Oh Sh*t. It's Even Worse Than We Thought.
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2023
- I am vindicated. It's true. The science is in. Modern music is getting worse since the 1960s! However, we have information on WHY this is happening. It's not just as simple as new musicians aren't "good" but rather a couple of factors that are controlling what the music industry is fostering. There IS good music being made, but we're just not hearing it as easily as we would like.
Here is a link to The Guardian article: www.theguardian.com/commentis...
Here is a link to the article that has info on the Spanish research and the A&R person Ted: stereomonosunday.com/2019/03/...
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I do monthly Zoom Call Nights over on my Patreon, they're A LOT of fun: / jushawk
Justin Hawkins Rides Again...The Podcast. You can listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify etc: open.spotify.com/show/0hQYjIw...
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#musicindustry #newmusic #musicpodcast - Розваги
I am going on tour with The Darkness this year in the USA, Europe & UK! You can check out the dates and get tickets here: www.thedarknesslive.com/tour-dates/
Damn it! Gutted that Bristol is already SOLD OUT.
Been waiting to see you play live for about 20 years!!
Yes.
Just bought my plane tickets, hotel, and concert tickets to see you in Denver in October. Can't wait!
Lovely. Ty❤
Australia needs The Darkness too. Bring The Darkness Down Under!
The real question is, why is there a bent fork around the top of the mic? 😅
It's a bangle and I think it's from a cornish artist
It's an analogue auto-tuning fork.
I’ve always wondered that … is it just keeping the cable secure?
It’s a wave, that will crash. Guitars sell like mad still. The kids will always find a way to make it their own.
Are you familiar with a song called " six months in a leaky boat " ? Hmmmm . It is a melody I grew up with . Only to hear " shake it off " . Is she that creative ?
I had some construction workers working at my apartment complex last week. They were listening to Santana. It was awesome.
We're they accompanied by a policeman, a native American Indian, a cowboy and a leather-bound guy?
I used to work on construction sites during covid. Not wanting to listen to the radio, I have tried multiple times to put on some half-decent music on my speaker, trying to accommodate what everyone else on site would want to listen to. We ended up putting on the radio every single time, because people's music tastes were so widely different that no consensus could be found on even one song, let alone a whole album or playlist. In the end, I found myself humming along to shallow pop songs while bricklaying, listening to easily digestible melodies, singing along to lukewarm lyrics while working the physically hardest I have ever had. Haven't listened to the radio much since.
Agreed! Everytime I turn it on I turn it off within one song or less
That's interesting. In the UK I hear the gayest girly Pop muck being played by, well you know, men. It's fvcking bizarre.
Yeah haven't listened to the radio since I worked in a sheet metal shop, at work it gets to the point that I could usually predict the next 3 songs. Thankfully it was only 3 people and eventually I brought my stereo and showed them King Gizzard and they loved it. After that we all kept bringing in random stuff, lucky we all had similar taste.
I feel your pain. I worked in two factories as a teenager (chemical and chicken). The local radio was unspeakable, so I popped the Stone Roses debut on cassette. The workers were up in arms - what the fook is that shite? putfookinradiobackon Cannot remember what they went back to, 'chart dance', Technotronic, Snap, god knows. I think it was weirdly even worse, - the sort of shite they played at the local neon vomitbox nightclub, nth grade 'overground' "rave' ;areuarighthavinagoodtimesmokemachinewoot! Fuck me, still got PTSD
Ouch.
Speaking to the originality of your theme music, I absolutely love the fact that you play it live every single video, and don't just roll a clip. I don't know of anybody else who does that, and it's awesome.
But it's awful.
It’s not awful. It’s terribly original. That’s the point.
@@jayboy2kay7 It's awful.
@@jayboy2kay7 Always sounds like Queen's Melancholy Blues to me. Not that that is a bad thing.
What are you? "King of opening theme music" or something?@@brutallyremastered4255 yet it will continue to live in your head rent free...
Rick Beato's excellent occasional series 'checking out the top 10' is eye opening in how similar modern music is. I think the top 10 pop chartvhe did had 4 songs with the same chords, 3 with the same vocoder effect, 5 with the same drum loop and only 1 that he went 'oh, that's interesting'
The charts of the 1950s were even more similar because 12 bar blues was so common.
That dude is Beatles, Beatles, Beatles. If there's a miniscule resemblance to a two bar Beatles' phrase, then it's s#¡t hot.
His show is great! He is an extremely knowledgeable musician.
In response to one of the other responses you received . Anyone who thinks the 12 bar blues constituted 1950’s music needs to do some research before they comment 😉
Modern music and modern music made for the charts are two entirely different things. There's an ocean of variety and experimentation out there. Late stage capitalism dictates all of our industries of culture will have homogeneity at the "top" whether thats movies, games, music or books. Dig beneath the corporate veneer and there is far more variety, innovation and timbre than there has ever been in music. Beato, like many of his generation, are incapable of doing that so they spend their time yelling at clouds which is ironic considering how derivative likes of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones or Elvis Presley were.
@@jimmcdougall9973 a lot of early rock 'n' roll was essentially the same chords
My 10 year old Daughter is obsessed with 80s music (I’m a 51 year old Dad) and I’m so proud. 😀
Well done, my three boys all have a dislike for modern music as it’s so similar to itself. They like 70s 80s 90s, and not just one genre they listen to everything.it’s great for road trips as their is no whining about what’s on the radio.
Thank goodness that means at least one kid has been saved from a life of musical blandness😊
While it’s good to encourage kids to listen to old stuff, It’d be good to get them to also look into a lot of good contemporary music. Old music is outselling new music, by a huge amount, and there is legitimately so much good stuff coming out these days in every genre, but it seems like people just don’t have the stomach to search it out?
I'm 51 and have a 10 year old son that I've educated. I was that teen listening to Janis Joplin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, etc while my friends were listening to New Kids on the Block.
Good job fella!! There is hope!! 👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏
This is exactly why I love King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They do everything themselves. They play what they want, release what they want and don’t have to answer to label executives.
