Rhah's reasons why music today sucks.

Taking inspiration from Stalins Ghosts post, about why music today rawks, I thought i'd offer a counterpoint.
I will not claim to be the authority on musical quality, and anything I write is purely my opinion, but as someone who has a massive interest in all aspects of music I'd like to discuss my belief that, for the most part, today's music does indeed suck. I'm going to focus on rock music and its various genre's.

Where to begin.... ahh yes, money, or more specifically, the pursuit of money. It permeats every aspect of modern music, most noticeably in the music industry (the clue is in the name really), but more and more it has infected the artists themselves. You would expect this from pop bands, but even today's so called alternative acts are cashing in.
Perhaps it has always been this way, and now that i'm older i am in a better position to see it. Its just that, when I bought a Rage against the machine album I knew I was investing in an album that I would still want to listen too in 10 years (if it managed to survive being broken or scratched). Back then, it seemed that everytime I went near a record store there would be a new album by a decent band that had just been released. Keep in mind that these were the dark days before widespread internet access, so it was quite hard to keep tracks on what bands were releasing, and when.

As a comparison, lets take a look at this year (so far), and 1996, 10 years ago.

1996
Classic albums released:

"Ænima" by Tool
"Down on the upside" by Soundgarden
"Evil Empire" by Rage Against the Machine
"Murder Ballads" by Nick Cave and the Bad seeds
"Life is Peachy" by KoЯn
"Everything must go" by The Manic Street Preachers
"Antichrist superstar" by Marilyn Manson.
"Roots" by Sepultura
"Unplugged" By Alice in Chains

'96 was the years that grunge died, to be replaced by... well, I was never really sure about that exactly. Bands like KoЯn began to emerge, and a new genre which is now named Nu-metal. After years of "self-reflective" music, suddenly rock music started to become "popular" again, after years of being on the fringe of the music industry. Record companies realised that bands like KoЯn could tap into teenage angst in a way unheard of before. Of course, teenagers had always been listening to angry music, but the record companies finally mastered the secret of packaging that angst.
Still, it wasnt all bad.... far from it in fact. Some of the albums i've listed above are classic albums, by excellent bands. Some of them are classic albums by bands that have gone onto to become "less than excellent bands" (KoЯn and Manson being a case in point). My point is, that even then, despite 1996 being the tail end of the "golden days" of rock/metal (86 to 96 IMO) we still had better quality bands than there are today.

2006
Classic albums released:

"10,000 Days" by Tool
"Blackholes and revelations" by Muse

The two albums I've mentioned above are the only albums I've heard this year that I believe are worthy to be classed as classic albums. 1 of them is by a band who were around in 1996 (Tool) and the other is by a band who formed in 94 (Muse). As I type this, I am looking at a list of albums that have been released this year, and none of them stand out. It is a long list of "flash in the pan" Emo bands, like My Chemical Romance and Hawthorne Heights, or boring, soulless Indie-rock/new wave groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and We Are Scientists.
Somehow, I find it unlikely that these bands will be remembered for their greatness in 10 years time.
Where are the new bands that are trying to push the boundaries? What happened to originality, or progression?
Most of today's bands spend more time on their image than they do on actually writing any decent music. I've heard people compare the situation today to that of the mid 80's, when Hair/glam metal was in ascendance, and I think that to be an accurate, if disheartening, analogy.

I can only hope that the music industry has finally managed to suck Rock music dry of any vital essence it had, because only then can we hope for a return to the days of actual creativity and integrity.
There is no point fighting it anymore.... let the parasites consume themselves.

it just need a time to recover...few yrs. my guess...when "parasites consume themselves", music will go to its "Roots,Bloody Roots". :tooth:

Great counter thread mate

Being the partial inspiration for the thread, I'll offer my thoughts- yup there are alot of really bad bands out there at the moment- I tend to think this just makes the good bands I pointed out (read the post! The post!) all the better. And try out the Audioslave album thats just been released- its a cracker. Equal to Muses album in my opinion. Although I'm sure many will hasten to disagree with me

As for the crap bands ability to get deals, I know what you mean- a few mates of mine (as much as I hate to knock them, being my mates) got a deal after just 2 months. And they are shocking. In all fairness, they are not that good.

