What's happened to rock and other music today that it's become so sterile?

[dragonvalve]

Nas X actually built his career based on Twitter and Youtube posts. He was not a CIA creation. lol

Many people these days have built a career founded on that type of a start. If you can build a big following without any help from a label eventually they will notice and you can probably ink a deal.
I don't care for him but the Old Town Road hook was very catchy- albeit in a pure pop, bubblegum kind of a way. But bubblegum has always been a big part of the recording industry- even back in what most of us would consider the "good old days" there was plenty of crappy pop music.

Rip on him if you want but we are making posts nobody will see on a forum nobody cares about. Give him credit for creating material people actually wanted to listen to. Like it or not he has accomplished more with his music than any of us have.

Sounds like you missed the forest for the trees. I don't think that guy built much of anything and was helped along the way so responses like yours would defend his thing.

Making posts no one sees? You saw them didn't you? Someone else will and it will spread.

Where were you when it was exposed that Twitter was mostly bots feeding the likes beast reason Musk complained about having to buy a platform that was fake. And then it comes out most of the people working there were ex-CIA FBI agents. And here you are espousing its "virtues?" Youtube is the same monkey. They can control and have done so the number of views and likes so your explanation is fraught with holes of misinformation.

So pull back the curtain Toto!

You're going to defend the rise of evil and massage its impetus based on hits views and likes? That's so shallow it reeks of commercialism at any cost even if the youth are contaminated for the next coming generations. If they even survive.

That guy doesn't look smart enough and his "rise" is one in an industry that is teeming with controllers and enablers.

Bubblegum is your excuse? If that's bubble gum then perhaps this device is the next wave of bubblegum machine for the mindless. Because the death/doom/stoner stuff is leading up to this.

 

[neoclassical]

Paradoxically, the music industry has always been the enemy of good music. With the internet and streaming, their margins are now razor thin so they don’t take any chances. In the 1960s when rock music was born, both the musicians and the labels were antiestablishment. Gradually, as both became more mainstream, wealthy, and comfortable, they became the establishment and, hence, unwilling to take chances.

Rock music was born of actual rebellion. Today, there is no true rebellion, so there is no soil in which to germinate for the ideas that created rock in the first place. As one comedian put it, the hippies have all become bankers. Their kids had nothing to rebel against, except to go in the opposite direction and become even more conservative.

Freedom of thought expanded exponentially in the 60s but by the 1990s started contracting again and has continued to do so. Freethinkers these days are rare. Many people attach themselves to one faction or another and buy into the received wisdom. Not a healthy environment for artistic and creative work to flourish.

This. The industry has changed for the worse. Anything released must be a top seller and thus a battle for that 1/10 of 1% more ensues. Everthing I hear and see these days are like archetypes of albums and tv shows, everything perfectly placed etc. I'm losing my words and can't think of the one I mean for archetype, but it's like everything is suposed to be a perfect zen like example of something. Take Ghost's Impera, yes it is a good disk, but it is way too sterile and overdone. Could you imagine if Black Sabbath tried to put out Paranoid, or the first disk today, or The Beatles put out nything experimental?

 

[ElKabong]

Well said. There are others like us and some yet to discover their creative side but it's not for everyone. I have material in different stages of completion and at this point there's no reason for me to force write anything. It has to happen naturally. Playing cover music had it's moments and learning things like stage presence and performing under pressure are both valuable experiences, but it never really scratched that itch for me.

Most who chased the fame and fortune dream didn't make it. I respect that they tried, but we all know the horror stories that came with it. The few who did "make it" paid a huge price and deserve to reap the rewards. I respect them for surviving the gauntlet.

Eventually, I realized I can't stop making music, good, bad or ugly. For most of us, it's the journey, not the destination and even though that might sound like a cliche, it's more true than it isn't. Living a regular life while preserving our love for music is not a bad thing.

The other thing I've leaned along the way is to not compare myself to other musicians or song writers. This gave me the freedom to enjoy some fantastic musicians and their music. We're all different, but if AI has its way, it will eventually all sound like fake elevator music.

Any of us who have been at this for awhile have heard ourselves play 10,000 freaking times and sometimes we get tired of hearing ourselves. Whoever I'm seeing live or listening to no longer feels like a competitive thing. In fact, the idea of being musically competitive really needs to just go away. The shred movement probably freaked out some newer guitar players and they probably stopped because of it. Some probably dedicated themselves to learning this style and then shred kind of died. I was already past that stage in my musical life when it hit and it never bothered me. It was interesting and now part of music history, but it didn't really tell any lasting stories thru songs with lyrics. I respect the discipline.

