown

[@NelsonMontana1234]

Key bass, Drum machines and autotune are more devices used in the late 90's/early 2000's. (Compression has been around for decades and will always be around). The problem with today's music is more a matter of industry control, a baron creative environment, an emphasis on sounding like the last hit as opposed to sounding new, and a generation of people who grew up on pushing buttons instead of leaning to play an instrument.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Your right about certain aspects and FX being around before the early 2000s, but it was that time period til today that they started using compression etc, in a new way! An example of this is in the new James Bond movie! The whole theme song is drenched in overused compression-used-to-the-point-of-distortion, Nelson!

[@Music2Die4]

I would say at least 90 percent of the popular music being put out today has Auto-Tune applied to the vocals. (It has been that way over the past 15 years.) Even remastered classics have it applied to them..... Including Frank Sinatra, Eva Cassidy, and even Black Sabbath. Recording engineers and producers think consumers wouldn't notice it... But it's not difficult to notice, and it always sounds horrid.

[@NelsonMontana1234]

@@Music2Die4 I think you're thinking of "pitch -correct." That just "nudges" the pitch closer. That was used, for example" on re-mastered Beatles tunes that were sections were stuck together and they weren't quite in tune with each other. (i.e. the piano at the end of Abby Road). That's different from Auto-Tune which just forces things into A 440 and sounds like a robot.

[@doomsdaydanceparty7646]

There's always been horrific industry control in music. I think it's quite the contrary, the accessibility of the Internet is seeing people not even need labels anymore. We're seeing independent artists now reach heights that some could only dream of 20 years ago or so

[@katytoy]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine I agree with you on all of your points, michael.. But I would also like to add that the songwriting today lacks the depth/uniqueness that came from the artists' own personal experiences (Ex: 'Mr. Bojangles' (a true story of the songwriters' ACTUAL experience in a jail cell in new orleans), 'Leader of the band' by Dan fogelberg, etc.) and the craftiness of even the professional staff writers in the Brill Building or any from the past (they were masters of the craft, and usually would write the entire song themselves (ex: Do you think Cole Porter would ask another writer to write his chorus for him?) instead today we have 12-15 people writing one song - this destroys the originality of the song, it kills it's uniqueness, and also we have hack writers who are not professionals and these hack writers are learning to write from other terrible writers (ex: the beatles had learned to write songs by listening to the world's greatest songwriters - the writers from Tin Pan Alley - Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Leiber and Stoller, Gershwin - these were the artists the beatles tried to emulate, or at least these are the artists they would have LEARNED how to write songs from - these artists used only PERECT RHYME, the lyrics made SENSE.... Taylor Swift does not write her own songs. She says she does, but she doesn't. What she does is she tells a "songwriter" to write her a song and she gives them a little credit - but she actually only contributes a few words at most... how do I know this? Because I know writers who have written for her. This is commonplace in the industry and always has been for as long as music has been recorded - EXCEPT now you have TERRIBLE writers, because like I said, you have groups of 14 or so writers who are not by any means masters at the craft writing one song together (how many idiots does it take to screw in a lightbulb?).... AND PLUS there is very little competition between songwriters today to actually get good at the craft (except maybe in country music though this is getting less and less as well), the reason being that songwriters can't make make enough money to even put food on the table (thank you spotify) - in order to make any money you have to write the song, produce the album, record the instruments yourself (how can one excel in any one area when they have to do all of this just to get a song out? yes the songs suffer due to this).... I could go on.

[@project25055]

Every generation has wonderful musicians. You mentioned radio which is the biggest payola scheme ever to filter five or so artists in rotation with the same five local commercials. I think everyone thinks their generation had it better than the newer ones. It usually revolves around the individual being young and feeling idealistic. The music industry is a entertainment business. It really isn't about music at all but selling pretty faces, posters, t-shirts, etc.. The pressures of making the next hit usually overrides the artistic privilege of taking a risk.

[@sartainja]

You speak the truth. 👍

[@ssp4795]

he's also not understanding that tiktok is giving young artists a way to get an audience, and there's a lot of young ones on their sharing their raw and real music. radio is dead.

[@BonVoyage861]

I agree with the uploader that mainstream music has worsened but also agree with you that there is so much music to explore outside of mainstream.

[@spinnymathingy3149]

I don’t think you really understand the modern music industry. That you’re talking about was the 50s to the 2010s. All was manufactured and fed to the radio stations. Now completely independent musicians can publish their songs and videos to the world

[@project25055]

@@spinnymathingy3149 You are right. I am not a musician, and have never worked in the industry. My reference to radio and how things were came from artists in the business. He mentioned how "great" the old way was because of the radio DJ. My only point about radio was how corrupt and limiting that format became. I understand you can release music independently or through modern technology, side step a lot of the headaches of production and produce an artist-to-fan pipeline.

[@BrianGarside]

Totally agree with your take on this topic. Its been difficult to explain to younger people that are unaware how its gone downhill.

[@artbyvince]

Every word you said is on the money and it's the way I've felt for many years. Having grown up in the 70's and 80's, today's music is something that has been continually frustrating to me. So much so that I hardly don't bother with the radio anymore. I only drop by the station that plays 80's, but even they don't get out of the usual play list specially when the 80's had so much more to offer. Thank goodness the internet came up when it did because I've found not only my old favs, but I've also discovered news ones.

[@tadeusmacabro2688]

As a music bohemian I have had the privilege of discovering so many independent artists and musicians who are currently in the scene. Good music is out there waiting for people to appreciate and admire. Avoid the mainstream and you’ll find it.

[@TECfan1]

Exactly. I'm kind of tired of these kinds of videos. They always say the exact same thing. Stop listening to the hot 100 and dig a little bit people Lol.

[@nataliam9764]

@@TECfan1 In the 90’s, we didn’t need to dig. Everything was out there on TV, radio, magazines. You could see how these musicians were influencing the masses, fashion, advertising, movies, everything.

[@TECfan1]

@@nataliam9764 The industry has changed exponentially in 30 years. It's not the same as then.

[@bluezy1]

Playlists?

[@Ted_James]

I find a lot of great music just by sampling at random bands I've never heard of via KZbin and Bandcamp. If you don't like a band, just move on to the next one.

[@robertdillon6821]

Great video, Michael. Couldn't agree more with you about Autotune. Imagine what Elvis would have thought about it. The Voice and American Idol have killed music.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Simon and that crowd need to GO, Robert! Or at least just have little girls with puppets on the show! I loved her!

[@waverlyking6045]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine I freaking hate Simon Cowell. It’s shameful how so many are taken in by his “brutal honesty” when he takes down the “no talent” people auditioning. The simple fact is that Cowell is one of those super rich jerks that played a part in ruining the music business.

[@michaelcraig9449]

@@waverlyking6045 He is a jackoff but he did not ruin good music.. Real actual musicians dont pay attention to those silly shit shows..

[@cyrbuzz6615]

American Idle was such a joke as were its performers. Only a couple singers actually made names for themselves and the rest are already forgotten.

[@sharonjensen3016]

I'm glad Elvis isn't here to experience it.

[@1OfThoseDoves]

I do agree with all of this! Although I do really enjoy the later works of like Rush such as “Snakes and Arrows” and “Clockwork Angels”. But I also really like White Stripes and Solo Jack White. I also wanna add about music these days is I feel a lot of artists now a days just can’t make new sounds, I feel there’s not a whole lot of space for new sounds and music to be as authentic and freaking amazing as it used to be. I feel I just heard the same thing over and over again and it makes me lose respect for music, but then I listen to like Pink Floyd and Rush and it restores my faith lol. Anyway great video man!

[@modestyblaise4167]

I think you can say the same for all of today’s main stream media, not just music. TV, Film, Video games are all produced with the intention of grabbing your attention, consumed and disposed of quickly, ready for the next thing to be sold. This in turn doesn’t support old school methods and genuine talent and finesse that you talk of. This can be applied then to the writers, sound engineers, producers, etc because that’s not what’s being asked or even demanded from them. With the focus on ship it in, ship it out and onto the next one, it’s the publishers that are controlling the industry and sadly they only know one thing - money! With the current push towards subscription models, the situation is only going to get worse. The saddest thing about this is that the kids today have no idea about what is actually going on, so thank you for your video.

