Is modern music worse or better than music 20 - 30 years ago?

Wow I din't know this many people shared my opinion of modern music. Anytime I try to say this to one of my friends they just say that I don't like music nowadays because its popular and I'm just trying to be a prententious arsehole. I think the fact of the matter is that back in the 60's 70's and 80's there was a more diverse selection of music in the public eye, (Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy on ToTP) but now the selection of music in the charts and on T.V is much narrower. There good bands out there but you just have to look harder.

Every generation believes that the music of their time is worse than what came before it.  In the 80's we used to complain about Duran Duran, Whitney Huston and Poison, too.  In an era before Last.FM and Itunes, there was MTV and FM radio.  That was where most folks found their music.  But, since those sources were slaves to the corporate music machine, a good majority of it was packaged and controlled just as the Jonas Brothers and Ke$ha are today.  If you wanted to find good music, you had to seek it out.  Today that should be easier than it was in my day when that meant borrowing albums from a friend of a friend, or reading the underground 'zines for band recommendations.  If you were lucky, you might have lived within the weak range of a college radio station, too. 
 
So is today's music worse than it was 30 years ago?  I don't know.  I don't listen to much on the radio these days.  I've never heard a Lady Gaga song.  But, I do know that back then, a lot of us were having the same discussions that I see here today. 

modern music is terrible. i used to love listening to radio 1, but now it has gone to shite. also tim westwood please die

" @PenguinDust:  It doesn't matter what era you're in Whitney Houston, Duran Duran and Poison all suck all of the time. "

"people say that all old music was good but really your only going to remember the good.   I pretty much listen to every kind of music past and old but I iisten to more current music. More variety and exploration in different genres."

The majority of modern music is much much worse.

Well, at least metal music has taken a few leaps for the better, I daresay.
 
As for pop and other mainstream media... pop died with Michael, really.
 
@MrSlamman said:

" @XxBarretxX said:

"people say that all old music was good but really your only going to remember the good.   I pretty much listen to every kind of music past and old but I iisten to more current music. More variety and exploration in different genres."

Not true, but when you're over 40 like me,then just SEE what you remember and wanted to forget! I remember bands like Wham! and Hootie being poked fun at because they had usurped the cool music. Nothing truly great made the charts that often. Hoping I don't violate the posting rule, this is new for me, a friend invited me over, so make room for a real Epinionated Guy! "

" The majority of modern music is much much worse. "

Also, anyone saying pop is dead should check out Janelle Monae's new album. It is awesome
 

 
 

It's absolutely worse.

Better, without a doubt.
 
@lizcav Bon Iver is really really awesome.

I think it depends on the genre.  For example punk 30 years ago: AMAZING.  Punk now: uhhhh...?  there's punk now?  

The '80s and '90s kick the shit out of today's music. 

" Oh my god it's so much worse. I can't listen to ANYTHING that plays regularly on the radio these days without fucking puking. At least in the 90's the whole grunge scene made things fairly interesting, and in the 80's there were obviously tons of metal and rock music around (although the shittiest 80's pop was arguably worse than anything ever recorded).  "

I think this question is a little weird. Music is subjective, there is shit i like that others won't. If you ask me the question is modern mainstream music worse? hell yes, most stuff is terrible. Modern music however has probably got the same amount of decent music out there, it's just the way we can get at good music is different nowadays.

The awesome stuff about the internet is that you can listen to only good stuff, and filter out as much of the garbage as you want.
 
Was looking at one of those NOW compilation CD's. Didn't recognize a single song except for one. Felt kinda nice.

" Worse, far worse. The majority of modern music is trash. There are a few half decent songs out there, but they're still nothing compared to music of the 70s and 80s. "

It's funny how all of these posts seem to be quite repetitive and circular. 
 
 *I reiterate my above point(s) with the below *

@one_2nd Have you listen to bands like Collections of Colonies of Bees?  Balmorhea? Eskimo Joe? Travis? Sarah Blasko? Razorlight? Dappled Cities? Beach House? Death Cab for Cutie? Moby? Interpol? Washington? Shearwater? Sparkadia? The Temper Trap? Josh Pyke? Iron and Wine? Augie March? The Features? The Panics? Pete Murray? The Kooks? Stereophonics? Feist? Return to Sender? The Darkness? 
 
I think I covered quite a few genres with that lot.... from heavy rock to instrumental rock to folk...
 
@Zoidberg Omg someone who actually broadens their musical taste/knowledge *faints* 
 
The problem with people these days is that they want to be spoon-fed things... in order to find a new modern band or band that you want you many want to do some looking... outside of the spoon-feeding zone that is mainstream media.

Neither, it's just different.

Well you can't really compare the two eras. The bands you know from 20-30 years ago were good, but they'd only be as good as the good bands today. The difference is, because it's easier to produce music, and there's a wider market, there are far more artists today than before, ergo, more trash.

" @fuzzyponken said:

" Oh my god it's so much worse. I can't listen to ANYTHING that plays regularly on the radio these days without fucking puking. At least in the 90's the whole grunge scene made things fairly interesting, and in the 80's there were obviously tons of metal and rock music around (although the shittiest 80's pop was arguably worse than anything ever recorded).  "

they did not play metal on the raido, or grunge. if you were more than 15, you would know that.  It has always been pop. "

I think it all depends on what genre you listen to. Now if its (in my opinion) modern mainstream hip hop/ pop/ pop rock/ techno pop, then personally i think its all garbage. Cause there is about only a certain amount of main points that EVERY song in each of these genres when it comes to a mainstream scale that are expressed within the song, in usually in stupid and obnoxiously repetitive ways, and those are to my understanding: bitches(sex with bitches, controlling bitches, etc.), money, fancy cloths, cars, and very rarely do they talk about something that doesn't have to do with any of that, usually about like having problems within a relationship which i am sure we've all heard of happen or something along those lines, as long as its a mildly saddening emotional feeling. Now you may say I'm being a little to general and leaving out some details that may contradict what I'm saying, but keep in mind this comment is purely general in my opinion and is totally controversial.

