"Best Of..." - Music Going Downhill

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

I made a couple of interesting observations in the past weeks and months, something I think is becoming more and more a trend in all musical styles. The majority of audiences/listeners is no longer interested in experiencing new artists, new styles or new songs, they only stick with what they already know and have heard before. Nobody seems to dig a little deeper into a style or the repertoire of a certain artist anymore.

Here’s my observations:

1)Major radio stations (at least over here in Europe) seem to have playlists that consist of only a few hundred songs. They advertize with slogans like “We play the greatest hits and best oldies” or similar, and that’s in fact what they do – play the same songs every day over and over. If aliens from outer space would visit and listen to one of these radio stations, they must think that Elvis, CCR, the Stones, Beatles etc. only recorded between 3 and 5 songs in their entire career because that is all you get to hear. One of the major 24-hour stations here in Vienna has a total of two country songs on their playlist. If the DJ says “Now it’s time for some country music”, you can bet you’ll hear either “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash or Tammy Wynette doing “Stand By Your Man”.

2) The official music store sales charts (not the regular pop charts) mostly consist of compilations like “40 Greatest Love Songs”, “Best Christmas Compilation”, “Top Of The Pops, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3",… If you look at these compilations, they have absolutely NOTHING new or surprising on them, again the same songs by the same artists. Maybe the radio stations use these for their play lists! However, I always wonder who are the thousands of buyers who buy those albums.

3) Recently I noticed a lot of live events like “Best of Musical”, “Best of Verdi” (in Vienna right now!), “Classical Highlights” etc. These shows are usually held at big concert halls (up to several thousand people – and they fill them!). Average running time is usually about a week and they are usually sold out in advance. Artists are “no name” musicians (not meant in a derogatory way), tour groups that tour through Europe for several months. In Vienna we also have currently a show called “The Best Of Buena Vista” (Cuban style) and, of course, one of the Irish Dance shows (like “Riverdance”).

4) I have a (secret) habit of looking at music collections when I am invited to friend’s places. Several of them are not musicians, but, if you ask them, claim to be very interested in music, go to concerts, buy music and listen to music frequently etc. How does the average music collection look like? You’ll see, nicely stored, app. 100-200 CDs…and here we go again: “Best of Swing, Vol. 1 – 3”, “Sounds of Latin America”, Beatles Greatest Hits, Elvis Greatest Hits, “Best of Oriental Sounds”, “Blues Greats”, “40 Greatest Country Hits” “Disco Highlights”, “The Ultimate Jazz Collection” etc. Mostly samplers and collections with the songs that can be heard anywhere and anytime anyway.

5) Not only once I have heard from others that they don’t want to go to a concert of a certain group “because I don’t know any of their songs”.

6) My band always tries to do songs that are interesting to play and entertaining for the audience, but not that well-known. And then you’ll have people approaching you asking if we also would play “Achy Breaky Heart” or “Me And Bobby McGee”. Go figure!

Seems to me that the average music consumer of today is so narrow-minded that he/she tries to avoid being confronted with music that they haven’t experienced so far. It also seems to me that the industry is successful with the attempt to brainwash people - no need to look further, the same uniform sounds are delivered to you anytime and anywhere. The real music lovers, the ones who are open for music they haven’t heard so far, are still around, but they are becoming more and more a rare breed.

Kind Regards, Walter
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Mike Gross · From: Manchester, Connecticut, USA

A Very interesting observation!
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Mike

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I think this is related to the uncertainty of the times. In the wake of a shifting global economy, terrorism, the emergence of China as possible the dominant world super-power, the AIDS epidemic, global warming, etc., people need something familiar and comfortable to hang on to.
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Walter - I echo your observations verbatim here in what I view as the U.S "music mainstream". That seems to be the mentality these days.

I don't honestly know if this is primarily demand-driven (that's really all most people want), supply-driven (it's hard to find anything else in traditional sources because that supply chain has been "simplified"), schedule-driven (people are too busy or lazy to bother with anything else), the aging of the music-listening population that I'm sampling from (compilations and best-of's have been the rage for older listeners for decades now), a deemphasis of music in the culture, or something else that I don't see at all.

This is all especially ironic to me because of the radically increased diversity of music that is now available to anybody who has access to vast online sources.

Jon Moen · From: Canada

When radio stations used cd's for their programs,I once emailed one of them and told them that their playlist sounded like they had a stack of Greatest Hits cd's and they put them on random play. They told me they would try to do better (they didn't). I think that is exactly what they had. As a result the dj's weren't familiar with the entire catalog of an artist and did not have the ability to play any other songs. As that is all that is played, the audience doesn't know any better and never will. If you are a fanatic as opposed to a fan, you listen to the whole of an artists work. The average listener doesn't know any different. If a dj had permission to play the more obscure songs, the audience may not like that. I suspect they play the tried and true and dare not venture off the beaten path for fear of losing listeners. If you want anything else I think you have to dig for it yourself.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

It's total saturation - people don't generally listen to music, they just identify with the symbolism of a type of music. According to Daniel Levitin, author of This is Your Brain on Music, "Children who begin school today have listened to more music than their great-grandparents heard their entire life." He's a former professional musician and currently a professor of psychology at McGill University in Montreal, where they've been studying music intensively for a decade or so.

