Is older music better?

OhEsEcks said:
Can someone explain to me how music IS completely subjective? I have no clue as to how it's subjective or objective.
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The argument is that it's all a matter of opinion and personal taste, and personal taste can never be wrong.

However, certain types of music will, in the long term, have a negative effect on you, and therefore you could argue that these would be 'bad' music. Even that doesn't hold much water for me though, since everything should be taken in moderation.
 
Lysander said:
The argument is that it's all a matter of opinion and personal taste, and personal taste can never be wrong.

However, certain types of music will, in the long term, have a negative effect on you, and therefore you could argue that these would be 'bad' music. Even that doesn't hold much water for me though, since everything should be taken in moderation.
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"Personal taste can never be wrong" is a very solipsist line of thought I suppose.

I guess I'm trying to get my head around how something can't be considered ****, without resorting to "it's not bad because it's my opinion and my opinion can't be wrong because it's down to personal taste".
 
Fenris said:
Ohohohohoh care to justify that statement?
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Try listening solely to dark ambient music for two months straight. As much as I love the genre I did so at the beginning of this year and felt very low and bleak indeed until I changed it.
 
I guess it depends on why you are listening to music. As a source of entertainment, sure, it can be seen as competely subjective. But as an artform, I think it would be foolish to view it as being completely subjective. You can if you want to, but as Lysander said, it's not going to be healthy in the long run.
 
I always thought it was funny that the makers of Iron Man had to use a 20 year old band to be able get music that awesome enough to go with their awesome film.
 
Fenris argues that because something is created it deserved to be created. I'm still wondering how that negates what is created from criticism in any way, or how it means that simply because something is created it is inherently good or bad. If something is created it simply exists, it's we who place value (or lack thereof) onto it. Unless every man is a solipsist and only his mind exists therefore only his opinion on the thing is all that exists and all that matters.
 
I do miss the fact that we don't have TOTPs and the Chart Show any more. I think the only music programme we have left on non-subscription TV is Jools Holland.

My era was early 90s when rave kicked off up until about 1996 when jungle ended and it became drum'n'base. Dunno, I just preferred the old ragga sounds and syncopated beats and samples associated with jungle, plus I adored the chart house music such as Livin' Joy and Reel 2 Real. Cheesy and commercial, yes, but still club material.

A few things killed off music slowly and painfully over 1996-2002.

1. Firstly, Take That's split in 1996. Nope, no fan of TT here, but I blame their split for the upsurge of other boybands because they knew they no longer had competition.

2. Reality TV in 2001. Popstars, then Idols, then Fame Academy, then X Factor. All flocking to the charts. They should have left it with just Eurovision, that was enough.

3. DJ Sammy in 2002 for making dance music too cheesy.

4. Cheryl Cole, also from 2002. Hmm who is she? That name sounds too similar to Sheryl Crow.

5. R'n'b music - present. Club DJs passing it off as 'dance' music.
 
Only recent artist I really like is Gotye, and I'm only judging that on one song. I thought that song was awesome. He sounds so much like Sting and I love the Police.

It's funny how as technology has advanced the quality of video has soared yet the quality of audio has gone down hill, up a bit and now stagnated. You're right a lot of the top 40 sounds very similar. Get some famous producer to make a backing track. Some auto tuned women/boy to sing over the top and hey presto number 1.

It's amazing, I get some of my old school friends who talk about, "Oh wow have you heard X's new song it's awesome such a tune." A month later they don't remember it, and when it comes on they say "This is old". Music seems to have no longevity anymore. But what has been said in this thread has been true. There has always been bad music and there always has been good music and still is. It just seems today (in my opinion) that there's less good and more bad.

Another thing, why is it that everyone has to be the first to know a song? It's like there's a competition to find the latest songs by the cool artists. And then when someone else finds out they say "haha, I was listening to that last week it's old now" if you really like music you'd want to share it, not hide it for yourself.
 
Hit the nail on the head! Music is just a commodity to play endlessly for 5 days and then never listen to. It's what a majority of my mates do, and also why I don't bother to keep up with the charts. If a song is 'crap' 6 months later how can it possibly have ever been good?
 
Taking a parallel with the movie industry, I buy and watch far more newly released movies than music. The music industry is a dump at the moment.

The last album that I bought that caught my attention was Meshuggah - Obzen. Hardly mainstream. A lot of the big cinema commercial releases are worth a lot more my time and money than the stuff they churn out on the radio.
 
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