Posted on 04/08/2009 12:43:27 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
Have you ever wondered if there might be too much music? A couple of weeks ago I attended South By South West music festival in Austin, Texas, where more than 2,000 up-and-coming bands, singer-songwriters and other musical performers played in just four days. Standing on the street at an intersection of venues where at least a dozen bands were playing at the same time, I was immersed in a kind of sonic cloud of formless music, an ambient hum of rock and roll...
...For most of the history of mankind, to hear music you had to either participate in the making of it in a social setting, or perhaps listen to the performance of itinerant musicians. The first major concert halls were built in Europe about 500 years ago. Little over 100 years ago, the phonograph brought music into the living rooms of ordinary people... More than 10 million pieces of music have been recorded and most of it is available (legally or otherwise) on the internet...
Recent research has established some interesting facts about our relationship to music. The average American hears more than 5 hours of music per day, yet a new survey suggests that American teenagers actually consumed and shared 19 per cent less music in 2008 than they did a year ago. CD sales were down (28 per cent) but download sales also fell (13 per cent) and even illegal downloads declined (six per cent). More pertinently, borrowing and swapping music between friends was down 28 per cent. 32 per cent of teens expressed discontent with the music available for purchase, while 23 per cent said they already have a large enough collection of music. Is it possible we are reaching some kind of saturation point?...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Yes, there is too much crappy music. The music industry has been in a tailspin for the past 20 years.
>>If your perspective about music revolves around so-called ‘pop’ music, it would be easy to agree with you.
I am very much talking about the now-lost music form known as rock.
“Indy” is a euphemism for “bad.”
The industry has been in a tailspin since Woodstock.
Corporate Rock of the 1970s sucked too.
You do know, don’t you, that as a strict rule, American commercial television does not allow a second of silence, between programs, commercials, between anything? You notice it when you travel abroad and see television elsewhere. Got to have have noise here, boys!
I’d take the music of the 70s any day over the schlock that is supposed to be music today.
The term rock got co-opted. The same time communists (who’d formerly been staunchly folkies) started to dig electric guitars.
Don’t judge the music of today by what gets played on commercial radio.
The tastemakers are even squarer than Dick Clark and Jann Wener.
There are thousands of contemporary artists who don’t use that autotune processing on their voices. But they would sound out of place on the dial.
Among the sweetest things about living in the country on a side road in your own house on your own land is the wonderful silence you can enjoy.
There is far too much truly awful music, especially on commercial radio stations, which are utterly unlistenable no matter what genre they feature.
Amen. Solitude and silence can be a blessing.
Until the government insists an international shipping highway must go through your land.
Like anything, about 10% of it is worthwhile, the rest is formulaic crap. Most of it designed for over-the-hill emo kids looking for a brooding, moody alternative for the screamo silliness that defined them as children.
And for all it’s “indie-ness”, the stuff’s about as mainstream, image conscious and mass-marketed as music gets.
>>Until the government insists an international shipping highway must go through your land.
Or the Vogons put an interstellar bypass through your planet...
Too much music? Where?
I hear almost none at home. No TV means the house is quiet most of the time, save for conversation, babbling baby, and snoring dogs. If there is music, it’s because I want to hear it.
I hear almost none when driving. Mostly just a few seconds of bumper music for talk shows, and the occasional ad (signal to change stations). If there is music, it’s because I want to hear it.
I hear most of my music at work. That’s because I use ad-free podcast DJ sets to mask background noise of office conversations and the factory across the hall. Being podcast driven, what I hear is the latest music compiled by DJs I trust as insightful.
Sure there’s some background music when shopping. Yes, BJs and Starbucks is playing it to sell it - ya see, hearing it is really the only way to know (as opposed to looking at covers), and more than once I’ve inquired “what song was that?” It _is_ a store, and their purpose _is_ to sell something, and my purpose _is_ to buy something - funny how sometimes it works out.
The only “saturation” happening in my paradigm is it’s so easy to pick up & hear music I generally like, so I’m disinclined to hunt down & attend live performances (which I usually find out about shortly after the fact).
You choose your lifestyle. Your choice has consequences.
“Indy” is a euphemism for “bad.”
_______
You could not be more wrong.
Hmmmm, 1972, eh? Exile on Main Street, perchance? Great record, and I understand we will soon see some additional tracks from the Exile sessions. I look forward to them.
Good music is a little more difficult to find, maybe, then it was back in the day, but there is a ton of good music being played by indy artists. I’m sure you realize that they are indy specifically because they may not be radio friendly. You know, kind of like most of the songs on Exile on Main Street (tumbling dice a notable exception).
BFL (as Haydn’s C Major Quartet plays on my desk stereo)
"Indie" is what "Alternative" was when it replaced "New Wave". It's a brand, that's all. The word "indie" in this case is as meaningless as calling Nine Inch Nails "industrial" was fifteen years ago. It's just an empty word... a label for teenagers to wear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.