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Post by kds on May 31, 2019 17:11:49 GMT
I can't honestly weigh in on that. I think it's possible that you're right, and I think it's certain that your opinion feels right.
But I also do think it's possible that a combination of the below might argue against:
- major labels funding bands to develop them, to serve as quality control (at least according to their assessment of quality, meaning commercial viability), and giving them broad exposure through mass distribution.
- the natural bias of not having access to or memory of the unremarkable and bad music.
It's possible that the percentages of quality music aren't that different, but when a lot of it is (theoretically) being self-released without any promotion or distribution, it's just hard to tell.
And of course our own preferences factor in as well. It stands to reason that a fan of a certain kind of music--classic rock, metal, countrypolitan, psychedelic, or whatever--is likely to think music is getting worse as the trends go away from that type of music.
Anyway, like I said, I don't know if I could say. I do agree that there was certainly more music that bigger groups of people liked, those bands and albums that it seemed had virtually universal appeal. That seems to be gone. I'm not sure if that's a quality issue or a segmentation and marketing issue, though.
We'll have to agree to disagree. And I also want to add "Get off my lawn."
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Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2019 17:12:59 GMT
We might not disagree, even. I just don't feel like I can form a valid opinion. I agree with you in terms of my personal experience, at least. There aren't as many albums I like as there used to be.
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Post by kds on May 31, 2019 17:19:50 GMT
We might not disagree, even. I just don't feel like I can form a valid opinion. I agree with you in terms of my personal experience, at least. There aren't as many albums I like as there used to be. That's fair, but I have no problem saying that, for the most part, music as a whole has been on the downswing for over two decades.
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Post by kds on May 31, 2019 17:34:18 GMT
Getting back to the BB thing. I did sort of convert my wife to The Beach Boys. Although she's not as into the Reiley era as I am.
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Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2019 17:35:38 GMT
On some level I agree, but I also keep running into complications in my get-off-my-lawnism. (On music, anyway: all other topics, I'm a very grumpy old man!) For example, I actually hated most of the '90s in the moment, with the exception of the first few years. I felt at that time like Seattle and the popular R'n'B just ruined everything that was good. But then in the early to mid '00s I actually found a TON of new music I liked, mostly in the then-current indie rock scenes ... which have since dried up in my opinion, too. So if there is an overall down-swing, there were little upticks in there as well.
Then again, if you were going to give me only one decade of music, I'd probably say 1966-76 or thereabouts, so it's not like I can mount TOO strong an argument for contemporary stuff...
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Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2019 17:37:22 GMT
Getting back to the BB thing. I did sort of convert my wife to The Beach Boys. Although she's not as into the Reiley era as I am. I haven't had great luck with romantic partners--I've had a few who were good enough to accompany me to shows, but nobody ever really became a fan--but I actually got my mom to become much more interested in them than she was before, which is kind of funny considering our ages. A bit of role-reversal. But as someone who has had some issues with depression over the years, the BW story resonated strongly with her.
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Post by kds on May 31, 2019 17:56:19 GMT
Getting back to the BB thing. I did sort of convert my wife to The Beach Boys. Although she's not as into the Reiley era as I am. I haven't had great luck with romantic partners--I've had a few who were good enough to accompany me to shows, but nobody ever really became a fan--but I actually got my mom to become much more interested in them than she was before, which is kind of funny considering our ages. A bit of role-reversal. But as someone who has had some issues with depression over the years, the BW story resonated strongly with her. My parents both grew up BB fans, but I think they basically stick to the hits. Although, I burned a copy of Brian's Christmas album for my father and he loves it. He went and bought a copy for himself.
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Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2019 18:02:44 GMT
Oh, one other cool one, I guess. I'd made a collection of late 60s/early 70s songs for my (mostly metal-loving, actually) brother probably 10-15 years ago. And of course on various car trips, I have always been prone to putting something in.
Well imagine my surprise when he brought up, unsolicited, "Long Promised Road" recently! I was delighted. For all I knew, he'd tossed that burned CD into the trash or left it in his glove compartment years ago...
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