Don't tell me modern music doesn't suck

[CouchCoach]

And Led Zeppelin
And Deep Purple
And Grand Funk Railroad
And The Who
And Alice Cooper
And Emerson, Lake & Palmer
And Pink Floyd
And CSN&Y
And Jimi Hendrix
And Janis Joplin
And ZZ Top (imo)
And Chicago (imo)

I lived in an era when there was more than Pop Radio. There was Pop radio all the way through every decade.... But.........I lived in an era, when FM Rock Radio played mostly songs that were great, that did not suck. You didn't listen for an hour or two to maybe hear one or two great songs... But I do realize that today, only the pop crap highlights make onto the radio, and you would have to dig for the non-suck music.

Well sorry, I was spoiled in the late 60's and early 70's as a teen, with FM Rock Radio, and basically had great music served up to me on a platter, day in and day out, for a number of years, without having to wade through a pile of **** to hear the best music. That's my DNA. But, what I will do, is dig for hidden gems, from the bands that I have already developed a respect for.

The FM Rock Radio you reference was called Album Oriented Rock in the trade and it changed the rock landscape from a song driven and label driven one to an artist and full album one and The Beatles deserve credit with Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour beginning the migration from single 45's to 33 LP's, liner notes to connect the listeners even better to the artist. It changed the way music was composed and the artists were no longer limited to time with their compositions. And the programmers and music directors were no longer the tail, they became the dog as they selected the tracks to be played instead of being "served" by the labels.

Top 40 radio had time limits because the rotations on the music were so hot that burn accelerated and tolerance for a song they didn't like or were burned on meant button pushing. Those stations had a lot of people passing through but they didn't stay for long as opposed to an AOR station that had fewer listeners but far more loyal and would stay for much longer periods of time. The other major difference was this music was created by these artists, most of the pop was created by the hit machine, just like most country. Pop couldn't play the entire Hotel California and left out the best part.

The payoff for us was B sides were not plentiful in AOR and one hit wonders were rare. If programmers could only find one track on an album they felt good about playing, that band was not long for the music world.

Some of my favorite songs from my favorite groups were not the "hits" and I couldn't wait to drill down into an album to see what I could discover. And then there were some bands that I could not just listen to part of the album and others, like the first Yes album, I had to actively listen, I couldn't do anything else except maybe light a candle since I already had the lighter lit.

I can remember some albums the very first time we'd listen to them and the impression they made. There are some true masterpieces that have withstood the test of time. They're like Classical compositions and are forever etched into my memory.

 

[jsb357]

BTW, I don't want to have to hunt for decent music.

With the songs on my playlist I never hunt for decent music.

However when one comes down path, it is added to the list.

 

[Vtwin]

There is good music being made today, but you have to hunt for it. Try checking out indie and local bands. They're the ones not doing the same old rehash. I think a lot of modern music is suffering from being made "perfect" via computerization. The stinking drums do not need to be quantized to perfection. That makes the sound robotic like a drum machine. The pitch does not need to be perfected with autotune. It was better when you had to nail it in the studio by being talented/skilled. I want to see passion put into music, not perfection.

It would be fascinating to see what today's producers would have done to a guy like Hendrix had he come up in these times. Jimi was all over the place with his timing and tempo. If he was recording today the producers and engineers would have likely 'fixed' all that up.

 

[Williamsboys]

The music right now is So bad, grunge is starting to appeal to me.

 

[CouchCoach]

BTW, I don't want to have to hunt for decent music.

I use Apple for my music streaming and they add the music and notify me and I go check it out. They update these specific genre playlists so you can get exposure to a lot of different new artists within a specific genre so they're doing some of the hunting for me.

I think Spotify might do the same but back when I was changing to streaming, they required Facebook so I went with Apple Music.

One thing Apple does that I like is an artist interview in which each track is discussed by the composer on what they were looking for with that. The latest by Airborne Toxic Event is a mind blower. I had no idea the leader of that band was a victim on Synanon back then. He wrote an entire album about his experiences and dedicated it to his Dad, who he credits with rescuing him from a cult of abusive kidnappers. Knowing the stories makes the album come alive.

It's like listening to The Foo Fighters "Sonic Highways" without watching the doc first, you just don't get it. Still good tunes but the stories make it magic.