They are the most amazing band in the world right now. I'm off to see them for the 3rd time in Manchester 2/9/23... Woooo
I´m seeing them tonight! I can not wait @@Freehardy
@@alejandralaguna3730 you're in for a treat. I nearly travelled to Spain this month to see them, then they announced the Manchester show in England. The only band I will cross borders to see live. I live in Edinburgh and so far seen them in Glasgow (2019) and London (2023)...enjoy
they're ok, sort of all things to all people
@@Freehardy I couldn't see them last year in Cologne because they cancelled the show, I think the lead singer was sick. Glad they're back 🙌 they're like a festival in a band, they just do whatever they want 👌
This is why I appreciate the fact that reactors are introducing new generations to older music (and why I appreciate all the music my older brother introduced me to).
Fascinating stuff. I've always been struck by that Zappa interview where he talked about those old-school, 'cigar-chompin'' record industry types being more open to unconventional music than the young 'hip' execs that run things now. Let's get more 'out of touch' old guys (me!) in the industry today!
Yeah but then he ruined it all by being all humourless European and snide about Punk.
I think about that clip all the time.
@@brutallyremastered4255Punk is crap anyway, prog is much better.
I saw that video too, Zappa was so clever, we need more Zappas and less Taylor Swifts.
I’m so happy to hear this. I thought that it was just me and I was turning into an old fart that goes around saying ‘music was better in my day’ as my parents and elders said to me when I was young. I can now feel less old and more that I just have a discerning ear 😂
I mean if you grew up and have consumed music in the last 50 years it is likely the music of your day that started this decline and your generation that profited the most off of the homogenization of music...
How does anyone profit from the homogenization of music? Except for some industrie CEOs?
@@refusederivedfuel6112 yes - apart from some massive industry, with billions of dorrar in the game, very few people profit from it.
Wait what.
This is how I've felt for awhile. On top of feeling like I must be doing something wrong for not loving Taylor's music, or other popular songs within that genre, regardless of how many times I've actually tried liking them. But I've always had a sensitive ear, and have often disliked repetitiveness. I also listen to music with a lot of intention, and I'm learning that other people simply enjoy music differently. So it's nice to additionally know from videos like these that my preference for other types of music is not because I'm getting old or that I'm wrong somehow!
As long as you realize that it's a radio/mainstream thing. If you're one of those persons insisting that there's no good music anymore full stop, you probably _are_ turning into an old fart. 🙂
Boredom with pop, and a period of unemployment, gave me time to delve deeply into classical (which I've always loved). By 2017, I was ready to dive into opera. By lockdown 2020, I was enthralled with opera, and collecting various productions of the same opera. It's an embrace I'll never completely leave. I'm nearly ready to deep dive into Wagner, and I hope, one day, to visit the Bayreuth Festival to hear the complete Ring Cycle. After a constant six years of exploring this genre, I still have no idea who my absolute favorite composers or singers are! I stopped listening to radio in 2000.
Don't forget about American musicals! Some of these are actually operas, re-branded as "musicals" because of stupid cultural preconceptions. Les Miserables, for example.
@@Bigandrewm Good point. I grew up with musicals, starting with Oliver! and Oklahoma, and Porgy & Bess Jazz version. My whole family support live theatre and musicals. They have become pretty boring in the past 20 years though, sad to say.
About 2 years ago I decided I would deep-dive into Classical. As you are well aware, I could dedicate my life to it and I would never stop learning. What I miss is having someone to chat about it with. So far, I am listening and reading. However, there is nothing like being able to sit and talk with someone with similar interest. Feel free to connect and share if you have anything I should be aware of.
@@BigandrewmLes Mis is no more of an opera than Porgy and Bess is. Not saying they aren't great music but it isn't opera. They're musicals. The structure is different from Opera. The type of signing is different from Opera. Not to say they aren't even performed by opera companies. It's like saying that Bowie or the Beatles are symphonic music if performed by a symphony orchestra.
Classical is the only good station on radio. Period.
I’m a songwriter (62 years old), not a great musician. I remember going to a symposium and sang a song I wrote a cappella. It was a song called “I Knew It Was Time”. After I finished, this young woman exclaimed: “That’s not the formula” Formula? Evidently there’s a “formula” for writing pop music today. Sad, sad, sad.
I'm 62 too (as of last weekend) and a songwriter as well, and I'm also not a great musician (does this sound familiar?) and if someone gave me "the formula" I'd have trashed it right away. (Also, almost no-one has heard my music - am I missing something?)
It's a parallel to what has happened in the movie industry - endless reboots, sequels, etc. All the independent movie and music studios have been bought out by Disney, Warner, Universal, Sony - those companies just want more of the same.. until everything becomes so bland and uninteresting
The music/movie industry wants a guarantee not a gamble, that's why they keep doing sequels, prequels....all the music sounds the same.
Art is more interesting when the artists and producers take risks and push their creative and expressive boundaries.
@@common-girl Look at what happened this summer. Not even the “guarantees” are guaranteed. Movies that the studios geared tons of money into flopped or were disappointments at best. Indiana Jones, The Flash, Mission Impossible, Transformers, etc. People are having blockbuster fatigue which means that they are tired of these overinflated franchises delivering more of the same. Everything Everywhere All at Once succeeded because it gave audiences a heartfelt story and original ideas.
@@waverlyking6045 indeed, it's also a millennial problem, millennials don't have money but they have internet and they download everything for free. The reason for massive decline in attendance! The new generation is broke they don't drive cars, they stay at home, and most still live with there parents, and new normal living on technological devices. That's the reality of the new world order.
Ya, like Barbie.
In the last five years the music industry could have saved themselves so much time by simply releasing one fast song and one slow song and just putting everyone’s name on those two.
How do we not get depressed about this? I was a teen in the 90s and spent many a happy hour in the record shop looking for new music. There just isn’t that variety today. Luckily, I come from a musical family, so I make a point of exposing my kids to as many different genres as I can. My seven-year-old’s favourite song is Edge of Seventeen! But I worry about everyone else, and the future of music 😢
I disagree. 'There just isn't that variety today'??? I'm sorry, how closeminded can you be? It is so much easier now than it was in the 90s to find new music and new genres. Young people are exposed to music from all across the globe, not just what is on the radio. And u know this might sound completely bonkers, but, yes! There are still record shops!!!!! shocker.
