"Turn that crap off," says the disgruntled parent to her child who happens to be fiddling with the AUX cord. Throw Some Mo plays in the background as the volume hits a max of 30. The GPS informs the mother that she should turn left in approximately 500 feet as the only audible noise in the car is the sound of a panting labrador over a murmured Rae Sremmurd lyric.
I've had so many negative experiences with my parents as a child that I started asking the question, "Is our music really that awful?" Yea, we get it. Earth, Wind, & Fire is legendary and I have to agree, but is J. Cole mediocre? Is Pitbull, just a cop out artist that makes semi-Latin music for popular culture. Don't even get me started about EDM, most of which is pure garbage. Has music truly taken a turn for the worst as we happen to head to more electronically influenced music that has fewer live instruments.
Have humans ruined another great part of nature through the use of technology, or have our tastes just become different? To be quite honest, I can't imagine my grandparents parents saying "that music is shit" to the music he used to listen to as a child. But then again, I'm sure times were different back then.
Whatever the case, I think that there is definitely still some quality music being made, but we are entering into new genres and new times. The way we go out and celebrate is different and that calls for a different need in the music world.
Check out this mix by a DJ in the UK and tell me where you think the future of music is headed.
https://soundcloud.com/complexion/future-beats-radio-072-with-rom?in=etai-evenhaim/sets/bigchill
I think some electronic music is cool. Daft Punk rocks! If you haven't heard their performance at the Grammy's yet, you should check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FY4MRdQOdE
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This is a huge topic that I'm really interested in but have no clues at all. No doubts that there are connections between music flavor and all sorts of characteristics - cultures (between generations, among peoples, etc.), ages, personality... Not only could my parents tell me to turn the crap off, it also could happen between you and me when I'm listening to some old-Chinese-styled rhythm which I found brilliant but you might define as "weird far-east song"; it could even happen between me and my Chinese friends if we had different tastes of music. I don't even know which gaps are more predictable: for example, I always assume that most parents can't understand "modern music", but am slightly not sure how Caucasians perceive oriental song (perhaps strange but somehow delightful, although not interested?).
ReplyDeleteHowever, the point is, just as there are more and more "commercial movies" (businessmen made these movies with the sole purpose of earning money so these movies are usually lack of deep meaning or senses of art), same things must have occurred in the music industry, too. Originally, both movies and music are meant to express various kinds of feelings, and audience like them because they have resonance. But the authors of commercial products didn't actually want to express; they just did research about what the public like and produced accordingly.
I don't know about electronics that much, although I do like a lot of them. I think it's smart to put together those modern style sounds to make a flowing rhythm. Of course it has fewer components of live instruments, but as long as the composers are truly expressing, it has its spirit. Maybe it is the simplicity that encourages businessmen to abuse the style.
I personally believe music has taken a turn for the worst. Lyrically, musically, and instrumentally bands and artists have really take a step back in regards to creating anything meaningful. However, there are exceptions but as a general observation I would have agree with you that most artists and bands are commercially "selling out".
ReplyDeleteMy parents complain about the music that we listen to as well! My cousin is also a DJ and it is good business. Whether or not our music is bad according to a different generation is irrelevant as long as the music is in demand.
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