Why do so many - even the young - now prefer old music over new?

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Aug 1, 2006
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Just did a google search, indeed they do (or claim to). Gave me a good chuckle I must admit, I don't see much bonafide 'hardcore' in the playlists.

So what the kids today call "hardcore" is not the hardcore of 20 years ago. I used to think it was Sick of It All, Madball, Biohazard and those bands, apparently not anymore.
 

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It's called oldies but goodies for a reason - classics never die

They'll still be playing Beatles, Queen, Led Zep, Bowie, Elton, MJ, Prince, AC/DC, U2, Foo Fighters in 2050
 
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Movies and kids shows are exposing a lot of the old songs to a new audience ..

As a example the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack vol 1
wiki says,
Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album for the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy. Featuring the songs present on Peter Quill's mixtape in the film,[1] the album was released by Hollywood Records on July 29, 2014. A separate film score album, Guardians of the Galaxy (Original Score), composed by Tyler Bates, was also released by Hollywood Records on the same date, along with a deluxe version featuring both albums.[1] The soundtrack album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first soundtrack album in history consisting entirely of previously released songs to top the chart.

The album topped the Billboard Top Soundtracks chart for 11 consecutive weeks[2] and 16 weeks in total.[3] As of April 2017, it has sold over 1.75 million copies in the United States alone, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.[4] The album was the US's second best-selling soundtrack album of 2014.[5]

Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Marvel Cinematic Universe soundtrack chronology
Soundtrack album by
Various artists
Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol 1 cover.jpg
ReleasedJuly 29, 2014
StudioVarious, across the United States and the United Kingdom
Length44:34
Label
Producer
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
(2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy
(2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
Professional ratings
SourceRating
Review scores
AllMusic
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[9]

Track listing​


All songs—with the exception of "Spirit in the Sky", which is played in the trailer—are featured in the film.[10] "Never Been to Spain" by Three Dog Night, "Magic" by Pilot, and "Livin' Thing" by Electric Light Orchestra were also used during filming; however, the scenes in which they were featured were cut from the final version of the film.[11][12] "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell and "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" by Three Dog Night were originally considered for the film instead of "Moonage Daydream".[12] "Fox on the Run" by Sweet and "Surrender" by Cheap Trick were also considered for the film.[13] Both would be used for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's Awesome Mix Vol. 2.[14]
 

DaRick

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1) Older music is easier for young people to access thanks to the internet.

2) Older music sounds more like newer music due to remastering so younger people can embrace it more easily - this is both a good and bad thing; the music sounds cleaner, but more clipping can also occur.

3) A lot of newer music takes cues from older music - for example, Wolfmother sounds like Led Zeppelin; The Killers definitely take cues from Duran Duran, so younger people don't see that much difference.

4) Older 'popular' music has more variety - old-school hip-hop/rap, pop-rock and hard rock/metal were all commercially successful and so still reasonably well-known to all music lovers, whereas much hard rock/metal has vanished from the mainstream now. Plus older music uses more notes, doesn't sound so artifical due to a lack of auto-tuning and doesn't sound as clipped on average. In other words, it sounds more soulful and makes you tap your feet more because the beats vary more in terms of loudness.

5) What is older music? It depends on the person. My favourite era is 1970-1995. In many ways, Kurt Cobain's death symbolised the swansong for consistently - rather than sporadically - good popular music.
 

CliffMcTainshaw

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A Warning On the Future of Music: with Author Ted Gioia and Rick Beato
Times are changing and the future doesn't look like it's the sort of thing we've been able to enjoy.

Everyone who loves music (that would be most people on this forum) should listen to this podcast. A revelation about the future of music. It discusses so much and more, of what has already been mentioned in this thread.

 
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Went to my niece’s 21st last night. Theme - 70’s disco. I’m a child of 80’s new wave, but would say that I’m a music fan of all genres and eras, old and new. But I have to put my grumpy old man hat on here and say that the music last night was utterly appalling. Bee Gees, Abba, Pointer Sisters, Boney M, etc etc, all got a run - sounded just as bad 40+ years later as they did in the “tight crutch flares and open shirt chest hair” days. Glad to escape by about midnight. Thought this morning definitely along lines of “why that era” as a theme for your 21st? As long as she had fun, I guess….
 
It's called oldies but goodies for a reason - classics never die

They'll still be playing Beatles, Queen, Led Zep, Bowie, Elton, MJ, Prince, AC/DC, U2, Foo Fighters in 2050
Pink Floyd,Little Feat,Genesis,Jethro Tull.
 
