My Generation

[DaveC]

you know what? i'm damn pissed off.

my generation is going to be marked by really shitty music. think about it for a second:

1950's: Early rock n roll, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, etc.
1960-65: the Beatles, the Who, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, etc.
1965-70: start of the psychedelic rock movement, lots of insanely good bands starting out, Aerosmith, the Beatles doing their best work, Led Zeppelin starting, Woodstock, Altamont.
1970-80: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Frampton, the Eagles, KISS, Queen, AC/DC, punk rock starting.
1980-90: punk rock, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, U2, some great dancing bands, hair metal, and 70's bands still going strong. also, the birth of (good) hip-hop.
1990-95: grunge, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, etc.

and my generation? 1995-2005?

we get first techno, then gangsta rap, then cock rock, then now pop-punk, emo, and screamo.

i'm 18 years old god dammit! i'm supposed to be listening to the mainstream music, the Top 40 of the day! but instead i'm listening to bands from 20+ years ago, and underground stuff from today. and it pisses me off, because today's music sucks so fucking bad!

i think that in 20 years from now, our musical era will be looked upon as being worse than the disco era. and you can quote me on that.

 

[HelloAngel]

There's alot of amazing music out there right now, you just have to find it. The White Stripes, Interpol, The Killers, The Shins, Wilco, Guided by Voices, The Streets, PJ Harvey, The Raveonettes, Beck, Muse, The Strokes... the list goes on and on. There's plenty of good music out there to be happy about.

But I will agree with you that the pervading "popular music" in current years really has been terrible.

 

[beli]

Worse than the disco era??? Watch whos era you are slagging mate.

Actually Im more of an early 80s Europop era girl myself. And yeah, I still listen and love those old songs.

A lot of the music you listed wasnt mainstream at the time eg The Clash and the Sex Pistols, that was the whole point with punk. A lot of those bands have become legends later, in hindsight.

There is lots of good stuff out there Dave, you just might have to hunt for it.

 

[DaveC]

i know that there's loads of great stuff out there, but none of it's mainstream. that's my point. the really good stuff in the past all seemed to be relatively mainstream. these days, with corporate radio and MTV no longer actually showing videos, it's like the bands that are not exactly mainstream never even get a chance, and music never changes.

mainstream music has been the same since 2000.

 

[U2DMfan]

Pop music will always exist for high school kids, as for rock, the defintion of great eras in rock is usually when the mainstream is actually good. There have been many eras outside of the mainstream that have produced great music.

In my lifetime the shittiest eras have been 85-90 and 95-00.

Sure, you had an occasional U2 in the 85-90 era or even Radiohead in the 95-00, but outside of a few select groups it was very very very shitty. Especially the hair metal era, worst rock music era ever. Followed closely by the late 90's purge of rock/metal/rap.

As of now 00-04, I think it's pretty good actually, getting better at least. There is some good music out there and if you tune out of the really really mainstream shit, it's pretty good.

After all, it's not like the late 60's or early 90's where the mainstream was actually full of great bands, that rarely happens. Probably won't happen again until the dawn of the next decade.
A good era always tends to be followed by a shit era, if we are talking your typical mainstream rock and such.

Maybe it never happens again, but I think it could, one thing is for sure, is that it will get worse before it gets better.

 

[U2DMfan]

Dave, I guess I was typing as you posted, and basically I agree with your last post. I think the current say, MTV top 20 rock songs are better than they were 5 years ago though.

 

[beli]

Does it need to be mainstream? Can you listen to some of the internet radio stations that may play music more to your liking?

I actually feel like alot of 90s music was bland too. But then Im not the target demographic ie a 12 year old girl. And nor are you Dave. Most of the music you listed are bands for boys when in reality the charts are usually populated with bands for little girls.

 

[MrBrau1]

Thanks so much for Britney, Christina, Hillary, Lindsey, Ashley, Averil...WOW, you generation does suck.

 

[Bonochick]

Don't get so bent out of shape over what's mainstream. Who cares how people look back at what was mainstream during your generation? Just enjoy what you like.

 

[indra]

I've only rarely listened to mainstream music in my life, and never much cared who was where on the charts. But I've found music I love, and I still do. You have to look a little harder. But since when have the good things in life come easily?

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Don't get so bent out of shape over what's mainstream. Who cares how people look back at what was mainstream during your generation? Just enjoy what you like.

.

Personally, there is some mainstream stuff out right now that I don't mind. Yeah, there's some I can't stand, either, but it's not all bad.

Bottom line, every generation has its good and bad mainstream music-this is nothing new.

Angela

 

[WinnieThePoo]

what do you think about Gwen Stefani ?

 

[DrTeeth]

what do you think about Gwen Stefani ?

I saw her on tv yesterday performing her new single. It was hideous!

