Yep. There's a lot of good music being made, and acts I want to see are still pretty affordable to see.

But it takes a little looking.

In one sense, it's easier than ever to access new good music. But there's a lot to wade through. Seeing who acts I like have chosen for their openers, or finding a channel or playlist I like are the most reliable ways to find new music lately.

Love the Double Wide! Do they still have the frozen Tang and Yoo-hoo drinks?

MooreTrucker said:

---

I used to be ALL rock and some pop, and HATED country. AS I've gotten older, my horizons have broadened. I still don't much like what I'd call traditional country (Luke Combs, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, etc.), but whatever William Clark Green, REK, Pat Green, and guys like that are called, I kinda like that. And I heard some Turnpike Troubadors on Landman the other day and liked it, too. I guess it's the storytelling element of it, maybe?

---

Well, my traditional would go back to the 40s and 50s with Texas Swing and Bob Wills and others then popular now Brooks and Dunn, the GOAT, Asleep At The Wheel, TomPaul and the Glazer Brothers, even Willie, and many other favorites I can't pull up right now. Like I said I'm old. Not very high on the contemporary stuff but the older stuff is good listening!

Saw Willie recently. Old guy still puts on a damn good show.

It's all relative. I was born in 61 and could not stand to listen to the music that my folks or that generation grew up with. However, my kids grew up listening to the music I grew up with. While it is not their first choice, they still enjoy that music.

infinity ag said:

---

Does music really suck today or am I just getting old?

---

both

So is there any such thing as good or bad music in absolute terms?

If you ask my kids who are teens and early 20s, they will say the music today is fine. But then they are in a different point of life than I am. If you ask someone who is my dad's generation, he will say the 60s was good, 70s was okay, anything after that was crap.

So maybe the real answer is there is no such thing as good or bad, it is linked to where we are in the journey of life.

In general, everyone seems to think the music of their teens/20s was the best.

Are you into Country& Eastern music?

https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/1341187

et98 said:

---

Somebody posted this video of a music producer on TexAgs a few months ago where he explains the music business. I have spent way too much time watching his videos ever since. This is the first one of his videos that I ever saw, and it does a great job of breaking things down and applies directly to this thread.

---

Rick Beato is great -- and brave to talk about this.

But it's been going on since the beginning of pop music. Many of the big pop acts of the '60s and '70s were studio creations ... sometimes to the point of having to hire a real band to portray the act that had producer-created radio hits, a la The Grass Roots.

IMO, the difference then is that highly skilled studio musicians provided the music -- developing the riffs, fills and solos that made many songs stand out. Those cats were trained in jazz music and were extremely talented ... able to hear a demo and flesh it out with unique musical arrangements that stood out.

And many of the songs were written by Brill Building veterans or those with similar backgrounds who knew how to craft a melody.

Today it takes 10 pedestrian songwriters and just one guy with a keyboard and drum machine to create a song.

Quote:

---

In general, everyone seems to think the music of their teens/20s was the best.

---

I'm an outlier I suppose. IMO, the 70's were the best. You had Outlaw Country, Classic Rock like Queen, LZ, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, R&B greats, and pop music was good with a ton of catchy music, funk, punk rock, etc.

I'm 52 btw. I think the musical era from late 60's to around 95 was peak & started trailing off after that with an absolute nosedive around 2010 or so.

Quote:

---

In one sense, it's easier than ever to access new good music. But there's a lot to wade through.

---

In the past all you had to do was turn on the radio. The DJ's and individual stations could find it for you and break new acts. They filtered out a lot of the crap acts. Now it's a corporate decision, and they suck at it.

I thought this thread was just for olds then this popped up in my feed.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14PKbyanCaz/

swimmerbabe11 said:

---

I thought this thread was just for olds then this popped up in my feed.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14PKbyanCaz/

---

You're posting a Facebook link of a Late Show clip. You're an old just like us.

I listen to trance and progressive and things have been going pretty well since the David Guetta inspired crap that everyone was doing from around 2012-2018. A lot of the bigger shows like A State of Trance and Global DJ Broadcast became pretty much unlistenable. It's recovered since then and newer sets are good again.

infinity ag said:

---

Back in the 90s when I was at A&M, I'd just turn on MIX 104.7 and listen to the "Greatest Hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s" and most of the songs were beautiful compositions. I still listen to them to take me back to those days. The 00s were good too, and the early part of the 10s were okay.

Now I feel that the music is not listenable. But then I've gotten older as well.

Does the music today really suck compared to the 60s to 00s? These days I'd rather not turn on the radio to listen to pop music other than at Christmas time when they play Christmas songs (yes, from the 50s).

---

IT SUCKS!!!!

swimmerbabe11 said:

---

I thought this thread was just for olds then this popped up in my feed.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14PKbyanCaz/

---

You will be one of the "OLDS" someday!