[@rampageclover9788]

All of it is trash....

[@atlus6772]

The way I see it, the people who create and push modern media see their viewers similarly to how a prison warden views the prisoners they preside over. They rarely give us things other than barely together slop because, as far as they're concerned, "Why should prisoners (us) deserve any of the finer things?"

[@w.geoffreyspaulding6588]

Michael…..KUDOS, man! You just gave the best talk on the difference of the techniques used “in the old days” versus the past 20 years than anyone else I’ve heard on KZbin! And I’ve heard several…including Rick Beato! You were so thorough, so knowledgable, well-organized, and spoke with such clarity about your subject, that it was a true pleasure listening to you. I knew you were a musician, but you surprised me with your obviously great familiarity with sound engineering and production. Good job, Michael!! And THANK YOU, man, for putting so much time and care into your presentations. Much appreciated. It’s a pleasure being a sub on your channel!

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Wow! Thank you so much for your kind words! Rick Beato is of coarse amazing, and I love his channel! To be mentioned in the same sentence, and in a favorable way is an honor! Thank you!

[@leonid4468]

As an amateur producer and lifelong musician and multi-instrumentalist, I gotta say, this is spot on truth.

[@Pascalsmit1971]

Well, as another amateur producer, life long musician and multi-instrumentalist: I fully agree with you.

[@charleshimes1634]

Ditto to both your comments.

[@1011skarn]

As a musician since Ive been 3, this is elitist boomer garbage.

[@DuxJerome]

@@1011skarn When is your 4th birthday again?

[@rusticron3426]

Well, as a expert guy who can fart really well: I agree with you and buddy.

[@zesteecheeze]

Awesome video!! This is the first video of yours I've seen suggested for me, and I'm already excited to check out the rest of your channel!

[@mikebava1515]

A very good video, I enjoyed hearing your take on the quality of music today. The points you brought up in this clip, I never even imagined of considering why music of today "sucks". I could come up with a few more points to add to this, but they are just my personal taste. Music has changed from the past, especially how it was done. The talent we see from today's "artists" is now what I would call talent from the past. Back in those days, you had to be good at your craft, to make it big. Today, everybody and their uncle wants to be either a pop star or a record producer. The music business is flooded with people who are not very good in music, or fail to appreciate the music from yesteryear. Thank you again for the enjoyable video.

[@stratnut7146]

You’ve hit the nail on the head. I have pondered this question for years and I agree with everything you raised. Also a big difference is the recording process. In the hay day of musical genius bands would spend months and sometimes longer making albums. This at times created lots of tension between band members and this came out in the recordings. Fleetwood Mac Rumours is an excellent example of this, Pink Floyd the Wall. These days bands are lucky to be in the same room in most cases. Pro tools and similar programs, although if used correctly can be an asset, stuff with band dynamics. Copy and paste is one of those evil tools used. Bands of yesterday year had to do take after take until it was perfect which honed there ability to perform it better live and don’t get me started on auto tune, an abomination. Anyway rant over.

[@Maw0]

Don't forget Oasis beating each other with cricket bats.

[@davidl9232]

My thoughts is, due of the time period, the pyramids of music popularity is a good point But the going into the nineties, among other things, the proof is there, so much of it was due of promotion hype. Every generation gets the, it's about, the underground movement, type B.S. accompanied with the added BS self appointing experts on the THEM( put names in..the Jelly Manwanks,..sludgecupcakes, Astronomymy my, etc)hooking the young in, and they will, and promoters know it.. the escape from the daily grind, motivation. Listen to your childhood favorites, impartially, with your 40 or 50 something ears. And it's almost a definite you're going to be there saying '.. I use to like, ( if not worship) this gunk..' Of course you like, then, music more. You were a kid. WTF. Hello, new times. We don't throw away our history, but we don't live in it either. HAPPY NOWS to you. Good day.

[@stratnut7146]

@@Maw0 there are plenty of groups who put out there best work when they were at each other’s throats

[@Maw0]

@@stratnut7146 Err- Quite literally...

[@stratnut7146]

@@Maw0 bit hard to argue with a computer

[@JackWebb713]

If I found myself marooned on an island with only Britney Spears discs (or J Lo, Justin, etc.) I would still throw them in the ocean.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

That’s not marooned, that’s torture, Fenton! I agree though, and My discs would be floating right next to yours!

[@antonchigurh7820]

You better believe it. I would as well...

[@jeremiahgonzales4890]

I agree with most but Britney's early music is excellent pop music.

[@beatone2000]

I've been waiting for a video like this for a long, long time. You are spot on as your analysis explains. Thanks for the clear explanation. I'll be happy when good music returns. Perhaps not in my life time though.

[@tubetone74]

You have outlined all my complaints that I could not articulate. Well done!!!

[@navneetsinghr4290]

I am just 17, and classic rock has appealed to me more than anything. I dont listen to any pop music. 60s and 70s will always be my home

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

That is so good to hear that, Navneet! You and so many your age rediscover classic rock because there is no ‘classic’ anything left! My opinion doesn’t age me, it’s based on years of disappointment listening to new stuff! I never gave up on music! It gave up on US!

[@simonwarner6594]

I don't blame you. The 80's also came out with some classic rock too, but today's music is just simply awful. Half the time you can't understand what they're singing-if they are singing. Rap music tops list of awful music as they make it up as they go along and their "songs" go on forever. Nowadays you need an interpreter to listen to that crap. I was brought up on 60's, 70's and 80's music. You have a good taste in music

[@burkholdst.rudderberg3574]

You guys should have at least given the kid something to listen to! Check out Louisiana Blues from Savoy Brown's Blue Matter CD ( your neighbors will love it)!

[@bradleyp3655]

With that in mind my I suggest a up and coming band now touring with Halestorm and The Pretty Reckless. They have a classic rock feel in a more modern twist. Their music is very fresh take on hard rock from this younger boomer. They call themselves The Warning. Three sisters from Monterrey Mexico. The released third third album ERROR last month, kzbin.info. I suggest checking them out

[@drifterman319]

EXCELLENT DUDE! Keep it up. Some years ago I was a custodian in a school district in Illinois. I saw a high school kid walking down the stairs wearing a Kansas t-shirt. Couldn't believe it. Good for him. 1971 was one incredibly phenomenal year for rock. The top 100 is astounding. Compare it to the garbage of today? PLEASE!!

[@soundslike4266]

You know , I'm 20 years old and I always listened to old school music from the 70s , 80s and 90s . The main reason for that is the fact that my dad was and still is a big listener of music, passing to me is music taste wich is the biggest heritage I've ever received. Two years ago, during the quarantine I tried to listen to modern music because I felt ashamed of not being able to recognize the artist or the song playing on the radio or even use this information to talk about music with someone. I couldn't do it, and not because the music was bad or something like that, it's just the fact that my brain only feels attracted to music that was produced during the 70s , 80s and 90s because most of the references I had since a little kid to that period were artists from that time . I think this is why older people can't take the modern music. I can agree that nowadays, the music industry is more plastic , that's visible , but the artistic value tends to shape into new generations .

[@eddynewton4081]

All 90s music sucked

[@icecreamguru7584]

@@eddynewton4081 90s is my favourite music decade 😭 (edit mostly hip hop and indie rock like shoegaze and lo-fi/slacker)

[@garrettwilson9664]

@@eddynewton4081 90s had the best death metal and best indie shit. Also best era for hip hop

[@GAMLAPATTE]

@@eddynewton4081 not Meshuggah 😎

[@emmanuelsabado7070]

Not all 90s music are good, I agree with that but not all of them suck you know. Westlife is one of those rare exceptional boybands who actually harmonize and sing soulful songs alongside A1.

[@maxbriceno4004]

I do agree with you, even today’s artists take an classic song and destroyed with a new twist and the young people really believe it a good thing. Thank you for your point of view about today’s music

[@realmichaud]

this is from the 90s and its a good remix, but its done right and not over done. kzbin.info/www/bejne/al7EgYdmfqqZipI

[@doomsdaydanceparty7646]

Remind me again, didn't the rolling stones and led Zeppelin do that same thing?

