There's actually a much wider variety of music now than in the eighties/nineties. I was born in 1974, grew up on eighties music. Got into alternative music in the nineties. And so on. What was on the radio in the eighties was pretty bland mostly but with some notable exceptions. But there was nothing else on so you listened to it anyway.
These days I listen to both old and new music. And also some music that is older than me. My motto is that if it was worth listening to fifty years ago it probably still is. And if it was crap then, it probably still is.
There are a lot of new/young artists making music in the style of pretty much any style you can name happened in the past 60 years or so. I need to get over the "these kids are less than half my age" thing of course. But some of that stuff is pretty good. There's an enormous long tail of relatively obscure artists that simply did not exist in the eighties/nineties. Worth exploring.
Pop charts stopped mattering a long time ago. People don't buy lps, cds or singles. And those don't get played on the radio based on sales statistics. There's still some artists that get played on the radio obviously. But radio is for old people. Most kids have headphones connected to their phones, not a radio. They'll listen to whatever they want, whenever they want.
I went to see Kneecap yesterday (Irish mockumentary about a real band doing Irish
Rap). Pretty decent music and fantastic movie. Obviously inspired by eighties/nineties hip hop.
That's pretty much what I mean. Everybody can micro-curate his musical consumption and stay within one niche if that's what he wants, which I think can be bad for music discovery because you aren't exposed to stuff you might unexpectedly like. You have to make an effort to get broad exposure.
Listening to the radio occasionally today, it seems like it is primed entirely for gen x. I’m not sure how many times they play Sublime a day now but its at least three time with three different songs on a few stations in LA county.
Seriously. 98.7 is playing the same music that dominated airplay 20 years ago. Their rotation now sounds the same as JackFM.
One week years ago I decided to listen to a hip-hop/pop station every day on my way to work. I like all kinds of music, including dance or pop or catchy rap. I wanted to discover some new high-energy music.
But after a week I wasn't disappointed; I was pissed off. Pissed off for all of the talented people who are obviously NOT getting heard, while airplay is wasted on craven trash. I discovered one catchy, clever song in that whole week: "Nothin' on You," by Bruno Mars & B.o.B.
Topping my shitlist from the week was Drake, with a discordant, no-rhythm, no-rhyme, no-talent mess that played mostly unrelated instrument noises over each other while Drake mumbled
Baby you da best
Baby you da best
Baby you da best...
These days I listen to both old and new music. And also some music that is older than me. My motto is that if it was worth listening to fifty years ago it probably still is. And if it was crap then, it probably still is.
There are a lot of new/young artists making music in the style of pretty much any style you can name happened in the past 60 years or so. I need to get over the "these kids are less than half my age" thing of course. But some of that stuff is pretty good. There's an enormous long tail of relatively obscure artists that simply did not exist in the eighties/nineties. Worth exploring.
Pop charts stopped mattering a long time ago. People don't buy lps, cds or singles. And those don't get played on the radio based on sales statistics. There's still some artists that get played on the radio obviously. But radio is for old people. Most kids have headphones connected to their phones, not a radio. They'll listen to whatever they want, whenever they want.
I went to see Kneecap yesterday (Irish mockumentary about a real band doing Irish Rap). Pretty decent music and fantastic movie. Obviously inspired by eighties/nineties hip hop.