 

[CouchCoach]

The music right now is So bad, grunge is starting to appeal to me.

Ha, I detested it at first and once I opened my ears to it, I found some good tunes.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

BTW, I don't want to have to hunt for decent music.

It's easier than you think. You might check out payplay.fm. Local and indie bands put up samples of their music, some songs of which you can download for free. Then if you like them, you can buy their whole album.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

If you like folk music, I can recommend Tracy Grammer. https://www.tracygrammer.com

Her music has feeling.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

It would be fascinating to see what today's producers would have done to a guy like Hendrix had he come up in these times. Jimi was all over the place with his timing and tempo. If he was recording today the producers and engineers would have likely 'fixed' all that up.

I'm super glad they didn't put their filthy paws on his music. He did great exactly how the way he did things. It might be cool if he could have had some of today's technology, but so that he could use it in creative ways, not so some goober could fix his music to be "perfect."

 

[mattjames2010]

That's pop music. There are plenty of good bands/artists out there. It's the most diverse it has ever been.

 

[Runwildboys]

The music right now is So bad, grunge is starting to appeal to me.

Alice in Chains has some great music. One of my favorite bands of all time. Just wish Layne Staley hadn't died so young.

 

[SlammedZero]

IMO popular music now isn't really supposed to be in depth life changing songs.

I believe nowadays the producers for top artists and their writers aim for catchy songs/catchy videos.
What will get hits, sell albums and what will get 1 billion views on youtube.

Whether it's pop, rap, rock etc.
Don't really care for it either. Especially when rap for a time had a bunch of fake wanna be gangsters(although I got a guilty pleasure from some Rick Ross songs).

But there are modern artists/bands out there that have albums with in depth topics/meanings. Just might have to look off the billboard top 10 to find them.

There is a line on Dr. Dre's last album that made me chuckle, "that was back when rappers needed a gun way more than a stylist" haha So true too.

 

[triplets_93]

The FM Rock Radio you reference was called Album Oriented Rock in the trade and it changed the rock landscape from a song driven and label driven one to an artist and full album one and The Beatles deserve credit with Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour beginning the migration from single 45's to 33 LP's, liner notes to connect the listeners even better to the artist. It changed the way music was composed and the artists were no longer limited to time with their compositions. And the programmers and music directors were no longer the tail, they became the dog as they selected the tracks to be played instead of being "served" by the labels.

Top 40 radio had time limits because the rotations on the music were so hot that burn accelerated and tolerance for a song they didn't like or were burned on meant button pushing. Those stations had a lot of people passing through but they didn't stay for long as opposed to an AOR station that had fewer listeners but far more loyal and would stay for much longer periods of time. The other major difference was this music was created by these artists, most of the pop was created by the hit machine, just like most country. Pop couldn't play the entire Hotel California and left out the best part.

The payoff for us was B sides were not plentiful in AOR and one hit wonders were rare. If programmers could only find one track on an album they felt good about playing, that band was not long for the music world.

Some of my favorite songs from my favorite groups were not the "hits" and I couldn't wait to drill down into an album to see what I could discover. And then there were some bands that I could not just listen to part of the album and others, like the first Yes album, I had to actively listen, I couldn't do anything else except maybe light a candle since I already had the lighter lit.

I can remember some albums the very first time we'd listen to them and the impression they made. There are some true masterpieces that have withstood the test of time. They're like Classical compositions and are forever etched into my memory.

Even before AOR format was king on FM, was the FM Free Form Rock stations. KNUS in Dallas was one, and KLBJ-FM in Austin another.

There were no corporate consultants. It was what the DJ thought was cool. It wasn't "Morning Shows" and DJ "personalities". The music did the talking, and loyal listeners would tune in for hours at a time. There wasn't a big overhead, and they didn't need tie-in promotions to Sports teams, or cadres of ad guys. But by 1975, things began to change as corporate investors saw the market share of FM rock challenging that of Top 40, whether on AM or FM. That and the sales of rock albums reaching $$$$. So little by little, playlists for album rock began to appear, eventually devolving into a 200 song playlist. There were 8 or 9 Led Zeppelin songs on that list, but that was about it... for band like Led Zeppelin!! Consultants were hired and paid well to keep the most people listening, even though that was for an ever shorter and shorter time-frame. The big adverting dollars those stations could now draw demanded that high listener count, throughout the day.

