I'm in almost the same boat. (I can name some Linkin Park songs, but I'm not thrilled about it.) I have of course listened to plenty of new music in the past 20 years, but at this point I rarely pay attention to anything other than new releases from bands I already enjoy (and limited attention at that). Today I primarily listen to Pandora, which I naturally have tuned to my own tastes.
While it's surely attributable to me getting older, my experience remains valid, and in my experience the overwhelming majority of new music is shit. I'm not completely unaware of Bruno Mars' existence and poised to be blown away when I sit down and listen to his stuff, because I've heard it, and it's terrible. The same goes for quite a few (but by no means all) of the acts mentioned in the article.
>Ehh if you look back a lot of the music from any decade is crap.
Not necessarily true. Some decades stand out while others do not. Like the 60s for example vs the 90s. People in the 70s and 80s still cherished 60s icons, but few in the 00s and 10s care for 90s music (there's more interest in 80s music).
Hmm, interesting—from my perspective, i have similarly strong intuition for love of decades, but mapped differently. For instance i know virtually nobody into 80s music, but 90s r&b and hip-hop are reliable favorites.
My point being: give me a good band, and i can list three at the same time that people don't bring up anymore because they suck. I firmly believe this is nostalgic bias at work, although i dislike taylor swift and justin beiber as much as the next person. Or likely much more. I don't believe it means anything about the decade, just what labels decided people want to hear.
Or to put it another way, my beloved music from the past wasn't even "mainstream popular" then.
>For instance i know virtually nobody into 80s music, but 90s r&b and hip-hop are reliable favorites.
If you've grown in the 90s then that is probably skewed (from nostalgia etc), but I'm not talking about that (observations between personal friends etc of the same generation).
I'm talking about later generations insisting/obsessing on some previous decades (that they weren't even alive or old enough to experience). So statistically speaking (based on releases that "recreate" that sound, shows, movies and books about the era, re-releases, fashion, etc).
> I have of course listened to plenty of new music in the past 20 years, but at this point I rarely pay attention to anything other than new releases from bands I already enjoy
What??? There is tons of interesting rock music coming out these days. 2017 has been a great (I would say possibly the best since maybe 2009) year for everything from indie pop to metal...
While it's surely attributable to me getting older, my experience remains valid, and in my experience the overwhelming majority of new music is shit. I'm not completely unaware of Bruno Mars' existence and poised to be blown away when I sit down and listen to his stuff, because I've heard it, and it's terrible. The same goes for quite a few (but by no means all) of the acts mentioned in the article.