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"The pop culture is five chord pop that all sounds the same and endless remakes of the same film" Hahaha. I remember lamenting about the same thing back in the

by mythrwy 10y ago

"The pop culture is five chord pop that all sounds the same and endless remakes of the same film" Hahaha. I remember lamenting about the same thing back in the early 90's. Most of everything is always dull and vapid and so are most people who at best are imitators. When you are there anyway. Looking back it always seems the past was so groundbreaking and exciting. In my late teens/early 20's I wished I could have lived through the 60's (this was in the late 80's- early 90's). Because that was such a truly great and groundbreaking time according to the books. Now I realize it was probably a general stifled societies with a bunch of copycat posers growing their hair out and saying silly things they thought were cool and taking LSD. I laugh my ass off whenever I see 90's idolizing millennials. Old man rant aside, there has been a pretty big cultural movement in the last 6 or 8 years. I guess a big part of it is the internet. In a way I'm glad I'm not 23 again, what a confusing age, but in some ways I'm a bit jealous. Ah well, I got the 90's. There were some cool times.

Mediterraneo10 10y ago
In the early 1990s, mainstream pop music was arguably a broader scene than it is now, inasmuch as hip-hop and R&B were both undergoing considerable evolution and present in several distinct forms in the charts, rock was still a strong force, and country music was briefly expanding to new markets. Compare that to today when rock is dead and hip-hop and R&B have increasingly merged into a single electronica style. That said, beneath the surface of that pop mainstream is an incredible diversity of music available to any listener who cares to seek it out, and we are living in a music golden age even if we might be living in a pop culture depression.
- mythrwy 10y ago
  I don't even know what pop music/culture is anymore. Justin Beiber I guess? We'll we've always had crappy commercial imitations with little artistic value. The 80's were full of it so I listed to "real" music from the 70's (not realizing the 70's were likely full of the same thing but only the quality stuck around). This ignorance of current culture might because I'm older and don't have a TV. Or it might be that the internet has allowed me to isolate myself in my own little bubble of excellence. And there is some great music around now. The quantity of good stuff is mind boggling. You had like 10-15 choices when I was young. And the mechanisms for discovery. It truly is a dream time for people who love art and music.
cJ0th 10y ago
> Looking back it always seems the past was so groundbreaking and exciting. In my late teens/early 20's I wished I could have lived through the 60's (this was in the late 80's- early 90's). Because that was such a truly great and groundbreaking time according to the books. Now I realize it was probably a general stifled societies with a bunch of copycat posers growing their hair out and saying silly things they thought were cool and taking LSD. I laugh my ass off whenever I see 90's idolizing millennials. I could imagine that what you say (re: clueless copycats) holds true for the vast majority of those alive in a given decade. Yet I think some eras (they don't necessarily coincide with decades) were "10xer" when it comes to cultural enrichment. I'd subjectively describe the 60's/early 70's and the 90's/early 00's as "groundbreaking". The era we're in right now feels more like the 80's: somewhat numb and dystopic. However, when I reflect on past decades I tend to use music as a proxy to evaluate them. This might be misleading since the primary medium through which people express themselves changes over time. The oh so great 90's, for instance, weren't groundbreaking when it comes to poetry. Similarly, today isn't groundbreaking when it comes to music. Music right now is probably more (incrementally) innovative than ever but we haven't witnessed a "big bang" like Techno or Hip Hop for quite some time. So I think you're right to point out the development of the Internet of the last 6-8 years. That's where it's at today. (Even though some good features of the late 90's web have died)
- api 10y ago
  There's been a lot of cool technical innovation on the net in the last 8 years, but culturally it seems a lot worse. It's been taken over by memes, short attention span social media, next generation forms of spam, and click bait. I remember when people spent serious time on blog posts and sites. I see a lot less of that today.
coldtea 10y ago
>Most of everything is always dull and vapid and so are most people who at best are imitators. When you are there anyway. Looking back it always seems the past was so groundbreaking and exciting. There are also long periods of valleys and short periods of peaks. The "explanation" that all periods are the same, and it's just people bitching about periods after they were young doesn't hold water when one checks any timeline of important art moments and sees concentrated achievements and periods of tedium.
- mythrwy 10y ago
  While I agree about peaks and valleys that wasn't an "explanation" (much less so that which you constructed from straw). More of a personal tale of observation and amusement. But since you bring it up, ya, young people bitching. That's what they do. In fact, it's what people in general do. That never seems to go out of fashion.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    >But since you bring it up, ya, young people bitching. That's what they do. In fact, it's what people in general do. That never seems to go out of fashion. Seeing that that is a constant, it doesn't have much explanatory power over particular periods of increased or decreased bitching.
    - mythrwy 10y ago
      hahah, ok. You make a fair point. I do agree some times are different than others.

