Has Music Already Peaked?

[Miramonti]

Where have all the rock bands that made songs with meaning and soul gone? Will there be another band as original and with gut wrenching songs like Pink Floyd or will there be another Jimi Hendrix playing the star spangled banner?

Even rap music. 2pac was the pinnacle of rap music. I haven't even heard any rapper that comes close. 2pac touched everyones lives.


Am I wrong? Might be old man talk, but I'm 28!!!

Don't worry, hallucinogenics will be back in style and you'll get your genre back.

 

[growled]

Don't confuse what plays on the radio today for the state of music. If anything, there is WAY more music today than ever and there are tons of original bands making amazing stuff. You just have to look past the clearchannel/MTV money making machine to find it.

I agree totally. There is still some great music out there. Unfortunately almost none of it is on the radio.

 

[Ronstang]

Music peaked in the 70's. It was on a gradual decline into the 90's, and it started to plummet in the 2000's.

I don't think I have a single song on my iphone from after 1999. Almost all my music is from the 70's, with a decent amount from the late 60's, and 90's.

I am a big fan of Power Pop and it continues to be a genre that pumps out some really great music. The only problem is you have to dig and search for the music it seems since it does not show up on the radio very often.

 

[thomsbrain]

This is just the usual generational shift. I think most people believe music "peaked" right around the time they were in college.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I think music "peaked" around the early 1800s, with Beethoven's symphonies as mankind's opus. That said, my personal taste is best reflected with the likes of Opeth ... and they have not disappointed me yet.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

This is just the usual generational shift. I think most people believe music "peaked" right around the time they were in college.

i can see your point, but i disagree. i'm pretty sure there was plenty of good music in the 80's and 90's and things really took a crap in the 2000's.

 

[destrekor]

This is just the usual generational shift. I think most people believe music "peaked" right around the time they were in college.

Music certainly didn't peak in college for me. I should know, I'm living that right now, and with 6 months left, I don't see that happening.

 

[F1N3ST]

I like my mindless rock, so fuck all y'all. But it's not even mindless, the words have meaning, most of them at least.

 

[DrPizza]

I'd have to agree that music has already peaked. There's simply not as much room for innovation. I'm not saying that there isn't innovation. Re: rock. Sure, there are some excellent bands today, just as good as bands from the 70's to mid 80's. Like it or not, the popular bands of the 70's and 80's that were successful for many years far outnumber popular bands from today. Not that the best metric is to use air play, but those bands and that music still receives a substantial amount of air play. More rock bands from both decades - the 70's and 80's, remain popular than bands from the 90's. Far more popular, and with all generations, not just the older generation. I see high school students every day with Rush, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Metallica, and Led Zeppelin t-shirts. Shirts with 70's and 80's bands outnumber more modern bands 5 to 1.

 

[skace]

I think music "peaked" around the early 1800s, with Beethoven's symphonies as mankind's opus. That said, my personal taste is best reflected with the likes of Opeth ... and they have not disappointed me yet.

While I don't agree with music peaking, rock on for having varied tastes

 

[Miramonti]

Music hasn't peaked in the least.

It's more of a problem with the record labels focus on marketing typical mainstream crap that hurts the development of non-mainstream kick @ss bands.

And comparing 'greatness' that's had decades of hype built into it with genre's/sounds that are newer is self-defeating babble imo.

 

[IronWing]

Music is exploding all around us. However there is no longer a common mass market upon which to market popular music as there was in the 1930s-90s. MTV shot itself in the face, spawned VH1 which in turn shot itself in the face. CMT I guess still provides a central point for that form of ,um, country. Radio mostly plays old stuff.

On the other hand, the online sources of music have opened up access for musicians and fans to connect so there is more music of various kinds available to the average listener than ever.

The outcome, IMHO, will be that future superstar groups will have to rise through touring more than relying on record distributors to push their stuff and that we will not see multidecade dominating mega-bands like the Stones or Pink Floyd again.

 

[olds]

It peaked with Led Zeppelin and will never return.

/thread

 

[bobsmith1492]

Where have all the rock bands that made songs with meaning and soul gone? Will there be another band as original and with gut wrenching songs like Pink Floyd or will there be another Jimi Hendrix playing the star spangled banner?

Even rap music. 2pac was the pinnacle of rap music. I haven't even heard any rapper that comes close. 2pac touched everyones lives.


Am I wrong? Might be old man talk, but I'm 28!!!

