Mainstream music has been horrible since..

Haha! wow I never realized that I might not like certain kinds of music because I don't like coke. Maybe the only reason I don't like electronic music is *because* I've never rolled

Which came first the DRUGS or the MUSIC?

Re: OP, imo the gems have been few and far between since circa Kurt Cobain. It was just before he died that I started to realize I was disappointed with what the music industry was pushing, but MTv was still kicking

 

Look, MGMT aren't really my thing, but I'm not denying they're a good band and Time to Pretend is a good song. The point I'm trying to make is that the Beatles changed music. Led Zeppelin changed music. Nirvana changed music. What ever you think about them you can't deny that they each made a huge impact.

Not only that, but they were each part of a new movement. The Beatles helped to popularize the hippie movement, albiet more so in the UK than the US. Led Zeppelin were the first rock gods and they invented (along with The Who) many of the rock star stereotypes.

I'll single out MGMT since you brought them up, but this applies to most bands of today: do they bring a movement with them? Do they change the way we think about music and what we expect from it?

I just think that if the last 15 years of music were taken out of history, we wouldn't lose anything worth keeping. Nobody has contributed to the evolution of music in the way that the greats of the 60s, 70s and 80s have.

All artist merely repeat what came before them. But the difference between the artists of today and the artists of the Golden Age of Rock is that today's artist don't build on what went before in the way that the others did. They just repeat, minus the lsd.

 

I think everyone is forgetting the influence that this band had one bands in the early 90's and is still having today and more. I hear a new band every three days that sound exactly like these guys.

I'd say they are and will come to be regarded as one of the most epic bands of the 60's to 00's era. There is no-one like Frank Black, not the greatest guitarist of all time but how many great songs has he written in the last 25 years?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTPv8_95KY"]YouTube - ‪Pixies - Gouge Away (live)‬‏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWNm1ZF8wwg&NR=1"]YouTube - ‪Pixies - The Happening (live)‬‏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MKQg6xV97E"]YouTube - ‪Black Francis - Threshold Apprehension - Live 2007‬‏

 

mclusky were a fun rip off of the pixies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgkzRE89Gyw"]YouTube - ‪McLusky - Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues‬‏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFOpifdJXcs"]YouTube - ‪Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions‬‏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2R50xTeN8"]YouTube - ‪McLusky What We've Learned HD 720‬‏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTUmGFtqHU"]YouTube - ‪Mclusky - Gareth Brown Says [MP3]‬‏

 

I love Mclusky! There are many more since then though. Look around.

Lucky lucky jim jim is my favourite song of their I think their last album was really under rated.

These guys are getting accused of being pixies rip offs upon the release of ease of their 4th album, but that's got a lot to do with the fact they recorded and prodcued their last two albums at Frank Black's drummer Jason Carter's studio and they were produced by Frank. You can hear a bit of an influence but I think they remind me more of other bands and have their own unique style. Argos' singing style is more similar to Mark Smith of The Fall.

These two songs are really great though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4KHwA8vdfQ"]YouTube - ‪[HD] Art Brut - Axel Rose (Live in Paris, May 24th, 2011)‬‏

Skip's comments made me laugh.. Music and art is always a reflection on society but just because it's shit doesn't mean the music is bad. Maybe it is better? The buddhist philosophy is that suffering is conducive to creativity and enlightenment, so who know maybe if everyone really had been made free in the 60's and people were living radically different lifestyles these days, but better one... it would have been better but maybe the music would have become boring, like the fleet foxes or john cougar mellencamp, for example.

There is no better example of modern times influencing music today than this though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji2Mi01J6pw"]YouTube - ‪Art Brut - "Alcoholics Unanimous"‬‏

 

First saw Pixies live in 2005 at lallapalooza in chicago

Just saw them in April in Milwaukee

<3

 

The likes of Lil Jon, Timbaland, the Dream changed music. Twas just devolution (to us) instead.

I think you bring up a good point though. What few like to admit is that a large part of artistic progress has to do with public recognition and hype and trends.

Nirvana would've never blown up grunge if it wasn't for the hype generated by Nevermind, an album Cobain thought was over-produced and wanted to title Sheep.