[@maxbriceno4004]

@@doomsdaydanceparty7646 Yes they did but they didn’t rap like today new music

[@doomsdaydanceparty7646]

@@maxbriceno4004 oh my God shut up. Rap has been around for 50 YEARS!!!!!!!! Sorry 12 bar blues boomer shit isn't popular anymore but my god music has to evolve, if you opened ur damn mind and gave a single shit about artistic evolution, you wouldn't be all "rap bad, I'm racist".

[@no1u521]

@@maxbriceno4004 rap is been around since 70s old man

[@freedo333]

Id like to see a video where you address how classic rock radio stations only play the big hits from artists. Freebird, stairway to heaven, walk this way, etc. Why not deeper cuts? Great video btw :)

[@scottmcmahon86]

30 odd years ago, some Boomers were telling me exactly the same thing about the likes of Prince and Metallica, funnily enough.... There is good music out there, you just aren't going to find it in the mainstream...

[@leroyrs]

Just one question did you have to look for the likes of Prince and Metallica or weren't they just in the Pop Music charts ?

[@allenf.5907]

Exactly - it's out there - just not so easy to find at first.

[@leroyrs]

@@allenf.5907 you won't find ',cause music have changed". Different musical arrangement, instrumentation etc. Todays pop music have been produced by around 15 music producer who always use the same structures, sounds , rythms etc. That's why nowadays productions sound basically the same. Even good musicians like Ed Sheeran use Autotune that seems to make voices perfect but kills versatility and the individual unique note of a singer. Modern productions can work for all generations like The Weeknd did. They created an authentic '80s sound in "Blinding Lights" and even Boomers liked it. Just sayin'

[@allenf.5907]

@@leroyrs There are GREAT artists, songs, sound out there - but it is somehow the wrong music finding the spotlight - more or less what you are saying about "the producers" but I'm not even talking about the Ed Sheeran's of the world - who are just okay. There's something behind all of this putting garbagy music out there. I can give examples of some of the better sounds out there who the general public may not be aware of.

[@qmj9720]

You spelled "funny" wrong. Just sayin'.

[@7donc]

Yep, most of today's music really sucks, but some of the best musicians I've ever heard are out there right now. Problem is they aren't mainstream. If it weren't for KZbin I wouldn't know about many of them. When someone like Katy Perry is singing her inane drivel to a sold our Madison Square Garden, truly great musicians might be playing to 100 people close by at the Blue Note or some performing arts theater that holds 500 people. The continual dumbing down of America....the world.

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

What a well articulated and intelligent post.

[@deductivereasoning4257]

People not caring about music is ultimately a good thing since the world is not a good place. One can also point out that people from those older eras, namely the shot callers of today, are the reason both dynamics royally suck. To blame it on ignorance is what actually is. Many of those past musicians being clamored for toed the line during the pandemic - like the puppets they've always been. And just like industry artists today, they didn't write their own material; they only lied about doing so because the people back then supposedly cared more about perceived originality than truth - although they are now learning all truths and finally jumping ship. Why else did those 'amazing artists' fade away and burn out so quickly if they are so artistically talented? Towing the line and not producing an album in 40 years are proof they're props. One can also argue, back then, the, uh, 'androgenous musicians' were more well received. If that past music has any chance at a revival, it's because dressing like women is mainstream again. And then, none of those propped up bands have anywhere near the level of talent it takes to perform classical music. Any classical musician can say what you are, about what music you appreciate most - and they did and still do. One can argue the dumbing down started with the loss of interest in classical music - and the meteoric rise of the minor pentatonic scale that somehow had a strangle hold on the older generations. I've always preferred music written in a neo-classical style, I've never cared for music heavily based in the minor pentatonic scale and I'm an 80's kid...

[@Gregorovitch144]

It was always the same, man. I grew up in the 60's, my first record purchase was Hey Jude and my second was Honky Tonk Women both bought when I was 12 when they first came out, and I can assure you that there was wall to wall crap in the pop charts back then, and all the way through the 70's. Wall to wall crap. Sure, there were some fantastic records released but for every one that we still remember fondly today there were at least 100 of factory produced inane drivel as you put it. No different than today.

[@7donc]

@@Gregorovitch144 I don't disagree with you at all. I never said all music was great, back in the day. My point was that there is still really good music NOW, but it's hard to find. I grew up in the 60's too. The first two albums I bought when I was about 12 years old, was Herman Hermit's and the 1910 Fruit Gum Company. Luckily, I had an older brother and sister. They played 'their stuff' for me. Next three albums I bought were, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Ten Year's After.

[@eargasm1072]

We are and have been an idiocracy for quite some time...it's just that it is now unraveling for the world to see

[@raajuice]

i absolutely loved this video, it really highlights my opinion about today's music. like i know there are genuinely good musicians out there in this generation too, but mostly, the music just isnt as good as the 70s/80s/90s. i mean i personally am a teenager, and growing up my parents got me into Led Zep, Queen, Abba and other old classic bands. Then i myself ventured into the metal genre, Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden etc. etc.

[@Thomasmemoryscentral]

Bieber came out in 2009 at the end of the 2000's and yet to be, he is considered more a 2010s popstar than Timberlake and Spears who started earlier in the 2000s. Which to me certifies them as 2000s popstars

[@hermanmunster714]

Keep learning! You will be better for it. When we were kids in the 60s went to library and listened to the old stuff. Guess what we learned that Cab Calloway and Jellyroll Morton from 30s n 40s were very hip cats and daring. Each generation learns from previous. Problem now is music has been completely taken over by IT hacks and companies.

[@mayasanders1046]

​@@hermanmunster714yes it sucks!!

[@velociraptor3313]

There's a really good modern musician called Voltaire, I love classical music, Opera, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s music. I also love British marching songs, French music, traditional Japanese music, Russian music, Chinese music, medieval music and German folk music.

[@beatledavesbeatleschannel]

You ain’t kidding Brother! Loved the Police , especially Synchronicity, fabulous album.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

More Police coming, Dave! And Synchronicity is a work of art on so many levels, I agree!

[@dogenestris]

There's just something about hearing the little intentional imperfections that give a song its personality, one good example is how you can hear the squeak in Bonham's pedal in a few zeppelin tracks

[@Kashmir.820]

We love Bonzo’s pedal squeak!!! Good call !!

[@davestryjak6042]

Yes, since I've been loving you especially!

[@helenespaulding7562]

You know…I never could hear that. Give me a song and I’ll REALLY listen for it!

[@BassPlayerSusan]

I have "pet Sounds" on CD. I think it's the greatest album ever made. While the CD has extra tracks including "Hang on to Your Ego" (an early version of "I Know There's an Answer"). My Dad's version on Vinyl however is an aural masterpiece for your reason, Doge Nestris.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

I agree doge! You don’t mix out the human element! It the human we want to hear!👌😉

[@BJ-fj6jw]

I think you articulated exactly what I felt. Quality of music has changed over past decades. Some contributing factors: 1. laziness 2. lack of originality 3. cookie cutter hits 4. lack of depth 5. absence of classical music structure 6 . appearance over skill 7. gimmicks over talent 8. imitation verses uniqueness 9. sensuality over substance 10. lack of any profound message and mystery in the lyrics that speak to deeper issues in our lives and the world 11. acceptance and celebration of mediocracy 12. abandonment and fear of excellence - and the effort and patience to acheive it There has been of course, many extraordinary songs and artists over the past decades, but I do notice a shift of quality, depth and delivery of music from 1950's through 1980 era verses 1980 to current music time frame. The songs and artists beginning in the 1920's through the 30's and 40's were for the most part phenomenal. Why else would that music still exist as "standards" today? This is my personal opinion and perspective, as art and music is largely subjective. But I urge that we as musicians and songwriters pay homage to the great performers and writers of the past and not truncate ourselves from our roots in classical, blues, jazz and popular standards, and early rock and roll. Remember, we would not be here with our varieties of genre if it were not for them and their predecessors.

[@aporue5893]

the problem being the fact many songs sound the same

[@RemedyRx1]

Hey man! Really glad I found your channel! Love your content. Love your delivery! I've subscribed, liked and rung the bell. Keep it up, brother!

[@digmacdiggydoo]

MTV ruined music. As long you were a good looking person, it didn’t matter what musical skills you had.