Still, it doesnt stop the class acts being class.

Admittedly, when you look at my most played albums, I'm heavily weighted towards older albums, but I still feel there's more to come in the coming months (from Incubus, SPs, Velvet Revolver, Qotsa)

Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire, Battle of LA (my love for these shines through in the reviews of them), Superunknown, Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinate Sadness, Audioslave, Origin of Symetry (still my favorite by Muse). All fairly old releases now.

I also listen to:

Pearl Jam, Black Holes and Revalations, Revalations (really, I've played through it about 10 times since Tuesday). All very weighted against the newer albums. That said, I dont think its the quantity of new albums, but the quality, and which bands are releasing them. And of course the touring- there's alot of big name bands touring at the moment or will be soon. Too bad its not in the UK just right now apparently

I need to buy 10,000 Days actually though.

Originally Posted by Stalins Ghost

Great counter thread mate

Being the partial inspiration for the thread, I'll offer my thoughts- yup there are alot of really bad bands out there at the moment- I tend to think this just makes the good bands I pointed out (read the post! The post!) all the better. And try out the Audioslave album thats just been released- its a cracker. Equal to Muses album in my opinion. Although I'm sure many will hasten to disagree with me

As for the crap bands ability to get deals, I know what you mean- a few mates of mine (as much as I hate to knock them, being my mates) got a deal after just 2 months. And they are shocking. In all fairness, they are not that good.

Still, it doesnt stop the class acts being class.

But lets take a look at the class acts... Most of them are bands that are still around from the mid 90's (pearl jam, Tool, Muse etc) or bands that have formed from other bands that were around in the mid 90's! (Audioslave)
At the moment, the future of rock music in general looks incredibly bleak, because lets face it, most of the decent artists are starting to get on in years. 10 years from now, will people be looking back on the "glory days" of My Chemical Romance? I sincerely hope not.

the horror..... the horror.......


Anyway, I havent heard anything from the new Audioslave album, so I will have to investigate. Their first album was superb, but I found the second to be a little lacking, so it kind of put me off.

Agreed- OoE was weaker. I think it was less intense. Enjoyable. But not quite as good.

Revalations is pretty awesome. I think the first single is on their website if you want to listen to it. Its ace, but unlike most Audioslave singles, doesnt quite live up to the album!

Point taken about most of the bands being formed from early 90s bands . Still, they're modern in my eyes!

MCR can burn a slow death into obscurity. Their time is numbered! The restless plebs will get bored of them soon enough...its happening already.

Originally Posted by Stalins Ghost

Agreed- OoE was weaker. I think it was less intense. Enjoyable. But not quite as good.

Revalations is pretty awesome. I think the first single is on their website if you want to listen to it. Its ace, but unlike most Audioslave singles, doesnt quite live up to the album!

Point taken about most of the bands being formed from early 90s bands . Still, they're modern in my eyes!

MCR can burn a slow death into obscurity. Their time is numbered! The restless plebs will get bored of them soon enough...its happening already.

At work at the moment, so I cant listen unfortunately. I'll try and remember to pay their site a visit when I get home. Either, that or be a thief and load up Limewire.

MCR will disapear eventually, but no doubt there will be another bunch of plebs ready to step into their shoes.

Thinking about it, the only new band i've heard that has interested me at all is the Towers of London.... they're quite poor, but at least they're entertaining.

I believe that over 90% of the music that comes out these days is crap.

At least in the pop culture world as we know it, the music is horrid. Rap is no longer about life. We used to hear rhymes about the struggles of growing up and how to get through the tough times. The message is what was important. Today we listen to, admittedly, simple but catchy beats and even remixes of older rap, rock, or even classical songs that catches the ear of the simple minded listener. Instead of hearing about something decent and respectable now all we get through the mouth of hip hop is *****es, hoes, bling bling, and as much sex as possible. The african-american community may become angry over persecution, discrimination, and stereotypes however the hip hop culture, although not directly related to the whole african-american community, expels only those evil acts and thoughts. Hip hop isn't respectable anymore. And rappers wonder why they don't get invited on Oprah.