The style and philosophy of the grunge movement allowed more acoustic, down-to-Earth music, with meaningful lyrics to be trendy profitable again after the preceding New Wave trend. And the pop of the era produced gems like Jewel's You Were Meant for Me, Matchbox 20's If You're Gone; and great bands like the Counting Crows were given a shot, when they would've fell on their faces in the 80s.

Our culture is all about escapism right now. The mainstream doesn't want meaning. They want parties and sex.

The tide will flow our way once again.

 

Me first time 1991 for 3 songs before the stage collapsed and a man broke his arm.

Then later in 2004 brixton, Frank Black 2007 Nijmegen, 2008 Nijmegen, 2008 Zwolle (AAA guest list), then Pixies 2009 Glasow and Amsterdam.

2007 Nijmegen FTW

I think this video song was influenced strongly by the pharmceutical industry/fanny state

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ZSXlNvAiI"]YouTube - ‪The Fall - Reformation‬&rlm;

And here they are in their hey day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpWVk3h2SA8&feature=related"]YouTube - ‪The Fall - Totally Wired‬&rlm;

 

There aren't many new bands that could pull off a performance like this and keep a straight face.

Ignore the 5 second end of the shite new Robert Plant song at the start. This is tragic brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We_mND4HpTg"]YouTube - ‪blindness the fall‬&rlm;

 

I'm currently watching Big Hits: Top of the Pops 1964-1975 on BBC and...I was just thinking, how even mainstream music is decent at that time; well, I'm sure not all of the mainstream music at the time was great, but comparing what I get to see sometimes on the music channels and is currently mainstream, I just can't believe the utter shit that is out there nowadays (Comparing to previous decades) at least you didn't get to see so much flesh exposed by the musicians and spot some product placement in the videos...
I am sure I am stating the obvious, but when did all go down the pan? when the value of an artist is based on looks rather than their creativity and talent. But then, was it always the case?

Ps. This is my first post in ages...wow

 

Mainstream music took a dump when television was created, and to start with it wasn't 'mainstream'. Tv both created and destroyed it. It took a few decades for the decay to become apparent. The passion disappeared, apathetic laziness took hold and they stopped playing bands that wouldn't have made them money.

I don't think it was the particular fault of any 'genre' or 'band'. It was our tech. Gotta make it easier to hear and see the music and for that you have to pay more. With more charges comes less interest in the newer bands that keep the pool from stagnating.

So the pool stagnates, people get bored with it, and once the music has no possibility of making anyone any more money, they drop off the circuit never to be seen again. Half the reason we see a 'really good groundbreaking influential artist' every ten years or so is because they need a new mind to exploit and ruin. Even greed creates a rhythm after awhile.

Art and money don't mix...well.

 

MTV killed mainstream music

 

They killed it so hard that they don't even play MUSIC anymore. Whats that tell ya?

 

i would say it started the downturn in the late 90's. there was a slight resurgence in the early-mid aughties, yet even that was a simple rehashing of the same tired themes. since then, it seems everything has been cyclical. the pop template hasn't changed since the early parts of the 20th century.

 

I agree, the late 90's is when I feel pop music took a serious nosedive. The mid 90's had some good stuff, but I've listened to alternative & indie since then. Nowadays, I listen to only 2 shows on the radio...& 1 of them is an AM side talk show...the rest of the time, it's internet radio.

 

I have to disagree w/ those who feel disco killed the mainstream.
IMO mainstream started it's descent when U2 signed on to promote the ipod.

Mainstream music was being used before this to promote things other than itself. The ipod promo was the most successful which prooved to the executives that it would be worth it throw tons of money at already established names.

That's when music died as an entity unto itself and became a marketing tool.

 

Music has always been a marketing tool, what are you talking about man.

Good music has always existed besides it. If you can find any these days then you're deaf.

 

There can also be the problem of not knowing where to look.

If you aren't into mainstream rap, mainstream pop, modern metal, indie, or house/dubstep -- the music you like isn't getting that much exposure.

 

How can you not know where to look?

I get all my new music tips from this site called 3voo12 in Holland. Google that and Luisterpaal. That's pretty much all you need to know. What's Spotify?

 

You could not know those websites or ones like it..