NationStates

The vast majority of all music in any decade is either generic and uninspiring or straight up trash.

Also when you're referring to "2018, 70% is crap and 30% is meh", I hope you just mean the radio play stuff, because if you mean everything, you're just not even trying to find anything good. We're in one of the best musical periods in existence if you bother looking.

Corrian wrote:The vast majority of all music in any decade is either generic and uninspiring or straight up trash.

Also when you're referring to "2018, 70% is crap and 30% is meh", I hope you just mean the radio play stuff, because if you mean everything, you're just not even trying to find anything good. We're in one of the best musical periods in existence if you bother looking.

My response to comments like this is always as follows:

Could you cite an example?

Ghost Land wrote:

Corrian wrote:The vast majority of all music in any decade is either generic and uninspiring or straight up trash.

Also when you're referring to "2018, 70% is crap and 30% is meh", I hope you just mean the radio play stuff, because if you mean everything, you're just not even trying to find anything good. We're in one of the best musical periods in existence if you bother looking.

My response to comments like this is always as follows:

Could you cite an example?

What type of music do you like?

Ghost Land wrote:In 2018, 70% of music is crap and 30% is "meh" at best.

Either you're not digging deep enough or you have some sort of mental block against 2018.

Like Corrian said, if you mean radio stuff, I completely agree. If you mean everything, then refer to the above sentence. Citing an example is almost next to impossible exactly because we are living in one of the best times in music. There are so goddamn many different styles around. Chances are I'm gonna strongly dislike whatever someone might throw at me but there's an equally high chance that they will hate whatever I might throw at them.

Here, this is my favorite album from this year. Do others in this thread agree? Very likely not.

2018 has many albums that are far better than most from 1988 and vice versa.

Corrian wrote:What type of music do you like?

This! Genre matters far more than the year.

The Internet age makes easy access to every album current and every album ever in the past, so that alone makes us in the best music generation, because there is easy access to everyone doing whatever they want to do. Bands are also experimenting like crazy still nowadays if that matters to you (Again, besides the radio). If you want old 70's and 80's worship bands, there are plenty out there right now too, if that appeals to you.

Just because it as a thing, here is is Spotify putting up a list of the songs I listened to the most this last year on Spotify

Corrian wrote:

Ghost Land wrote:My response to comments like this is always as follows:

Could you cite an example?

What type of music do you like?

New wave (authentic stuff from about 1978-1987, not half-assed revivals) is my favourite genre; I also like a good deal of 80s rock (Sammy Hagar and Tom Petty being two perennial favourites) and even mainstream pop of that time period. I like some 70s classic rock, though not all, and I like quite a bit of 90s rock too (the "radio rock" as it's sometimes pejoratively called, such as Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind; not really a grunge fan), in addition to mid-60s psychedelic pop and some 70s disco. "Real" R&B from the 60s/70s I can listen to happily, though contemporary R&B gives off a sleazy vibe to me. I dislike/hate hip hop with literally only a handful of songs as exceptions, in addition to overly sappy ballads and excessively "dirty" or sexual songs. My favourite album would be Sammy Hagar's VOA (1984), and my favourite artist would be the Cars.

Ghost Land wrote:

Corrian wrote:What type of music do you like?

New wave (authentic stuff from about 1978-1987, not half-assed revivals) is my favourite genre; I also like a good deal of 80s rock (Sammy Hagar and Tom Petty being two perennial favourites) and even mainstream pop of that time period. I like some 70s classic rock, though not all, and I like quite a bit of 90s rock too (the "radio rock" as it's sometimes pejoratively called, such as Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind; not really a grunge fan), in addition to mid-60s psychedelic pop and some 70s disco. "Real" R&B from the 60s/70s I can listen to happily, though contemporary R&B gives off a sleazy vibe to me. I dislike/hate hip hop with literally only a handful of songs as exceptions, in addition to overly sappy ballads and excessively "dirty" or sexual songs. My favourite album would be Sammy Hagar's VOA (1984), and my favourite artist would be the Cars.

Have you ever listened to The Black Keys?

And in psychedelic realms, Tame Impala has an old school psychedelic vibe to them

MGMT has always kind of had a retro 70's psychedelic pop vibe, and there's even a feel of that in their new album. I would also say this one is new wave-esque.

Ariel Pink is a bit of a weirder one but it still kinda works

The War on Drugs and Kurt Vile have an old school feel as well and they're both decently big right now.

If you want straight up 70's worship, there is Greta Van Fleet, but they're so straight up Led Zeppelin worship they actually bother me.

And just for a bit of hip-hop stuff, these two are some of my favorite recent hip-hop songs.

