I see. We have a technical explanation for why so much modern music doesn't sound very good, along with the lack of inspiration, talent, and musical training that I already knew about.

I don't listen to much modern music these days. I'm blasting out Strauss's Radetzky March right now after doing the same with the allegro from the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto (J.S. Bach). I also listen to newer stuff, as in mainstream rock/hard rock up to the late 70s and classic country. Most other stuff I listen to is non-mainstream stuff like the Tossers, Flogging Molly, the Murphys, the Pogues, etc.

Most music released right now is bad*. I believe most music that was released in the 1970s, and the 1740s for that matter was also bad. The old stuff that you still hear is usually still around because it's unusually good.

*A wise man once said, "90 percent of everything is s---." While I agree with the general sentiment, I'm inclined to believe the actual percentage is much higher.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

I'm not sure which direction this thread is going...is it the medium in which we listen to music or is it the technical wizardry being used to mask the lackluster talent of late?

What I gathered from the original post, was the compression inherent with mp3 taking the life out of a classic song.

Remember when you would strive to get better stereo gear in order to hear a favorite album the way it was meant to be heard? Or you listened to the flagship setup at a local stereo salon and ogled at just how good that song sounded then.

Nowadays, folks are satisfied with downloading stuff on the internet at a lower quality than CD wav file formats...go figure.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

You have a point. The best music I've heard lately was the Sierra Highlanders Pipe Band playing live at the Y-Not Saloon here in Carson City.

I sometimes rip my own MP3's, and I've found that the 160 Mbs compression sounds indistinguishable from the CD, at least to me, with the speaker system I'm using. Most MP3's are 128, which still sounds pretty good, but not quite the same. This seems to be more noticable with non-electrified type music.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Everyone over 45 thinks the world is going to *****; it's an inevitablity.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

For them it is, old farts!

You get a bald spot, stiff back, knees start to give, pee a lot, can't get it up, ya know all that stuff pisses them off.

Thats why you see 45 year old guys in Vette's or on bikes with poneytails when they are mostly bald.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

One problem with music today (regardless the source) is that it's processed to be the LOUDEST F***ING THING ON THE F***ING DA*N DIAL!!!!

There's no dynamic range...everyone wants to be the loudest...if they can keep the "needle" between 99% and 100% legal loud, then they are doing their job. And that's just plain BS.

Music is suppose to breathe...soft softs...loud louds...and the ability to breathe between passages...on commercial radio, that method of processing audio died a painful death back in the later 60s...

Listen to any radio station in a large, metropolitian area...and I mean listen to it for 30 minutes or so. After 30 minutes...

Do you feel tense? Do you feel irritated? Even it it's the music you like?

That's because the loudness factor is set to "kill" and your brain and auditory nerve-system is being bombarded by a constant, mind-numbing level of audio that'd kill a normal lab rat.

Get yourself one of those "car-audio-analyzers" (Mal*Fart was selling one for about $29.95 the other day) and test up and down the radio dial to see...I'd venture to say that 99% of the stations on the dial don't have any more than 2-3 dBs. of dynamic range...the normal person can't put up with that kind of audio bombardment, regardless the format, for more than 30 minutes.

And the muddiness factor you think you're hearing?

You're hearing all right...It's your hearing that's telling you that you've damaged it.

Plus, some of you folks hit the nail on the head about talent (or lack thereof)...

Why the hell is FOX's "AMERICAN IDOL" so damn popular? It ain't because everyone wants to hear Simon smear some tone-deaf moron into a crying paste on stage...

It's because we all know (or think) that we can do better than what we're hearing, as talent, on air everyday.

Well, good luck changing the auditory landscape with that steamroller on the highway to hell...

As for me...I buy what I can tolerate in the CD player in the truck...hope my tires make less noise than the stereo, and keep on eye on the road to be sure I'm not impeding the progress of some emergency vehicle 'cause the stereo's too loud and I didn't hear the siren.

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

45 is top speed ...

45 rpm - Hot Love

@ 50 you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel ....

I am 42

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

There is plenty of good music out there - you just have to weed thru more commercialism now to get to it. Sure, technology can help Paris Hilton release an album.....but artists like Beck can harness it and make something even more powerful.

Frankly, I like it all but you have to adapt to style changes and open your mind (ears) too. Obviously we are all partial to certain eras.....nostalgia, really.....for me, late 90's are near and dear to my heart - but only because I was in high school/college at the time, discovering myself and getting stoned out of my mind (always helps memorialize tunes, man)

But I think Beck, Cake, the Killers, Ben Folds, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Wilco, the Shins, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others.....would stack up quite nicely against bands from other eras. I'd even throw Tool, NIN, Foo Fighters and the now defunct A Perfect Circle in there too....just for pure musicianship and lyricism. For every Clay Aiken, there's probably still a Liz Phair out there rocking somewhere (direct comparison intended). I'm even sappy enough to admit that I like Jack Johnson who in some ways reminds me of James Taylor.