With the purely pop genre today I have to say could be almost as bad as the hip hop although the two many times go together. Your average pop song contains horrible writing but your catchy beat. There isn't much more I can say about pop music because I can't stand it and try not to pay attention to it either.

Now onto rock. Rock nowadays is bad too. After the early 90's bands started to all sound the same. Many "rock" bands now are hardly that. You have your emo-rock which is just...oh I hate it. There is either no talent in our music business or people don't know what talent is. I prefer to think the latter.

Music these days isn't about music. Now it is all about what the music will get you; chicks, money, cars, etc. I don't blame today's musicians for putting out the music that they do because people buy it. That is why I tend to think that people don't know what good music is. They will hear a beat and think it is cool but they won't know why. They will listen to some hip hop and believe the music behind the rapping and rhyming is creative and orignal. Little do they know that the beat was taken from a song more than a decade old. Now, I will admit that I am an art snob but that isn't a bad thing. It is a good thing knowing what good music sounds like. Whatever happened to a unique sounding band? What happened to southern rock? What happened to writing your own songs? WHAT?!

So people, stop liking bad music.

Ret Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium is a classic IMO. And also, I haven't heard many of those 1996 albums you've listed.

Originally Posted by Flogger

Ret Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium is a classic IMO. And also, I haven't heard many of those 1996 albums you've listed.

Never been a big fan of RHCP. They're too funky for my tastes.
I do like a few of their older tracks though, but the stuff i've heard from "Stadium Arcadium" hasn't impressed.

I'd say the same about "In your Honour" by the Foo fighters. Their first few albums, especially "The Colour and the shape" were pretty good, but their latest seems uninspired (to my ears anyway)

Originally Posted by Rhah

I'd say the same about "In your Honour" by the Foo fighters. Their first few albums, especially "The Colour and the shape" were pretty good, but their latest seems uninspired (to my ears anyway)

As a pretty big FF fan, I completely agree. In Your Honor has a few good tracks (The Last Song, The Deepest Blues are Black, DOA and more of the tracks on the second disk spring to mind) but doesn't feel like an album. It feels like a collection of "meh" singles and some "not bad/pretty good" singles, whereas The Colour and the Shape is just a superb album that fits together perfectly, sets a cohesive, flowing mood and is just full of great songs (the best, of course, being Everlong which is just, to me, the best freaking song ever). I don't know what it is - lack of inspiration or, more likely, something which happens to authors and actors too - a famous band doesn't have to write good songs to be listened to, so they slack.

Well RHCP's new cd is something i consider to be a very good work of art. But then again they are an older band..

I have only purchased two albums from this year. Those albums are Wolfmother's debut album and RHCP's "Stadium Arcadium.". This has been the only album (That I have listened to) that I have enjoyed and listened to more than a few times and then packing it away into my CD case.

Since gangsta rap has taken over, and emo is in abundance, I find it very difficult to find music that actually suits my tastes. Time and time again I have been purchasing albums from the 60's 70's eras and have been listening to those throughly.

What has happened? Is it the "fad" at this moment in time? Trying to release teen angst and depression by hearing some guy crying about losing his girlfriend and making the biggest deal out of it.

I have pretty much stopped listening to music of this time all together, except for maybe MTV2's Subterranean every once in a great while, but I have always turned the radio to classic rock. I just can't deal with the crap that today's music is churning out.

Stadium Arcadium was shocking in my eyes. Bloated and over hyped. A few good songs (Readymade for example...I love it), but the most are all totally lacking in intensity. How not to do a double album. But hey! Thats just me.

Just checked out the Audioslave web-site btw Rhah- seems it has preview clips of the whole album.

well i think you should add Angle of retribution - judas priest in classic releases but it was in 2005

A classic isn't a classic unless it lasts awhile. So, all of these albums that may seem good now that have just come out aren't classic. Classic doesn't mean, "instant hit", because we all know how long a song or album lasts in our modern music culture. I'd say about a year at most.