[@gator7082]

You had a great observation about music playing in the stores. I actually turned to my wife the other day while we were shopping and told her I wanted to leave because the song that was playing was driving me insane. I don't consider myself some sort of curmudgeon when it comes to music, but something has gone terribly wrong, especially in the last decade or so. Another example: the other day I watched a show with my daughter and some of the teen girls were singing, or what I like to call urban yodeling. Now it's not all bad, however that same day I played The Great Gig In The Sky for her to give an example of Tier One level extemporaneous singing.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Yeah you sound like me in a store! Except the curmudgeon part! I refuse to be labeled as anything but a grumpy-old-man!😉

[@jblack7159]

Well, personally I find the vocal on The Great Gig In The Sky intensely annoying. For me, it renders the track unlistenable.

[@theend9494]

The real reason is the producers, more interested in the nuance than the song, also most of them cant write a melody so they get some young girl in to come up with a song which is normally crap, young artist "I have 1 million hits on spotify" , but 4 hits on facebook ??

[@jblack7159]

@@theend9494 You are clearly talking only about the very lightweight pop stuff, which has ALWAYS been around - some of it pleasant enough, some less so.. You are ignoring huge swathes of more creative stuff. And why the dig at "young girl" songwriters. Sounds pretty sexist - and ageist - to me.

[@davidbrown2300]

You are not going insane. This is by design. The Kroger I used to shop in played basically 70s AM stuff (Bread, Gordan Lightfoot). Now it is loud rap bullshit. They do not our business any more. And I am happy to oblige.

[@danletras]

I am still blown away by new music and I am 56 years old; however, it is never new music found in the streaming top 40, but rather most commonly among new jazz hybrid stuff and stuff involving folk music forms from around the world as they meet other traditions or ways of arranging. This is because I value surprise within melodies and harmony, lyrics that go beyond greed culture and variations on consumerist nihilism & that try to say things in original and inventive ways, rhythmic variety & swing/groove only capable of being achieved by human hands, and ways of singing centered in spirit or enigma or searching, rather than mere spectacle - qualities that are rare-to-nonexistent and contemporary top 20 music (and I make a point of listening to the top 20 every few months)... And mine is a sentiment I am seeing more and more among the comments sections of music videos online. Being old is not the reason many people are underwhelmed by the current top 20 - because these same people happen to love much new music created by people of all generations.

[@mikecummings6593]

Michael I've watched four or five of your podcasts in the last 2 days and I must admit they are hi in quality and extraordinarily well thought out and you sir are a wealth of knowledge keep up the good work I'll try to catch up by watching all of your prior work

[@danburnes722]

I was at an outside bar the other day with a singer / guitar player. He took requests. Everything this young artist played was more than 30 years old. The modern pop is unplayable in that setting.

[@thelastperfectman4139]

Very true; much of what passes as music today could not be played solo on a guitar. If you did it would sound dull beyond believe. Great songs can stand on their own with nothing but a guitar or piano and a voice.

[@thomassschwarz5998]

I play alot of modern music in an solo acoustic setting

[@danburnes722]

@@thomassschwarz5998 What do you play? Play any Neil Young?

[@thomassschwarz5998]

@@danburnes722 I do a couple Neil Young songs. I play everything from air supply to metal, 70s 80s 90s and modern pop and rock

[@jeffjohnson5544]

It's because there aren't any guitars in 99% of today's music. If there are any guitars, it's buried in the mix.

[@joesweeney7216]

You hit the nail on the head! The mainstream music industry is just lazy

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Thanx, Joe, and you’re right!👌

[@abrahampalmer8761]

Beyond lazy

[@penelop96]

Problem is, he didn’t say “mainstream” music; he said “today’s” music.

[@MarkusFFFF]

Computer games have their own music, and it's on movie score level since long time. I think you are forgetting one important thing: algorithms for streaming services. I think most of the popular music is made especially for those algorithms, which results in everything sounding the same. Boring most of the time. I really miss the 80s and 90s in electronic music. What a time this was.

[@odmusicman]

I know this is going to sound strange but shortly before I watched this video, I just finished some backing vocals on one of my songs. My voice kept having a small rolloff at the end making it sligthly out of tune. I had done 7-8 takes and was tired. I was ready to use Melodyne to fix that rolloff. I went upstairs to take a break. I watched your video. Went back downstairs and did the take until I got it right. Thanks for the inspiration. Joe

[@billeverett2659]

So true!! One more element that is missing today is the lack of musical eduction in schools. When I was a kid (in the 60s) we went to mandatory music class. Everyone had to start with a flutiphone and eventually everyone picked an instrument to learn on. We were taught how to read and play music. Today's kids have none of that. When they grow up with no musical ability, training, or talent, this is the musical end result. They have to rely on digital transformation to create what they call music. I was never musically gifted but that just made me appreciate the ones that were. Every once in a while I will find a band today that plays amazing music, but I really have to search for it and I never hear it on the radio.

[@VioletDeliriums]

I have a Master's degree in music performance and a PhD in musicology...I am here to tell you that you do not need an education to be a musician. What you have to do is figure out a way to make music that people can relate to because it says something worth saying in a sonically interesting way. The problem is not the decline of music, it is the decline of people's ability to listen and try to understand what is happening, mainly due to elitist snobbery...This means you.

[@jesseroberts1041]

@@VioletDeliriums Honestly, music at the end of the day is supposed to be expressing someone's feelings or effort. It's never been easier to make music and that's f***ing awesome! Even if it sucks, it's easy to skip or ignore what I don't like and so much talent can start even if they're beginning with nothing. I hate all of the negativity towards the modernization of music creation.

[@VioletDeliriums]

@@jesseroberts1041 OK...I am not being negative about it. The Boomers and the Boomer-like younger people, who clearly have superior taste and refinement, are being negative.

[@jesseroberts1041]

@@VioletDeliriums Yeah I got that from your comment lol, it’s all good. I cringe when thinking about my younger toxic years though, spewing shit like “ah all music these days suck!” And thinking it was an actual fact lmao. Had like, 300 songs I knew then? Now my Spotify has 1100 (small numbers to some I know.) but every year and month it seems like, I’m finding something different that I like lol. Be it old or new gen.

[@tutsybassista]

Amen! 🙏

[@barnowl]

Thanks for mentioning radio, and how it used to be. Stations only needed to air 10 minutes of commercial time to make a profit, but more importantly, the DJ was doing his job of informing us about what we were hearing, who the players were, what was coming up next, who's in town this weekend and will be in the studio with us to chat up their new album. Now we've got streaming, no DJ giving us information about the music. I grew up with Clyde Clifford and Wolfman Jack, thankfully. When asked if I've bought any new music lately, my response is that I'm going backwards, buying recordings from the 50's and early 60's....if that stuff isn't already in my library.

[@rodneyadderton1077]

I always wondered why commercials were louder than the show. Thanks. I also noticed video tape is louder than a DVD.

[@PedrSion]

The seventies was the best decade for me, rock music wise. Purple/ Rainbow, Zeppelin, Lizzy, Ac/Dc, UFO, Scorpions, Eagles, Floyd etc.

[@thelastperfectman4139]

Here’s another thought/ question: is the decline in song quality also related to the fact that most artists in music today are supposedly songwriters, but in reality all they do is come up with generic lyrics and the music is usually provided by a producer or other third party? It’s just a factory putting out music that all sounds the same.

[@paulmix3858]

So true.

[@usmcchrisg]

It's taking a teenager's poetry and a team of professionals and making formulaic dog crap.

[@docsavage8640]

Taylor Swift 😆 🤣 😂

[@bradzimmerman3171]

Is "rap " even music, one could not call crap pleasurable to listen to

[@brucemillar]

That NEVER happened in the 60’s (bubblegum pop etc) 70’s and 80’s? Or even 90’s ? You lot are kidding yourselves. There’s always been simple lyric, simple arrangement catchy songs by one hit wonders or bigger acts.

