A contentious issue, maybe, but i don't think popular music has ever been the same since around 1984. Maybe it's to do with the growth of MTV, and the greater reliance on the video package, and also the use of computers etc. Suddenly music was no longer strictly in the hands of the musicians, but in the hands of commerce, and what sells. Digital sound also began to render much of the music too clean and sterile sounding. Much of the music also began to incorporate a repetitive beat, which rendered many of the songs to sound similar and more importantly, manufactured. Maybe there were hints of this beginning as early as 1981, but by the mid eighties it was in full flow. I find much of the post 1984 output unlistenable, but i certainly wouldn't go as far as to tar all of the musical acts, or songs, with the same brush. However, i very rarely listen to anything from the post 1984 era, unless it is one of the long established acts from a bygone age. A thumping beat, a lack of subtelty, a lack of soul, and overproduction post 1984, certainly seems, for me, the order of the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-03 18:58 by Edward Twining.

Theres allways been simple music for teenagers and for older people.One hit wonders.And we´ll allways see them coming and going each year.

But,reall on this this century,by the idols and all that reality Tv bullshit,things got out of hand.Everyone,everything is a product now,what we can use anyway we need or want to,its a bit like paper cup,throw it away after one use.

And this all goes and belongs to our comsuming for the stuff and things we don´t actually need.

10 years from now,its all this gone,trust me.

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Edward Twining
A contentious issue, maybe, but i don't think popular music has ever been the same since around 1984. Maybe it's to do with the growth of MTV, and the greater reliance on the video package, and also the use of computers etc. Suddenly music was no longer strictly in the hands of the musicians, but in the hands of commerce, and what sells. Digital sound also began to render much of the music too clean and sterile sounding. Much of the music also began to incorporate a repetitive beat, which rendered many of the songs to sound similar and more importantly, manufactured. Maybe there were hints of this beginning as early as 1981, but by the mid eighties it was in full flow. I find much of the post 1984 output unlistenable, but i certainly wouldn't go as far as to tar all of the musical acts, or songs, with the same brush. However, i very rarely listen to anything from the post 1984 era, unless it is one of the long established acts from a bygone age. A thumping beat, a lack of subtelty, and overproduction post 1984, certainly seems, for me, the order of the day.

Edward - I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the repetition in songs which came to the fore during the 80s. This had a lot to do with the new instruments that became available at that time such as emulators, click tracks, drum machines and synths generally making the need for a band more or less redundant.

Sure these innovations brought about a musical revolution and created a new DIY music ethic whereby a lone musician could reproduce the sound of a band or even an orchestra on just one keyboard. This ultimately resulted in the dance movement which has lasted until this day.

It's been proved that the body reacts to certain beats, frequencies and melodies when played loud enough and this idea of muzak to suit the masses has become what I call common denominator pop.

Having said that I adore bands like Kraftwerk, Can, and Neu and there has been some great music created in the dance music genre but I can only listen to that kind of stuff in small doses.

Ain't nothing like the real thing and that for me means the sound made by musicians playing real instruments and hopefully live.

if you rarely listen to anything post-1984, i'm not sure how you can even have an opinion on it....

there's plenty of great music being made, as opined from someone who listens to music from all generations....

I don't think "popular" music ever died or is dying.

I think it has become more diluted than anything else because you can still find a lot of great bands/artists out there.

1999

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Edith Grove
I don't think "popular" music ever died or is dying.

I think it has become more diluted than anything else because you can still find a lot of great bands/artists out there.

it's always been a case of finding the pearls amid the morass. not sure it's any more "diluted" than it's ever been.

when radio stations went from disc jockeys who picked the songs they were going to play to everything being arranged ahead of time and pre-recorded

Killed by this 3-headed monster:

Popular music cannot die by definition.

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ghostryder13
when radio stations went from disc jockeys who picked the songs they were going to play to everything being arranged ahead of time and pre-recorded

i worked in radio almost 40 years ago - that was happening even back then.

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Koen
Popular music cannot die by definition.

that's the popular view, anyway. think we can vote it out by popular demand?

I think it was a tuesday around 8:00.

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boymacwerter
1999

I agree. Britney Spears and the ushering in of downloads. The nineties were great with grunge and britpop.

JumpingKentFlash

Pop music is not dead. It still has around six months left.

i don't think popular music is dying. it's the industry that is dying.

1954. I blame Bill Haley & Elvis myself.

I think it started to decline in the early 1980's...Back in the late 60's and the 70's many in my generation looked to
music and their stars to speak for all of us. They were our leaders----Beatles, Stones, ZEP, etc..

No one in power ever really listen to the kids back in the 60's...During the late 1960's many american kids either had to fight in a war, go to college or run away to stay out of Vietnam...No one cared what they were thinking...Except for our "ROCK STARS."
Music was such a important part of our lives back in the day..And our passion and voice came out of its music.