This is why I stick to pre-80s bands. Though there are a few exceptions, System of a Down, and a bit of Rage Against the Machine. Of course, I don't count Iron Maiden and Queen 80s, even though they were around in the 80s. Erm, whatever. Yeah. I think. :hmmm:


One of the downsides to this is that all the bands I listen to are either dead or dying, so I can't go to any of their concerts. Clapton is coming in October, but I don't have the dinero to go see the show. Oh damn, I wish I did. My friends dad bought him 4 tickets........one of the upsides to sharing an interest in music with your dad.

turn off mtv and go to some local venues. don't complain about music today when all you're looking at are top single charts or top 10 music videos. and you know what, if you stop looking at corporate music, do some exploring and still don't like what you see, MAKE YOUR OWN STUFF

Originally Posted by victor.

turn off mtv and go to some local venues. don't complain about music today when all you're looking at are top single charts or top 10 music videos. and you know what, if you stop looking at corporate music, do some exploring and still don't like what you see, MAKE YOUR OWN STUFF

I dont watch MTV, or listen to the Radio. I'm not looking at the top 10 charts of anything, and as I stated in the original post, I'm concentrating on Rock/metal as genre's, not pop music, or even the music charts.

I also do visit local venues, fairly frequently, and even there the problem is exactly the same. Most bands are just jumping on the bandwagon (excuse the pun), and are looking for a quick way to get signed and make some money. The only bands I've seen with any originality lately are far too weird to ever be anything but a local band (Do a search for "Tunguska Butterfly", and you'll see what I mean. Excellent band though.)

And I actually do write and perform my own music, and have done for years. Nowadays I cant be bothered with actually trying to perform it live, so I do it for my own enjoyment. But I do have experiance with the "music business", at least at the lower levels of it.

Geez, the pessimism is way too overblown. Music hasn't died; rap hasn't died; rock hasn't died; jazz hasn't died. As long as there are artists willing to go against the grain, to try something new, and those that are willing to garner support in the underground, rap/rock/jazz/funk/etc. will only grow and become more 'diverse'.

2006/05/04 did have some really good albums

The Roots-Game Theory
Mos Def-New Danger
Meshuggah-Catch 33
Tool-10,000 Days

There are, in addition, numerous breakthrough artists, who I can post later, who are just breaking the mould of musicality right now. More famous and reputable artist may've fallen; this is undoubtedly due to the fact that commercial forces have quite an effect on these artists. The solution is, undeniably, to look deeper.

Originally Posted by Chandrashekar Azad

Geez, the pessimism is way too overblown. Music hasn't died; rap hasn't died; rock hasn't died; jazz hasn't died. As long as there are artists willing to go against the grain, to try something new, and those that are willing to garner support in the underground, rap/rock/jazz/funk/etc. will only grow and become more 'diverse'.

2006/05/04 did have some really good albums

The Roots-Game Theory
Mos Def-New Danger
Meshuggah-Catch 33
Tool-10,000 Days

There are, in addition, numerous breakthrough artists, who I can post later, who are just breaking the mould of musicality right now. More famous and reputable artist may've fallen; this is undoubtedly due to the fact that commercial forces have quite an effect on these artists. The solution is, undeniably, to look deeper.

Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places, but I still cannot find anything that particularly stands out. Of course, taste is subjective, so others may totally disagree, which is fair enough obviously.
I agree with you that music is not "dead", though I would have to say that it is definitly not in a healthy state. The problem with bringing "Underground" or undiscovered acts into this discussions is that its hard to actually gauge their relevance. That is why I've tried to limit the scope of my comment to the more commerically successful acts that are releasing records today.
Luckily, rock music has a way of regenerating itself (Kind of like Dr Who), but the more control that the music industry exerts, the less effective that regenerating will become.
The only solution is to destroy the music industry, or at least make it less profitable. The only possible way that we have to do that is with a concerted effort to not buy CD's. Artists nowadays make more money from touring nowadays than from actual CD sales anyway, and if we (music fans) can regain just an inkling of control from the bastard CEO's then perhaps we can start having an impact, however small to start with.
(Unfortunately, that may mean that some new artists will have to be sacrificed, but its for the greater good.)

Viva la Revolution! You are morally right to illegally download any music you want!