And before I get flamed, I listen to the Talking Heads, Zappa, the Clash, Sinatra, Dylan, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Otis Redding, the Dead...and I still get stuck on the Beatles White Album and the Beach Boys - Pet Sounds too. I agree with POS though, if you grew up listening to classic rock (as I did)....I can't tolerate the standard fare Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, AC/DC, CSNY, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Boston, Journey or even my beloved Led Zep or Hendrix unless I play their unknown stuff myself. The groups are great (except for Journey - I openly loathe Steve Perry), the way they are presented/beaten to death is not.

Sure, technology and styles change.....and so can we. For those in the Philly area, I strongly encourage you to listen to XPN radio (88.5)...it's the best thing out there for a music lover (on FM radio, that is). End of rant.

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1981 240d - 135k - Arlene

Excellent response. I agree completely. I will add that I think technology has changed the listener's relationship to the artist. I used to save up to buy an album and spend days listening to it's entirety over and over again. You get to learn more about an artist and their music that way. Today you can buy 20 songs from 20 different artists for the same cost as buying an "album". I think that's very cool, but you lose a little something there too.

When I hear a "Hendrix" tune (etc.) on the radio, while it's coming to an end, my mind goes to the next song on the album.

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Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

I believe it started the day MTV went on the air in the mid 80's. I sat in front of my TV watching the "snow" as MTV went live for the first time and played the song "Video Killed the Radio Star". It was very a appropriate launch tune.

I also remember staying up late with my Mom and Brother to see the "World Premier" of the Thriller video. That was an exciting time.

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Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

Gonna put in my 2c here as one of those "damned youngin's" (relatively.. I'm 24).

I think you folks are right, actually. Modern music has gone way downhill from what was made in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Granted, not *everything* is total garbage, and there were a good number of songs in the 90's and 2000's that I can say "Yeah, that song was great!", but nowhere near the number of songs from previous generations, and certainly not as many songs that made me want to stick a screwdriver into my eardrums.

The problem, is that plain and simple.. people who really have no vocal talent, are allowed to become 'stars' by way of voice modulation, synths, and after recording touch-ups. A perfect example of this is in the 90's, when "N-Sync" and "Backstreet Boys" became hit boy-bands. The result of their (relative) success? A trend that continued on into the 2000-era bands, where lead singers with flat vocals / poor singing ability could still sound "great".

The other problem with modern music (and I KNOW I'm going to catch flak for this one), is rap music, plain and simple. Personally, I feel that the rap genre has totally strayed from its roots as "poetry set to rhythm", and become more of "anger set to a beat machine". Back in the 80's and early 90's, most rap music still had at least a little bit of talent involved.. people had to be creative with lyrics, and rap songs were usually meant to be either funny or to prove a point. The mid 90's saw a transition in the genre, to favor "gangsta rap", which is nothing more than derogatory words, hatred, and the promotion of violence, spoken over a beat machine. Maybe it's just me, since I'm more than a little biased towards rock, and have never been a huge fan of rap to begin with (except for Beastie Boys, and maybe the occasional Fresh Prince), but I think this genre isn't helping "modern music" any. And hey, I used to listen to punk rock in my teen years, and even *that* wasn't as violent (didn't talk about shooting people constantly), nor as derogatory.

Then again, my input may just be pointless.. since I DO have the tastes of someone in their late 30's - early 40's, anyway. Let's face it.. I drive around in an old Mercedes, love the smell of diesel, enjoy soldering, and my favorite music is from the 60's through the 80's... with some classical thrown in for good measure!

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(Oo{=|=}oO) 1983 MB 300D USA, 212,000mi. 80's yellow/white. "Gunther"
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D Euro, Turbo Added in Germany, 186,000mi [SOLD] Missing her dearly.
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D USA Turbodiesel, 269,000mi. [SOLD]

While I agree with most of what you've said, I am posting because I had to mention how cool I think the headlight/grill art in your signature is.

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Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

Agreed on the boy bands (sucking, that is) but they have been around a long time too. Maybe not quite as pre-engineered and soul-less as today's variance.....not something unique to today's generation.

As for rap - that could just be your exposure to it (you DID mention Will Smith, after all). It's the extremes that always give you the bad impressions. Just as there is bad pop, metal, whatever - rap is the same way. Sure, gangsta rap is/was over-the-top but it's they way they chose to express themselves. I have no problem with the early Death Row Record stuff, B.I.G., Wu Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, 2pac, NWA, Public Enemy.....and NAS has always been violent/controversial too but behind it is good stuff. I agree though, I've lost touch with current rap music (trapped in my 90's vaccum there - I'm 28, a dorky, caucasian engineer, a dad and driving a 26 year old diesel benz - I don't watch TV....so I can't really be listening to 50 cent - of whom I can't stand).

Artists like Erika Badu, the Roots, Common, OutKast are still going strong and very talented.

I do miss A Tribe Called Quest, Biz Markie, Eric B and Rakim, EPMD, KRS-One, De La Soul and the like though.....

Good thread - even if I've totally veered off topic.

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1981 240d - 135k - Arlene

Ha ha, I never even noticed that before......I'm getting that tattoed in a huge font across my back now, sweet.

Along with "W123 - Ride or Die" underneath....

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1981 240d - 135k - Arlene