There was no meaning or soul in that music. That's why it has thankfully faded into oblivion. The most painful day of my life was watching Hendrix play the Star Mangled Banner in an American Civ class.

 

[F1N3ST]

/thread

oldstrollboat, you're wrong.

 

[fleabag]

you guys don't know what you're talking about, we all know soulja boy is the next tupack and hes from the 2000 so yeah.

lulz

 

[syrillus]

There was no meaning or soul in that music. That's why it has thankfully faded into oblivion. The most painful day of my life was watching Hendrix play the Star Mangled Banner in an American Civ class.

You could've just said you don't like music. It's much shorter to type.

 

[TehMac]

I like Beethoven.

 

[lifeobry]

Two words: Lady Gaga

Music is alive and well people!

 

[StageLeft]

Most people tend to cling onto whatever they grew up with and hold onto that thinking that anything else is crap.

Yep. Thank God I have not yet stalled. Most people do it much younger than me. I should be listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but hell I can't stand to listen to that now. I am always going forward, still at the forefront. One day it will stop but it hasn't yet.

I could pick out at least one great album from each year since I've been born. The 90's had a lot but my taste has changed a bit so I don't pay as much attention to "rock" now.

Incubus - band has moved through varied sounds, early stuff sounds far different from latest stuff)

Yep, their early stuff was good, really good. Their recent. All crap. Other than Dig, that is actually an extremely awesome song.

 

[lxskllr]

Not that the best metric is to use air play, but those bands and that music still receives a substantial amount of air play. More rock bands from both decades - the 70's and 80's, remain popular than bands from the 90's. Far more popular, and with all generations, not just the older generation. I see high school students every day with Rush, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Metallica, and Led Zeppelin t-shirts. Shirts with 70's and 80's bands outnumber more modern bands 5 to 1.

That's because the newer bands haven't hit the nostalgia circuit yet. In another 10-20 years you'll be seeing more Tshirts with 90s and 00s music on them.

I regularly listen to music from every decade starting from the 20s up to the present. I prefer older music, but there's still a lot of good stuff that doesn't get air play. I'd say it's more accurate that music /listeners/ aren't as good as they used to be. While there has always been fluff, art was appreciated more in years past. It seems like there's more people now who are happy to hear the same thing from 10 different bands.

 

[lxskllr]

There was no meaning or soul in that music. That's why it has thankfully faded into oblivion. The most painful day of my life was watching Hendrix play the Star Mangled Banner in an American Civ class.

Then you didn't get it. The artless music is probably more your speed ;^)

 

[nutxo]

Where have all the rock bands that made songs with meaning and soul gone? Will there be another band as original and with gut wrenching songs like Pink Floyd or will there be another Jimi Hendrix playing the star spangled banner?

Even rap music. 2pac was the pinnacle of rap music. I haven't even heard any rapper that comes close. 2pac touched everyones lives.


Am I wrong? Might be old man talk, but I'm 28!!!

Nah man. I can name many artists that I enjoy and have at least as much soul as floyd or zeppelin.

BTW I saw zeppelin in 77 and it was the second worst show Ive ever seen. Went to see the firm in the 80s to see if Jimmy was having a bad night in 77 and no. He wasnt that good in the 80s either.

 

[biggestmuff]

So to demonstrate that music has died and lacks newness and originality, you used an example of someone playing a cover. GJ

I wondered this tonight, OP, during Avatar. The score seemed dull and stereotypical. Look, mysterious natives! "Well, with have to have gobs of percussion to symbolize the primitive people and we'll just go ahead and reuse a solo flute to parrot their strange and mysterious ways." I was expecting more.

To answer the original question, no music hasn't peaked. There are endless melodies and rhythms that still haven't been thought of or heard yet.
You may be just disinterested in music at the moment. Search out a new group. Get into a different style. You could also pick up an instrument and learn to play.

 

[JimmiG]

From a business standpoint, recorded popular music as a concept is no longer something new and interesting. The RIAA etc. just don't realize this. Everything has its "golden age", usually followed by a bubble that bursts, and then it returns to a "normal" level, below that which it peaked at.

Originality isn't a good thing any more. Songs need to be catchy and accessible on the first listen because one week later there's be a new "hit" that all the radio stations play. These days mainstream labels only mass-produce music similar to how McDonalds produces meals. That doesn't mean there still aren't quality artists (and restaurants) out there. You just need to search a bit more and in different places than 20-30 years ago.