What do you think is lacking from today's music?
 

Discuss. I'm neutral and have nothing much to say.

Not so neutral after all. A lot of drone music sounds like background music and nothing more.

Talent.


(In regard to mainstream shite...)

1.music today is not particularly different from any other period
2.probably less than 1% of music made now has anything to do with drones
3.there's nothing wrong with background music

Fixed.

I think it's a very economical approach to look at music in terms of gaps in the market. I don't think you're doing this, but a lot of people think in terms of 'what do other people not do, and how can I do that?'.

So it's not a case of what's missing from market but what am I missing in my life. And what I am missing from my life, and what I'll need to work harder to find, is music that doesn't exist in the world of myspace and producing product. In fact, I'd take the more moderate line of 'music that isn't geared towards a 7"/ myspace/ CD-r' and sounds that are allowed a time to gestate.

I'm thinking like that thing of when I 'discovered' Ashtray Navigations for myself - I think they'd been together aeons, and I'd not found anything of theirs, and I'm not sure if they have a myspace? I don't care aswell, they came into my life without hype - and this includes blog/ messageboard hype.

Does this make sense?

Originality. It still blows my mind that bands - big, popular ones - still use the I-VI-V chord progressions. And make millions.

I'm so wrapped up with listening to music that's a decade(+) old, I had no idea that today actually had music.

I would love to broaden my horizons, but I live in a black hole.

nothings lacking, i like 'todays music' whatever that means.

we are given those notes, there's only much to do with them.
that's where noise comes in handy.

but still, that's been done already.
complaining doesn't help either.

the good stuff is out there, you have to dig...

personally, I think what is lacking is centralization and universal access. There is literally TOO MUCH FUCKING MUSIC. be it commercial, independent, popular or obscure, and it is fucking an acid trip to try to make any sense of any of it. I do not know or understand any of the music anyone talks about on this board, I am constantly being schooled, its why I stick around here. Equally I could probably school some of y'all in obscure reggae and african music, and be schooled by others!

again, I hate to say it but there is just TOO MUCH fucking music

the feeling that the artist got "something to say".
no matter in which direction.
often there is nothing more then soulless sounds instead of sounds which transport something.
same for lyrics

mainstream music has lot's of talent, they have top engineers and producers working on every track, and every album has lots of session guys who are insane musicians, i'm kind of against saying something doesn't take talent just because you don't like it, that's the exact same argument commercial music folks use against others, and it's bullshit both ways

From some of the bands I've met, seen, and etc.

I think todays music is better than ever.

It's the fans that are shit.

& The mainstream has always sucked since the Beatles broke up.

It does. All the means to make more amazing music are there, and are used by those who do. I just think that there isn't enough amazing music being made considering what's at our disposal. The overwhelming chat about it overshadows what good there is too.

I've thought about it some more, and I'm going with "longevity".

maybe it's just the glut of music that's "out there" or maybe it's just not as good, but I really don't hear much today that makes me think "these guys will still be huge in 30 years".

true, talent is not whats missing. Even robots have talent, proficiency and skill. Whats missing is spirit.

I was thinking along those lines too. Not all fans obviously, but reading through any internet site about music makes you think that most music fans are disgusting, spoiled shits.

But I honestly feel that is changing, with the world going to shit the way it is....maybe people will have something to say.

less ppl from the suburbs singing about girls and marijuana and bullshit.

Bob Dylan also ruined music and artistry. He made everyone think they can be deep and prolific and instead of entertain people, he made ppl think they could enlighten ppl.

It needs to go back to entertainment, euphimisms, etc.

the 30s and 40s were fucking TERRIBLE in America, but it has some of the most beautiful music and lyrically isnt dark, or prolific at all...same with the 50s.

ppl need to start singing about serious shit, in an ambigous, artistic, and not serious way.

fuck those emo assholes who think they are the only ones with feelings hahahaha.

I love you.

just what in the fuck is THAT supposed to mean?? :mad:

i agree, this is why today people battle for street cred and authenticity when in fact that is not the point, it is not how much you can sing about your own experiences, but rather how much can you sing, write and perform songs which reflect the individual and collective experiences of the audience. This is from blues to gangster rap, street performing to stadium gigs..

for sure man. and I mean, I'm from the suburbs, I can't say my family is fucked up, I have a great relationship with them etc etc.

but I still have plenty of angst from other areas and have made sure where im from is not who I am.

the ppl around me made me sick growin up.

I'm not one of those kids from the suburbs who thinks he has it tough, but I feel too much and see that alot of either my current friends, or just strangers all around the world have gone thru some fucked up shit...and I can not just dance to some rap record and throw my hands in the air.