The Fife said:

---

I listen to trance and progressive and things have been going pretty well since the David Guetta inspired crap that everyone was doing from around 2012-2018. A lot of the bigger shows like A State of Trance and Global DJ Broadcast became pretty much unlistenable. It's recovered since then and newer sets are good again.

---

Slight tangent...but I don't think most people realize the breadth of EDM styles that are out there nowadays. I pretty much only listen to EDM now, but spread it out over several sub-genres - House, DNB, dub, techno, trance, etc.

I know a lot of people like to hate on EDM, and that's fine (yes it still takes skill to create...just different skills). But to me it has so much more...emotion...than what is being put out by pop/rock/country nowadays (what I used to listen to). That emotion though doesn't usually just come through the lyrics like you would expect from other genres - you have to let the music in and FEEL it.

I'll admit though that if you have only listened to it at home or in your car you probably won't get it (especially if you have a crap stereo). But when you listen and dance to it live....it goes to this whole other level (yes, even without drugs lol).

MooreTrucker said:

---

I used to be ALL rock and some pop, and HATED country. AS I've gotten older, my horizons have broadened. I still don't much like what I'd call traditional country (Luke Combs, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, etc.), but whatever William Clark Green, REK, Pat Green, and guys like that are called, I kinda like that. And I heard some Turnpike Troubadors on Landman the other day and liked it, too. I guess it's the storytelling element of it, maybe?

---

I'm the same. I like Cody Johnson, Turnpike, and Shane Smith. Over the years I've added George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, and a few others to my playlists.

What I have not added in years is new "rock" music.

53 year old rock fan here.

There is a lot of good new rock out there it just isn't getting pushed by producers any longer. For some new bands try the following in your music streaming device or youtube. Lots of them are girl lead for some reason.

Dirty Honey
Crazy Lixx (kind of tongue in cheek glam but good)
Eclipse (sweden)
Halestorm
The Dirty Reckless
The Scorpions (Rock Believer no album)
Diamante (a bit pop rocky)

Apache said:

---

Quote:

---

In general, everyone seems to think the music of their teens/20s was the best.

---

I'm an outlier I suppose. IMO, the 70's were the best. You had Outlaw Country, Classic Rock like Queen, LZ, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, R&B greats, and pop music was good with a ton of catchy music, funk, punk rock, etc.

I'm 52 btw. I think the musical era from late 60's to around 95 was peak & started trailing off after that with an absolute nosedive around 2010 or so.

---

this isn't true for me either.. I'm 46 this year, and my top era is grunge/black album/pantera of my middle school years.

I think whoever said this has the right idea, but it's not late teens/20s, it's more maybe 11-18 or so. That is what is generally going to stick around since you have so many experiences tied along with it that you vividly remember.

Having said that, while I can call that early 90s stuff my favorite still, I have never had a lull in finding new music I love in adulthood.

In my mid/late 20s I discovered Opeth, Blue October, Muse.
In my 30s I discovered Ghost, Vola, Devin Townsend, Awolnation

Then in my 40s I discover a few albums I couldn't take off repeat, and are by bands I had never heard of - Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation, True North by Borknagar, Take me back to Eden by Sleep Token and The Fundamental Slime... by Nekrogoblikon.

Meanwhile bands that came around in my 30s are still putting out great music like AWOL, Vola, and Ghost

Now, I guess it helps to be a metalhead, because while maybe radio/pop is stale, metal continues to evolve and by most accounts is getting bigger every decade. To me, if you've never gotten into metal then you're just missing out. There is so much great music in that world, and so much of it is not even metal, but it will always be labeled metal and will never be in mainstream media.

Sleep Token is one that finally kinda of broke through. The amount of people arguing whether or not they are metal is mind boggling.. at the end of the day, if a band has had one song in their past that is metal, then by nearly all accounts, they will be labeled metal and treated as metal. Yet they can have have 3/4 of an album be piano and beautiful melodies and texture.. but no one outside of the metal world will know.

Similar to Damnation by Opeth.

I think most people have a tendency to believe the music of previous decades is superior to what is being produced today. But what I think people forget is that when you're listening to 70s, 80s, 90s, or 00s radio, you're getting the top songs of an entire decade. There's plenty of crap music from previous decades that just doesn't get played so we end up comparing the best of a decade to whatever is playing on the radio today.

That said, I feel old when I click the USA Top 50 on spotify and I hate every track I hear.

If any of you watch Professor of Rock on YouTube, he'll count down the top 10s of certain years. I've watched some of the '80s stuff he puts out, and I don't recognize a lot of them. For much of the 80's, I was listening to what my parents listened to, mostly WBAP 820 out of DFW. Maybe some oldies on KLUV. By the mid-80s, I was listening more to contemporary stuff, and by the late 80's I was discovering Guns n Roses, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Metallica, etc.