There was some bloody awful 90s music, and around 1998 to 2003 was so, so bad for music.
My guess is you only listen to mainstream music. That would be your fault.
Give the record shop another go
Zappa was talking about these problems in the '80's. He's probably rolling in his grave over how much worse the problem has become in the 40 years since.
"There are people doing great stuff ".... for instance.... The DARKNESS!!!
Bring back the darkness
Of course!
But not many
The Warning (3 Mexican sisters) are doing it at muthf*ckin' Jedi levels 🤘
But the trouble are not the artists or musician, i think there will always people doing good things, the trouble is the behaviour of the industry. This is my conclusion of all this.
The A&R taking less of a risk and pumping out the 'safe' music sounds very similar to what's happening in Hollywood.
You could change this argument to the movie industry and it would match up. However, they (the ones with all the money and power) are also using both industries to push their agendas on and control us.
While the movie industry still has quite some influence (replace movie with video streaming btw). For music it's different even many kids don't follow what's given to them but rather pick whatever they like from what is already there.
My husband and I are huge music heads, and we raised my son listening to 70's, 80's, and 90's music. He's 19 and in college now, and into vinyl, and has collected a vast amount of records from Hall & Oates Greatest Hits to heavy metal bands like Metallica and Megadeath, and even some Crosby Stills and Nash. We're super proud of him. We don't listen to anything on the radio either. Its crap.
Raised him well indeed! Metallica and Megadeth are absolute rockers. Metal, Rock, Punk, forever 🤘🏻
What local stuff do you guys like?
legit
i feel the same but i likes some from 2000s.Modern radio makes me feel sick , it only a matter of time till i projectile all over the place
@@brubeck1the 2000s weren't as bad because the 90s was still a great decade for music and there will also be some crossover from the previous decade at the beginning of the new decade. Music just abruptly change its sound at the start of a new decade.
This is why, as a 60 year old, popular music has been off the radar for at least 15 years. Even rock and metal has became samey.
There are a lot of good news and different rock and metal bands out now...
Try out Ren - wildly diverse genre bending and fun
67 and I can tell you that there is lots of stuff out there.There are many many sub-scenes struggling below the homogenised garbage. The stats quoted here reflect the mainstream "pop" but who cares? Feel young and explore the reaches of "modern" music like when you were 25. PS: there was lots of garbage back in the day!
@@non-reflector7399 I have over 10k albums, music is life. The comment I made is a bit ambiguous. Yes there are new bands to discover but also a lot of generic vanilla.
I find a lot of new rock is ok until the vocals start. The lead singers tend to sound like they’re in a boyband. No character.
The enshittification of all things, like music, is why independent artists like Ren are so important.
Amen brother!!!
*YES*
Thank you! 🙏
TRUE!
Ever since Stimpy left just hasn't been the same.
Pop music was starting to sound like phone ringtones now it's gone to sounding like doorbell tunes.
I don't know why it makes me so angry when a large group of people all listen to the same thing and don't look for something outside of the mainstream, but it does.
I am in my mid 30s but I have noticed that most people in my generation or a little younger have very little interest in music. That is the scariest side effect of the normalization of boring music.
Funny isn't it, and yet everyone seem to have s* in their ears at all times as it's as necessary as drinking water. I think it's more like people have little interest in what they are hearing that the music itself.
This is why I love Prog Rock/Metal. It almost by definition can't sound the same and there are some absolutely incredible bands emerging.
Umphrey’s McGee?!?
This is because Europeans are raised with classical, jazz, folk, blues etc. it shows up in progressive and symphonic metal
Rick Beato agrees.
Spot on with the article and your interpretation Justin.
But most modern prog, no matter how I like it myself, all sounds quite similar, highly compressed crisp recordings. Little real variation of timbre, melody, or harmony, and melodies are quite short and repetitive mostly with only some rhythmic variation nothing wrong with it, but it is bloody elitist to think it is so much better than pop in that regard.
Anybody with ears to hear has noticed this sameness trend in big label pop music and mainstream radio since around the turn of the century. This is why (well, along with the unlistenable use of compression and autotuning) I long since quit listening to radio almost altogether, except for the indie station in my area on occasion. I find my new music through Spotify suggestions based of my playlists and UA-cam -- including you, Justin. You gave me Ren, who is the most significant musical discovery for me in decades.
We used to have John Peel, having people like him on the radio is how to spread a true love of music. Today I have listened to The Who, Tuba Skinny, Bolt Thrower and Pink Floyd. I am an old git and I think can genuinely say that they don't make it like they used to.
Put "Sierra Ferrell" in your searchbox and press the picture of the magnifying glass. They do.. 🤔
Peel was fantastic. Like a great, unorganised museum of a different era, not "curated" one was open to anything.
He had great taste.
Going from NZ Oi bands to The Four Brothers to Ivor Cutler - always interesting and inspiring. 👊🏾
I agree with this, and can personally relate. I was in the car today and Jaded by Miley Cyrus came on, a song I've never heard before. Yet when she got to the chorus I felt I could almost sing along to the melody because every note she hit and the pattern of notes she sang, was so obvious and predictable. It was weird. It sounded so much like every other churned out, highly produced, mass market, pop chorus in the last 5 years.
It was really dull to hear tbh. It's a shame because there's so much great original stuff out there but the charts are dominated by this bland cookie cutter style of modern pop.
the reason it sounds so predictable is probably because it's the same songwriters who writes pretty much all of the songs for the superstars.
@@bjarnyg Darn! You beat me to it. Lol It is so sad, really. Music has truly gotten so bad and I know it's not just "my age" as I see a lot of younger people listening to what I listened to 20-30 years ago. THEY don't even like today's music which is being "purchased" by bots or some friggin' AI bull💩 or something.
