«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

+1 @stuartk 

The song that he plays at the start - not a genre I listen to. But I think not all music made today have such lyrics. Some are really good songs. The problem with today's music (any genre or language or culture, etc), is that it does not have the "staying power". There are some songs that my teenagers (and before their preteen years) had made me listen. Some I liked, some I did not care. But these songs are something I can go back and play and feel like grooving to it.

So yes, there are a lot of junk songs being created today, but there are some real great music being created today. Just have an open mind and a youthful attitude; age does not matter.

@milpai

Many of the best young players and songwriters today are to be found in the genre known as Americana. Beato completely ignores this genre. 

In another genre, altogether, are the Black Pumas, who describe themselves as Psychedelic Soul. This live show is killer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKfK8y4_MQ

Why Beato wastes time castigating mass market corporate musical junk food instead of focusing on all the good stuff is beyond me.

Maybe it’s what his Patreon fans want ?

Disclosure: I watch him mostly for learning more about music theory on the guitar. He’s good at that.

@mahgister

I’m going to disagree with your assertion that Beato knows better than you.  ;o)

Discerning good writing from bad writing has very little to do with knowledge of music theory or being a musician. You are very well read -- most likely better read than Beato. And you can clearly write.

Beato is a knowledgeable but angry boomer shaking his fist at musical clouds in order to rack up views and likes. Again, he's a good musician and he knows quite well in deep but narrow idea of music. But in many ways he's out of his depth when it comes to anything not in that Corridor View

@simao 

But in many ways he's out of his depth when it comes to anything not in that Corridor View

Agreed. You'd think a guy trained in Jazz would have bigger ears. . .  

I like Rick a lot and agree mostly with what he says. That is, there are no Bob Dylans, Joni Mitchells, Paul Simons, Lennon-Macs, Stevies, Smokeys, Van Morrisons, Gordon Lightfoots, Springsteens etc. in the current crop of popular music writers. There are some vey good lyricists in Americana, but not quite as good as those listed above. But let’s not forget how bad some lyrics from the rock era were--but it did not impact our appreciation of those bands. And disco--OMG, today’s music is probably easier for me to like.

There are many reasons including short attention spans of younger listeners--the hook must grab on the first or second listen, fewer musicians with great musical chops due in part to digital "instrumentation" that can be quite spectacular at communicating emotions, etc. Most importantly, music generally does not occupy the same space in the current generations’ lives as music did for those of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s and/or 80s when we sat down with the album and lyric sheet and listened carefully. How many groups and individual artists took a bit of getting used to (sometimes listening to and album 3 or 4 times) prior to appreciating and loving the outstanding artistry in them? That simply cannot happen today.