[@eddieeriksson9412]

This sounds like such a boomer take. There are thousands new of artists that don’t fit your description of today’s music. As you said, people no longer explore to expand their music taste and I think this is even more evident in people age 40 and up who just complain and say the classics are better. Well of course they are, because we don’t remember the bad stuff. For example hair metal/rock was such a dip in musical creativity. That’s why we only remember a handful. If you yourself do not explore why complain that others don’t? Some bands that don’t fit into your description of today’s music: black country new road, opeth, bring me the horizon, king gizzard and the lizard wizard, porcupine tree, Haken, leprous, converge. Etc

[@Hachi80k]

This comment right here has nothing but facts.

[@Corn_Pone_Flicks]

I was wondering how far down I'd have to scroll to find the word "boomer." Not very far at all, it seems.

[@brianharlan51]

Wrong I Remember shit in each decade. 43 here. Today is mumble rap feces

[@despacitobandito]

Porcupine Tree is A tier, so glad to see another person who listens

[@mikekrause3671]

@@Corn_Pone_Flicks ha! so true. People like to use the same words over and over like zombie robots . no brain to think of something original . ho hum .

[@VoyageOne1]

So true, but this didn’t just spring up in the last 10 years. The pop charts have always been bland, derivative and prone to bouts of musical bankruptcy. Occasionally a genre breaks through to disrupt things (folk rock, punk, grunge, new wave, gangsta rap etc.) but once it becomes flavour of the month it gets watered down and bastardised. Look at the weekly hot 100 of any bygone year and you’ll notice half the tracks are disposable fluff that is now long forgotten.

[@la6136]

Pop music in the 80s was amazing. What about Michael Jackson or Tears for Fears?

[@lightningbolt2692]

I hate this take so much I hear it everywhere. First of all, music is subjective, always has and always will be. Second, if you want to find good modern music you can easily find it through word of mouth of friends and family, the internet which is filled with passionate music lovers who would gladly recommend you hundreds of artists that released something great this year (Theneedledrop on KZbin, you've probably heard of him), and last but not least streaming services giving you endless recommendations based on what you listen to. People who say "modern music sucks" are too lazy to actually go look for it.

[@stevecarey2030]

I think you left out half of the equation. The audience. I grew up in the 80s when punk/new wave was big and there was a huge following of new cool music. There was an audience for it. There was a scene built around it. It inspired kids to go to shows and better yet to pick up guitars and form bands. Well that's pretty much gone. Nowadays the only music scene (if you can call it that) is rap which is nothing more than someone rhyming to a beat. A little bit of EDM which is just someone playing with a music program on their computer. There's not a demand for cool music. I mean, I honestly don't care cuz there was so much great music from 1960-2000 that I'll never run out of albums to buy. They just won't be from now.

[@outonthetiles]

You nailed it! Decent music plummeted after 2000 especially with Limewire and auto tunes.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

You’re absolutely right regarding the audience, Steve! I’ve covered that aspect in several of my past videos! I just didn’t want to beat that poor old dead horse!😉

[@NotoriousLightning]

While I can understand the argument that mainstream music today is worse than it was in the 80s, it really isn't fair to compare underground music from the 80s with mainstream music of today. It's not like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements ever topped the charts. Compared to bands that are a similar size today, music really doesn't suck. I would argue that bands like Parquet Courts, Black Country New Road, Yard Act, Fontaines DC and Car Seat Headrest are as good as the underground greats of earlier decades.

[@rjlchristie]

These days kids learn to play from published books, the internet and much more often than not they practise with machines such as loop machines rather than with other musicians. Rock music was never formally taught in its golden hey day. It was figured out by ear and experimentation and performer's skills were honed by far greater opportunities to play live. Instruction mostly amounted to absorbing folk traditions or using skills picked up from traditional classical music pedagogy. Currently, any kid can source detailed transcriptions of instrumental parts played by a wide range of top classic rock artists. There exists now resources we only dreamed of in the 60s and 70s. But it has killed the music's essential spirit. Learn with a machine and you'll play like a machine.

[@ChristopherNeeme]

If you haven't, you should explore the retrowave genre of music here on KZbin, it's the only contemporary music I've been into for years now. Many of the better tracks rely on the sax heavy style of the 1980s.

[@neonskyline1]

That was a great video, I'm a big electronic music fan, mainly because I was a Hawkwind fan in the 70's, the problem is that not a lot of people make good electronic music, it's this crap most of them make that has ruined music, the other problem is that people are shallow now, and most stuff is crap now, not just music

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

I love electronica! As long as the band does something ‘creative’ long live gizmos!

[@corac4]

When synthesisers and drum machines started appearing, the talented musicians of the time embraced them as extra tools to use as part of their repertoire. They experimented with them a lot more in order to find out what they could achieve, with the result that there was some mind blowing music. The difference is that now they are using electronics to cover up their inadequacies. When you hear a track from today, it seems to me like they ignoring half the potential of what a good synthesiser can do. You hear nothing like the number of different sounds you used to in the early days. I like electronica as much as anything else, but only when it's being used to it's full potential to create something great and different, instead of this dull mediocrity.

[@neonskyline1]

@@corac4 good answer

[@colinallison1158]

Yeah man. Hawkwind embraced new styles and are still making great music. Superb band.

[@urmanascrewed]

I think the industry has changed a lot, especially with how it makes money, which I still don't understand. I suspect it is more common than suggested for people to explore their music options nowadays, as top album sales per year are nothing in comparison to what they used to be. Idk about how listeners to the top streamed artists compares to the amount of listeners to the most popular albums though. I feel like there is just a lot of music with the rise of soundcloud and indie music culture.

[@katlyndobransky2419]

Ok but everybody knows that 80s music is the greatest thing to ever exist. Literally every genre from the 80s I can listen to

[@seogabonotjah6555]

and 90- mid 2000s

[@evolunacy2]

Agree completely. And there was such a wide variety of artists and sounds in the 80s too, unlike this hellscape we’re currently a part of.

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@evolunacy2 don’t give up so easily, there’s a thousand times more good music available now then there ever was in the 80s or 90s. Back then about the only music you could hear was what was on the radio, or the occasional expensive record purchase. Now days with Spotify or the like there’s the entire words production of music right there just waiting for you to find.

[@MiMi_MoMo]

@@spinnymathingy3149 there’s actually a TON of good music that’s not on Spotify at all. It all has to do with record labels, and a lot of labels won’t work with Spotify-especially non-western labels. Ever heard of the Japanese genre called “City Pop?” Probably not. Most artists of the genre are not on Spotify because most Japanese record labels won’t work with Spotify. But it’s too bad because it’s such a great genre of music. What is City Pop, you ask? Well, it’s a Japanese genre of music spanning from the late 70s to early 90s. It takes funk, soul, Jazz, Jazz-fusion, boogie, Disco and 80s synth-pop and puts them all in a blender to create something truly unique, awesome-sounding, and musically complex. So no, Spotify won’t help you find everything. There’s a world of music out there to explore, and you can’t just rely on Spotify to find it.

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@MiMi_MoMo that’s why I mentioned “or the like, meaning similar platforms as well” interesting, please tell where’s the listening platform to find it ? I want to give it a listen

[@georgedantz3617]

Thanks, Michael for posting this video at this time. Because, oddly enough, today I decided to check out the top 100 Billboard songs for June/July 2022. Everything from song 100 to song numero uno was either hip hop/ RnB or modern country. The only outlier was Kate Bush's song Running Up that Hill from 1985. It was refreshing to actually hear something from 1985 that sounded more original and unique than anything else that I heard from song 100 to 1. Her song was charting at number 8.

[@helenespaulding7562]

I’m glad you did that so I do t have to! 😄

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

And Running Up That Hill is OLD! Great song btw! That’s why the really good shows and movies include music from the past! It’s good!

[@progunjack5556]

How is "As it Was" by Harry Styles either a hip-hop, r&b or country????

[@w.geoffreyspaulding6588]

@@progunjack5556 well…interpret “everything” rather loosely…..exceptions to every blanket statement

[@fugawiaus]

Something I was brought up on with the older bands I grew up with was that the music set the tone and soul while the lyrics put words to the music. You could “feel” the music. Today’s generic rubbish doesn’t do that. There is no soul or feeling to the music it’s just generic and repeated. It’s hard to tell the difference between songs. The beat has to match for djs to mix them in clubs.