Sadly, that song is one of the better ones these days 🙄
There is so much music, so I see it as there is something for everyone!
I'm not a Taylor Swift fan either but I respect the way she makes her music, just like a respect others but therefore I don't "love"
Miley Cyrus i do love , her lyrics & sound is more me 🤔
I also don't just love a type of music: from Nirvana to Metallica to The Cure, Depeche Mode, Spice Girls, Prince, ....
But Beyonce is the only one who i'm a fan of since the beginning 💁🏻♀️
🫶🏻🌸
It's unfortunate because she does have a nice voice
Repetition of things that suck is called torture.
Shite-geist! LOL! Nail on the head.
If it's harmonic complexity we need, I'd recommend'Paranoid Android'.
Particularly the 1997 'Later' BBC video. It's sublime.
I think everyone that follows justin knows about Radiohead.
Im gona recommend something completely different.
TOE - Goodbye__check our ther live version, its one of the most incredible musical performances i have ever seen.
@@VonRibbitt Yes I'm sure they do.
I'll stick with my recommendation though thanks
This is why we love @RenMakesMusic and his art - the same reason we continue to love the Darkness and some handsome bloke Justin Hawkins 😉
30 years old and I've never chosen the music I listen to from what's on the radio, I've always taken the time to discover artists/bands I like for myself
Same, and im 25
Weirdly, the adverts of the 80s were probably more musically diverse than current mainstream pop.
I bet a lot of folks here would struggle to remember a Taylor Swift melody...but still know the tune to adverts like "do the shake and vac", "how do do it all do it?" and Birds Eye's "we hope it's chips, it's chips!...".
Apologies in advance for those 80s earworms!
I guarantee people would recognize a Taylor Swift melody, even if they didn't know it by name. You can like it or not like it (personally, I don't entirely disagree with your premise, but TS is a bad example), but that opinion has little bearing on actual quality. Because it's true people put inordinate respect into music of their own time, and forget it was mostly junk. I'd give examples but I've promised not to make boomers or Gen X-ers cry anymore... and I'm in the latter group.
This will be why I keep playing stuff like 1970s era Jethro Tull rather than what's on the radio.
Man you are such a fun presenter. Im so pleased i found your show
While the Hot 100 is bland, very few people are listening to it to the point that Billboard hasn't published the listening and sales numbers for years. The last time Billboard was publishing numbers, a song could be number one with 60,000 sales in a week in the U.S. Imagine the sales number for the 100th song.
Hello Justin! I've been following you for a few months now and you're amazing! Love the channel too! First time I've heard heard your song "Love is only a feeling" and it is incredible!!! Me and my guitarist friend had to play it multiple times in a row! Killer solo too! Such an original! Sending good vibes from the Philippines!!!! Rock on!!!
I am approaching 40 and will forever be grateful of the 90's and growing up being able to hear a wide variety of music genres. There was dance, trance, acid house, hip hop, grunge, rock, pop, U2 coming out of a lemon. It seemed anything went and enjoyed by all.
I couldn't even tell you now what is in the top 40 let alone the top 10.
In fairness, this could be said of any time since the 50s, from which you can trace the roots of all genres in all decades up until the time that pop died in the 21st century.
these days the top 10 or 40 is made up of new stuff and old songs. old songs that were last in the charts 30 or 40 years ago, but appeared on a tv show or tiktok video
@@samsara3694wrong. I knew which songs were hits of the past even as a 9 year old.
@@zeejay4458 ? Maybe you're read something into my reply that isn't there, as I can't make sense of your comment, and I don't mean that impolitely.
@@samsara3694 I misinterpreted your comment
I live in Scotland. This is what I wrote my Higher English Folio Essay on - How music is becoming worse, and why - in regards to sampling, recycled chord progressions, lack of impressive or interesting harmonic features being utilized and boring uncreative melodies as well as electronically generated drum beats and instruments etc. Just got my results a few days ago and got an A and I suddenly have a newfound respect of sorts for the Scottish Qualifications Authority 😅
The radio should not be used to measure modern music development.
I'm 36 and most of the music I listen to in order of quantity is from the 80s, 90s, 70s, 60s and 50s. I do listen to more modern stuff, but rarely and not the songs I hear on the radio.
I like to find huge festival line-up posters and one by one go through every band on every stage. I have find so much good new up and coming stuff that way.
You introduced me to Hi Ren back in April and i have been down that rabbit hole since thank you! Love your music and your channel
Things have really changed haven't they over the years. At school all we talked about was music, going to record shops, buying vinyl - really to the point of obsession. I was bought a little radio when I was 12 and that lead me to John Peel and Annie Nightingale. I was really into Joy Division, The B-52's, The Clash. I get the feeling that very few 12 year olds do this kind of thing today.
I get what you're saying. To be fair, there's no MTV/ VH1. Sure there is the radio, but as we found out, most stations just play the same 10-20 songs over and over. Everything is set up in a way that makes it difficult for kids to discover music other than the billboard top 20
Yes, I still use the radio on the job site. Admittedly, some of the new stuff is decent, but I usually wind up listening to 90's & 2000's Alt and rock. Love these videos, very glad you started doing this!
This is so true. Music was MUCH more sophisticated AND interesting back in the day. Modern popular music is 99% the same regurgitated shite
❤
The good thing is not all kids succumb to this formula. I have a musical daughter whose interests vary from folk to classic rock and she finds music much the same way I do. Soundtracks being a big part of that. It's great being able to share new things with each other. As a former hip hop producer I don't turn my nose up at anything.
Can it be said the rise of hip hop has had a negative effect on music overall. It made a performing art much less than and turned it into a reactionary art. Not so much enjoying the music itself into only reacting to beats and rhythms and in turn made it less diverse and more homogenized. Any music without a rhythm is discarded but many pieces that are famous and loved songs would be discarded. It has limited that which had a lot of different genres. Now music is background because it isn't important to listen too and go on a journey with. Its just a rhythm that either carries one up or down. Either energized or relaxed. But of itself it isn't that different in make and texture. Using the same two or three instruments and timed rhythms. There can be no Captain Beefheart or the Moody Blues in hip hop. There is no room for the offbeat and varied array of music. And that which isn't open to being varied limits itself to a sameness that makes it bland and easy to disregard.
