Why does most new music suck?

After reading the posts a couple of thoughts come to mind. During my youth there was also Rock/Pop music that I didn't like but I would always have my go to groups. It seems like there was lot more "go to" groups.

I also think that I am less tolarant of mediocre talent and production as mentioned above. I also have a hypothesis that when individuals actually had to play an instrument to make music, there was a greater possibility of something good being produced.

06-06-13: Bryoncunningham
There is a whole continuum of behavior in between hostility and sycophancy. Somewhere in the middle is civility.

Very well said, as usual Bryon. I couldn't agree more.

It has often seemed to me, in fact, that when discussions in internet forums become uncivil, it is often because the parties who are at odds with one another do not seem to recognize that shades of gray, matters of degree, and a continuum between extremes are involved in most issues.

06-06-13: Mapman
Just curious. Does This suck?

Obviously that's a subjective question, and I certainly would not assert that my subjective opinion is more valid than anyone else's. But fwiw, my reaction to it is mixed. It certainly has a catchy beat (which would probably tempt me to leave it on if I heard it while driving), and yes, she's a nice looking young woman. On the other hand, her voice strikes me as mediocre at best, the "plot" of the video is not to my liking, and the sonics don't do justice to the sax (even allowing for the fact that it's a video on YouTube).

For a contrasting example of sax reproduction on YouTube, check out the Viscounts' 1959(!) recording of "Harlem Nocturne," as later used in the 1983 film "Christine."

Best regards,
-- Al

" It certainly has a catchy beat (which would probably tempt me to leave it on if I heard it while driving), and yes, she's a nice looking young woman. On the other hand, her voice strikes me as mediocre at best, the "plot" of the video is not to my liking, and the sonics don't do justice to the sax (even allowing for the fact that it's a video on YouTube)."

So its a mixed bag for Al with some good points. My assessment is not too far off. I like the fact that its a pop dance song and the song and main riff is saxophone based, so I like the sax part.

So musically, my conclusion is it has some good points so does not suck.

Then there is the video (which I had not seen prior to today), which is not the music, and not really relevant for assessing the music alone. I link to videos mainly because youtube videos is probably the place to go these days when one wants to reference music for free these days, among all the other things. Music videos there are the modern equivalent of watching MTV in the past I suppose.

I think the video is well done, and no doubt the singer is attractive. That's good for videos and entertainment careers overall but not relevant to the music itself. Other than that, I could take it or leave it.

That song is used in several recent Les Mills syndicated workout classes. The gym I go to uses these. That's where I heard it. It works great there, it struck me as somewhat unique on first listen, and grew on me more over time, so I downloaded the single from amazon and borrowed the CD from the local library when I saw it there.

So one thing I think I learned from this is that teh context in which a song is heard makes a lot of difference in regards to whether one thinks particular music sucks or not. It sounds a lot better to me having experienced it initially in the gym I think. I enjoy it at home as well, but I would normally not be as inclined to take a liking to a tune like this just sitting at home and listening.

Not to pat ourselves on the back but can it be that our audiophile tendencies in the pursuit of better music reproduction dovetails with better music appreciation?

With the lower quality sources and playback devices we are bombarded with, is it really any wonder why we are less tolerant? This reminds me of the commercial where two cars are stopped at an intersection and one them has what appears to be two thugs blasting their music. The man in the other car says something like he can't take it anymore and with his wife saying "Don't", gets out of his car and gets in with the thugs only to adjust the equalizer on their stereo, explaining how and why he's doing it, with the thugs nodding in approval.

I wouldn't recommend doing it but the Walter Mitty in me smiled.

All the best,
Nonoise