Originally Posted by RJDG14

Being 15, I ask others my age this question and they all say that they prefer music released now. However, I was listening to a compilation of early REM earlier, and found a number of tracks very catchy (including Cuyahoga and Radio Free Europe). The same goes for Husker Du (Games or Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely), Primal Scream (Gentle Tuesday) and U2 (Pride). Then I look at the current mainstream chart, very little seems quite as memorable, and even virtually all rock/alternative feels like there is no interesting melody, not to mention that almost every singer (including those of older groups) now uses pitch correction. Others my age seem to claim the opposite though, saying that they find what I like more forgettable.

Is it that tunes were more memorable in the 1980s and 1990s (meaning that new ideas are harder to create), or that I have a dated taste for what I find catchy? Have all the catchy melodies run out, or simply that I perceive catchy as different to most now? Two examples of tracks with melodies that I dislike and others like are Hold Back the River by James Bay and Photograph by Ed Sheeran.