The best music yet to come? (1 Viewer)

[Jonesy77]

I'm curious to see what the community thinks about whether the best music is in our past or still to come.

You can interpret this however you want. The best song, the best period of music, the best style of music, etc...

 

[Utah Saints]

Yet to come imo. Were still barely out of the caves as a species. Our potential is largely untapped as of yet. This includes the arts.

 

[philipkw]

Music peaked in the 60's, 70's, had a major resurgence in the 90's and has been in the crapper since.

As in all things, there are always exceptions. I'm speaking in generalities.

/old-faht

 

[HouDat]

I believe the good **** will continue to come in waves.

 

[Saint_on_Helium]

The truth is, the best music is always out there, RIGHT NOW.

You just have to look harder for it sometimes...

P.S. If you need an example, go get the Breeders' Mountain Battles when it comes out. It's their White album...

 

[Ted]

it's out and I listened this morning. though I'm in the office and couldn't really listen that intently.

also out yesterday was Nick Cave's new one and I've got it on now. as long as he's still making records, you can't count anything else.

anyway, +1 to what Helium and HouDat said

 

[St. Widge]

The truth is, the best music is always out there, RIGHT NOW.

You just have to look harder for it sometimes...

P.S. If you need an example, go get the Breeders' Mountain Battles when it comes out. It's their White album...

I think it came out this week and I'm definitely going to check it out. I've always been a big Pixies fan and I've liked Kim Deal's work post Pixies better than Frank Black's.


From my personal perspective, music peaked in late 70's punk movement and peaked in the mid to late 80's alternative/punk scene. And, it's pretty much gotten crappier since the late 80's as the alternative and punk movement was made boring, repetitive and commercial so that it could be sold to the masses.

But, I agree with HouDat that it comes in waves. Each generation or so has a peak where great music is produced. It's hard to compare the great from one era to the great from another. How do you compare Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Clash, Bach and Beethoven?

To look into my past as a philosophy student, it's sort of a Hegelian Dialectic. You have a period of innovative reaction (revolution) to a commercial/formulaic period, then a period of great production followed by a period where the formerly innovative is sterilized and commercialized to sell to the masses. Then it all starts over again.

IMO right now we are in the period where the innovative is sterilized and commercialized and we have been since the late 80's or early 90's. Hopefully, the revolution is right around the corner.

 

['79 Saints]

I certainly think some of the best music ever written lies in our past, but I'm far from depressed...

I also think there will be some great new music waiting to be created.

I prefer to allow time to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Meanwhile, I'll continue to listen to what I like...

 

[geauxboy]

There's still a lot left untapped, yet I'm not sure how much confidence I have in the record companies to allow it to see the light of day.

 

[HouDat]

To look into my past as a philosophy student, it's sort of a Hegelian Dialectic. You have a period of innovative reaction (revolution) to a commercial/formulaic period, then a period of great production followed by a period where the formerly innovative is sterilized and commercialized to sell to the masses. Then it all starts over again.

:17:

 

[St. Widge]

There's still a lot left untapped, yet I'm not sure how much confidence I have in the record companies to allow it to see the light of day.

That's been the issue for years ever since the late 50's when you could no longer press singles in little studios and then get radio DJ's to just play when they thought was good. Payola came around some time in that time period or a little after that.

But, I think the internet has potential to get around that. So far, it has become dominated by big companies like Apple and the major record labels. But since most people now download most, if not all of their music, the production costs for small unsigned bands would be much lower to get their music out there. All a band or a small independent label has to do is have a server, a pay pall account and a web site where you can download the music at a cost. You don't need a factors to press/burn albums, a large distribution system or even radio airplay to be heard.

Despite that, music is more or less stale right now. But, I think the revolution will come and it will come lead by bands/small labels selling directly to consumers over the internet. Now we just need the artists to catch up with the technology.

 

[geauxboy]

That's been the issue for years ever since the late 50's when you could no longer press singles in little studios and then get radio DJ's to just play when they thought was good. Payola came around some time in that time period or a little after that.

But, I think the internet has potential to get around that. So far, it has become dominated by big companies like Apple and the major record labels. But since most people now download most, if not all of their music, the production costs for small unsigned bands would be much lower to get their music out there. All a band or a small independent label has to do is have a server, a pay pall account and a web site where you can download the music at a cost. You don't need a factors to press/burn albums, a large distribution system or even radio airplay to be heard.

Despite that, music is more or less stale right now. But, I think the revolution will come and it will come lead by bands/small labels selling directly to consumers over the internet. Now we just need the artists to catch up with the technology.

Actually, you nailed. Bands that use the internet as their marketing and distribution will keep the record companies from controlling the market. It's already happening and theres no censoring of it too.

 

[obwhiteo]

I'm curious to see what the community thinks about whether the best music is in our past or still to come.

You can interpret this however you want. The best song, the best period of music, the best style of music, etc...

Zeppelin!

 

[Saintman2884]

From a personal perspective, music in the 60's and 70's was really changing society and American culture from being conformist to idealist like the counterculture, protest music, and songs that really were wide gapping. You had the Rock revolution begin in the 50's with Elvis and Little Richard, then the explosion began with the Beatles and then the acid rockers on both sides of the continent. I see Madonna as a person who came along at the right place at the right time. she is not a Jimi Hendrix or a Pink Floyd type talent, she knows how to market herself very well but she still what isn't like the Floyd or the Dead are in my ball park. Madonna would have sucked at a place like Woodstock or Monterey festivals. That in itself sums up my opinion of today's music. It sucks quite frankly. Its too commercial and too slick and corporate. Even if someone tried to shake it up, they fall into the same trap of commercialization. It happened in the 80's and the same way with the grunge bands and alternative bands of the 90's and they thought they were really different. Now look at them, even Pearl Jam.

 

[tengohead]

Music is getting better and better. Exhibit A: