Has main stream music passed away this generation?

[RedTruck]

I can't help but feel it has. Turning on the radio, and just listening to your standard music station you will hear nothing but mindless garbage. Very few songs have deep meaningful lyrics, or music and songs with serious "meat" on there bones.

Nirvana, Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, The Who and so on and so forth. Music you would hear constantly on radio stations, day in and day out. Music that was popular by everyone's standards (more or less).

Today music feels like nothing more than mindless "junk food" music. With nothing but lyrics about how to screw men/women and bring them home to get laid. What happened to the day's of music like Bohemian Rhapsody, Stairway to Heaven, Lithium, Something in the Way, etc...music with lyrics that have meaning, that have soul and true, true, genuine "feeling" to them.

Where has that all disappeared? Obviously, there's an indie scene, and obviously good music is still being produced, you just have dig a bit harder and farther..but what happened to the days when you could hear great music, beautiful music, music with soul and passion in every note, being played on the radio nearly 24/7?

It's a sad state of affairs, when Justin Beiber and Flo Rida is being eclipsed by the standards of yesterday by today's youth.

[Larry Schuler]

I'm pretty sure every song ever is about how to screw men/women, in all varieties of the word. The difference I've noticed is that music has shifted to digital instruments and digital interface sequencing. Things sound more cookie cutter because they are literally cookie cutter sequences being dragged across a digital editing program. If you hear the acoustic or live piano versions of some of these awful pop songs they actually start out with decent music at their core. Problem is they then digitalize them into the most sugary, ADD, hip hop/pop/rock hybrid Lego songs. Just my opinion though based on the non-rock radio I've heard lately.

[camisadelgolf]

Welcome to Corporate America. There's as much good music as ever, but you have to find it.

[RedTruck]

Originally Posted by Larry Schuler

I'm pretty sure every song ever is about how to screw men/women, in all varieties of the word. The difference I've noticed is that music has shifted to digital instruments and digital interface sequencing. Things sound more cookie cutter because they are literally cookie cutter sequences being dragged across a digital editing program. If you hear the acoustic or live piano versions of some of these awful pop songs they actually start out with decent music at their core. Problem is they then digitalize them into the most sugary, ADD, hip hop/pop/rock hybrid Lego songs. Just my opinion though based on the non-rock radio I've heard lately.

Not every song is about screwing...

Nirvana-Lithium Lyrics

I'm so happy 'cause today
I found my friends
They're in my head
I'm so ugly, that's okay
'Cause so are you
Broke our mirrors
Sunday morning is everyday
For all I care
And I'm not scared
Light my candles, in a daze
'Cause I've found God

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah

I'm so lonely, that's ok
I shaved my head
And I'm not sad
And just maybe
I'm to blame for all I've heard
I'm not sure
I'm so excited
I can't wait to meet you there
And I don't care
I'm so horny, that's okay
My will is good

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah

I like it I'm not gonna crack
I miss you I'm not gonna crack
I love you I'm not gonna crack
I killed you I'm not gonna crack

I like it I'm not gonna crack
I miss you I'm not gonna crack
I love you I'm not gonna crack
I killed you I'm not gonna crack

I'm so happy 'cause today
I found my friends
They're in my head
I'm so ugly, but that's okay
'Cause so are you
Broke our mirrors
Sunday morning is everyday
For all I care
And I'm not scared
Light my candles in a daze
'Cause I've found god

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah

I like it I'm not gonna crack
I miss you I'm not gonna crack
I love you I'm not gonna crack
I killed you I'm not gonna crack

I like it I'm not gonna crack
I miss you I'm not gonna crack
I love you I'm not gonna crack
I killed you I'm not gonna crack

Circa 1990

2012

Katy Perry-Last Friday Night

There's a stranger in my bed,
There's a pounding my head
Glitter all over the room
Pink flamingos in the pool
I smell like a minibar
DJ's passed out in the yard
Barbie's on the barbeque

There's a hickie or a bruise
Pictures of last night
Eended up online
I'm screwed
Oh well
It's a black top blur
But I'm pretty sure it ruled

Last Friday night
Yeah we danced on tabletops
And we took too many shots
Think we kissed but I forgot

Last Friday night
Yeah we maxed our credit cards
And got kicked out of the bar
So we hit the boulevard

Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a menage a trois
Last Friday night
Yeah I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop-op
Whoa-oh-oah

This Friday night
Do it all again
This Friday night
Do it all again

Trying to connect the dots
Don't know what to tell my boss
Think the city towed my car
Chandelier is on the floor
With my favorite party dress
Warrants out for my arrest
Think I need a ginger ale
That was such an epic fail

Pictures of last night
Ended up online
I'm screwed
Oh well
It's a blacked out blur
But I'm pretty sure it ruled
Damn

Last Friday night
Yeah we danced on table tops
And we took too many shots
Think we kissed but I forgot

Last Friday night
Yeah we maxed our credits card
And got kicked out of the bars
So we hit the boulevards

Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping int he dark
Then had a menage a trois
Yeah I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop-op
Oh whoa oh

This Friday night
Do it all again
Do it all again
This Friday night
Do it all again
Do it all again
This Friday night

T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.
T.G.I.F.