Tastes vary. I find tons of amazing modern music but it's mostly non-mainstream.

I think the state of rock and roll blows donkey dick and it has for the last ten, twelve years. That said, there are other genres that I really groove on. Electropop in particular is one of my absolute favourites.

Better. You have to have more talent(either through musical talent or marketing) to succeed these days. People remember the best parts of music when discussing the past. People have to realize that there was a ton of shit back than too.

It all really depends on what you listen to

There's so much garbage...so much.

I don't understand how anyone buys int this shit. Apparently people are more into fake attitudes than good music.

Worse. Definitely worse.

It's hard to say, because while the radio plays whats popular, there are millions of awesome artists that fly under the radar. Music is a funny thing, like games it's all about what you and you alone like. For example I don't like Mac Miller or Wiz Khalifa, so I fill my need for hip hop with groups like People Under the Stairs or Chris Webby. I however love Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes which get their fair share of attention in the media.

I feel like rap music has become more complex considering its still a growing genre.  Rhymes and patterns have certainly become more complicated.  Disyllabic rhymes are the norm now and it seems like people are rhyming the shit out of everything.  

I think things are better overall now.

There is a lot of great variety, and music comes in way more forms. And yeah it is fun to bash the radio stuff, but that ignores how much more recording there is now that good recording equipment is relatively inexpensive. If you think all modern stuff sucks, it pretty much means you need to put in some bare minimal effort into finding new music beyond turning a FM dial.

People who say the majority of modern music is trash don't listen to enough music.

@Milkman said:

People who say the majority of modern music is trash don't listen to enough music.

I've tried finding music blogs that posted things to my taste, but to no avail. There are some gold nuggets out there but they are so hard to find. Do you have any particular sources you care to share?

ABBA sucks. They were popular once. People find trash easier and don't go looking for good music. That's ok, but seriously if all you do is turn on the radio and say "modern music sucks!!" you're doing it wrong.

I would say the same, its just people's tastes that have changed. Although with the advent of auto-tune and the like a lot of untalented people have released music lately.

To be honest I really dont know. I love rock, country, and rap music; so to me music has been dead for the past 7 years really. There is no act today that can measure up to Guns n Roses or Soundgarden or Alice in Chains in rock today; same goes for country stars like George Straight, Dwight Yoakam or rap stars like 2pac or Snoop Dog.

Whoa nice 2 year old thread necro.

yes! lil Wayne, lady gaga, Rebecka Black, maroon 5, and nickleback are all I need to prove modern music is shit.

Nothing has changed really. People like to pretend there wasn't a lot of shitty mainstream music back in the day.

I don't mean to sound like the cliche fan of independent music, but I honestly think that the rise of independent music in the past 10 years has been a god send. I was talking with a friend about this. The most popular band we can think of 20 years ago was possibly Weezer, a lot of their hype was based on their "look" and "style" less so much on their actual music. Nowadays it's a relative free market, is better for the music listener because just more good music is rising to the top but worse for performers because imitators rise so quickly.

Just look at all the imitators of Animal Collective all of a sudden. That's a band that is pretty much the antithesis of a Weezer but they are just as popular today. You can hear their 'sound' everywhere if you look hard enough. It's hard to explain but if you listen hard enough it's there.

Mainstream music is generally worse than it once was, but good stuff is just as good as the 80s and 90s.

I don't know why but somehow dance music has taken over actual music. Maybe people didn't dance as much as people do today? maybe they just danced differently? Anyway, yes it is much more shit. There is still good stuff coming out, but I find it harder and harder to track down.

@bearcat:

I opened the thread with a mental bet that the whole thread would be nothing but people saying modern music is so bad relative to older music, and generally crying about mainstream music.

HAHA WELP.

Yeah, get over yourselves. The market has a much more relevant opinion.

Is David Bowie still retired? Yes? Then worse.

Modern music is fine. I absolutely love Lady Gaga and up and coming acts like Odd Future has spawned great solo albums from their members. Frank Ocean is one of my favorite things in recent memories. People get such a stick up their ass about music evolving that they don't let themselves enjoy new music.

@TheHumanDove said:

Nothing has changed really. People like to pretend there wasn't a lot of shitty mainstream music back in the day.

@jukezypoo said:

@TheHumanDove said:

Nothing has changed really. People like to pretend there wasn't a lot of shitty mainstream music back in the day.

Came to say something like this.

@Demoskinos said:

Modern music is fine. I absolutely love Lady Gaga and up and coming acts like Odd Future has spawned great solo albums from their members. Frank Ocean is one of my favorite things in recent memories. People get such a stick up their ass about music evolving that they don't let themselves enjoy new music.

This too. OF released some good shit, Kendrick Lamar just released an amazing album, hate the man but Kanye has come out with some great albums too (College Dropout/Late Registration in particular)

This discussion tends to really frustrate me. I almost find it difficult to compare the two, because it largely depends on what you want to look for. Sure, there is some incredibly important music from 20-30 years ago. You can even see its influence today. However, modern artists have had 20-30 years to improve on that; they have had the chance to take the original and unique ideas of the influential artists of decades past, and build upon it. I tend to enjoy modern music more, but there are artists of the past that I truly, deeply respect.

If you held a gun to my head, I'd probably say that modern music was better. But to only hear that would be to hear half of the truth. It's important to remember the roots of the music that you enjoy, be that 20-30 years or 200-300 years of musical progress, influence, and evolution.