I believe the pendulum of music taste always swings back and forth. Right now it's about as far away from rock as possible, but eventually there will be shift back to authentic music.; real musicians with instruments and passion. It won't sound like anything before it, but we'll get there eventually. I have hope -- it can't get much worse than what's dominating the pop scene now.
Is Rock dying or already dead?
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Some of things y'all are saying in here are triggering me so hard. Composers aren't musicians? What in the actual fuck? You think they just write shit on a piece of paper and don't actually play it? I dare you go to up to motherfucking John Williams and say he's not a musician. Jesus. Fucking retards up in here. No wonder EDM and some garbage pop is in the Top 40.
AndBrutulTM , you should check out the newest Childish Gambino album. It's almost two years old at this point, but there's some quality soul on there. Stevie Wonder style. Also, you ever check out Sharon Jones? It's a damn shame she recently died because she put on a helluva show.
Of course they are musicians but most of them failed at it, so they took up a different gig. Just like the dudes video I linked. The dude has a degree in music, taught music theory in college for years, countless hours of practice, can play every dammed instrument, even got signed to a record label in the late 80s, surrounded with other great musicians, and they failed hard. Then it took him another 30 yrs producing to get a #1 song on the charts and gold record with Shinedown. While someone like Curt Cobain comes along, and has insta hits. Well not instant, but you know what I mean.
Im not taking away anything from anyone making music. Shit even if you do it on your laptop and your midi keyboard, fucking great! Music is the shit. Im just saying that grids, auto tune and other shit has taken the soul away from music.
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Jive Turkey
Karen
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Rap has started to stagnate with mumble rap and horrible production with a complete lack of any recognizable melody. The pendulum is about to swing back. Rock is due
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Jive Turkey
Karen
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And blues incorporated country elements.
Chuck Berry was just playing the 16th notes on electric guitar that artists like Little Richard were already playing on piano. He gets a lot of credit for essentially just swapping instruments
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I came across this video:
tl;dr: The "music industry" isn't making enough money to nurture talent long-term and is looking for cheap product that will sell or top the charts on Spotify. That is also the reason why artists nowadays get "360 deals" where they have to give the label part of the merchandise and touring money.
If you want an insight on the modern music industry listen to the Joe Rogan interview with Shirley Manson:
tl;dr: The "music industry" isn't making enough money to nurture talent long-term and is looking for cheap product that will sell or top the charts on Spotify. That is also the reason why artists nowadays get "360 deals" where they have to give the label part of the merchandise and touring money.
If you want an insight on the modern music industry listen to the Joe Rogan interview with Shirley Manson:
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Yeah I listened to tht video last week, he makes the same fucking points. He also has a good video about bands from belgium, claiming its the next scene, and listening to it hes got something there, some of those bands are good.
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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Country music on the radio has turned into horrible pop songs or even hip hop beats with ridiculously stupid lyrics, but it has given rise to people like Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Margo Price who play real country music and you can actually hear the instruments and they manage to sing about things other than beer, trucks, and girls. There's always good music being made in every genre. It's just a question of how popular it is at any given time.
This is actually a pretty rockin song from Jason Isbell.
This is actually a pretty rockin song from Jason Isbell.
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Here's the funny thing: In the EDM scene it's all about the single track (and some mixes/remixes), while in the rock scene your band is supposed to have at least an album or EP of material, because you need at least that much to fill a gig. Without playing live you don't have authenticity (or "street cred" if you like).
But even the EDM labels are relucatant to sign new artists unless they already have a fanbase. They will ask you for your Facebook/Twitter/Soundcloud/Spotify account and check how many followers you already have.
Let that sink in for a moment: The artist has to already have an established fanbase to even get a record deal. The industry will not take chances anymore. They are reluctant to do the last remaining job it had: promotion and marketing. Distribution is digital nowadays and artists can use services like CDBaby, Distrokid or TuneCore to get on ITunes and Spotify.
So, what's left? The hope that somehow, somewhere in a basement someone like Tom Scholz is working on a record with a new sound.
Alex
Still a Music Elitist
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A ton of artists do everything themselves these days. I know you old fogies will think this is absurd, but some modern artists know way more shit than dudes from the 70s. They're producing their own material, engineering it, marketing it, owning their own merch. They own 100% of their product and brand. And it's fantastic. That's why you don't hear it on the radio. These artists are completely circumventing all the rules due to all the exceptional DIY tools these days. And some of the more successful ones have even started their own indie labels to help promote bands of the same scene/genre/sounds.
