The Official "Music Was So Much Better in the Glorious Days of Yore" Thread

[Anteater]

To be honest, I actually agree that R&B was better in the 70's and 80's compared to what people normally think of as R&B today. "Elevator music" or not, atleast guys like Alexander O'Neal, some of Luther Vandross, early Bobby Brown, and El DeBarge (to name a few) knew a thing or two about atmosphere. And best of all, these guys all sold well enough to make careers out of crafting and propagating that kind of sound.

Anyone who does a bit of jumping around up and down the timeline can tell that somewhere between 1989 and 1999, something was lost in the whole R&B kaboodle. Maybe it was because cool keyboard textures fell out of style. Maybe it was because much of what characterized New Jack Swing as a movement disappeared in favor of other ideas after 1996. Who knows really: the point is that a great approach to music fell out of favor when popular culture become supersaturated by more digestible, straightforward material in the same vein.

The funniest thing these days, however, is that you are far more likely to find decent R&B sounding stuff from acid-jazz/nu-jazz ensembles and underground acts than anything particularly visible on the market right now.

In light of that, I'll just pump up the volume on some Incognito and periodically tell myself that the late 80's and early 90's never really went away.

[TheBig3]

Luther Vandross...blech. How ****ing could you?

[Anteater]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

Luther Vandross...blech. How ****ing could you?

Ah shaddup. He had a great debut and from that point on would release mostly meh material that would be broken every so often by an album that actually seemed inspired, like Power Of Love in 1991.

[Blarobbarg]

Originally Posted by RezZ

Actually yes here one of the oldest Power metal bands.

...Huh. So I was right. Weird.

[Terrible Lizard]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

Luther Vandross...blech. How ****ing could you?

**** on your face.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by Anteater

Anyone who does a bit of jumping around up and down the timeline can tell that somewhere between 1989 and 1999, something was lost in the whole R&B kaboodle. Maybe it was because cool keyboard textures fell out of style.

Ew. No. 80s and 90s R&B was terrible, and horribly cheesy keyboards were a huge factor in making it that way.

[Anteater]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Ew. No. 80s and 90s R&B was terrible, and horribly cheesy keyboards were a huge factor in making it that way.

One man's cheese is another man's cheesecake, comrade, and part of growing musically for me was learning to distinguish the good pap from the meh.

It's okay if you don't agree though. I would have said the same thing a year ago.

[djchameleon]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I didn't say they sounded the same, I said they were equally awful. And looking at that list definitely confirms that view.

Idk, I'm able to accept them for what it was even though it wasn't on the same caliber as as the music pre-70s.

that's your opinion and it's fine but I'm able to find the gems regardless of how subpar the music was compared to the 70s and before.

I think that comes with the whole territory of being a music elitist. The point where you only listen to the creme de la creme. I'm able to look past perfection and go for something that may be deemed subpar. Overall I may listen to a load of what could be viewed as "crap" but I don't really care what others think of it. I listen to some of the best of the best but I can also step outside of that perfection and listen to some things that are pretty low on the totem pole.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by djchameleon

Idk, I'm able to accept them for what it was even though it wasn't on the same caliber as as the music pre-70s.

that's your opinion and it's fine but I'm able to find the gems regardless of how subpar the music was compared to the 70s and before.

I think that comes with the whole territory of being a music elitist. The point where you only listen to the creme de la creme. I'm able to look past perfection and go for something that may be deemed subpar. Overall I may listen to a load of what could be viewed as "crap" but I don't really care what others think of it. I listen to some of the best of the best but I can also step outside of that perfection and listen to some things that are pretty low on the totem pole.

Give me a break. I'm not an elitist, I don't demand perfection, I listen to plenty stuff that's not the "creme de la creme", it's just that R&B from the time period in question bores me to tears and always has. The gems in that particular mine are so few and far between it hardly seems worth it to heft the old pickaxe.

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

Music has always been equally fantastic. The way it's advertised/exposed to the youth has been immensely degraded. Due to the fact music is largely sold as commodity first, artistic expression second. Live costs have gone through the roof as everything does, and live music is really hurting. I don't think it's very profitable to tour at all for most bands. A lot of really good bands tank fairly quickly due to these expenses, and since bands themselves don't get as big as they used to, then that's a major issue.

However, the major plus side is that most good bands are not playing in Arenas but bars rather so you rarely pay more than 20$ to see one.

I'd say music itself especially in the underground is fantastic at the moment, though. Just not exposed.