80's bands vs today

[Ferdie]

i dont know why i post this but i have something to let out...why is that bands today cant make a good guitar sounding like 80's bands?...

[phillyidol]

It's all about the money. People used to love their music so they would scrape together a few bucks and press an lp. Now it's all about mega bucks. even if you could afford to make a cd you would never get the airtime or advertising. It stinks because now groups put out a sound that the record company says to. Sound for the masses to buy. The like of britany. [V]

[devildog]

Yes, the absolute greed of the music industry has stifled any imagination in their quest for the next "Diva" or fake/poseur artist like Justin Timberlake. That said, most of the populace just accepts the garbage that is foisted on them year after year. Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner must be dancing in their graves at the way the populace has been conditioned toward music these days!!!!

Like somebody stated on a different thread, there is good music out there, but you really have to dig for it these days.

[pikeprof]

It also has to do with music industry economics-consolidation of radio stations has done away (largely) with adventuresome radio stations-really and for true-KROQ is one of the last of this breed-it's also one of the reasons why indie labels find it harder to get on playlists-the new wave was full of bands that started on indies and were able to get attention and get more circulation when majors were willing to pick up a band that got some airplay and regional sales-and could market a band nationally or internationally (oneof the great myths of the music industry is the "sell out" of bands to larger labels-often indies are more than willing to let acts go-because they can't afford to ship nationally or internationally). I also really hat to say this, but college radio has become really careerist and chart happy and won't play a lot of indie bands-because they aren't featured in CMJ.

Also, as Little Steven has said, there isn't a venue infrustructure anymore-although that may be changing as the rock-fest craze-started by Lollapalooza-seems to be continuing.

So really, a lot of economic forces have contributed to the scene being so different.

[WoodlandParkPunk]

Todays music is CRAP! All these "made for MTV bands" looking to cash in on 10 - 15 year olds makes me sick. There is absolutlely NO originality, the so called "punk" bands have NO attitude or charisma. Pop music sounds like cookie cutter, paint by the numbers garbage.

Music as far as I am concerned died in 1989!!!

Long live the "Wave"!!!!

[EchoBeachBunnyBoy]

[quote]Originally posted by WoodlandParkPunk
[br]Long live the "Wave"!!!![/quote]

I second that emotion.[;)]

[ExRat]

Aw, come on. It really isn't as bad as all that. We're just getting older. Come on, we had all of those irritating industry-created teen bands as well. Yeah, they suck, but we weren't without their sucky presence in our day either.

There are still good new bands popping up. They're just harder to find.

[pikeprof]

I DO think exrat is on to something-I remember PLENTY of dreck in the 80s-and I like plenty of new stuff.

However, I still think my posts about the economics of the industry is still valid-I really don't know if a station like KROQ, in the second largest media market, could start up today. Every start up FM in central wisconsin from the 80s was gobbled up by a larger media company-I don't even know an MTV could get going today with its adventurous playlist from the early days-(of course a lot of that was driven by them needing SOMETHING to fill 24 hours a day). I DID read in Rolling Stone recently about a free-form commercial rock station.

But, even college radio has become a bit more homogenized these days.

There are some chinks being opened up with Internet radio, syndication and satellite-I just remember feeling like I was on some sort of mission when I did college radio -ah youth!!

[Grayson]

There are exceptions, take great "new" bands like Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Walkmen and others. There will always be good music out there to be discovered. This also goes to my argument of why the music this board caters to from the 60's to now and on should be labeled with the broader term of "Alternative" because the really good music out there usually is the alternative to the mass produced crap that the average mindless consumer gobbles up with abandon.

[Otters Walk Among Us]

honestly, and i guess i have to call woodlandparkpunk out on ths one, anyone that dismisses all of today's music as crap simply isn't paying attention.

the best starting point i can recommend is to pick up a copy of The Big Takeover and start reading. Comes out 2x a year or so, $5.50 a copy, and worth every penny.

[devildog]

Or go to Not Lame.com, Twee-Kitten.com, CD Baby, or A Different Drum. Plenty of great bands featured at those sites. "SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND!!!"

[driverx]

www.pitchforkmedia.com is another great place to find out about great music...

[randy]

or was it that vs this?[?]

[waldnorm]

But I thought a more recent thread said there were no guitars in new wave. I'm confused. [:p]

[deethelurker]

No, no, no, for heaven's sake, don't go to the Pitchfork website. Please, by all means, don't. As an indie-loving chick, I implore you to focus instead on The Big Takeover (great call), Magnet, and the All Music Guide for good new music recommendations. And I've found some great new music reviews on Uncut magazine, BION. Uncut is actually my favorite music magazine because it covers a nice mixture of retro music and newer music, and it doesn't focus all of its energies on boring '70s AOR like some OTHER retro music mags.