I share these experiences with the MF to maybe help others along their musical journey, regardless of what level they're at. Some of the MF'rs are fantastic musicians and my hat it off to you, but I'm guessing most of us are somewhere in the middle and too stubborn to give up, especially us old rock dogs who don't know any better.

Life does gets in the way sometimes, but never give up playing because of it.

It will keep you young. Rock On !

Well said sir.

 

[Crikey]

100%
"Whoever I'm seeing live or listening to no longer feels like a competitive thing. In fact, the idea of being musically competitive really needs to just go away. "

Music is not a competition. I hate when I see an advert for "battle of the bands". some non music lover promoter trying to make $ it a competition for money. Only one wins is the club.
The bands today are still getting nearly the same money we made decades ago. F'ing horrible. we gotta think outside the box so our type can get paid better at gigs and after.

At nearly a double nickle, I think my best music is ahead, not behind. I no longer am stuck writing in a genre and fancy things/fake promises don't entice me the way it used to. At my age my writing is better, better player, just older and even more punk rock. lol
I have no problem calling out the industry or Hollywood and saying suck this. I will revise my definitions of success to reality.

 

[Jimi-C]

the genre has probably reached the possible limits of innovation without changing into something entirely different.

Then change it into something different , that's called progress , take it to the next level or go in a new direction like a branch on a tree , the root can be rock of old ,the trunk , classic rock and the branches , what ever you can create ...

 

[ElKabong]

Check out The Big Interview with Jack White.

 

[Lo-Tek]

Sounds like you missed the forest for the trees. I don't think that guy built much of anything and was helped along the way so responses like yours would defend his thing.

Making posts no one sees? You saw them didn't you? Someone else will and it will spread.

Where were you when it was exposed that Twitter was mostly bots feeding the likes beast reason Musk complained about having to buy a platform that was fake. And then it comes out most of the people working there were ex-CIA FBI agents. And here you are espousing its "virtues?" Youtube is the same monkey. They can control and have done so the number of views and likes so your explanation is fraught with holes of misinformation.

So pull back the curtain Toto!

You're going to defend the rise of evil and massage its impetus based on hits views and likes? That's so shallow it reeks of commercialism at any cost even if the youth are contaminated for the next coming generations. If they even survive.

That guy doesn't look smart enough and his "rise" is one in an industry that is teeming with controllers and enablers.

Bubblegum is your excuse? If that's bubble gum then perhaps this device is the next wave of bubblegum machine for the mindless. Because the death/doom/stoner stuff is leading up to this.

Well I don't believe I'm defending "the rise of evil". To me he's just another guy in the long line of pop music that wrote a catchy song and made some money - that's all. Don't love hime. Don't hate him. But good for him for getting the American Dream, I guess.



I don't mind conspiracies but....I'm not gonna go over board on them.
To me it's more interesting that the FBI spied on Aretha Franklin for 40 years and that's not a conspiracy but a fact.
What the hell did they think they were gonna find?
Who else have they done that too?
Then again didn't they put Pete Seeger on trial for something? Too un-American I think. lol

 

[ELS]

David Lee Roth says that music isn't what it used to be because nowadays everyone isn't smoking tobacco 24/7, or weed every other day. That oughta change the way you think and the way you write music.

 

[Cal Nevari]

This. The industry has changed for the worse. Anything released must be a top seller and thus a battle for that 1/10 of 1% more ensues. Everthing I hear and see these days are like archetypes of albums and tv shows, everything perfectly placed etc. I'm losing my words and can't think of the one I mean for archetype, but it's like everything is suposed to be a perfect zen like example of something. Take Ghost's Impera, yes it is a good disk, but it is way too sterile and overdone. Could you imagine if Black Sabbath tried to put out Paranoid, or the first disk today, or The Beatles put out nything experimental?

Well said.

 

[ElKabong]

I live in the middle of nowhere, which works for me. I have friends over to drink bourbon and play the blues really loud... Unless Tony is in a jazz mood... none of my friends probably live a wholesome lifestyle by today's standards.

We play our own stuff. It's new. We drink, smoke, and swear at each other... maybe, we'll find something good... maybe not.

Respectfully, I would like to offer an opinion. The old folk that I work with dont think of music as an industry. It's more of a bond between like-minded jerks.

Ya find that bond, there's nothing sterile about the music. Ya just might not like it.

Illshuddupnow.