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For me, less-commercial electronic music is still pushing the boundaries and developing (in no small part down to technology), but popular music is less catchy,

For me, less-commercial electronic music is still pushing the boundaries and developing (in no small part down to technology), but popular music is less catchy, less exciting, less sophisticated, less tuneful, less imaginative, more derivative, lacks humour, is more vulgar, covers a far narrower set of themes, and is of a far narrower range in terms of genre than in the past. I still discover popular music from the 70s, 80s and to an extent the 90s that is new to me and that I rate highly. Every now and then I catch TOTP2 and what really stands out to me is the sheer diversity of what was on offer: virtually every genre one can imagine, novelty acts, one hit wonders, cult acts having one big hit, super-groups, the utterly commercial, all races and sexes represented, etc. etc. Contrast that with today. Western culture has gone backwards.

lawlorino 7y ago
There's a large survival bias at play here - only the "good" music from the past decades is going to be relatively available for you to find in the present day. > Western culture has gone backwards. Oh come on...
- WarOnPrivacy 7y ago
  Assuming you're not being sarcastic, this is easily disproved thru listening to skilled, non-hit musicians. Popularity isn't tied to "good" so much as it is "catchy". Hooks are easy to package and sell, skill - not so much.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    Assuming you're not being sarcastic, there has always been a deep catalog of unpopular musicians with catchy hooks. The reason they never became popular is because they weren't that good compared to their more popular compatriots. You and the OP are conflating marketing driven Top 100 pop songs that no one will remember next year with the good pop songs that will stay catchy for decades.
- growlist 7y ago
  I mentioned TOTP2, which is a showcase of everything, not only the good. And you haven't refuted my claim that pop used to be more diverse. > Oh come on... So take Hollywood then: hardly thriving with originality these days, is it? All we seem to get is more and more of the same boring overly scripted kung fu style fight scenes, amongst other tired clichés. I am so utterly bored of violence but American film making seems to be addicted to it. The cupboard of (permitted) ideas is bare.

lawlorino 7y ago

There's a large survival bias at play here - only the "good" music from the past decades is going to be relatively available for you to find in the present day. > Western culture has gone backwards. Oh come on...

WarOnPrivacy 7y ago
Assuming you're not being sarcastic, this is easily disproved thru listening to skilled, non-hit musicians. Popularity isn't tied to "good" so much as it is "catchy". Hooks are easy to package and sell, skill - not so much.
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Assuming you're not being sarcastic, there has always been a deep catalog of unpopular musicians with catchy hooks. The reason they never became popular is because they weren't that good compared to their more popular compatriots. You and the OP are conflating marketing driven Top 100 pop songs that no one will remember next year with the good pop songs that will stay catchy for decades.
growlist 7y ago
I mentioned TOTP2, which is a showcase of everything, not only the good. And you haven't refuted my claim that pop used to be more diverse. > Oh come on... So take Hollywood then: hardly thriving with originality these days, is it? All we seem to get is more and more of the same boring overly scripted kung fu style fight scenes, amongst other tired clichés. I am so utterly bored of violence but American film making seems to be addicted to it. The cupboard of (permitted) ideas is bare.