Sorry for the long list, more came to mind as I typed

Corrian wrote:

Ghost Land wrote:New wave (authentic stuff from about 1978-1987, not half-assed revivals) is my favourite genre; I also like a good deal of 80s rock (Sammy Hagar and Tom Petty being two perennial favourites) and even mainstream pop of that time period. I like some 70s classic rock, though not all, and I like quite a bit of 90s rock too (the "radio rock" as it's sometimes pejoratively called, such as Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind; not really a grunge fan), in addition to mid-60s psychedelic pop and some 70s disco. "Real" R&B from the 60s/70s I can listen to happily, though contemporary R&B gives off a sleazy vibe to me. I dislike/hate hip hop with literally only a handful of songs as exceptions, in addition to overly sappy ballads and excessively "dirty" or sexual songs. My favourite album would be Sammy Hagar's VOA (1984), and my favourite artist would be the Cars.

Have you ever listened to The Black Keys?

And in psychedelic realms, Tame Impala has an old school psychedelic vibe to them

MGMT has always kind of had a retro 70's psychedelic pop vibe, and there's even a feel of that in their new album. I would also say this one is new wave-esque.

Ariel Pink is a bit of a weirder one but it still kinda works

The War on Drugs and Kurt Vile have an old school feel as well and they're both decently big right now.

If you want straight up 70's worship, there is Greta Van Fleet, but they're so straight up Led Zeppelin worship they actually bother me.

And just for a bit of hip-hop stuff, these two are some of my favorite recent hip-hop songs.

Sorry for the long list, more came to mind as I typed

Guess you scared them away with all that "rotten 2018 music"

Good recs tho, based on what they said.

Ghost Land wrote:

Cadonica wrote:The only reason is that it was 35 years ago, all the mainstream shit has faded and only the best are remembered

Just look back at 2018 in 2050s and you'll think "Man, the mainstream was great". Living experience right here, I pretty much hated all the popular songs from the turn of the millenium back then. But the other day I listened to Blue Da Ba Dee and thought it wasn't half bad even though I despised it back then.

Time changes people's views on music in two ways: 1) Crap fades away and only the best remain, so the old times look better than they really were and 2) When the songs aren't overplayed to death people might start to enjoy them once again.

Now, I might be totally wrong and mainstream of '18 will still be viewed as shit in the new 50s but if the past is anything to go by then no.

TL;DR old music is good because no one remembers the bad songs.

Okay, don't get me wrong, I know there was a lot of crap back then. "Escape" (1979) by Rupert Holmes is just as bad as anything coming out now, and bands like REO Speedwagon and Chicago stunk up the 80s with sappy ballad after sappy ballad after sappy ballad too. Heck, 1982 is also the year that produced "Sexual Healing" *barfs*.

Here's the thing though: in 1983, 70% of music was crap and 30% ranged from good to downright awesome. In 2018, 70% of music is crap and 30% is "meh" at best. And there are quite a few 70s and 80s songs I could do without hearing for several years due to having them blasted everywhere, including commonly-cited classics such as "Take On Me", "1999", and "September".

>"good songs"
>two are meme songs. One meme song is by a one-hit wonder

Awesome Dudes and Dudettes wrote:

Ghost Land wrote:Okay, don't get me wrong, I know there was a lot of crap back then. "Escape" (1979) by Rupert Holmes is just as bad as anything coming out now, and bands like REO Speedwagon and Chicago stunk up the 80s with sappy ballad after sappy ballad after sappy ballad too. Heck, 1982 is also the year that produced "Sexual Healing" *barfs*.

Here's the thing though: in 1983, 70% of music was crap and 30% ranged from good to downright awesome. In 2018, 70% of music is crap and 30% is "meh" at best. And there are quite a few 70s and 80s songs I could do without hearing for several years due to having them blasted everywhere, including commonly-cited classics such as "Take On Me", "1999", and "September".

>"good songs"
>two are meme songs. One meme song is by a one-hit wonder

"meme songs"?

Also, A-ha, Prince, and Earth, Wind & Fire all had more than one hit.

Ghost Land wrote: "Escape" (1979) by Rupert Holmes is just as bad as anything coming out now,

Partners in Crime is a solid 19/20, "Answering Machine" is nothing but a classic, hit me as hard as you can.

As an aside, favourite Christmas song, guys?

Conoga wrote:

Ghost Land wrote: "Escape" (1979) by Rupert Holmes is just as bad as anything coming out now,

Partners in Crime is a solid 19/20, "Answering Machine" is nothing but a classic, hit me as hard as you can.

As an aside, favourite Christmas song, guys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZfYTBDkso

Bob Rivers - The Twelve Pains of Christmas (1988)

I have the album on CD at my house; I'm planning on digging it out for the season tomorrow.

Edit: 1:07 on 22 Dec 2018 already (GMT). My birthday is over for another year, I guess.

I never thought an hour long blackgaze/post metal album with only seven tracks and completely inaudible vocals could be described as accessible but clearly nothing about Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is normal.

