Single greatest song ever written?

Phazael said:

I would argue the 80s, honestly. There were some groups that have been decent in the decades since the 80s (Alice in Chains/Radio Head/Tool in the 90s, White Stripes/Wolfmother/Panic at the Disco in the 2000s, Queens of the Stoneage/Muse/Foo Fighters from 2000 on) but the vast majority of it has been shit. And samey shit at that. The 80s was the last decade where Jogger music did not drown out everything else and there were a wide array of different bands/styles all having success.

Outside a couple outliers, no one is going to remember much of any of the shit that came out past the 80s, at least not on the level of songs like Tom Sawyer, Bohemian Rhapsody, Running Down a Dream, Land of Confusion, Teenage Wasteland, El Paso, I Got a Name, or dozens of other songs people immediately recognize despite most of them being 30+ years old. There will never be iconic albums that get played repeatedly like Sports, Dark Side of the Moon, Night at the Opera, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Houses of the Holy, Back in Black, Sargent Peppers, Permanent Wave, Boston 1, Escape, or a ton of others I could rattle off. I think Queens of the Stoneage and Wolfmother have come closest to recreating that total LP experience, but I would struggle to list another 10 that are cover to cover listens since the 90s (and none since 2010). I think Let the Bad Times roll is the last album I actually bought and can recall listening to that way. You would have to go back to the last two QOTSA albums (both fantastic) before that, and then we are talking Black Holes and Revelations before that, and THEN we are all the fucking way back to the self-titled Alice in Chains album or Tool Aenima for albums I still play cover to cover in the present. I know I am not alone in this.

I would like to think we might be on the cusp of a type of revolution in music akin to what Grunge did to hold off the deluge of hip hop and rap. But realistically, the impact of the internet has basically killed the entire album concept for the most part. And the lack of a real equivalent to radio to expose people to different shit has not helped, either. These days I personally only develop interest in a group if I happen to come across them by accident on the internet or as part of a movie/videogame soundtrack. And the latter category is more and more reaching back before 1990 for source material, as if to hammer that point home. Shit has been stale since the 80s for the most part with no signs of getting better. And I think its why you are seeing a resurgence in popularity of older music forms/styles because Rock Music has nowhere left to go on its current trajectory.

Click to expand...

But realistically, the impact of the internet has basically killed the entire album concept for the most part. And the lack of a real equivalent to radio to expose people to different shit has not helped, either. These days I personally only develop interest in a group if I happen to come across them by accident on the internet or as part of a movie/videogame soundtrack.

Click to expand...

Phazael said:

I would argue the 80s, honestly. There were some groups that have been decent in the decades since the 80s (Alice in Chains/Radio Head/Tool in the 90s, White Stripes/Wolfmother/Panic at the Disco in the 2000s, Queens of the Stoneage/Muse/Foo Fighters from 2000 on) but the vast majority of it has been shit. And samey shit at that. The 80s was the last decade where Jogger music did not drown out everything else and there were a wide array of different bands/styles all having success.

Outside a couple outliers, no one is going to remember much of any of the shit that came out past the 80s, at least not on the level of songs like Tom Sawyer, Bohemian Rhapsody, Running Down a Dream, Land of Confusion, Teenage Wasteland, El Paso, I Got a Name, or dozens of other songs people immediately recognize despite most of them being 30+ years old. There will never be iconic albums that get played repeatedly like Sports, Dark Side of the Moon, Night at the Opera, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Houses of the Holy, Back in Black, Sargent Peppers, Permanent Wave, Boston 1, Escape, or a ton of others I could rattle off. I think Queens of the Stoneage and Wolfmother have come closest to recreating that total LP experience, but I would struggle to list another 10 that are cover to cover listens since the 90s (and none since 2010). I think Let the Bad Times roll is the last album I actually bought and can recall listening to that way. You would have to go back to the last two QOTSA albums (both fantastic) before that, and then we are talking Black Holes and Revelations before that, and THEN we are all the fucking way back to the self-titled Alice in Chains album or Tool Aenima for albums I still play cover to cover in the present. I know I am not alone in this.

I would like to think we might be on the cusp of a type of revolution in music akin to what Grunge did to hold off the deluge of hip hop and rap. But realistically, the impact of the internet has basically killed the entire album concept for the most part. And the lack of a real equivalent to radio to expose people to different shit has not helped, either. These days I personally only develop interest in a group if I happen to come across them by accident on the internet or as part of a movie/videogame soundtrack. And the latter category is more and more reaching back before 1990 for source material, as if to hammer that point home. Shit has been stale since the 80s for the most part with no signs of getting better. And I think its why you are seeing a resurgence in popularity of older music forms/styles because Rock Music has nowhere left to go on its current trajectory.

Click to expand...

BrutulTM said:

As much as it pains me to agree with Kirun about anything, this is Chuk and Phazael right now.

People haven't quit making great music, it's just not as profitable as it used to be so there's not as much advertising and we're not all listening to the same shit because top 40 radio told us to.

Click to expand...

Chukzombi said:

its definitely something that can be pointed to. 2010 is pretty much the end of quality music. what we get now is complete shit. even by the same people who were making quality music in 2010

Click to expand...

Kirun said:

You do realize all those "oldie but goody!" bands you list are still making music and albums, right? In fact, once of the best albums of the 2010s is Foo Fighters' - Wasting Light. It's easily their best stuff since The Colour and the Shape and is definitely listenable front to back. The album as a whole is more complete than even Colour and the Shape, but it just doesn't have huge classics on it like Everlong, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, etc. The only "skippable" song on the album is probably White Limo, but I appreciate what they were trying to do with the song.

Click to expand...

Chris said:

I totally agree with the ~2010 number for mainstream awareness of good music.

It's still out there but much more difficult to find without scouring music websites etc for reviews... it used to be you could just put on MTV or similar and get a decent selection.

Maybe two reasons? The rise and rise of reality TV taking out things like MTV. Streaming destroying the music charts somehow.

Click to expand...

pysek said:

You guys are fuckin retards:

Click to expand...

Chukzombi said:

if you have to scour the internet for a buttnugget of good music, then its dead, Jim. if mumbly joe is producing masterpieces out of his garage studio that nobody knows about, then it just highlights that good quality music is not something being pushed anymore. its all about the look and how much of a thug or whore the "performer" is.

Click to expand...