My teenage daughter hates most modern music, and love classical. Not because I encouraged it, but because I exposed her to great music across genres and eras. She found some of the best and latched on.
@@TheEWFX29 I don't think Hip Hop can be blamed. If anything Hip Hop expanded my very narrow minded view of music into something much much broader. Hip Hop is a vast genre and what you hear in the charts is usually the tip of the iceberg and usually focused upon a particular trend of the times. The one thing that's great about Hip Hop is that producers are always striving to find that thing that separates them from the rest of the pack be it a sound in the samples, a new piece of technology such as synthesis or a new rhythm entirely. Learning how to produce 30 years ago had me digging in the record crates and listening to all sorts of music that I would never have listened too without it. And of the two things you mentioned I know for a fact that the former Captain Beefheart has been sampled by many Hip Hop artists and the moody blues have also been covered along with every other genre possible. There is a plethora of Hip Hop that never makes it anywhere near the top 40. Hip. Hop is celebrating 50 years this year but the truth is it's probably much older than that and it's style has changed so many times throughout the decades.
I agree that what ends up in the charts can often seem basic and lacking in any type of musical depth because the stuff that ends up In the charts is often loop based or instantly recognisable due to a simple hook or likewise. Can you blame the production or is it the simple fact that the average fan of music likes to latch onto the simple catchy sounds that plague the entirety of modern popular music today and for the last few decades even. I remember my parents saying that all music sounds the same when I was growing up and Hip Hop wasn't the main genre that I listened to back then either. The Hip Hop that I did like back then was pre gangster rap and I liked it not for the beats but more for the conscious story telling aspect of the lyrics that were prevelant at the time with groups like Arrested Development being at the forefront.
Also Hip Hop was the first genre that I ever heard move away from the simple 4/4 drum pattern that plagues most industry laden music. It taught me about off beat rhythms, slowing the drums down or speeding them up by playing slightly outside of the time signatures to create a different sounds. Playing 8ths, 3rds etc all of this I learned without any formal music education and because I was trying to figure out what it was that certain producers were doing. I still have every little talent when it comes to playing real musical instruments but when I am making my mixes I place the sounds as though they were being played live on a stage from a band for example the bass player and his speakers may be off to the left of stage with the lead being on the right. Things like leaving distortion in the mix. There are so many elements that add to a song sonically and we're it not for the depth of Hip Hop and it's influences ai doubt I would have ever have learned about them without a formal education.
I don't think it's the genres themselves that have made the music industry lack diversity of sound. I think it's the average human ears and the marketing departments ability to figure out what does best. The industry is bout making money. It's a business model and if a simple 3 chord sound is what makes money then that is what is going to get promoted.
@@whatwhatyep Very well put and shows what the non mainstream is in that genre. I have always like R&B and Soul music as a child of the 70s there was so much greatness that couldn't be ignored. And I don't hate Rap or Hip Hop I want to make it clear. I think punk rock helped homogenize rock music and feel the same as I do about hip hop and punk. But see the good in both. But just think they were the tools that made it easy to marginalize music. But I am one man who doesn't pretend to be the be all end all about anything. I loved the big Arrested Development album. Great songs on that. Of course one of the songs that affected me as a kid was Rappers Delight as its newness as to everything else around. And I enjoyed Dr Dre's Chronic album and the first Snoop Dogg album as great pieces of music. I am glad it took you out of a spot and broaden you, that is what art is supposed to do. It leads you on your own journey that makes you appreciate art and music more than just a backdrop. This was a nice talk and I am glad I had it. It helped me understand a enthusiasts insights into the music itself outside the image. Thank you for explaining your story and journey. It made me think about and understand things that can be over generalized at times. And see someone who studied something beyond the base knowledge. Hope you have a great day.
@@TheEWFX29 Thanks. Appreciate your comment. I too have a love of punk, particularly independent bands that do low numbers but have enough of a following to be able to tour the country at small festivals and music venues. I agree that there are similarities between the two but having grown up in England feel Punk has more in common with Reggae and Ska as the two genres would often be billed in the same venues at the same time.
When it comes to my narrow mindedness that was my teenage Drum n Bass era. If it wasn't underground DnB I wasn't interested for a few years but the truth is I grew up on 50s,60s and 70s music via my parents and that was through the 80s and into the 90s. Musically and technology wise I was fortunate enough to have been born as the last of gen x so have lived both analog and digital eras. It has been a blessing. I haven't really got more to add. I just wanted to say thanks for the compliment. You have a good day too. As Nardwaur would say. Keep on rocking in the free world and doot doot da loot doo, doot doot yeayahhh.
The simple fact is most people don't care about music all that much and will accept whatever they are fed. They like what they know and they don't know much.
timbral diversity refers to the types of sounds (i.e. variety of instruments) found in a song! In classical music we refer to the specific tone quality and distinctive "sound" of each instrument in the orchestra as its timbre so this is likely what it refers to.
Let's be honest? The typical listening public are thick as mince and will generally swallow what ever crap they're served because they are led to believe it's good because it's on the radio.
There's so much great music from the past yet to be discovered and I use UA-cam and Soundcloud like I used to go to record shops back in the day. In the faint hope I might find something to peek my interest.
Great as always Justin. ❤
On the flip side, if people enjoy it then what's the harm?
@@sc2057l You've obviously never worked in retail. That's like what leads to the setting of almost every dystopian sci-fi movie/twilight zone episode ever made.
Feel the same.
@@nunyabusiness6691 could be worse. Could be those retail covers of pop songs.
We had the roof done quite recently. The scaffolders seemed to communicate in some kind of grunt language and were blasting a f*cking awful dance radio station. The actual roofers were a lovely bunch of lads and had Planet Rock, including a few tunes by your good self!
HAHA - our neighbour just had some scaffolders around, and we said exactly the same. They seem to have their own language.