I honestly don't understand a lot of electronic genres. There are quite a lot of them but I haven't listened to them enough to know what the fuck is UK Bass, Wonky, Deconstructed Club, 2-Step, Grime, and so on. Like I honestly don't know what defines any of those as different by ear yet.

Corrian wrote:I honestly don't understand a lot of electronic genres. There are quite a lot of them but I haven't listened to them enough to know what the fuck is UK Bass, Wonky, Deconstructed Club, 2-Step, Grime, and so on. Like I honestly don't know what defines any of those as different by ear yet.

Honestly to me it's all just electronic music, and that isn't a genre I'm particularly interested in or a fan of anyway, hence why I don't listen to much of it.

Ghost Land wrote:

Corrian wrote:I honestly don't understand a lot of electronic genres. There are quite a lot of them but I haven't listened to them enough to know what the fuck is UK Bass, Wonky, Deconstructed Club, 2-Step, Grime, and so on. Like I honestly don't know what defines any of those as different by ear yet.

Honestly to me it's all just electronic music, and that isn't a genre I'm particularly interested in or a fan of anyway, hence why I don't listen to much of it.

I mean plenty of electronic genres have a defining factor to them, there are just a bunch I don't understand yet. Techno, trance, house, synthwave, and so on have a pretty defining sound.

Damn it. I heard on Octane that the original Van Halen lineup was reuniting for a stadium tour. Then I check Google and Michael Anthony says he hasn't talked to them in years. Weak,

This year has given me a couple of ambient albums I've come to thoroughly enjoy. Namely, Hundreds of Days by Mary Lattimore and Codex by Atrium Carceri.

This, in particular, is one of my favorite songs of 2018. Brief but beautiful.

On a less current note, I've been listening to Ravedeath, 1972 by Tim Hecker almost every day. I walked around town as the sun set yesterday while listening to Hatred of Music through my earbuds at full blast, and it was a cliche-hipster-semi-divine moment.

Anyone else have instrumental albums that came out this year they'd like to recommend?

Bodobol wrote:Anyone else have instrumental albums that came out this year they'd like to recommend?

Jon of the Shred's Silence the Opposition was my favorite fully instrumental album.
Carpenter Brut's Leather Teeth, my Album of the Year, is mostly instrumental, only 2 out of 8 songs have vocals.

My finalized album of the year list. I haven't actually listened to as much as I would have liked to this year.

Top 10 Albums of 2018:
1. Strange Fruit by Zeal & Ardor (Basically black metal mixed with spiritual and gospel music, aka basically avant-garde metal)
2. You Won't Get What You Want by Daughters (Noise rock mixed with industrial rock)
3. The Kicking Mule by Street Sects (Basically synth-punk apparently with industrial mix)
4. Àmr by Ihsahn (Progressive metal)
5. Infections of a Different Kind (Step I) by Aurora (Art pop)
6. Little Dark Age by MGMT (Synthpop, psychedelic pop, and neo-psychedelia)
7. Dead Magic by Anna von Hausswolff (Neoclassical darkwave I guess? Though there was a lof of feelings of experimental rock in the realm of Swans)
8. Beastland by Author & Punisher (Industrial)
9. Aviary by Julia Holter (Art Pop)
10. OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES by SOPHIE (Bubblegum Bass/Deconstructed Club or whatever the frick electronic subgenres)

Honorable Mentions:
Year of the Snitch by Death Grips (Their typical style of abstract, experimental, and industrial hip-hop)
Possessor by GosT (Synthwave/house music with black metal influence?)
(Probably some other 7/10's that are deserving on here, but alas)

Corrian wrote:My finalized album of the year list. I haven't actually listened to as much as I would have liked to this year.

Same. Progress in my personal life came at the expense of time for music. I did an especially bad job of branching out and exploring non-rock/metal genres this year. It's the first year-end list I've done that's all rock/metal.

We had the same #1 though! Here's my finished list.

Cosumar wrote:

Corrian wrote:My finalized album of the year list. I haven't actually listened to as much as I would have liked to this year.

Same. Progress in my personal life came at the expense of time for music. I did an especially bad job of branching out and exploring non-rock/metal genres this year. It's the first year-end list I've done that's all rock/metal.

We had the same #1 though! Here's my finished list.

Of course it's never too late to listen to more! I went crazy for all years a while ago.

Cosumar wrote:

Corrian wrote:My finalized album of the year list. I haven't actually listened to as much as I would have liked to this year.

Same. Progress in my personal life came at the expense of time for music. I did an especially bad job of branching out and exploring non-rock/metal genres this year. It's the first year-end list I've done that's all rock/metal.

We had the same #1 though! Here's my finished list.

I can relate, it's been about two years since I've regularly kept up with music releases