If you're having trouble finding good modern rock you really aren't trying very hard. I highly recommend using Google Music or Spotify, play a radio station of a modern artist you like, and I guarantee you'll find at least three other artists you would dig. Get into their material and repeat. The rock genre is so damn fractured nowadays that you have to work a little to find your specific sound. Because "rock" is a very general term. That covers music from Radiohead to Rage Against the Machine to Children of Bodom.
If you're having trouble finding good modern rock you really aren't trying very hard. I highly recommend using Google Music or Spotify, play a radio station of a modern artist you like, and I guarantee you'll find at least three other artists you would dig. Get into their material and repeat. The rock genre is so damn fractured nowadays that you have to work a little to find your specific sound. Because "rock" is a very general term. That covers music from Radiohead to Rage Against the Machine to Children of Bodom.
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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And when you do a search for an artist on Spotify it gives you a list next to their top songs of artists that are similar to them. You can expand it to get quite a few new recommendations. There is more music actually reaching audiences now than ever before.
This thread inspired me and I did just that yesterday and found 4-5 new bands I'd never heard before (Not all strictly rock):
Until yesterday I had no idea the guys from The Black Crowes had anything else going on recently:
This thread inspired me and I did just that yesterday and found 4-5 new bands I'd never heard before (Not all strictly rock):
Until yesterday I had no idea the guys from The Black Crowes had anything else going on recently:
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There is a few problems with this. For one let me just start and say, again, anyone that makes music in whichever way, its fucking great. But that I think that making music by yourself in your own little DAW bubble does not progress you to be better as quickly, and people get stuck in their little music bubbles which are hard to get out of without other people. Look, man ive been playing music since 95, and played with many many people and this is how I got good and better at it. Each new player I played with brought something new and fresh that made all of us excel plus each player contributed a little of his soul to the music, regardless what we played. Now im only talking about shit garage bands here since we all had jobs and did this just for fun and shit, but im assuming its the fucking same for anyone. It is then that I noticed that people get stuck in their little shit bubbles of playing the same shit over and over again, while the rest of the band is rolling their fucking eyes. And its hard to break out of this without others around. Dudes that been playing for even longer than I.
Second, anyone making music by themselves is still using midi drums and again, a slave to that time grid. Which again, takes the soul out of it all. But if you think its cool and all, go for it.
Also I know how to find rock, thats not the issue. The issue is Bob and Sally, which are normal plebs that dont and never will go out looking for new shit, which is 95% of people out there. They only consume whats spoon fed to them, which all of your indie, solo DAW musicians wont ever see the light of day.
Alex
Still a Music Elitist
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There's a massive middle ground you're missing between me making music in my apartment and Top 40. None of the acts I'm talking about use MIDI drums. Anyway, major label producers almost always try to push artists to become more commercial - so in your opinion it's a lose/lose situation. You're either stuck in your bubble or forced to become poppier and more accessible. Any self-respecting artist won't keep churning out the same material over and over again. Tastes change, they discover new favorite artists themselves, and steal pieces from that. I would never write the material I wrote 10 years ago. I've discovered so much since then that has influenced my writing.
And no one really listens to radio anymore. No one. That's why it's dying. Everyone is finding their own little niche - at least the people who actually care about music. Which is way more than you think. The amount of people who listen to only Top 40 is absurdly small.
And no one really listens to radio anymore. No one. That's why it's dying. Everyone is finding their own little niche - at least the people who actually care about music. Which is way more than you think. The amount of people who listen to only Top 40 is absurdly small.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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You're only saying that because of where you live and the people you interact with. It might seem that way to you but don't forget all the streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, Google Music etc all have "top hits" pop channel radio stations as well. So even if people aren't listening to the actual radio they are still listening to the streaming equivalent of it and probably never doing anything other than hitting the "hottest new tracks" station/playlist suggestions on the front page.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Rock will never die. Music popularity ebbs and flows.
There's a reason new guitarists are still looking up to EVH because he wrote eruption 40 years ago
There's a reason new guitarists are still looking up to EVH because he wrote eruption 40 years ago
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