5:38 😊 5:38 😅
😅😅😅
@@MarkHarropthere are 2 types of scaffolders. Guys who could have an advanced degree but don't fit in school , maybe 20% the majority however struggle with velcro
@@jamescameron6819 My Dad was a scaffolder in the 70's and 80's, he went back to school and got some more qualifications, and moved on. He did take me and my brother on various building site, and very tall buildings in London. I loved it! And it got me over my fear of heights
I worked in an office across a corridor from a factory floor. They had R2 on all day. It was horrific. I had to buy ear plugs or go mad.
I think he is absolutly right about the generic mass produced music that are made today. Everytime you are out on the town in a training center or similar, then you hear the same type of music, where nothing really stands out.
I noticed that my kids are getting more and more into older music from the 1980 -1960s. And there is still much Great music made in the indie industry.
Pre ,Spice Girls... Most major record labels produced music for 18-30yo adults.
Post ,Spice Girls..major labels started producing music for 8-18yo.
Far easier to manipulate children to what is poplar than adults.
Then once social media took off, that made it Infinitely easier to control what is poplar with the kids.
My discovery of older music was hearing what inspired the artist I liked. For example in the early 90s, I once heard Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins talk about listening to Cheap Trick when he was younger thus leading me to Cheap Trick.
It’s not just me!!!! I’ve been gravitating towards independent artists for a while now. K.flay, grandson, and more recently- Ren!! Oh he is something else. Thank you for sharing the hi, Ren video and shedding light on the travesty that is the music industry now.
Top of the charts is about two steps away from Baby Shark 😂
In the US, one major company (Clear Channel) bought up the vast majority of radio networks about ten years ago. They did it over a period of like 5-8 years. By the time they finished, you could hear this "top 10 songs on repeat" across the stations. Rock/alt stations played more music on the side of pop rock, and classic rock stations began to play more contemporary rock (suddenly not just because as time passed, what was considered old music was from more recent times) that had played on the rock/alt station just five years earlier. There was a sudden shift of the music industry pre-packaged music across the board. On a separate note, this literal echo chamber of music which leads to a more homogenized and repetitive sound is amplified by the WAY people are streaming their music. I still use Pandora, where I have several VERY tailored stations but also many stations where I hear new songs. I know one CAN find new music on Spotify and iTunes, but the impression I get is most people are using it to listen to specific artists/songs and nothing else. It's all about setting their playlists to be the same day in and out. (Did the playlist in the early 2000s, burned out on it.). That means new music has to be sought out or brought in from an outside source. Put that with the assembly line of hits being force fed on the radio stations, and you see how everyone is having their music tastes narrowed in unless they are actively seeking out new sounds. That puts young musicians in a weird place of having fewer influences. That could be an incredibly place to start from to experiment and play with sounds they don't know, but there are a lot of people who start new things by recreating what has already been done. That's a valid method for learning a new craft but not for creativity itself. Bring the industry back into focus, and you see the same thing you see in other highly marketed industries--customer profiles are created through planned, ever-narrowing forced consumption. (We tell you what to like; then we sell it to you.)
Also part of the assembly line machine was the way the big studios use formulas for songs. Like when your English/Language Arts teacher gave you a rhyming scheme to write a poem. Just plug in your individual words to the formula. It keeps people listening to the repetition within the song. Interestingly, I read about a study once about how contemporary worship music (particularly American church) has adopted song structures, including repeating the same one or two lines 5-7 times and how that has a way of activating a part of our brain that can feel trance-like or that can feel like it's connecting us with a higher power/something bigger than ourselves. I would love to see someone formally analyze how pop music is doing the same thing. Just thinking of "Shake It Off" and HOW repetitive it is combined with that driving beat. Tell me it's not designed to 1)Get it stuck in your head forever after hearing one part and 2)put you in a particular headspace. That formula is like eating loads of sugar all at once. You're just going to crave more of it as you continue to consume it like that, even if you don't understand why. Your brain will be trained to look for that dopamine hit of repetition and that trance/higher power feeling. You can't ask for a better marketing plan than that, if you ask any unethical company.
This may be true but there's no getting away from it, Taylor Swift is one massive talented lass. This is coming from a 50 yr old man!!!
Justin please burn your Balenciaga hat. They are not a brand to be associated with in this day and age!!!
About a month ago, I stumbled upon your channel after seeing you featured on the Charismatic Voice(which I randomly came across in my feed). Then, it led to Rick Beato….which reawakened my limited appreciation/knowledge of music theory. Love your energy, Justin! Great topic today….I was just bemoaning the homogeneity of current pop music.
How funny, I found the same three in the exact opposite order 😂 as the exact opposite of a muso, they have each given me a new and different appreciation of all sorts of music. Happy exploring!
Haha, I came across those three in the same way 😅 not sure who was first, but they're like a holy trinity of music and music industry knowledge.
Virgin Rock is very good, also.
We all are in the same circles so not too surprising hahah
One song that for some reason always comes to my mind when I think about how much more complexity in sounds and textures and arrangements there used to be, is "Stoned Me" by Van Morrison. It's so lush and varied and yet has a kind of simple elegance to it. Just marvellous and a sure example of "they don't make 'em like that anymore".
Once in a lifetime talking heads / brown eyed girl come to mind for me
What a blast from the past ! I couldn't stop playing that great album . Even with songs like 'Moondance', there was this ethereal, time-lost quality of 'Stoned Me' which made it my favourite. Gotta go hunt for my old CD in the spare room ! Thanks for your comment !
Great piece of information Justin, thank you!
As a person of 56, almost 57, I have been a lover of music since the age of 3. Have been in bands and seen many of my favorite artists over all the years, and have noticed the decline in quality of the recordings with newer artists. The high end audio game is getting mute, as when you put on a new recording it does not show the depth of sound that used to be there. I just have the hope that there are some up and coming young people that will just go back to the good old four track recording system and put things right. Cheers all.
