Why is today's music such garbage?
As a trained classical musician with a big love of jazz and rock I believe there are several reasons for this very sad phenomenon. There are a number of exceptions to this but most pop performers up through the 60s were well trained musicians – Frank Sinatra supposedly studied and copied two people – Tommy Dorsey and the violinist Jascha Heifetz for instance. The Beatles were disciples of all kinds of music from classical to Indian and were serious about learning and performing it at a high level.Another thing that has changed, is that through the mid 70s the recording industry was wide open to very creative talent. There is no way a guy like Frank Zappa could ever get a recording contract now. Or Yes or Genesis or probably not even the Kinks. Those open minded days of rewarding and developing creativity, for all intent and purposes, ended in 1976 with the advent of disco. And then a few years later in the early 80s, MTV and music videos drove the final stake home. From that point on pretty much all that is allowed to get produced at a high level (excepting performers that were already established like Bowie and Gabriel etc) is dance music - and the performer must look great on camera. (Think Madonna) End of story.The third reason is that in the good old days (ha!) many people, myself included, just listened to music without doing anything else. Could you imagine? That art form is now largely extinct but there were many times that we would listen to a new LP by whoever and not utter a single word until it had played all the way through. Both sides. No texting, no phoning, no multi-tasking of any kind. No anything except our undivided attention. People can’t even do that in a live concert situation anymore!So now, mostly what we've got are a bunch of beautiful people, dancing more than singing, and being so overproduced that the actual performer doesn't really exist on the recording. All vocals are sifted through and re-synced and re-pitched. Could you imagine doing that for Ella Fitzgerald or Aretha Franklin or Marvin Gaye? No you can’t! And neither could they. Of course there are some special talents out there like Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga but sadly they are (mostly) forced to sing bad dance music.BTW, I have nothing against dance music, it's just my belief that it's not made for listening, only dancing, and we'd all be better off... if it stayed that way.
Why do people like pop music?
People like pop music because it's catchy, upbeat and always easy to dance too. Well, those are reasons why I like pop music. I love rock too, but I never dance to it..unless it's in a mosh pit than I guess I'm dancing in one way or another :p ...do you really think that about all pop music?
What kind of music do 'mature' people listen to?!?
Mature people listen to what they like and don't care what other people think of them. I listen to techno, metal, rock, pop, country, classical, whatever I'm in the mood for. I don't care if it's sophisticated or even intelligent; there are times when I feel like listening to some repetitive techno just for ambience even if it's just the same 15-second sample repeated for ten minutes. Listen to what you like; don't force yourself to listen to stuff just because other people tell you that it sucks.
How did people listen to music and watch movies etc. before the invention of the internet?
I was born in ‘61.As a teen I listened to radio stations like I do Spotify and Apple music and radio stations today.There were two kinds of primarily music playing radio stations back then for people like me:“Top 40” that played the top most popular songs on the charts in heavy rotation.“AOR” (album oriented rock) that played both the current hits of a wide variety of artists and selected cuts from their album releases.I usually ignored “Top 40” stations.Almost all “serious” AOR radio stations had late night or weekly shows where they highlighted new artists, really really rare songs from various artists, or bootleg (illicit) recordings of artists at concert performances and such. You could really hear a good variety of up and coming music that way.Then I would take that knowledge, go to a record store and check out the releases by the artists I had heard of. Music was about the same price as it is now on iTunes adjusted for inflation (or it seemed like it) so I would try to by a new album every week.It’s then take it home and play the crap out of it like I do now on my ipod.After I had a good idea of my favorite tracks, I’d make a 90 minute mix tape on “cassette” (see below) and had a huge collection of them that I’d carry around in my care in a case (see below) to play in my car stereo.For walkaround portability, until I was maybe 23 I only had a radio with headphones until the I bought a Walkman, which was a pretty portable cassette tape player, like a giant ipod (see below).Now I have 8000 + songs on my big 160 gig ipod in my car, and several 16 gig ipod shuffles that I choose from depending on my mood when I’m going to the gym or for a run or whatever.
When and why did music get so disgusting?
Don't get me wrong, I'll get pegged and do watersports while acting like a dog in public; this is not an anti-sex rant. But why is every song on the radio all about, I paraphrase, "stick that in my *** while I suck that ****** cock like a hog tied ****** *****." etc. I don't need to hear it all damn day. P.S., if I do change the station or turn it off (at work) the other guys just put it back on.