 

[CouchCoach]

Even before AOR format was king on FM, was the FM Free Form Rock stations. KNUS in Dallas was one, and KLBJ-FM in Austin another.

There were no corporate consultants. It was what the DJ thought was cool. It wasn't "Morning Shows" and DJ "personalities". The music did the talking, and loyal listeners would tune in for hours at a time. There wasn't a big overhead, and they didn't need tie-in promotions to Sports teams, or cadres of ad guys. But by 1975, things began to change as corporate investors saw the market share of FM rock challenging that of Top 40, whether on AM or FM. That and the sales of rock albums reaching $$$$. So little by little, playlists for album rock began to appear, eventually devolving into a 200 song playlist. There were 8 or 9 Led Zeppelin songs on that list, but that was about it... for band like Led Zeppelin!! Consultants were hired and paid well to keep the most people listening, even though that was for an ever shorter and shorter time-frame. The big adverting dollars those stations could now draw demanded that high listener count, throughout the day.

KNUS was an experiment by Chuck Dunaway, a visionary too far before his time. The idea, later embraced by AOR, was too have musicologists instead of DJ's. The irony is that decades later, that dial position 92.5 would see the return of another renegade format with Lone Star with Willie doing the liners. Didn't make it either.

KLBJ was the perfect format in the perfect market, the youngest median age city in the country with the most stay behind college graduates to add to that. That base, along with a strong bohemian drug culture was made for AOR and that was one of the real AOR greats back in the day.

The challenge with AOR was having the time to build it because back then, it was not on the ad agency's buy list. In fact, didn't really make it on that until it became Classis Rock except in the really large markets.

Back in the day, the stepchild of the Belo corporate empire was KZEW, my personal favorite when they were peaking. Relegated to a corner of the building that housed the newspaper, WFAA radio and TV was that little station that sometimes had a funny smell coming from it. I stood there one day and watched Joe Walsh getting stoned while doing the morning show.

AOR started out as art, and often because there were no format holes without taking on a strong competitor. It turned into a business as most art does once it gets recognized. But when it was art, it was the best time in radio history for me. Science killed the art for me and it just became another format.

I grew up in Little Rock, the home of KAAY AM, and the forerunner of AOR with a late night show called Beaker Street hosted by Clyde Clifford. It was deep cuts and much longer than what they would allow during the business hours. They were a 50K clear channel and had advertisers on that show like The Warehouse in New Orleans and Stan's Record Shop in Ville Platte, LA. When we moved to NO in 1973, those were on our list of must visits and it was surreal being at a concert at The Warehouse after hearing all of this ads for the shows on Beaker Street.

 

[CouchCoach]

Alice in Chains has some great music. One of my favorite bands of all time. Just wish Layne Staley hadn't died so young.

Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins were steady listens for me. Pearl Jam was a close follow but I never connected with Nirvana's music. There was a lot of variety just among those 4 bands and I know Billy Corgan puts ants on some people but I think the guy was the musical genius among all of them. His compositions and layering are magical to my ears.

 

[Runwildboys]

Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins were steady listens for me. Pearl Jam was a close follow but I never connected with Nirvana's music. There was a lot of variety just among those 4 bands and I know Billy Corgan puts ants on some people but I think the guy was the musical genius among all of them. His compositions and layering are magical to my ears.

I can't speak to Corgan's music, because I can't listen to his vocals. I agree with you on Nirvana though. I kinda like a couple of their songs, but I find them extremely overrated. Pearl Jam I like a lot, but in small doses.

 

[CouchCoach]

I can't speak to Corgan's music, because I can't listen to his vocals. I agree with you on Nirvana though. I kinda like a couple of their songs, but I find them extremely overrated. Pearl Jam I like a lot, but in small doses.

That's the challenge, the sameness of sound with the music, it can be fatiguing. That Vedder voice became the norm. Even Creed did it.

I can't listen to any of it for a long time but I look beyond Corgan's voice, he's the best composer of all of them.