I think a lot of this can be contributed by the quality of speakers now vs older speakers. I was trying to wrap my head around why almost no album sounds like it did even as far back 2000s. I learned speakers have been streamlined with cheaper materials and doesn't have the same quality as speakers that used more power to operate. These $300 to $500 speakers are low end.
1966 here, the young gen need to treat the DAW (laptop) as a tape machine. Create in the room, learn basic mic frequency responses and placement. The depth you mentioned is in the recording space , not in the box. ✌️
Theodore Adorno was fundamentally right on this one- popular music encourages people to produce music similar to that which the audience already like. The way modern pop music is composed and produced takes this to the absolute extreme. In some cases just literally sampling a whole verse/ chorus and "Fiddling with the knobs" (I.e. the Elton John "Covers" recently) or just re-writing lyrics (The "Blue da ba de dab a" thing with re-worked lyrics that came out).
Harmony is almost seen as a nuisance in much modern pop (including "Pop Hip hop" stuff)- it's just a 2 or 4 bar loop with sometimes literally no harmony, sometimes just simple chords (we all know which two chord sequences....) as the "Music" element is nothing but the canvas for someone to rap over- rather than vocals being part of the music.
I always think the term "Artist" encourages acceptance of this. They're not "Musicians" any more (because they can't logically or reasonably be labelled that) so they are now the "Artist" representing the production of those songs.
TV Karaoke contests (tight contracts, free advertising and "Voting" boosting profit) have made this sort of acceptance even worse where musicianship is utterly irrelevant. Originality is seen as a negative and imitation, rather than singing, is the desired thing. And a sob story of course!
The real issue with all this that I see is the death of local live music scenes. How many people go to some small venue on a random friday without knowing who's playing? Not many, which is why the venues are dying. Venues in trouble mean less gigs and less bands coming through. Less bands coming through mean less variety which means even those actual record labels are less likely to sign more "Out there"/ original bands/ musicians. Plus, Internet musicians who never play live is a real thing now- nothing wrong with them but it once again makes the demand for live music even smaller.
The requisite ‘in my day things were better’. The industry has changed no doubt and I can’t even listen to mainstream radio without quickly hearing something I want to turn off. I worked in a factory with a controlling boss who would only listen to Radio 1. It was the same few popular songs on repeat. But anyone who thinks they’re cool because of whatever music they listen to (usually rock and metal🙄) is automatically NOT cool. 🤢
OMG! Besides the great subject and video, the fantastic Fletch Lives (Bibleland t-shirt) reference just made this that much better!!
We have a radio in our office. My music taste is too “weird” for everybody else I work with. But I must hear the same Ed Sheeran and Taylor swift songs like 20 times a day. The songs are boring and inoffensive at first but when I’ve heard them so many times I actually hate them so much I want to bite my own ears off. There’s so much good music out there but the stations just want to play the same 7 songs on rotation. Reminds me of the scene from blues brothers “We got both kinds! Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift!”
Edit: I should also add Lewis capaldi to the list
Thank Christ someone has finally proved that modern "popular" music is basically shite! At 49 I thought I had turned into an old lady with this opinion, as a 70s baby who grew up listening to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin Gary Moore and Queen with a bit of The Beach Boys, Bee Gees and Patsy Cline thrown in, I literally cannot STAND listening to the radio these days. Funnily enough the first time I became aware of The Darkness was seeing you open for Deep Purple at the old Wembley Arena. Good times.
Tune in to Dublin Radio Nova and you will hear all the greats. Queen,Zep,Purple,Lizzy.....
Polyphia: Playing God
Oh sorry. You probably like "Come on Eileen" and think it's a masterpiece.
Amen!
You eloquently spoke the words of my mind.👍
On the commercial/industrial job sites in the Pacific Northwest of the United States that I’ve been on over the years, most ban the use of radios now days. Though if you keep it down, you can get away with it. It’s mostly Bluetooth speakers and playlists these days, otherwise the majority seem to have an earbud in listening to podcasts. Love your channel.
That’s why I keep thinking all the pop sounds like jingles! Thanks so much to you and Jenny for getting the research on this. It might be fascinating if you could dig up an older song that’s been covered in pop style for a rather direct illustrative comparison…I’ve wondered if and how it could be that people are liking all this pop music! For me it’s low-key felt like some kind of soundtrack for falling asleep in totalitarianism. I don’t think I’d primarily fault all of the artists participating though-I think many of them are manipulated towards creating in that way.
Dancing In The Moonlight is a great example. The 1970 original by King Harvest is sweet and lovely, the 2000 version by Toploader is pretty mid but you can tell they are trying. the 2018 dance version by Jubel ft. Neimy is unlistenable excrement.
Extremely interesting.
Thanks! I remember the original-I’ll have to check out the new ones and brace myself. I don’t remember what else King Harvest did, but now Muscrat Love is popping up in my brain-the brain often stores things in entertaining ways, lol.@@vurogj
You speak like Alan Partridge. Suscrrrribed
Great video. For years I have felt that we are missing out on great bands too because of this type of risk aversion. Even if your label does have an A&R guy, which artist has more risk, a band that could break up after 1 album, or a solo artist that can just work with different producers, musicians, or collaborators if their records aren't moving?
Cheers, keep up the good work.
Keep doing what yr doing! I love your channel!
Part of the purpose of sweetening sound in ads, is people tend to run to the fridge/toilet during them, and forget to mute.
I grew up on the music of the 70s, teenagered through the 80's, then spent my 20s and 30s listening less to the radio and rediscovering artists from the 50s and 60s. Yes was amazing. This decline is part of why I gave up on listening to new music. Thanks to Ren, I'm now finding new, independent artists on UA-cam, and only listen to the news on the radio.
You need to get on BBC radio 6 bro
I despise 'often times' closely followed by 'my bad', 'turned up dead' and at the top of the vile pile ..........
'mmmmK?' 😫😫
The Lemon Twigs are saviors of modern pop music. You'll never hear them on mainstream radio, though.
Thanks for the Fletch reference T shirt. A true connoisseur.
