I used to look forward to previewing these, as most were kind of catchy.
I listened to each one of these and only liked 3 or 4; another 4 or 5 were OK and the rest…well, I’ll just say I didn’t enjoy them and leave it at that.
Yes, I know…“get off of my lawn”, etc, etc…but the truth is that I feel for these kids today, many of which have never heard REAL music, played with REAL instruments, sung by people without auto-tune. I was so fortunate to have grown up in the golden age of great music. I loved it at the time but may appreciate even more today.
Every generation that has ever listened to music looked down on the music that their kids listened to. Without fail. You’re no exception, Dave. And 20 years from now, these kids will say “You hear that crap Junior’s listening to? DJ Khaled was MUCH better!”
I understand and agree, historically. The thing that’s different in the last 20-30 years is that what young people now call music (for the most part; there ARE exceptions) is more of an expressive art form than it is music. Why? Much of it really has no melody. It has a beat and “bars”. Now, some of the bars are creative and expressive. But in terms of something that will give you an earworm and that you’ll hum to yourself?
I’m going to turn that 30 year thing around…I wonder…I truly do…how many teenagers today will really like their favorite “tunes” in 30 or 40 years? Sure, there will always be a nostalgic connection for them…but I just don’t think the MUSIC will stand up (of course, I won’t be around to find out). That’s one thing music had back in the day (the good music; even in the golden era of music I was fortunate enough to grow up in, there was good/great music, and there was trash/forgettable music)…I pretty much knew that many of the songs I was listening to would be songs I (and many others) would still appreciate 30 years down the line. And so it has been.
One of the things I really enjoy is watching young people (in my case, that covers just about anyone…lol) 20 to 35 years old when they seriously take a dive into discovering music from the 60’s and 70’s. There are several on YouTube, and you can quickly tell which ones are doing it just to try to get subscribers, and which are sincere about finding out what the old folks are talking about and if there is anything to it.
Some of my best memories are of hearing “new” songs from these classic performers on the radio as a teenager, and then becoming familiar with it and eventually loving those songs. To see the light come on with these current youngsters as they hear the very same songs for the first time - 50 years after I first did - is inspiring. Often, there are 2 or 3 listening together and when they talk about the songs, they marvel that (a) these guys are actually PLAYING real instruments AND singing at the same time…and (b) that it’s their REAL (non-autotuned) voices. And how GOOD those voices are (they really don’t have many today where they can hear the unaltered voices).
Over time, these young folks become fans of given performers or groups, and start going through their entire catalog. You can see them become real fans of these songs from 4 and 5 decades ago. It’s chicken-soup-for-the-soul kind of stuff for me.
I consider myself a music lover of all kinds
I love classic rock, Big Band, Classical, Baroque and as far back in history as you can go.
But I agree that much modern “music” does not really involve anything melodic, tonal, or harmonic. I think of rap and hip-hop as being more akin to poetry than music.