It’s mad how Ed Sheeran became a global megastar through making music utterly devoid of excitement, pain, joy, danger, soul, thrills, beauty, anger, or artistic merit
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Music is different things to different folks. I saw Sheeran a few weeks back in Hangzhou...the sound was not great, he was tired, the production was sparse. I'm not a fan but my local Chinese pal had never been to a live concert in his 30+ years on this planet so I bought tickets....
...he loved it as did most of the other 18K folks that night. There will always be music we don't like and thats the joy of it. There are still edgy, crazy wonderful artists out there and thankfully they'll rarely hit the overproduced nonsense thats commercial pop.
Why is that surprising?
I’ve worked in a factory for 35 years and I listen to 6music. No one else does. It’s greatest hits all the way with people bored with their jobs listening to wallpaper. Some people need to hear a song 50 times before thinking they must like it
I once worked in a warehouse where everyone insisted on listening to commercial radio & kept switching it Radio 1 (this was the 90s when R1 made an effort sometimes). I think music has increasingly become background noise now. It exists but nobody really cares or buys it anyway
What surprises me about it most is that music for young people was, for decades, a little bit edgy, angry, energetic. Yet now it’s extremely safe & bland. I don’t quite know how that happened
Maybe we were spoilt. I went to college from 78-82. I mean, we covered everything in those four years.
Electronic music is in a great place now imo. I’m a Kraftwerk fan but it’s a veritable sweet shop now.
I think we were spoilt. I’m 49 so my cultural boom was in the 90s. It’s weird speaking to 20-somethings now because they have no experience of clubbing beyond bars like Revolution…there isn’t even a scene at student union venues anymore. Manchester used to be vibrant with such things
I think there’s some amazing music around now but you really have to go looking. I mean I’m 63 tomorrow so I should be listening to the Carpenters but I’ve got a second wind and going to gigs again
Oh there is indeed still amazing music, and I’m certainly not one for listening to nostalgic stations like Absolute 90s (which I find just as bland). It’s just a shame that the culture - particularly underground clubs & live venues - has been slowly eroded away
Last time I saw Kraftwerk was in 2003. I was only 27 and all the rest of the audience were 40-50 year old men. That disappointed me a bit because Kraftwerk should be relevant to all generations;)
Because it's a world where people are told who/what to like. A world where the rest are made invisible by the media corps.
Real people are being phased out.
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I’ve worked in a factory for 35 years and I listen to 6music. No one else does. It’s greatest hits all the way with people bored with their jobs listening to wallpaper. Some people need to hear a song 50 times before thinking they must like it
Electronic music is in a great place now imo. I’m a Kraftwerk fan but it’s a veritable sweet shop now.
Blimey!
I did manage to go to the Hacienda at least
The Tube, Oxford Roadshow, Something Else, The Word?
He is buying CDs. As are his friends.
He wants that scene.
here's an explanation of the current state of music
Real people are being phased out.