Why does most new music suck?

Popular music keeps getting worse and worse, IMO. And for the record, I'm not one of those who prefers the popular music of his own generation (the 80's). I prefer the popular music of generations before mine. Virtually any of them.

Some hypotheses about why things are getting worse...

1. Increasingly sophisticated market analysis. The attitude seems to be: give them what they want, even if what they want is garbage. In fact, garbage is cheaper to produce, so all the better.

2. The prioritization of televisuality. Now beauty = talent. That is a new development over the past few decades, and a terrible disservice to music.

3. Proliferation of artists. Hard to find a needle in a haystack, especially a haystack of needles.

4. Cultural apathy. War? Corruption? Starvation? Screw it, American Idol starts in 5 minutes.

I'm sure there are lots of other reasons, but those are some likely ones that come to mind.

Bryon

Commercialization is the villain. Music has become a commodity. Try looking outside this continent to find something new and challenging.

Stay away from formula driven music. Avoid rehashed drivel. Take a chance on something you normally wouldn't. Go outside your comfort zone.

Good luck,
Nonoise

A lot of good comments here! I don't think I totally alone in my opinion. For those that can recommend well recorded, well written and performed releases, I'm all ears. It can't be just one song but an entire cd. A couple of the recordings that aren't that new but I enjoy are:

Neil Finn - One All
Rooster - Circles & Satellites
Greg Brown - Dream City
Rusty Truck - Broken Promises
Amos Lee - Mission Bell
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator
Buddy Miller - Best of the Hightone Years
Gov't Mule Dose

Have to disagree. I remember back in the 1970s when the same question was being asked. Now people generally look back on the 1970s and recognize that a lot of great (rock, R&B, fusion, reggae) music was produced. Maybe in another 20 years most of the music from that era will sound really dated and fall out of fashion. I think our perception of what is "good" is malleable and often new music is disparaged as noise and then appreciated more and more as time goes on.

And then there's the age issue, people will go through life strongly identifying with the music they listened to as they came of age. Older people may not like rap, but it may be viewed as great music in coming decades. It has already infiltrated other genres (like country) and there are interesting and melodic rap-influenced rock bands where musicians are back to playing real instruments. New acoustic bands like Mumford and Sons seem to be incredibly influential if the number of imitators are any indication.

In the past few days I've listened to Jack White's "Blunderbuss," a couple of albums by Wilco, two Drive-By Truckers records, the latest from Ryan Adams. All of these artists have been around for a decade or more, but all are making new -- and very interesting -- music.
-- Howard