I can't listen to some fuckin acoustic gutiar played by some white kid singing runs like he has some soul, jason mraz shit...

I can't be bothered to listen to "punk" bands who play in suits and gear their parents bought for them.

I dont even know where im going with this rant, maybe the fact that ppl forget about the artistry that music involves...

ppl can bleed their soul into music these days and come up with some real shit, but as long as the fans arent lookin for that and are lookin for some cool fast techno babble to listen to while they trip on acid and play WOW...who care's?

dynamics

I actually blame Sartre for this very same thing.

sorry, I meant these kind of robots

hehehe


dont read my quote about WOW then,
sorry buddy

This has never been missing from music. It is missing from guitar music. But that's your problem if you choose to listen to guitar music. And a very specific sort of guitar music at that.

?????

I was thinking the same thing myself, music by definition is dynamic. ALL SOUND is dynamic, even if is just a single sound, let alone music, be it good or terrible. Music is dynamic by nature, how could it therefore be missing?

This is like going on and on and on about the way the instrument is played, not who plays it. Are we going to change the record eventually? Every single thing that makes a sound has the potential of sounding both shit or appealing, when it comes to that. No argument.

Mellotron

The thing is, the guitar, the electric guitar, the electric guitar of rock music, is generally played in such a way so as to elide dynamics. The person above was saying that music lacks dynamics, and my point is that electric guitar, played in Anglo-American rock music (which is a byword for the stock-and-trade of this forum) tends to lack dynamics. I'm talking timbral and volume dynamics. It's a necessarily limited instrument. I'm not criticising the instruement, I'm criticising the (implicit) criticism of the instrument. Ok?

Edit: because, y'know, I'm a guitarist. I'll just make that as obvious as I can.

Exactly, which is why I think Buddy Holly was more prolific than Bob Dylan.

I said it.

But sometimes also, if u can sneak a simple simple 'saying' past someone, in a cryptic manner, not enough ppl do that anymore either.

like I think "oh boy" was not saying "oh golly" but rather buddy holly saying he was either gay or bi.

I've messed with that writing too...my song "hot damn" sounds like it's about girls in the club or girls letting loose or some entertaining shit...it's really about anna nicole smith dying and the media making it such a big sympathy story...even tho they are the ones who ridiculed her until she was dead...and she never had any self control...who cares about someone who let their lack of control consume them...when earthquakes are consuming innocent ppl on the other side of the world....

it's political without being pretentsious, most of the lyrics just say hot damn....


or another song where I make no sense to the average listener....

"scrambled eggs will possess your legs and take you around the barn some travel around the world to see a foreign farm" is about how it doesnt matter where u are as long as u have the right friends and support you'll be fine, which was the opposite result of my friend, who moved to another city, became a heroine addict, and fucked up alot of good relationships and freindships because he was trying to go to that "sacred place where shit was hot". and the first lines refer to paul mccartney's original title for "yesterday", scarmbled eggs...which was our code word any time me and him would have a new song we wanted to show the other...and around the barn was a technique for recording we made up....the backstory is long but basically we knew eachother since 2nd grade and grew up together, not just as friends but I showed him his first rock n roll record and he got me into playing guitar...bla bla noone cares but this is about being CRYPTIC and PROLIFIC and not singing about the man bringin you down and bla bla Im so tough all the girls fuck me bla bla bla bla!!!!!!

But wait! I may have just the band for you! [etc]

of course music changes from period to period. to say it is not different is to be deluded or naive.

what is lacking in music today

honest aggression

hostility

rage

vicious hatred

the need to fucking ROCK OUT as hard as possible

the need to make your fans ROCK OUT as hard as possible

catharsis through ROCK


all i see are pussy soft fucks making pussy soft music for pussy soft people.
ya heard.

No, it not ok. The instrument itself has absorbed enough influences from cultures where rock music isn't the dominant type of music at all. Mate, I'm spending the evening listening to Group Doueh doing Jimi Hendrix, and it is everything that I have always expected Jimi Hendrix to do, but he didn't. Musicians who haven't been trained to play the guitar in a rock way, but take that as their model and come up with fantastic stuff. OK?

and thereis EVERYTHING wrong with background music. fuck that shit. I hate that shit so bad. I fucking hate stup8id shit meant to be accents to other shit. I want my music full front and center, the MAIN reason, the real deal. fuck background music.

what's the real deal?

the enginners/session guys/producers/etc are NOT what is sold in mainsteream music, and most fans of it do not give a fuck who the producer/session guy/engineer is. they want to see mariah carey, and the jonas bros. no one cares about the old geezers standing in shadows playing all the music at a jonas bros show.