Is Old Music Killing New Music?

hilde45

"Every generation, blames the one before" - Mike and the Mechanics, The Living Years.

Could it be that the generations younger than the boomers have had it too easy when they were raised and just aren't willing to work hard enough to get their share? There are plenty of opportunities for the younger generations to become doctors, lawyers, and other high paying careers, but it takes a lot of work to make it in those careers. There are a lot of good kids out there, but are they determined enough to put in the effort? This thing about living in their parent's basement is not just a stereotype, it's actually true. They're addicted to social media which can be a distraction to the concentration needed to get ahead in the more difficult fields. Last but not least, I find their music somewhat lazy too, all thumping beat but no melody or orchestration. Hell, even Led Zeppelin used strings in some of their songs. They should watch The Beatles: Get Back and learn where true genius combined with hard work can take people.

Good music stands the test of time.  Most of what is new doesn't, but some of it does.  

Don't let others tell you what to believe.  Enjoy it for yourself.

Drum machines, keyboards with all sorts of memory and settings, autotune...

It's a tough world out there.

Distinction between old and new has not much meaning, save if we speak about money going in the pocket of living musicians for their living...

There is only great and greatest music, not old and new for me....

I had way too much absolute masterpieces to listen to non stop to search for the "new"...

I search for masterpices , old or new, the date make no differences...Nor the country or culture of origin....

@jssmith 

+ 1, you hit the nail on the head with adjectives: "monotony, simplistic and formulaic." Most of the so-called new music sounds like everyone involved was following some type of recipe. Poor songwriting is bad enough; but, there is a serious lack of stellar musicianship that could lift the poor songwriting above the level of mundane muzak or sonic wallpaper.

This is a complicated subject with no easy answers. Someone once said: "there is nothing new under the sun," which is another way of saying it's a copycat world that we live in. The thing that worries me the most about this subject is that I don't sense the kind of non-conformity by young musicians or listeners that is needed to shake things up and create something new or transcendent.  I hope to be proven wrong on that one.