In my living memory I feel like good music has always taken a little bit more effort to find, but I'm at an age now where the effort it takes outstrips the reward. That's the sad part. Good music can be transcendental, but I can't be mithered wading through through the amount of manure I'd need to find those transcendental moments.
As a woman growing up with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Yes, I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to grow up in such a great era of music. You can not in any way compare the crap being put out today to any of this great music. Are we really going to hear this shit 50 years from now? That’s a no-brainer.
Just a quick note, I loved the broadcast with Jenny on Monday and may I just say, you are not an acquired taste. Well, maybe you are. But I will be enjoying my view from the chasm in Chicago.😊
There's so much great music happening every year, just cause you're not aware doesn't mean it's not there.
We actually had better music variety on WLS back in the day. Never thought I’d say that.
As a lover of Floyd, Zep and Tull I can assure you, you will absolutely adore King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Greatest rock band of the last decade or so by far.
The stuff 20 years from now may be so bad that today’s garbage may be considered good then
You're so lucky.
I’m saddened by the news of Robbie Robertson passing today. I was listening to some of The Band’s music earlier, specifically “I shall be released” from the Last Waltz concert. Seeing all those musicians on stage from varying genres is truly awesome in the sincerest form of the word.
Now watching this video makes the reality hit home that something like that cannot happen now. Artists today don’t make art. Music isn’t beautiful anymore. It’s more corporate and cookie cutter than Frank Zappa’s worst nightmare.
It's not just music, it's everything! All corporations are playing it safe... movies (mostly woke rehashes), cars (mostly gray), appliances (nothing interesting), anything you can think of... The lack of creativity and risk-taking is stultifying!
This is the short version of the podcast? Dude I need moarrrrr
Thanks Justin, I think this is a little bit of why I like reaction vids. Between you and several others I’ve found tons of music I like that I wouldn’t have heard otherwise😊
Thank you. I’ve been listening to a lot of music spanning from the 1960s up until the present day. All of this reaffirms my thoughts and discussions. While many people strive to be positive about music and talk about songs they adore, I dare to say that 99.9% of music is truly dreadful.
I've found that painters usually use bluetooth and cycle around different genres and vibes. While carpenters tend to listen to classic rock radio.
THANK YOU!!! ‘Oftentimes’ drives me crazy 😂
You've marked the point that I always think is the issue, if people are being fed the same songs, they're inevitably going to become popular. It's very sad that there's so little diversity on the radio, not just the individual songs that are clones but also no diversity in genre
Thanks for airing this report it explains what I feel about current 'pop' so much better than the rant I would come out with
spot on. love your channel.
Great Video Mr Hawkins!
I spent 20 years on building sites up and down our land, I can confirm the same tune was played the entire time, I went Bluetooth and played Death Grips just to make them all go away 🤘✌️➕❤️🕺🙌
There is still very good new music out there, but you'll never hear it on the radio. Sad but true.
Thanks so much for this. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what happened to rock and roll, where it started to go away and why, and this helps explain it. I’ve always blamed MTV because mid 80s it seemed they started relegating it to headbangers ball and putting in pop and rap instead. Like a big shift. Maybe they were seeing hair metal bands out of control, and many were because they started being about the look and letting the music slide. But grunge with Stone Temple Pearl Jam Garden was turning out good rock again, and then that also got pushed aside. There are still good rock bands out there but they aren’t getting air play. I still radio, though. Anyway, I’ve learned some things that I’ve been waiting to have explained to me, so thanks.
In the US, a major shift came when Clear Channel started buying up the radio stations. The number of rock/alt stations in a given area were cut by 1/3 to 1/2. What was left was ruled by the same policies of "repeat the favorites" as the stations of other genres. It's why we heard the theme to Pearl Harbor on both pop and rock stations all day long.
Thanks 🙏 I’ve stuck to my guns as an artist. Can’t really listen to much new stuff but there will always be good new music just harder to find. Just finished watching Blur on bbc2 Iplayer. Absolutely Amazing 🤩
Love the new tuning fork you have on the mic stand
Ren actually has kinda a common contemporary style of rapping... it's not such a unique style, unless you never listen to British rappers... but he's really good at it. He's pushing boundaries with lyrics and imagery more than an experimental or "different" musical style. And that's a good formula for popularity, which, people need all the help they can get, I guess.
I disagree, and he also has skills beyond rapping - his vocals and guitar playing are really good. To pigeonhole him as merely a rapper is a grave injustice to his talents.
Dig a little deeper into Ren's catalog, he is definitely more than rapper.
REN is a musical artist that can rap.
Artists used to chase progression of the art of music, but now it's all about profits. Now even new (mainstream) artists are only wanting to make a song that sounds like that other sound in order to gain recognition and therefor popularity instead of creating something artistically challenging.
Nice to get an explanation why I stopped listening to popular music around 2000. During the last couple years discoveries of some new extraordinary talents has restored my interest in music broadly. Thx to the young talented artist who persistently pushes to get heard despite the industry obstacles.
THANK GOD you said that about "often times". That drives me NUTS.
You are SO correct about “often times”! Thank You!😃
So, in terms of self-expression, we don't want the bland, repetitive music, but we do want bland repetitive speech? And you don't see the hypocrisy in that? Just because it isn't the most efficient doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.
Have a fun rest of week!😀Many thanks to Justin for sharing, for joyful conversation and for the smiles brought to the whole lot of us who love to smile!👍🏼😊
@@Shelly-op1kx coward.
The "sheitgeist" is my new favorite term! Thank you Justin. Back when The Darkness was "new" (to me, anyway), I missed out because you were different from what I was primarily fed by the radio at the time (although, today I couldn't tell you what that was). I didn't stray far from the middle of the rock radio spectrum. I'm glad to have come across your channel and been led back to your music. The Darkness' energy is infectious, and skill is amazing! I wish I had a time machine .....
Keep on doing this. Your knowledge and style are both impressive.
ha, I am gonna steal that! Great stuff, sheitgeist! SHITEGEIST!
here, in washington dc, we still listen to the radio on a job site. At 2:00, we always hear "Living on a Prayer," followed shortly by, "TNT."