[@davej.meister5421]

It was like that during the 80s. Rick Astley's Rickroll Song 1 (Never Gonna Give You Up) and Rickroll Song 2 (Together Forever) just plain sound alike. Oh, you didn't know that already?

[@matthewstreet1961]

Thank you Michael...you explained what I've been thinking so clearly and easy to understand! Loved the rocking chair analogy! Ha! Love your channel. You're the best! Cheers Matt

[@kassos8617]

Great video. Thank you for putting words on what I feel since decades. Luckily, there is still great artists in the business. But even if they are not the most promoted, we have tools today that give us access to their music.

[@ZeldamastermattLps]

I really hate to break it to all of you in the comments but the music industry has been like this for a long time now and the only things that are new are stylistic shifts which happen regularly as more music is written and incorporated into the lexicon. There will always be old men saying “music today sucks” been like that since they were saying the same thing about Bird and Diz.

[@Chelaxim]

Also people here talking about autotune. Newsflash EVERYTHING uses pitch correction nowdays. Even Broadway cast recordings use it. Also some of the examples of "real music" that people who bash on pitch correction use CAN'T SING.

[@franingegnieri1831]

Old men?? Man you have young musicians in their 20's saying that today's music suck, its not a matter of opinion, its a fact

[@Hachi80k]

@@franingegnieri1831 That's not the issue. The thing is, there will always be people complaining about popular music. In all ages and eras, it's just how it is. That doesn't mean that the music indeed sucks or everything is bad, not even close. Get out of your little thought bubble, find something you like, it's easier than ever.

[@bruhmoment3478]

@@franingegnieri1831 I mean I'm 13 and even I understand that today's music sucks

[@TigerRogers0660]

Look at the talented multi-instrumentalists we had back then too. Paul McCartney & John Paul Jones just to name 2. JPJ was a quiet guy in the background - but what a MASSIVE talent this guy was! IMO he was the key force in the actual music of LZ.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

And they could PLAY, they could SING, They could WRITE, Tiger! These morons have to have their assistants call the assistants to their managers to set up a meeting with some pop writer in Sweden or wherever? In a word__________________NO!

[@TigerRogers0660]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine Yeah, it's just a joke!!

[@navneetsinghr4290]

Jack Bruce is another force of nature, he could play violin, cello, double bass, bass, piano, guitar, harmonica and many more. Coincidently all 3 of them were bassist

[@fattone166]

We still have them today but the music industry chooses fashion, T&A and social media popularity instead.

[@davefieramosca6974]

John Paul Jones was the driving force. Perfect example "In Through The Outdoor" But he insisted on being in the background.it doesn't matter , true Zeppelin fans know better.

[@rebecahazelgrove]

I agree with you 100per cent. I have always been open minded when it comes to musical styles and genres, and find myself in the last past years having a hard time trying to like what I hear on the radio or spotify,believe me,no intention to degrade mainstream music,but my efforts to enjoy or retain in my mind the monotonous,lame,autotuned noises,makes it really hard,and then the next song is the same as the next,and the next... So for those who say older people always put down what the young ones listen to, I must say I was a teenager in the eighties and I loved music from the fifties and sixties, as I grew older, I noticed my favourite decade was the seventies,while still enjoying the nineties' and early 00s, but then I dont know what the hell happened, mostly noise unable to bring me any feeling or emotion, so I knew it was time to actively look for the music,because the music was not coming to me. Since then I have found pretty interesting and decent artists who are now doing their stuff but unfortunately, not promoted by music companies,and of course digging into the never ending well of musical jewels,the seventies! cheers from a new subscriber here!

[@sludgetrudger]

Thank you sir. You put into words exactly what I have been thinking. You are honest and knowledgeable. This video earned you a new subscriber.

[@steveniles6510]

Michael, great video. Really enjoying the fact you are toning down your hand gestures. Really allows the viewer to concentrate on the content. Thanks for the hard work you do!

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

I’m trying Steve, seriously! It’ll take awhile! If you really want to go nuts, take a look at some of my older videos! They’ll make you run for cover, brother! My hands are everywhere!😉

[@user-xh9rz7rf8l]

Unfortunately, after the advent of digital media in music, everything went wrong. The young engineers and producers who graduated from the "digital" colleges did not care at all about the quality of reproduction, because they wrote off the past as outdated and anachronistic, without knowing it at all. 30 years later their garbage suffocated us and vinyls became our oxygen again. However, there is another serious reason why there is no good music anymore and the phenomenon is global. It seems that in today's society of abundance, there is no longer any inspiration to create good music or art in general. When young people brought new revolutionary ideas and the world lived under the fear of war, nuclear destruction and hunger, I think it was a great stimulus to inspire artists and gather 300 thousand people who will dance and sing at the concerts . Today no one goes to listen to music, everyone goes to take videos with their cell phone.

[@getsmartquick]

Another reason music sucks today is the fact artists are internally degenerates overcompensating with the musical skills because most artists lack substance but have a lot of style. Also to blame are the consumers customer behaviour it creates a feedback loop of the illusion that shit is good. Also the the powers that be using music to push certain ideologies the book media elite goes deep into this

[@g4joe]

Back to Basic"s kzbin.info/www/bejne/hV65aYysadJsjtU Taj Farrant Lenny

[@boejudden9011]

y'all need to diversify your musical and cultural palettes. I would hate to have to live such an impoverished existence

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

Autotune is the biggest curse ... there's a style of singing in the Middle East that resembles a light autotuning (with a skilled singer), but with the advent autotune Middle Eastern pop has been flooded with the most hellish overuse of autotune... it is absolute garbage!!

[@cabellero1120]

yet another glorified "hippie/freedom Rock" dissertation?? gimme a break! You speak of War, Violence, Hunger as if they were "Fun" times!! Young people, back then, just Used the "war" as an excuse to do drugs and have sex! Psychedelic was mostly about Substance Abuse! How many Rock Stars overdosed on hard drugs, back in the day?? You praise this??

[@stevierico5934]

I love your out and comparison of old time and modern day music. You put a smile on my face and you are absolutely right in what you are saying 😂

[@felixheinimann8968]

Always prefered the older music over the stuff from my generation. There are quite a few good things nowadays but nothing compares to the level of music in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

[@TheDude_24]

Same I love old music now music is cringe.

[@bookofawimpykid6226]

@@TheDude_24 💀

[@shoeboxofangels]

Hi Michael, great show! Instant sub! When I was born back in 1967, The Beatles were recording Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts and The Moody Blues were recording Nights in White Satin. Great music always sticks around. The music and songwriting legends still inspire me! I'm still writing songs as if I'm still in the 60's-80's. I guess I've never left. I've written hundreds of songs and never have sold a one because I'm not financially motivated to sell songs. I write because I love to write. I have wrote songs as if I was writing for the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, for movie soundtracks etc. I'm focused on painting portraits for now. Maybe I'll paint a portrait for your studio. Keep up the great work and rock on! Thanks again for the great content!

[@tonyhodgkinson4586]

Listen to 60’s and 70’s original pressings, the music is layered beautifully, layers of instruments, little inflections in the mix. When you consider these were recorded on 4 track, 8 track recorders. There was so much to listen for that kept you hooked. Mistakes in music make it real, valve/ tube amps have second harmonic distortion, which is actually nice to listen to.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Thanx, Tony! Even the pop acts then had great stereo masters, played often with The Wrecking Crew, and always offered superior musicianship! Long Live Carol Kaye, btw!

[@gradystarkey4498]

I am so glad I found this video. I have been scratching my head for the past 15 years plus trying to figure out why todays music is so unlistenable. I am 65 years old and I HAVE wondered if it just that I have passed my time. I do listen to rock, jazz, and classical on a decent system. I do think music has gotten too corporate. Robin Lane (of the Chartbusters) once commented that her management wanted to disregard their strength of three guitars and to emphasize bass and drums. They were never satisfied with their albums.