Aug 1, 2006
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Went to my niece’s 21st last night. Theme - 70’s disco. I’m a child of 80’s new wave, but would say that I’m a music fan of all genres and eras, old and new. But I have to put my grumpy old man hat on here and say that the music last night was utterly appalling. Bee Gees, Abba, Pointer Sisters, Boney M, etc etc, all got a run - sounded just as bad 40+ years later as they did in the “tight crutch flares and open shirt chest hair” days. Glad to escape by about midnight. Thought this morning definitely along lines of “why that era” as a theme for your 21st? As long as she had fun, I guess….

Disco along with R n B (not the original genre) would be my two most disliked genres, I find them both incredibly irritating.
 
Disco along with R n B (not the original genre) would be my two most disliked genres, I find them both incredibly irritating.
Why do they call that new rubbish R&B?
I can’t hear rhythm or blues in that trash!
 
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Does 'A Whiter Shade of PALE fit here? Songwriter & member of Procol Harum has died & the real meaning of the lyrics has gone with him
'
Procol Harum’s single, with its Hammond organ melody based on Bach’s Suite No 3 in D Major (Air on a G String), was released in May 1967 as the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band reached No. 1 on album charts across the world.
A Whiter Shade of Pale topped British charts for six weeks, and just as hippies were frolicking in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco the song became one of the soundtracks to the Summer of Love. It was No. 1 in Australia for three weeks. It has sold six million copies and in 2009 was named the most requested song on British radio stations of the past 75 years.

A Whiter Shade of Pale will now remain a mystery for all time ....


The meaning of Keith Reid’s lyrics to A Whiter Shade of Pale remains one of the big mysteries in music. From its opening line: “We skipped the light fandango/Turned cartwheels ’cross the floor,” Reid’s words have fascinated and confounded.

Was he describing a sexual seduction or an acid trip gone wrong (“The room was humming harder/As the ceiling flew away”)? Or was it a modern take on Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale (“As the miller told his tale”)? An elegiac description of a romantic break-up or a vision of his father as an inmate in Dachau concentration camp? A philosophical polemic? All these theories have been explored in depth in university theses.




Reid drew inspiration from anti-war protests to write an empowering protest song:

“You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear”
You’re the Voice became John Farnham’s comeback hit and put Reid’s words back on radio and television across the world. It is still the biggest-selling single in Australia.




 

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CliffMcTainshaw

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If I was an old bastard I wouldn't be pushing Black Marble.

I've got my finger on the pulse.


The trouble with this example is it sounds just like a copy of 80's Synth style music. This isn't an example of what modern music sounds like. Have a listen to Rick Beato's coverage of the Spotify top 10 and you will get an idea why so many young people are seeking out music from the past.
 
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mr bagcroft

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lol, that Beato spotify top 10 is absolutely atrocious.
But who actually listens to that s**t anyway?
Teenagers and soccer mums, that'd be about it.
 

mcgrath_truther

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as someone who's part of the younger(ish) generation, i think that old music will always be relevant to listen to because they represent the beginnings of the sound/genre that would interest music nerds.

for example: i'm a big fan of shoegaze and probably the "best' shoegaze album came out in 1991 (that being loveless by my bloody valentine, that also being considered an all time classic album), but the sound is ever relevant and present in most subsequent pure shoegaze releases to this day. some people like exploring musical history and listening to old stuff is the most basic entry point that isn't like learning music theory and s**t
 
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The trouble with this example is it sounds just like a copy of 80's Synth style music. This isn't an example of what modern music sounds like. Have a listen to Rick Beato's coverage of the Spotify top 10 and you will get an idea why so many young people are seeking out music from the past.

That video nails it! Besides being stuck at home with nowhere to go during the Covid lockdown, I reckon one of the things that motivated me to go into that deep dive into old country music was my complete disenchantment with pretty much any form of “popular music” (i.e. the dumbed down mass-produced disposable pulp bestowed on the masses by the multi-national companies that decide these things) across all genres. It’s been a joy to go back into the past and hear real voices singing meaningful lyrics that actually means something and can even be beautiful, backed by at least proficient and often great instrumentalists (like Emmylou Harris I’m currently doing) - no auto-tune, drum machines, synthesisers and computers controlling things, levelling everything down to a boring always in-tune blandness. Now it’s all so much dull, bland background noise that all sounds the same - unless, of course, one looks beyond what is “popular”, where real music still exists - but it seems to me that versatile vocal skills, which artists used to spend years in developing, ain’t so valued anymore.

