I’m someone that is very much an old soul when it comes to music, I could happily sit and listen to music from 50s, 60s, 70s etc all day long. But I’m not just about “old” music I believe that music back then even as late as the 90s/00s really made you feel something. Whether its the the bass-line and melody of a rare groove song, something that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and just makes you smile; or the gritty sound of a deep house song.
For example:
One of my favourite songs, can always be turned to whenever you’re feeling down, having a soul Sunday session or at a rare groove/soul night. Now I’m not gonna sit here and keep going on about soul like an old fogey but this music makes you feel something.
Another example of something more up to date is the below song from Jeff Bradshaw, Robert Glasper and Eric Roberson. Great vibe can imagine this sounding amazing live at the jazz cafe. A lot of music can’t recreate this vibe, some stuff needs some live instrumentation to provide the kinda of feel I’m talking about.
Lets take it to Hip-Hop. My musical influences were Rnb/Soul from my mum and Hip Hop/House very heavily from my dad. I grew up listening to A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock, Mobb Deep, Erick Sermon, Nas, Gangstarr and so on. You get the picture. All of this music makes you feel something, whether it be you want to hum the melody or nod your head to the drums. There are so many songs I could use to illustrate my point but I’m going for some real boom bap here:
Whether its the drums, the cuts or the sample that catches you this epitomises great music for me. Sure Guru isn’t the most interesting rapper to listen to but him and Preem (DJ Premier) created magic together. My point is whatever the era/style of music, good music has one inherent factor: it makes you feel.
Lastly going to house music.The above song is the last example I’ll use, this song is very close to my heart and has definitely got me through some tough times. As the title says it makes you “smile”, a lot of this soulful house has a real gospel feel to it and does evoke emotion.
Now I’m not telling you what you should or shouldn’t listen to but some of this music is what I consider “good music”
Some may find it boring, some may love it just I do.
My point throughout all of this is all “Good Music” can catch you in a certain way and make you forget about anything going on in your life or make you reminisce. At the end of the day there is nothing like real “Good Music”.
Thanks for reading…
Ramblings of a music fan
Ramblings of a music fan 
A good read and some great links to illustrate your point.
I will take the stance of a Hip-hop / Rap / R’N’B fan.
I think it is easy to say music has got worst in these categories with the wave of autotune, the mumbling rappers where subtitles are needed and the artist that are clearly “not about that life” but to understand why this is happening I think we need to dig deeper.
Music is a business, if something is working it will be emulated TO DEATH!
In an era where it is very easy to get you music to the masses thanks to the internet there is less quality control. You can record a song on your phone edit it on your PC and upload it to Youtube Soundcloud, Facebook etc.
Take the emergence of Trap music and the Twerking inspired music (the newer booms) if you are a failing artist it would be easy jump on this. Where I am going with this is that we are spoilt for musical choice, not all of a high quality but we have so much choice. As an audience we have become impatient, we get everything instantly to our phones while we are on the go and can share just as quickly so we get bored quickly too, if we know an artist has a release date a week away we will search for a leak. I remember having a CD player and rinsing the same CD for weeks on end or playing a cassette until it was stretched out of shape these days I hardly listen to the same track in a week unless I was blown away.
Snoop made a point when he said:
“I don’t know who is who when they doing that rap style, and I love them all,” he explained. “I love Future, Migos, I love all them. Drake. They my ni***, but I don’t know who is who when the record is over. When I came out as a rapper, everyone had their own style. If you sounded like someone else, that word was called biting.”
So in my opinion more time was taken to write tracks as the focus is now to keep churning out music as if you don’t there will be someone ready to fill your spot with something that sounds just like yours.
Forgive the lazy term but back in the say (10 or 20 years ago) the frequency of music released from a single artist or group was drastically shorter, not everyone had access to a recording studio (in their homes), whatever track they would release would be at a larger cost, to put a track on wax is a risk you have to move those units or you are getting dropped, and the song released will represent you until your next.
Hardly any artist tell a story with their music, the social commentary and political edge has gone and with this so has the believability and relate-ability of these songs. We are saturated with party music, club tracks and stripper tunes. Now ask yourself this if you top the top 5 song of this month and played them to you parent what would they think?
Even productions seemed better, samples were taken from actual instruments giving a live and intimate feel, while the crackle of playing a song back on has a “warm” and nostalgic atmosphere. Now the electronic sound is everywhere and offers little variation, I wonder how many producers can actual play an instrument?!?
Djs actually Dj-ed – Technology has made the office clerk a weekend superstar in your local, blending tracks on Dj Pro that will auto fade and pitch perfect at the flick of a button to the next track on a premade playlist that won’t change for 3 months
We must also take into consideration music from yesteryear is a snapshot of the times, beatboxers, Breakdancers, Discotheques were a social part of an era so the music represents these moments maybe we have a romantic view of the past as we grew up with these artists and songs
I agree, not only was music better there was an authenticity to it, artists were role models too, Djs and producers were respected for their craft but it would seem that the power has shifted from the creators of the music to the audience.
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