[@brandonglazer1188]

I'd love to give you my perspective. The perspective of a musician/songwriter who's 25 years old and is in the middle of all of this 'crappy music'. Part of me agrees with you, so I'll start there. I absolutely LOVE older music. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Styx, King Crimson, and the criminally underrated Canadian bands, Trooper and The Tragically Hip (had to put some Canadian pride in there for good measure!) And there are some great pop artists from the 20th century that I love too! ABBA, Bee Gees, Prince, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and the incredible Kate Bush (I was a fan of hers long before Stranger Things). Believe me, I am also disheartened by the apparent death of popular rock music. Both country and rock have suffered tragically in the charts for the last 20 years (if you can even call today's country music... country. More like pop music with words about beer, trucks, and heartbreak). As we both know, there are some incredible modern rock bands out there. My personal favourites are Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, Animal Collective, Cage the Elephant, MGMT, Alabama Shakes, and then some. Unfortunately, none of these artists have reached the level of fame that bands such as The Rolling Stones did back the 60s and 70s. That we can agree to be upset on. However, I think that people painting all of modern music as trash are missing out. As a lover of rock music, let me give you some names of popular artists today who I think are very talented and deserve to be heard: Taylor Swift. And I don't mean 2008 Taylor Swift. I mean the Taylor Swift that wrote beautiful songs such as "False God", "Soon You'll Get Better", "Cardigan", "Betty". And yes, she very much writes her own stuff. LADY GAGA. I mean, you can't seriously tell me this woman isn't one of the most talented artists out there today? I just saw her in concert last week. I've also seen McCartney, Def Leppard, Styx, Elton John, Garth Brooks, among a few others. She is bar-none the best artist I've ever seen live. And she's a BRILLIANT songwriter. "Always Remember Us This Way", "Hair", "You and I". Just a few examples among dozens of great songs she's written. And here's some more GREAT modern records: Lorde "Melodrama" A MASTERPIECE Harry Styles "Fine Line" and "Harry's House" Silk Sonic "An Evening with Silk Sonic" Lana Del Rey "Norman Fucking Rockwell" Ariana Grande "Thank U, Next" The Weeknd "Dawn FM" Billie Eilish "Happier Than Ever" Lady Gaga "Chromatica" I hope that you will take a moment to listen to some of this. It might just change your point of view. Yes, most of the 2010s were pretty garbage for popular music. But the music has been changing for the better in the last 5 years. I understand if Electronic-Pop, or Pop music in general is not your style. That's fine. Rock music isn't everyone's favourite either. But respectfully Michael, there is a difference between music that's trash, and music that simply isn't your cup of tea. Drake's music mostly being trash? Now that's something you and I could probably totally agree on.

[@MesmerBaas]

The main difference that I see between the last 10-15 years and the time before that, is the amount of genres where people are exposed to. When I was a kid the radio pop radio channels would play a more diverse range of genres. Nowadays the offering is very standardized and controlled. Good music is still being made, but most of it is hidden away. Previous decades also had pop artists such as the ones you have now, but they just would be one of the genres instead of the only genre exposed on pop channels.

[@fredriksvard2603]

Rammstein selling out stadiums and kids singing spiritbox on tv, not exactly hidden away. Yes there were times when bands like gnr, motley crue, kiss, u2 etc ruled the world - there's a case to be made that that's dumbed down music though, not exactly the pinnacle of music as an art form. It's rare that what people see as high quality music is also wildly popular. I can't think of many such artists. Prince?

[@MesmerBaas]

@@fredriksvard2603 Older artists still sell out stadiums indeed, but those audiences are not dominantly filled with the newer generations. People that attend those shows lived through times when radio channels, music tv channels and such would still expose the listener to a wide palette of music genres. If you listen to radio or music tv channels these days you'll find that the scope has significantly narrowed down. Yes, the curious listener can still find their way on Spotify, KZbin and such, but we can't expect younger people to look for something that they don't know about.

[@fredriksvard2603]

@@MesmerBaas Sure about that? Every new subculture, be it rap, edm or black metal, started off with kids revolting against whatever was on radio etc. If they had enough appeal they'd end up being the radio mainstream. My impression is that kids are much more likely to search out new stuff than us boomers who typically stick with whatever was in during our formative years (beatles, clapton, srv, zep, metallica, metalcore depending on age) and declare that everything that came after that is simple commercial garbage.

[@MesmerBaas]

@@fredriksvard2603 I didn't make any qualitative statements about music. I think you're now attributing a stereotypical boomer philosophy to me that is not based on anything tangible. Some of the new music is also good, and there was also shitty older music. I'm also not sticking to what I know from the past, I'm continuously exploring new music styles as I outlined earlier. I'm just saying that the amount of genres exposed on radio and tv channels has decreased drastically, meaning that for some genres it is very difficult to get exposure. I can switch between 10 radio channels in the Netherlands and be exposed to the same small quantatity of artists and genres, and this was not the case in the past. If you believe that genre exposure has not changed in the last decade, then we will have to agree to disagree, which is fine. I think the lack of genre diversification in a Top 40 list now compared to a Top 40 list in any other decade should be evidence enough.

[@jeffreyg4626]

I could attend a week long conference on this topic. Mike, I've been thinking about this for the last 25 years. After my divorce in 2005, i dated women in their 20's and the difference in our music was very interesting. Some of these women didn't even know who Bob Dylan is. These lovely ladies did introduce me to the pop songs and "artists" of the day. I noticed that after 2011 the quality of pop music just took a nose dive. Interesting topic! Thank You

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Oh lord Jeffrey! I too dated a woman 11 years my junior, and what she didn’t know could fill a book! I think the Bible called that ‘unevenly yoked’, bruddah!

[@iluvdaguitar]

I remember when my parents and especially grandparents said they couldn't understand the rock music of the 70s and 80s. I always thought it was because they refused to listen and give it a chance. I found out years later my dad actually did buy a Kiss album and secretly tried listening to understand it. LoL He still hated it, but at least he tried.🤷 Today I know how they felt. I simply do not understand the pure crap they crank out today.

[@boshane123]

Where'd you get that Zeppelin light Mike? I love it!

[@liamfitzdrums]

Something i think that doesn't get talked about enough is the lack of a push from rock radio stations. There are good bands out there. Only 2 weeks ago I saw a great rock band called Touts. If it weren't actually for streaming services such as Spotify (as bad as they are) you wouldn't be able to hear most of these new bands coming out.

[@ladyshar42]

There are definitley great bands out there. Halestorm, Maneskin, The Pretty Reckless, Coheed and Cambria, they are out there.

[@jaredsprings5879]

Wow, I just recently got into all of those bands! Check out Spiritbox if you haven’t already. I’m alway’s looking for new bands.

[@ladyshar42]

@@jaredsprings5879 Halestorm is amazing in concert. Coheed is my husband's favorite, so we saw them last friday. Great show, even if they aren't my favorite. Hope to see Maneskin in Dec.

[@MarkReed-smokindeist]

I think a good part of the problem is it seems that most, if not all, radio stations are corporate-owned playing safe music.

[@annkanyr3024]

You should check out The Hu. Mongolian rock band, excellent musicians, throat singers, fierce looking but good guys great at their craft.

[@davidosborn146]

Thanks for mentioning the wrecking crew. My father Joe Osborn was a part of it, and I as a young music student went to hundreds of sessions with my dad. Those guys put a lot of effort into everything they did, always giving the song and the producer the best they had. It had to be right going to tape, there wasn't a computer that could fix problems later. There is an honesty in a bunch of people playing together, giving it all you've got... It was human and real. Today it's all been lost, it's plastic rocking chairs instead of wood. Keep doing what you do, good stuff.

[@nickberkin2048]

He's my favorite part of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (5th Dimension)! That's awesome, David, thanks for sharing 😃

[@davidosborn146]

@@nickberkin2048 You're welcome, and thank you for the compliment. I know Dad would be happy to hear it. He's on all of the fifth dimension records up to 1974, Bones Howe always got a great sound on the bass. Cheers

[@rongreen8962]

Your dad is a VERY important part of American recorded music. Thanks for speaking up.

[@nicholashylton6857]

That's incredible! When I first learned about them, it blew me away that they were the *'secret weapon'* behind so many great songs.

[@agedefyingfitness]

I really like this guy, found his channel not long ago and glad I did. Love your channel Michael ❤ I'll be watching young fella 😊

[@stevecowder4774]

Even though I'm a total old schooler, I think the 90s scene was definitely well above sub par. But one could see things fading by '98 or so. These days, music lacks pure innovation. And yes, production will neve be the same.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Amen Steve! Innovation! That’s the word!

