Why does all new pop music sound the same?

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Fran Healy  "Wreckorder".

All pop music does not sound the same. I have been collecting music for decades across a wide spectrum of styles and types-- including a lot of pop. The sound quality ranges from the normal over-compressed to beautiful and dynamic.

I agree with other posters that too much of today’s music is over compressed with too-limited dynamics. Unless you happen to be listening on your smartphone with a pair of craptastic earbuds (i.e. most young people today)-- which is why I think compression is overused-- even on music that the labels/artists surely know will NEVER EVER be played on commercial radio-- they know will be listened to as above.

I also agree that it has been reduced to a commodity by the business. Yeah, I’m talking to you Spotify!

It can be hard to find great music today despite the Internet-- because most systems "help" you find new music by trying to match your pre-existing tastes. That's a soul-sucking strategy that keeps most people safely bored within their comfort zones.

Like always, the better way requires more time.
VISIT record stores and talk to actual humans while in them.
READ music mags like Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, The Quietus, etc.
Go to live shows at smaller venues.
LISTEN to smaller Internet or college radio stations.
TAKE RISKS by listening to genres you might otherwise automatically avoid-- there’s good stuff in nearly every category.

And this is the big one-- DO NOT LIVE IN THE PAST, thinking that all the good music was made years or decades ago. Stay like a kid and be open to being blown away by new sounds and styles always coming out.

And this is a hard one for me-- DON’T get too hung up on the sound quality and start hyper-judging every little detail-- be a little tolerant.

There is literally great music being released every year.

And finally-- if you can swing it-- listen to vinyl over digital. I have an excellent system that does both digital and vinyl really well-- I still choose vinyl for the best overall sound. It’s no hassle once you get in the groove and it puts you in a more visceral contact with the artists and the sounds.

+1 wesheadley,

At one time, pop, was an art form. Listen to these two artists..and I think you’ll agree!

10cc

XTC

Even more recently... Jellyfish, in their own way.

And there you go Kennovak-head.

It seems not to have occurred to YOU that we, the "OLD" ones (yes, I’m closing in on 70) have heard 5 or 6 decades more music than you. So we heard Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Johnson, Muddy Waters, The Platters, Chubby Checker, Etta James, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, The Temptations, Sam and Dave, James and Bobby Purify, Steppenwolf, (I doubt you could even pronounce all these names correctly), James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Earth wind and Fire, Sylvia, The O’Jays, The Spinners, The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Hedges, Andreas Vollenweider, Nirvana, Pink, Punk, Can, Mary J Blige, Jay-Z, Fifty Cents, Dr. Dre, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheerhan, Camila Cabello, Post Malone, Halsey, Amy Winehouse, Natalie Cole, Mariah Gasping (sorry, Carey), 21 Savage, Kodak Black...and so on. And you’ve heard...what? 10-20 years worth of artists. I’ve been listening since 1953 and never stopped. Please, fool.

The music sounds the same, because, as Mr. Mangini puts it, the technology is stupidly used. Compressed, squeezed and squinched down, so no voice sounds like a human voice. The instruments are usually drum machine, guitar keyboard. WE (the 'old folk'[like its an insult to have lived long]) listened to ALL THOSE, PLUS piano, glockenspiel, triangles, violins, harpsichords, harps, string bass, standup bass, double bass, cellos, balalaika, sitar,. And we know what instruments sound like. Live. In person. 20 feet away. Without microphones and boombox gigantic, distorting speakers (your average concert, which has sucky sound). Your comments are stupid. You look at  Life Experience and musical acuity as merely "age" and you look at 'Age' with disdain. Perhaps your intent is to exit the stage of Life prematurely, since you don’t seem to like the idea of 'old(er)' (and you’re getting there every second, even the ones you spend reading this). You want to check out early, go ahead, that's your prerogative.

What you don’t realize is that this smashed-together stuff you think of as music is half-baked, UN-musical and that’s MAINLY because of the technology (and the use of - literally - phoned in vocals). People no longer play together at the same time in the same room. You wouldn’t know a jam if it slammed you upside the head, little brother. Clearly you ain’t Black. You ain’t smart, either. You just young.
So, just hope you’re around in 30 years listening to music. Maybe by then you’ll be smart enough to hear the difference in the sonics. Which is what this thread is about, clunk.

Oh man slaw, Jellyfish. They were INSANELY great! Two fantastic albums, and live they were superb.