But I can't think of any artist or group I can listen to for long. Even if I like them a lot, I still get tired of that sound. And I am a chain riff listener and with streaming, that's even easier. I will hear barely a full riff in one song and that will trigger a memory cue to hear that and before I know it, I have been on a musical journey across genre and time. I can easily move through 4 or 5 different genre in an hour on the patio and sometimes go out there with that in mind. I have discovered some of my favorite songs that way.

 

[Runwildboys]

That's the challenge, the sameness of sound with the music, it can be fatiguing. That Vedder voice became the norm. Even Creed did it.

I can't listen to any of it for a long time but I look beyond Corgan's voice, he's the best composer of all of them.

But I can't think of any artist or group I can listen to for long. Even if I like them a lot, I still get tired of that sound. And I am a chain riff listener and with streaming, that's even easier. I will hear barely a full riff in one song and that will trigger a memory cue to hear that and before I know it, I have been on a musical journey across genre and time. I can easily move through 4 or 5 different genre in an hour on the patio and sometimes go out there with that in mind. I have discovered some of my favorite songs that way.

Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, and Queen are some bands I can listen to for a long time, because they have a variety of music. Prince is another one. While much of his stuff has similar sounds, he has an incredible variety over the breadth of his work.

 

[CouchCoach]

Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, and Queen are some bands I can listen to for a long time, because they have a variety of music. Prince is another one. While much of his stuff has similar sounds, he has an incredible variety over the breadth of his work.

While I like all of those bands, I was never able to take a steady diet of their music without having it mixed into a tape. I was notorious for my mix tapes going back to 8 tracks. I had this huge record collection but would build tapes, cassettes with a Nakamichi later on, and build them for variety and never have two artists back to back. I was building my own radio station by not only genre but feel and tempo.

I am just odd that way. Like put 3 items on my plate and I will eat them in rotation and I know people that will eat all of one thing before moving on to the next. I seldom take a bite of anything twice in a row and I seldom with have two of the same cocktails back to back. If I do that with martinis, I change from olives to onions or change the brand.

I used to drive my wife crazy with 7-10 bottles of different wine open at a time. I'd have 6-8 different brands of beer in the other fridge. Dinner had to be more different items than a lot of one item. She asked me one time "are you sure you're happy with one woman? Sure you don't need a redhead, raven hair, brown hair and maybe one like Sinead O'Connor to keep you happy". That made me laugh but it also got me to thinking why she changed her appearance so much.

I think I may have a problem with life and keep trying to keep it interesting with variety. When I watch movies or TV shows, unless I am binging a series, I change the genre with each movie. Steve Earle wrote a song for me, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied". I think that's why I've always struggled living in the now.

 

[Runwildboys]

While I like all of those bands, I was never able to take a steady diet of their music without having it mixed into a tape. I was notorious for my mix tapes going back to 8 tracks. I had this huge record collection but would build tapes, cassettes with a Nakamichi later on, and build them for variety and never have two artists back to back. I was building my own radio station by not only genre but feel and tempo.

I am just odd that way. Like put 3 items on my plate and I will eat them in rotation and I know people that will eat all of one thing before moving on to the next. I seldom take a bite of anything twice in a row and I seldom with have two of the same cocktails back to back. If I do that with martinis, I change from olives to onions or change the brand.

I used to drive my wife crazy with 7-10 bottles of different wine open at a time. I'd have 6-8 different brands of beer in the other fridge. Dinner had to be more different items than a lot of one item. She asked me one time "are you sure you're happy with one woman? Sure you don't need a redhead, raven hair, brown hair and maybe one like Sinead O'Connor to keep you happy". That made me laugh but it also got me to thinking why she changed her appearance so much.

I think I may have a problem with life and keep trying to keep it interesting with variety. When I watch movies or TV shows, unless I am binging a series, I change the genre with each movie. Steve Earle wrote a song for me, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied". I think that's why I've always struggled living in the now.

Hey, at least you're never in a rut.

I can listen to a full album of a band I like, followed by another album of a different band I like, and so on. I make CDs of my favorite songs by a band that are 120 minutes, and I listen to the whole thing. I do however, occasionally like listening to the songs I left off the discs. There are some bands I get tired of because of my listening habits, but that's how I know which ones are great and which ones are good......I guess.