by mythrwy 10y ago

Mediterraneo10 10y ago

In the early 1990s, mainstream pop music was arguably a broader scene than it is now, inasmuch as hip-hop and R&B were both undergoing considerable evolution and present in several distinct forms in the charts, rock was still a strong force, and country music was briefly expanding to new markets. Compare that to today when rock is dead and hip-hop and R&B have increasingly merged into a single electronica style. That said, beneath the surface of that pop mainstream is an incredible diversity of music available to any listener who cares to seek it out, and we are living in a music golden age even if we might be living in a pop culture depression.

mythrwy 10y ago
I don't even know what pop music/culture is anymore. Justin Beiber I guess? We'll we've always had crappy commercial imitations with little artistic value. The 80's were full of it so I listed to "real" music from the 70's (not realizing the 70's were likely full of the same thing but only the quality stuck around). This ignorance of current culture might because I'm older and don't have a TV. Or it might be that the internet has allowed me to isolate myself in my own little bubble of excellence. And there is some great music around now. The quantity of good stuff is mind boggling. You had like 10-15 choices when I was young. And the mechanisms for discovery. It truly is a dream time for people who love art and music.

cJ0th 10y ago

> Looking back it always seems the past was so groundbreaking and exciting. In my late teens/early 20's I wished I could have lived through the 60's (this was in the late 80's- early 90's). Because that was such a truly great and groundbreaking time according to the books. Now I realize it was probably a general stifled societies with a bunch of copycat posers growing their hair out and saying silly things they thought were cool and taking LSD. I laugh my ass off whenever I see 90's idolizing millennials. I could imagine that what you say (re: clueless copycats) holds true for the vast majority of those alive in a given decade. Yet I think some eras (they don't necessarily coincide with decades) were "10xer" when it comes to cultural enrichment. I'd subjectively describe the 60's/early 70's and the 90's/early 00's as "groundbreaking". The era we're in right now feels more like the 80's: somewhat numb and dystopic. However, when I reflect on past decades I tend to use music as a proxy to evaluate them. This might be misleading since the primary medium through which people express themselves changes over time. The oh so great 90's, for instance, weren't groundbreaking when it comes to poetry. Similarly, today isn't groundbreaking when it comes to music. Music right now is probably more (incrementally) innovative than ever but we haven't witnessed a "big bang" like Techno or Hip Hop for quite some time. So I think you're right to point out the development of the Internet of the last 6-8 years. That's where it's at today. (Even though some good features of the late 90's web have died)

api 10y ago
There's been a lot of cool technical innovation on the net in the last 8 years, but culturally it seems a lot worse. It's been taken over by memes, short attention span social media, next generation forms of spam, and click bait. I remember when people spent serious time on blog posts and sites. I see a lot less of that today.

coldtea 10y ago

>Most of everything is always dull and vapid and so are most people who at best are imitators. When you are there anyway. Looking back it always seems the past was so groundbreaking and exciting. There are also long periods of valleys and short periods of peaks. The "explanation" that all periods are the same, and it's just people bitching about periods after they were young doesn't hold water when one checks any timeline of important art moments and sees concentrated achievements and periods of tedium.

mythrwy 10y ago
While I agree about peaks and valleys that wasn't an "explanation" (much less so that which you constructed from straw). More of a personal tale of observation and amusement. But since you bring it up, ya, young people bitching. That's what they do. In fact, it's what people in general do. That never seems to go out of fashion.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >But since you bring it up, ya, young people bitching. That's what they do. In fact, it's what people in general do. That never seems to go out of fashion. Seeing that that is a constant, it doesn't have much explanatory power over particular periods of increased or decreased bitching.
  - mythrwy 10y ago
    hahah, ok. You make a fair point. I do agree some times are different than others.