I mean, with Hank Williams songs now playing in Brunswick pubs 70 years after his death, what does that say about modern music?
 

CliffMcTainshaw

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That video nails it! Besides being stuck at home with nowhere to go during the Covid lockdown, I reckon one of the things that motivated me to go into that deep dive into old country music was my complete disenchantment with pretty much any form of “popular music” (i.e. the dumbed down mass-produced disposable pulp bestowed on the masses by the multi-national companies that decide these things) across all genres. It’s been a joy to go back into the past and hear real voices singing meaningful lyrics that actually means something and can even be beautiful, backed by at least proficient and often great instrumentalists (like Emmylou Harris I’m currently doing) - no auto-tune, drum machines, synthesisers and computers controlling things, levelling everything down to a boring always in-tune blandness. Now it’s all so much dull, bland background noise that all sounds the same - unless, of course, one looks beyond what is “popular”, where real music still exists - but it seems to me that versatile vocal skills, which artists used to spend years in developing, ain’t so valued anymore.

I mean, with Hank Williams songs now playing in Brunswick pubs 70 years after his death, what does that say about modern music?
I have heard a lot of people saying that young people today have developed their music tastes at an early age (pretty much like we all do). But where we got it listening to the radio or seeing bands perform on TV, the younger generation are being introduced to music through computer games. The stuff they are bought up on is simple, repetitive, lacks any instruments and is all generated by a computer. Much like a lot of the music covered in the Rick Beato video. I find it to be a very plausible argument.
 
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I have found that since spotify along my old two kids (17,19) are starting to listen to older music, and they dont even realise.
I dont have spotify so assume there is some sort of algarythm that suggests songs. We'll be in the car asnd they are playing their song lists and i'll sing along to songs or know half the songs, to their bewildment. Then i have to tell them, this song came out when i was your age, or before i was even born.
 
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I have heard a lot of people saying that young people today have developed their music tastes at an early age (pretty much like we all do). But where we got it listening to the radio or seeing bands perform on TV, the younger generation are being introduced to music through computer games. The stuff they are bought up on is simple, repetitive, lacks any instruments and is all generated by a computer. Much like a lot of the music covered in the Rick Beato video. I find it to be a very plausible argument.
Yes, I absolutely agree with this in general - but there was one rare exception in the computer game Grand Theft Auto with it’s “Rebel Radio” that has been credited in a revival in interest in old school classic country. The comments in this article from 10 years ago still (sadly) apply now -
 
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Music used to be a lot more social. Labels controlled the release date, radios controlled when you heard new songs, more people listened to radio so people could bond over, and talk about, big releases at the time. Streaming has been a game-changer, you can now access the whole history of music at the touch of a button, but people aren't listening to the same thing at the same time. They are picking different bands from different eras at different times, so it seems like music isn't as good as it used to be. But there is absolutely bands getting around just as good as those in the past. You just don't get the extra social connections you used to get, so it seems less significant. That may play a part in why younger people search out these bands that reached legendary status because it seems there is less coming out today.
 

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Went to my niece’s 21st last night. Theme - 70’s disco. I’m a child of 80’s new wave, but would say that I’m a music fan of all genres and eras, old and new. But I have to put my grumpy old man hat on here and say that the music last night was utterly appalling. Bee Gees, Abba, Pointer Sisters, Boney M, etc etc, all got a run - sounded just as bad 40+ years later as they did in the “tight crutch flares and open shirt chest hair” days. Glad to escape by about midnight. Thought this morning definitely along lines of “why that era” as a theme for your 21st? As long as she had fun, I guess….
I’m a mad Bee Gees fan, not just the Fever stuff but before and after that Mega period. They had around 15 US #01’s in 5 years 75-80, 8 for themselves 3 for their brother Andy and the rest for others as diverse Franki Valli and Barbara Streisand & even A Country #01.

The Bee Gees stuff will still be relevant for years to come, Islands In The Stream, Stayin Alive, Spicks and Specks, they weren’t just a Disco group. Travolta actually couldn’t dance to Stayin Alive and asked for it to be replaced with the older You Should Be Dancin for the main dance scene.

In terms of successful songwriters there’s Paul McCartney, Barry Gibb then the rest.
 

peetoo

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Disco along with R n B (not the original genre) would be my two most disliked genres, I find them both incredibly irritating.

But they seem to be getting renewal better than rock

Did the rock anthem kill Rock? Search any ‘top 50 rock songs’ and the anthem dominates. Rock was better than just the encore songs
 

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