 

[IWasBored]

what do you think about Gwen Stefani ?

very few people honestly deserve to die for putting out bad music, and i usually say "so and so needs to die" and not really mean it. although in her case...i'm not so sure i'm kidding.

 

[U2girl]

you know what? i'm damn pissed off.

my generation is going to be marked by really shitty music. think about it for a second:

1950's: Early rock n roll, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, etc.
1960-65: the Beatles, the Who, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, etc.
1965-70: start of the psychedelic rock movement, lots of insanely good bands starting out, Aerosmith, the Beatles doing their best work, Led Zeppelin starting, Woodstock, Altamont.
1970-80: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Frampton, the Eagles, KISS, Queen, AC/DC, punk rock starting.
1980-90: punk rock, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, U2, some great dancing bands, hair metal, and 70's bands still going strong. also, the birth of (good) hip-hop.
1990-95: grunge, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, etc.

and my generation? 1995-2005?

we get first techno, then gangsta rap, then cock rock, then now pop-punk, emo, and screamo.

i'm 18 years old god dammit! i'm supposed to be listening to the mainstream music, the Top 40 of the day! but instead i'm listening to bands from 20+ years ago, and underground stuff from today. and it pisses me off, because today's music sucks so fucking bad!

i think that in 20 years from now, our musical era will be looked upon as being worse than the disco era. and you can quote me on that.

cock rock? What is that?

1995:2005 - Radiohead, Coldplay, "the" bands, arrival of a new generation of songwriters/singers like John Mayer or Ryan Adams, Pearl Jam is still here as is REM and those 4 Irish lads you might have heard of.

The problem is, since late 90's the music industry changed so much it's very hard for rock bands to enter, and more importantly, stay in the mainstream.
Boybands, Britney and clones, Spice Girls and Pop Idols ruined music, and I wonder if Bono wasn't right when he sang "the last of the rock stars" in Kite...I can't imagine a rock band having the time of 7 years and 5 albums to make it big these days.

 

[U2Kitten]

Dave you are not the first person your age I have heard say that. Most teens I know are into indy and looking for weird or old stuff online because most top 40 sucks.

1980-90: punk rock, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, U2, some great dancing bands, hair metal, and 70's bands still going strong. also, the birth of (good) hip-hop

I'm so lucky I had hair metal and U2 in my teenage years!

I have to correct this though being this was my generation: the sex pistols were DEAD and I never heard anyone mention or play them. The only thing I ever heard of the Ramones was that sorry assed movie "Rock and Roll High School" and a radio parody of "I Wanna Be Sedated" called "I Wanna Be Civilian", and the "Blitzreig Bop" in National Lampoon's family vacation. The Clash had that one big album in 1980 but the rest of the 80s' the only thing that hit big was 'Rock the Casbah'. Some 70's bands were still going strong. "Hair metal" as most of you define it today did not come about until the later 80's. There were long haired colorful outfit guys earlier, but they thought they were carryovers from the great metal days of the 70's. The schtick hair metal stuff was brought in by Poison, about 1987. That's what was copied and mass produced. It was killed by the awful "Cherry Pie" video (though I am a fan of some of Warrant's earlier stuff) and was on its way down before Nirvana finally rubbed it out.

Another genre that is forgotten and neglected in the 80's was the synth based Britpop type sound, like Human League, Flock of Seagulls, OMD and Berlin. This dominated much of the first half of the 80's but is now never mentioned.

Unfortunately, the 'punk' thing has been very much overrated, exaggerated and exalted in retrospect by VH-1, leading those of you who were not born yet to believe it. So it's up to me to set theh record straight, I was there, and I don't like to see history rewritten. If that stuff was going on somewhere, it was not in the mainstream, not on MTV, not on the radio, and that's what you're talking about, right?

 

[HelloAngel]

After thinking about it some more, I think the appearance of "really shitty" mainstream music now is because the industry is in trouble - and it really is a matter of record labels marketing and selling "talent" that is guaranteed to sell like hell. It makes more sense (to the labels, anyway) to just get behind what is most likely to make money, versus spending time to develop artists like might take a good 3 albums to truly catch on. So this might explain the rise of McBands like Good Charlotte, Yellowcard and all the other bands that are interchangeable on paper.

I do agree with U2Kitten though - every generation complains about what is representing them.

And I also think that hindsight is 20/20 - the eras DaveC mentions were most likely also populated with artists we can't even remember now.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

so much great stuff out there , all you need is a bit of research , OUTSIDE ,

 

[melon]

i'm supposed to be listening to the mainstream music, the Top 40 of the day!

If it's any consolation at all, Top 40/MOR has always been, by design, "disposable." Even back in the 1950s.

HelloAngel is correct. Hindsight really is 20/20, and Top 40 music has, overall, been full of crap for all of it's 50 years of history.

