mr. goth glam

It's been like that for a long, long time, really.

It just kind of seems worse because we have the Internet.

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SATCHMO

I think it all depends on what sort of attitude you take with it. If you tell yourself "it's all too much" it will be. If you say to yourself "what a beautiful age we live in. There has never been as much diversity in the world of music as there is now. I'm going to check out something new today" the music world will be your own personal candy shop. I know it is for me.

coryallen2

this is by far the dumbest thing i've ever heard...there isnt ENOUGHE music out there

4ZZZ

Taking this quote in isolation you give me the impression that you think that "mass market crap" having an "influence" is some new phenomenon. Sorry readers but this type of reaction by the musical elite to what they feel that the masses should listen to is nothing new.

The history of music is littered with those that think that the masses have no idea. Elitism towards the popular was around when Strauss was a boy. And that can be what ever Strauss you want it to be.. When I was a young bloke T Rex where trashed by Led Zap Fans. I heard statements like Slade could not play their instruments. "They are only in it for the money" was, and may still be for all I know, a common mantra against the Top Of the Pops artistes. That one has particularly made me laugh over the years. "They are only in it for the money". There have certainly been some artists in this world who were not interested in making money for their art but the reality is that the vast majority of artists that can make a living out of it would rather do that than have a job on a production line making tin cans for a living for not much an hour. As to top line artists who are popular with the musical elites it never ceases to amaze me that they are defended because of their art with out the defenders getting stuck into them for releasing countless "best of" etc style albums. Want an example? all music list 28 Led Zeppelin compilations to 9 official studio releases. So saying that radio stations "shoved down the throats of most young people" is not much different to me than the fact that record companies such as Zeps can con the dosh out of the pocket of the "elites" that are Zep fans.


I find debates like this a waste of time. Just listen and enjoy. Who cares how much they sell or how much radio time they get. You either like it or you don't. That is what aesthetic values are all about.

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PinkCigarette

I like the fact that so much music exists. I love music and I still find out about bands that have been around for a while that I never knew existed and it's far better than the music that's out there now (most of it, anyways).

It' better to have a lot of variety than to have to listen to the same crap all the time. There's a lot of talent out there that is still in need of discovering but it's a bit harder to find them because of all this mainstream music that doesn't give those bands a chance. That's why I like to come to music forums. It helps me find new music.

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mr dave

10 years ago it was because of bubblegum pop like the backstreet boys and spice girls as to why artistes couldn't make a living. 10 years before that it was grunge. 10 years before that it was new wave. before that was disco, and hard rock, and psychedelia, and rock and roll, etc. etc.

the one thing that bugs me most about this is the idea that so many musicians hold onto that they're somehow 'supposed' to be able to make a living out of strumming a couple of chords and regurgitating high school poetry because they're not doing it for 'superficial' reasons, it's art. as if self-declared 'art' is somehow superior to the tripe on the radio and should be celebrated for altruistic reasons (and not at all egotistical ones).

the masses have every right to suck and have 'bad' taste, for them music is a common background soundtrack to their lives. if you really think there's too much music out there then i strongly suggest taking the time necessary to grow the guts to stand behind your own tastes regardless of what your peers or the mainstream think. i've noticed that online forums have created what seeems to be a new generation of kids who think they 'need' to like everything in order to be 'proper' music fans and that's just wrong.

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i am the universe

Dieselboy

That last part actually made me stop for a second, and honestly think about whether or not I was trying too hard to enjoy as many styles as possible in order to be a 'proper fan' like you say.
I looked through my cd's and picked out quite a few at random of all different sorts of genre's, and thought about each one in particular. Metal, Techno, Classical, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Industrial...I really thought about it and I decided that I honestly enjoy every single one that I looked at. This actually ended up making me pretty happy. /shrug

@ the OP:

I feel the same way about the amount of music being overwhelming sometimes...not necessarily a bad thing though. Nothing is more fun than discovering a new band that you really enjoy. The problem is that then sometimes the site recommends you 'similar sounding bands' which you wanna check out...then you find that some of the band members were in other bands that get rave reviews, which leads you to a new sub-genre, etc, etc. Kinda never ends

Freebase Dali

There's never "too much music" unless you don't know what you want.
Figure yourself out.

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333

You know, I felt this way awhile back, before I was on any music forum. From time to time, I weave out an album because my taste in music, like everything about me, changes. I can see the pressured efforts to become a "well-rounded" person and not wanting to be judged. Nothing a couple of vague sentences can't distract, right? So you say, "I listen to everything" in hopes that you won't have to elaborate. Though I try not put myself in this position, I'm sporadically awed and challenged by new music.

edit: Thank you for that by the way. I needed a reminder.

barbarella

Too Much Music? But How Could I Live Without It? I Don't Want To Live In A Silent World.

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Below Zero.