For approximately 98% of the population, their musical preferences are entirely set between the ages of 14 to 24. They have no interest in anything new - surely you know people who are listening to the exact same records they heard in high school? You may well be among the unfortunate 2% with a bee in their bonnet.... or even worse, like me - I can't even stand to hear 70's blues-rock, or even it's 4th-generation regurgitations like John Mayer & Govt. Mule. It's getting hard to keep finding new things..... Evil or Very Mad

Jeff Garden · From: Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA

There seems to be a critical shortage of independent radio stations these days - most nationally syndicated radio stations (dare I say all...) have canned playlists that sound the same no matter what city you happen to be in. There's one independent station in my area which is a breath of fresh air. The only down side is they try to be all things to all people with separate time slots devoted to different genres of music - just when you're enjoying an hour of independent country, it's time for the independent blues show. No matter what show you tune in for, however, you're guaranteed to hear plenty of more obscure album cuts instead of the same old "top 40".

James Cann · From: Phoenix, AZ

Mike Gross writes:
The majority of audiences/listeners is no longer interested in experiencing new artists, new styles or new songs, they only stick with what they already know and have heard before.
----------------------------------------------------
Not unlike, perhaps, the Nashville session scene, where, as I understand from one there now, 90% of available work is done by some 20 or 25 guys.

. . . or for the matter, the publishing industry in general. A new writer? Listen to Ol' Waylon:

"Stay where you are and get good so that they call you. If you go to them, they're not interested."

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Steve Alcott · From: New York, New York, USA

Tagline from a mid-80s Lite Rock station: "I really like this station-they don't waste my time playing songs I never heard before".

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Mark Eaton · Posted 5 Jan 2008 10:38 am

Pretty harsh assessment of our young people, Donny. Whoa!

My youngest daughter is a high school senior going through the college application and testing process right now, and I have to tell you, the competition to get into a good school is tougher than it was when I went through the same thing.

Just to mention a couple of major public universities out here: UC Berkeley and UCLA - if one doesn't have around a 4.0 GPA or better, don't waste your time with the application and sending in the fees.

All three of my kids are readers, because they were reared that way. Young people who drop the ball after college and don't read I believe often come from households where it wasn't encouraged while they were growing up.

Donny, up until the last year, I had done a lot of airplane time for my work, and yes, a lot of folks don't read anymore - but it's not limited to people under 30. I am often astounded how someone can tolerate a three hour flight, and if not able to get themselves to sleep, they have no reading material and stare straight ahead at the seat back in front of them. And I have seen this in all age groups.

As far as Walter's general theory on the quality of music, we have had many threads distressing over this. And it always comes down to the same thing: commercial radio has dumbed it down, so one shouldn't waste one's time listening to commercial radio.

Look at the members of this Forum. The pedal steel in the Nashville commercial recording industry isn't as prominent as it once was - yet the number of players of the instrument, and very good to excellent players of the instrument, is likely higher now than at any time in its history.

I find all kinds of great music to listen to, and it is high quality, but it flies a little under the radar these days. I know I'm not the average consumer, like most of us here, I live eat and breathe music.

But it's available to those that take the time to seek it.

Rock music these days, as a general category, is a disappointment. I think this has to do with it not being culturally as important to the "Millennial Generation" as it is to the baby boomers. It has become more like background soundtrack music as opposed to something one sits down to which to consciously listen.
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Mark

Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

I agree with Mark!

It's sad reading all these negative comments about music today.

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

I saw a TV commercial for one of those "Classical" compilations which had this statement: "No annoying unrecognizable parts" THe recordings included only the "hook" and then on to next snippet.

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

Donny, i'm always diggin' what yer puttin' down Very Happy

we might be "sophisticated" here in Europa but let me tell you that the hype & disposable musik is on the rampage here too
is there life before death ?

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

We're doomed.

(I seem to be saying this A LOT lately....)

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

My initial post wasn't about the quality of the music, more about how the average music consumer of today is approaching music and how the mainstream industry is supporting that approach. I mean the average music consumer (and this is the majority, the target for which the industry is producing), not musicians and members of the forum like us who are having this discussion.

We all know that there is great music played and recorded today, but it seems to me that these efforts are not really supported by the public today. To me, this is a general trend that is also noted in other fields. The book sales are going down (at least here in Europe) and another example is the reduction of news to simple headlines. Nobody is interested in in-depth analysis, reports etc. anymore. TV, Internet etc. it is more or less shrinked down to headlines and a few short minutes repeated over and over.

Donny, don't be too harsh with today's youth, we over here in Europe also have similar problems with young people, but there are also a lot of great young ones around who are at least as smart as we think we are.
Wink

Kind Regards, Walter
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www.lloydgreentribute.com

Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

Mike,
I would say Clinton.

James Cann · From: Phoenix, AZ

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Who was president when Columbus discovered America?

(Jay Leno got a lot of good answers to this one).

Barry Blackwood · Posted 7 Jan 2008 9:03 am

I agree with Donny. The collective musical attitude here in America is the result of the pervasive dumbing down that has been occurring over several decades now, IMHO.

Oh, and Earnest, I think it was Taft .... Smile

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

I was in a Smokey Bones restaurant for 1-1/2 hours last nite. The muzic thru the overhead speakers droned on with "contemporary" selections that I could not even understand. Finally, just before we left, came a Motown classic from the early '70's. One tune out of 90 minutes? I must be gettin' old...

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