What you mention as "famous" for 1990-1995 is revisionist, honestly. It's great that this era is now remembered for bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but what I remember from the early 1990s is gangsta rap, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, New Kids on the Block, Milli Vanilli, and a whole slew of disposable crap that we don't even think about today, except for a laugh. *That* was Top 40 music back in the early 1990s; not the musicians you've mentioned (they were on "alternative" stations).

So, overall, I guess I'm telling you to not feel so bad. I've only recently been starting to discover "good music" from the 1990s. In 10-20 years, we will eventually remember what music was valuable today and all the crap will be forgotten.

Melon

 

[melon]

1980-90: punk rock, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, U2, some great dancing bands, hair metal, and 70's bands still going strong. also, the birth of (good) hip-hop

Another genre that is forgotten and neglected in the 80's was the synth based Britpop type sound, like Human League, Flock of Seagulls, OMD and Berlin. This dominated much of the first half of the 80's but is now never mentioned.

Nah...I don't think people have forgotten "New Wave." I just think that we got it out of our system quite early.

With that, I should mention that I deeply despise "hair metal." It bores me to tears. Also, "good hip-hop" is not dead at all; it has always remained underground. I used to know someone who was obsessed with that stuff; it certainly seems to be as active as ever!

Melon

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

heck even indie/underground music has it's sucky candidates

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Re: Re: My Generation

If it's any consolation at all, Top 40/MOR has always been, by design, "disposable." Even back in the 1950s.

HelloAngel is correct. Hindsight really is 20/20, and Top 40 music has, overall, been full of crap for all of it's 50 years of history.

What you mention as "famous" for 1990-1995 is revisionist, honestly. It's great that this era is now remembered for bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but what I remember from the early 1990s is gangsta rap, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, New Kids on the Block, Milli Vanilli, and a whole slew of disposable crap that we don't even think about today, except for a laugh. *That* was Top 40 music back in the early 1990s; not the musicians you've mentioned (they were on "alternative" stations).

So, overall, I guess I'm telling you to not feel so bad. I've only recently been starting to discover "good music" from the 1990s. In 10-20 years, we will eventually remember what music was valuable today and all the crap will be forgotten.

Melon

i had two copies of "please hammer don't hurt 'em"

 

[HelloAngel]

hey - i loved "please hammer don't hurt 'em" and the SirMixALot record with "My Posse's on Broadway" and "Buttermilk Biscuits" on it!!

 

[DrTeeth]

Re: Re: Re: My Generation

i had two copies of "please hammer don't hurt 'em"

Why did you need two copies?

 

[BAW]

Dave, here is sampling of the Top 40 when I was 18 (1984). Mainstream has ALWAYS been crap.

Lionel Richie...multiple times. Enough said.


SAY, SAY, SAY, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
FOOTLOOSE, Kenny Loggins
AGAINST ALL ODDS, Phil Collins
HELLO, Lionel Richie
OWNER OF A LONELY HEART, Yes
GHOSTBUSTERS, Ray Parker Jr.
ALL NIGHT LONG (All Night), Lionel
Richie
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY, Denise Williams
I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU, Stevie Wonder
SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME, Rockwell
BREAK MY STRIDE, Matthew Wilder
OH SHERRY, Steve Perry
STUCK ON YOU, Lionel Richie
SISTER CHRISTIAN, Night Ranger

 

[DrTeeth]

Oh very retro!

 

[DrTeeth]

Once, twice, three times Lionel Ritchie

 

[beli]

Another genre that is forgotten and neglected in the 80's was the synth based Britpop type sound, like Human League, Flock of Seagulls, OMD and Berlin. This dominated much of the first half of the 80's but is now never mentioned.

[/B]

As I said "Im more of an early 80s Europop era girl myself."

It lives on in me. Its starting to make a comeback. Just now.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Dave, here is sampling of the Top 40 when I was 18 (1984). Mainstream has ALWAYS been crap.

Lionel Richie...multiple times. Enough said.


SAY, SAY, SAY, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
FOOTLOOSE, Kenny Loggins
AGAINST ALL ODDS, Phil Collins
HELLO, Lionel Richie
OWNER OF A LONELY HEART, Yes
GHOSTBUSTERS, Ray Parker Jr.
ALL NIGHT LONG (All Night), Lionel
Richie
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY, Denise Williams
I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU, Stevie Wonder
SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME, Rockwell
BREAK MY STRIDE, Matthew Wilder
OH SHERRY, Steve Perry
STUCK ON YOU, Lionel Richie
SISTER CHRISTIAN, Night Ranger

oh how I loved my childhood.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

very few people honestly deserve to die for putting out bad music, and i usually say "so and so needs to die" and not really mean it. although in her case...i'm not so sure i'm kidding.

oh and Dave C

I had Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, New Kids on The Block, Vanilla Ice as part of my late middle school and early high school years. Thankfully I was smart enough to not like them. Depeche Mode and U2 were at the top of my lists.