Last Friday night
Yeah we danced on table tops
And we took too many shots
Think we kissed but I forgot

Last Friday night
Yeah we maxed our credit cards
And got kicked out of the bar
So we hit the boulevard

Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a menage a trois

Last Friday night
Yeah I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop
Oh-whoa-oh
This Friday night
Do it all again

There definitely more blatantly put into today's lyrics. Last Friday night, I have a stranger in my bed, I had a threesome? I mean, sure songs have always been to some degree sexual in some nature..but today's lyrics just go full frontal with no shame at all..and honestly that's all I ever feel like I hear..songs about love, or songs about banging..What happened to music like Bob Dylan, or Johnny Cash, music where there was more variety than just singing about some hot guy/hot girl that they met at the bar and want to screw?

[IslandRed]

Point taken, but you're crossing genres as well as eras when you're comparing today's mainstream pop songs to artists who weren't really pop in their own time. By and large, the kids who listen to Katy Perry or Justin Bieber today, their predecessors weren't into Nirvana or Zeppelin or Cash.

On the Billboard singles charts, Pink Floyd had one #1 hit and one other top-20 song. The Monkees had three #1s and three other top-fives. Apples and oranges.

[Razor Shines]

The only addition to this thread that I have is that this thread title made me realize I honestly cannot remember the last time I listened to a music station. That's no exaggeration it has literally been years, I'm kind of shocked by that and I love music, so maybe it kind of proves the OP's point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ravenlord]

"We all just wanna be big rock stars
Living in hilltop mansions driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs are cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat"

or

"Never gonna give up my rugged life
Never gonna sell my fertile soil
Never gonna give up this simple style
So let's drink and enjoy"


one of these is far more authentic than the other to me.

[westofyou]

1976 - Disco Duck hits Number One in September, let's not believe that only good music was in the past, in case we need reminders of the dreck we had to stomach to hear the "classic" (and lord I wish some of them would go away today) check out these songs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

[919191]

Originally Posted by westofyou

1976 - Disco Duck hits Number One in September, let's not believe that only good music was in the past, in case we need reminders of the dreck we had to stomach to hear the "classic" (and lord I wish some of them would go away today) check out these songs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

Yep, and remember how big trucker music was for a short time?

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by 919191

Yep, and remember how big trucker music was for a short time?

Pedro's 4th grade class voted to sing a song at the Christmas Pageant and the song that won was Convoy

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

Welcome to Corporate America. There's as much good music as ever, but you have to find it.

Yep. Look around. TV, movies, music..... very little is original anymore. It is just a copied formula from something else that was successful before it. But taken, or attempted to be taken, to the next level.

Hotter girls. More sex. More money. More explosions. More judges. More singers.

But to camis last point, there is probably more good music than ever before. Today you can record a song from your bedroom with the quality that you used to only be able to get in professional studios. And you can do it with an $800 laptop and a $100 mic.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Yep. Look around. TV, movies, music..... very little is original anymore. It is just a copied formula from something else that was successful before it. But taken, or attempted to be taken, to the next level.

Hotter girls. More sex. More money. More explosions. More judges. More singers.

But to camis last point, there is probably more good music than ever before. Today you can record a song from your bedroom with the quality that you used to only be able to get in professional studios. And you can do it with an $800 laptop and a $100 mic.

I've spent so much time finding the old classic cartoons for my nieces and nephews. Children's programming is in the same drek the music industry is. They are complete garbage IMO, there is more entertainment value and educational value in a single Bugs Bunny cartoon than whole days of Nick Jr.

[Captain13]

Pop music has always been about getting laid, or not getting laid anymore. Robert Johnson wrote about sex with double entendres that were "borrowed" by Led Zeppelin and many others.

I like the way Nick Hornby wrote it in High Fidelity "What came first, the music or the misery? ...Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

I left a sentence out, but the meaning is still there. Pop music is often, and has always often been, about love, lust and parties. If I'm not mistaken the term rock and roll was a euphamism for sex before it was a type of music.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Slyder

I've spent so much time finding the old classic cartoons for my nieces and nephews. Children's programming is in the same drek the music industry is. They are complete garbage IMO, there is more entertainment value and educational value in a single Bugs Bunny cartoon than whole days of Nick Jr.

I'm raising my kids on The Simpsons...

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Captain13

Pop music has always been about getting laid, or not getting laid anymore. Robert Johnson wrote about sex with double entendres that were "borrowed" by Led Zeppelin and many others.

I like the way Nick Hornby wrote it in High Fidelity "What came first, the music or the misery? ...Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

I left a sentence out, but the meaning is still there. Pop music is often, and has always often been, about love, lust and parties. If I'm not mistaken the term rock and roll was a euphamism for sex before it was a type of music.

The difference is, pop music used to at least attempt to hide what it was saying. Now they are just coming out and saying it. To adults, there is no difference. For kids, there is a huge difference.