[@johnholmes912]

The rot started in the 80s mate

[@yearginclarke]

@@johnholmes912 It was the beginning of it, but at least there was lots of good music still at that time.

[@DrunkenSlob]

Same thought. It was the late 90’s that introduced a lot of the garbage today and it got worse every year after

[@DrunkenSlob]

@@johnholmes912 yes and late 80’s early 90’s temporarily put a stop to the decline but sadly in modern times the 80’s has won

[@glenmartinez5158]

Great post. I've been here since rock began & through the years have seen what u discussed. The compression problem is particularly bothersome. In spite of the industry sucking, Rock is still alive, but i find my favorites coming from places like japan (band-maid, nemophila, lovebites, & many more), bands like The Warning (mexico) rolling quartz (s. Korea) jinjer (ukraine), nightwish (Scandinavia), voice of boceprot (indonesia) etc. What i like best is they are good live bands.

[@alextrigo403]

Great...what an interesting analysis…here is a new subscriber…!! Actually the masses go for the easiest to listen to and as it is today…they immediately discard the new that usually does not have the charm and craftsmanship of the music made before 2000 to give a date... of course there is good music beyond what is offered by the prefabricated, and music lovers look at other sources too... even outside of KZbin. Today there is an excess of technology and midi instruments making some musicians no longer play a real instrument and today anyone thinks they are a composer, sound engineer or producer. What do you think about this last fact? Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱!!

[@polkadotgum]

thinking new music sucks is such a lazy mindset - it’s much easier and quicker to just say you can’t be bothered to listen to anything beyond what’s on the charts. some dude older than you most definitely thought the same about your favourite music in the 80s. you can’t take a quick glance at the current top 50 songs and decide all new music sucks, when there have been amazing releases in the last 2 years alone (wolf alice’s blue weekend, fontaines d.c.’s skinty fia, black country, new road’s ants from up there, to name a few). rather than talk about why today’s music is terrible, maybe try to listen to more music and discover new artists and records, because i promise you there’s bound to be something you enjoy.

[@TigerRogers0660]

Another thing: new artists use the same boring chord progressions over & over again!! What happened to the wonderful chords we heard back in the 60s & 70s? Augmented chords, Diminished chords, Minor 9ths, Major 7 flat 5 etc etc.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Now, now Tiger! I’d settle for a minor 7th at this point!

[@rrdream2400]

Are you aware of Charlie Puth? He uses a lot of jazz chords with tensions.

[@henryrogers5500]

Not to mention amazing vocal harmonies!

[@jgrave10]

Hi Michael, Great video on the devolution of music into crap. A sidenote on the advent of CD's: We lost all the artwork that came with the album covers themselves. Many times, you could find all kinds of details passed over by a cursory look. Also, when you physically put on a player you tend to listen to as a body or work of music from an artist. Many albums have a "Mood" to them that is only achieved when listening to it as an album. CD's ruined the artwork experience and started music hopping at a whole new level. I remember being disappointed when CD's came out at the loss of artwork. At the time we were all consoled with "Hey there is no album crackle between songs". For me, I prefer a quality analogue recording any over a digital. Digital recordings tend to be way to compressed for my liking.

[@asais1024]

The problem with CDs/digital is the loudness war that screws up the dynamics really pointlessly given how Bluetooth headphones are super loud anyway It started in the 90s when CDs got mainstream so there were cheap massproduced CD players with shitty volume control but there is literally no point for it nowadays

[@jasonstallworth]

Valid points, especially with the auto tune demon! There are plenty of awesome independent artists and bands out there (and who play real instruments and don’t use auto tune). On that note (no pun intended), there’s so much music to go through. One do the things I’ve learned is as a musician you also have to learn how to market yourself to the right audience. And you may not gain the masses, but that’s okay. You can still attract a smaller, yet solid following and if you do it right, that will be enough to sustain you.

[@nickwebb9290]

You’ve hit the nail on the head with your comments. The music business is shot….. and all we have is largely, though not completely, a constant turnover of bland uninspiring muzak 😢

[@tektoniks_architects]

Brilliant analysis, Michael! Agree with all your points! "Improvements" in technology have certainly distanced the listener from the true abilities of "the artist" post-1980 in ways that didn't exist pre-1980. Stepping back and looking at the 30,000 foot view.....one thing to consider: back in the day, artists would release an album, and then tour to promote it. Yes, we listened on the radio, but tv didn't promote music the way it does today, and there was no internet and no websites to promote music. As a result, the primary way an artist or a band connected with their fans and promoted their material were LIVE PERFORMANCES. And in order for an artist to perform LIVE, they needed to have MUSICAL ABILITY - either a great voice, or instrumental skills. Yes, session players could be used for studio tracks, but at the end of the day, an artist HAD TO be able to deliver a great live performance, or they dropped away from sight rather quickly. What the technology of post-1980 has allowed is for the MUSICAL ABILITY of the "artist" to no longer be a requirement to make an album or be a famous performer. You have "artists" who can't hold a note or play an instrument in a live setting, and they no longer need to. With sampling, auto-tune, pre-recorded tracks, etc., you have singers or bands paraded onstage lip-synching entire concerts, or having their sound electronically altered to sound tolerable. Virtually ANYBODY can become a famous rapper, vocalist, or rock band with the tech we have today...to the great detriment of the music industry. And with the internet pushing their crap, live tours are no longer even a requirement for fame or financial success. Why do you think the bands of the 1960's-1980 were so great? Think of some of them: Skynryd, Fleetwood Mac, Zeppelin, Chicago, Billy Joel, Elton John, Yes, Rush, The Allman Brothers, the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Queen, etc, etc........THEY WERE ALL GREAT MUSICIANS. For all their "imperfections" in live shows, they were great at playing live - which is how they built their fan bases and gained respect and fame. They didn't use the tech smoke an mirrors that exist today - they had to be able to deliver their art LIVE. They had to be able to IMPROVISE. They had to have talent and ability, because the tech of that day could not "save them." Great content as usual, Michael! Be well! Ernie

[@LarryFleetwood8675]

There's no air between the instruments today, that's very true. Everything is flat and loud on the same level, it's making rock music like techno/dance music where volume and the beat is all that matters.

[@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine]

Oh, so you mean an artist should actually be able to sing an actual note, actually play an actual intrument, and then actually replicate that on stage? OK! Got it! Finally some answers! As usual, E Thanx for hammering the nail on the actual head! I just knew there was SOMETHING missing!

[@tektoniks_architects]

@@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine Congrats on your growing channel Michael...you really make the extra effort. Well, yeah....it would kinda be nice if an artist could sing or play an instrument....otherwise I could just look in the mirror instead of going to shows...and that's not much fun...lol.

[@mamijote8706]

Im 19 years old and some days ago i went to a live iron maiden concert.It was the best night of my life.That is MUSIC.

[@MHdollrevievs]

Global News Calgary had an article today about why todays music sucks and your video link was right there. I agree with your video 100%

[@kukukachu]

I recommend bands like The Dear Hunter, Thank You Scientist, From Indian Lakes. They are very good bands that did some interesting things. One thing that really erks me is that nobody really listens to an album anymore, it's all just shuffle singles. An album is the truest test to see if a band truly has talent as it is extremely difficult to find an album you love from start to finish. With those bands I recommended, I can say that I thoroughly enjoy every song. The first 2 albums from Joywave were really interesting as they played around with layering, so even if they used the same lyrics repetitively, there was always something interesting for your ear to pick up along the way. I don't know what happened, but their 3rd album and beyond stunk...BADLY. They decided to go the route of sounding like any other generic band instead of keeping their interesting layered sound. Coheed and Cambria over time also decided to sell out and become a shell of what force they used to be...it's sad to watch something that you loved change for the worse, but you get used to it and you have the older stuff to appreciate. Personally, I haven't really been able to get into any new music for years. Maybe I've lost the spark, or maybe every single media these days is just overly saturated. Either way, I don't listen to that much music anymore. Thank You Scientist are definitely still one of the go tos for sure. I just got done listening to their new EP 4 times in a row today. Plague Accommodations is just SO gooooooood.