I think by the 1980's most in the "baby boomer generation" had grown up and were making money.The newer generation didn't have the
same problems as the baby boomers.. So Rock Stars and their music were really not as important to the new genreation...

The baby boomers are now parents and they have tried to give much more to this newer generation. They tried to listen more to their kids.etc..

Now music is just for fun--to dance to. And really not a religion any longer..Today kids had many more outlets..Videos, cable tv, a millon
radio stations, no wars and parents who wanted to give more to their children.

Plus many of the older rock stars were making a ton of cash in the 1980's and didn't have the same passion as they used to....

I think the music after the 1980's didn't have the same passion because we really needed music much more back
in the the 1960's..Today the kids have so much more to spend their time with..So sadly the music of today just doesn't have the passion it once
had!
The Rock Stars of today are not looked up too like gods because today the kids don't need them!

Great Thread,
I think when MTV came on the landscape.
Artist cared more about the way they looked in
a video than their music....

Lots of great music being made nowadays...I was blown away by the quality of the material just on the last Grammy's, and I usually hate that show.

It wasn't all to my taste, but that's not the same as saying I agree that popular music is dead.

If it hadn't evolved past the 60's, THEN I would agree with you that popular music had died.

It has always evolved and always will. You can choose to be stuck in your narrow definition of it, (as most of us do), or go (grow) with it, but I don't think it is accurate to say that is dying or is dead.

well-stated treacle and i agree entirely. a couple of generations ago "stuck in the past" music fans said it was dead when rock'n'roll arrived. they were wrong and people saying its dead or dying now (or in the future) are wrong...everything changes and evolves....

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StonesTod
well-stated treacle and i agree entirely. a couple of generations ago "stuck in the past" music fans said it was dead when rock'n'roll arrived. they were wrong and people saying its dead or dying now (or in the future) are wrong...everything changes and evolves....

Thank you. I choose not to disagree with you!

I think it really depends on your generation. Being born in 1981, my golden age of music was the 90's. I cant imagine someone not listening to anything post 1984. You are missing out on so much...but that person has a different perspective. Whatever decade you "came of age" in is the period that you will identify with and always have a place in your heart for.

That being said, the issue it seems is that "Rock" music has been on the decline since about 1999 in mainstream popular culture. Britney, those god awful boy bands and of course, Hip-Hop moving away from the Gangsta image into a more corporate, glossy, "fun for all ages" style. Each year there are less and less "big" rock bands. Lots of underground bands, but times have changed in the mainstream.

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ghostryder13
when radio stations went from disc jockeys who picked the songs they were going to play to everything being arranged ahead of time and pre-recorded

We have a winner!!! MTV also sucked the music out of music.

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lettingitbleed
I think it really depends on your generation. Being born in 1981, my golden age of music was the 90's. I cant imagine someone not listening to anything post 1984. You are missing out on so much...but that person has a different perspective. Whatever decade you "came of age" in is the period that you will identify with and always have a place in your heart for.

that makes sense, but if you're truly a music fan and not just nostalgic about your salad days of growing up, you recognize the merits of music regardless of its generation. i have a soft spot for music in the 60's and 70's for reasons you cite, but i listen to more music from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's than either of those decades...

1976; no doubt. Punk was the big destroyer and then MTV took over. But the real cause has probably been corruption with the great artists, producers and record companies. Punk jumped into the void they left when they started using too much electronics to compensate for the decline of their physical condition.
It's not been all bad; some elements of new wave, and recently even dance, arrangement and production could be called creative and interesting, but the musical maturity of the generations after the seventies is not good. But it's a more general problem because their general maturity is not good.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-04 00:56 by lsbz.

1992

Not dying at all - just changing. And all that "awful 80s music" is now 20-30 years ago and featuring on the Oldies section of a radio station near you. Just don't stop listening.

The compact disc. I never found buying a CD exciting, thrilling; the way buying LPs and 45s were. No Side 1 and Side 2, no B-sides; album art being reduced to, what, a tiny piece of paper? Buying a toaster is more exciting than buying a CD or downloading a tune.

As for radio, I do like internet radio, the choices. And I still like listening to my transister radio, even today. It just sounds better to my ears. My favorite thing is to listen to AM radio checks from the '60s and '70s, news reports included, and all in mono.

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StonesTod
if you rarely listen to anything post-1984, i'm not sure how you can even have an opinion on it....

there's plenty of great music being made, as opined from someone who listens to music from all generations....

Of course i hear what is around me music wise. I have to share a radio with several acquaintances most days at work. I am relating more to the fact that i wouldn't necessarily choose to listen to it personally, in the privacy of my own home. Not that every little thing is bad, like you say, but sometimes it is like searching for a needle in a haystack in terms of finding quality music. Yes, i hear what can loosely be described as music, but very little of it ever penetrates my consciousness, like in the old days. It simply fails to register into anything substantial.

I use the word 'die' more in relation to music's decline, not in literal terms.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-04 09:43 by Edward Twining.