So those of you saying that the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s were hearing now are 100 percent correct that we're hearing the best of the best. The past 15 years will probably sort themselves out

It sucks now, it did in the 90's, wasn't good in the 80's. 70's was the last of real and good music.

woodyhayes said:

---

It sucks now, it did in the 90's, wasn't good in the 80's. 70's was the last of real and good music.

---

Just curious Woody, what sort of artists or genres do you like up through the 70's?

60's and most of the 70's was the last of lyrics that one could understand and had meaning. Motown was great also. 4 Tops, Temptations, etc. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc was our version of hard rock. The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, and countless others were the pinnacle of real music.

62strat said:

---

Having said that, while I can call that early 90s stuff my favorite still, I have never had a lull in finding new music I love in adulthood.

In my mid/late 20s I discovered Opeth, Blue October, Muse.
In my 30s I discovered Ghost, Vola, Devin Townsend, Awolnation

Then in my 40s I discover a few albums I couldn't take off repeat, and are by bands I had never heard of - Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation, True North by Borknagar, Take me back to Eden by Sleep Token and The Fundamental Slime... by Nekrogoblikon.

Meanwhile bands that came around in my 30s are still putting out great music like AWOL, Vola, and Ghost

Now, I guess it helps to be a metalhead, because while maybe radio/pop is stale, metal continues to evolve and by most accounts is getting bigger every decade. To me, if you've never gotten into metal then you're just missing out. There is so much great music in that world, and so much of it is not even metal, but it will always be labeled metal and will never be in mainstream media.

Sleep Token is one that finally kinda of broke through. The amount of people arguing whether or not they are metal is mind boggling.. at the end of the day, if a band has had one song in their past that is metal, then by nearly all accounts, they will be labeled metal and treated as metal. Yet they can have have 3/4 of an album be piano and beautiful melodies and texture.. but no one outside of the metal world will know.

Similar to Damnation by Opeth.

---

Muse is all time greatness. When I was strolling through Drottninggatan in Stockholm back in 2012, I encountered a music store playing some insanely great nordic metal by a live local band. It was summertime, so the Swedes all had their Harley's and Classic Muscle Cars on running display. I see a banner hanging for an upcoming concert and looked them up when I got stateside. Volbeat.

The point is that American rock music permeates throughout the globe. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army is a perfect example of this.

For those who refuse to travel the earth are relentlessly pursued by their own regret and disdain.

woodyhayes said:

---

60's and most of the 70's was the last of lyrics that one could understand and had meaning. Motown was great also. 4 Tops, Temptations, etc. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc was our version of hard rock. The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, and countless others were the pinnacle of real music.

---

The Stooges were neat

woodyhayes said:

---

It sucks now, it did in the 90's, wasn't good in the 80's. 70's was the last of real and good music.

---

You got a big lust for life Woody

AgFrogfan said:

---

woodyhayes said:

---

It sucks now, it did in the 90's, wasn't good in the 80's. 70's was the last of real and good music.

---

Just curious Woody, what sort of artists or genres do you like up through the 70's?

---

AgFrogfan said:

---

62strat said:

---

Having said that, while I can call that early 90s stuff my favorite still, I have never had a lull in finding new music I love in adulthood.

In my mid/late 20s I discovered Opeth, Blue October, Muse.
In my 30s I discovered Ghost, Vola, Devin Townsend, Awolnation

Then in my 40s I discover a few albums I couldn't take off repeat, and are by bands I had never heard of - Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation, True North by Borknagar, Take me back to Eden by Sleep Token and The Fundamental Slime... by Nekrogoblikon.

Meanwhile bands that came around in my 30s are still putting out great music like AWOL, Vola, and Ghost

Now, I guess it helps to be a metalhead, because while maybe radio/pop is stale, metal continues to evolve and by most accounts is getting bigger every decade. To me, if you've never gotten into metal then you're just missing out. There is so much great music in that world, and so much of it is not even metal, but it will always be labeled metal and will never be in mainstream media.

Sleep Token is one that finally kinda of broke through. The amount of people arguing whether or not they are metal is mind boggling.. at the end of the day, if a band has had one song in their past that is metal, then by nearly all accounts, they will be labeled metal and treated as metal. Yet they can have have 3/4 of an album be piano and beautiful melodies and texture.. but no one outside of the metal world will know.

Similar to Damnation by Opeth.

---

Muse is all time greatness. When I was strolling through Drottninggatan in Stockholm back in 2012, I encountered a music store playing some insanely great nordic metal by a live local band. It was summertime, so the Swedes all had their Harley's and Classic Muscle Cars on running display. I see a banner hanging for an upcoming concert and looked them up when I got stateside. Volbeat.

The point is that American rock music permeates throughout the globe. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army is a perfect example of this.

For those who refuse to travel the earth are relentlessly pursued by their own regret and disdain.

---

I saw volbeat headline in the USA at a 15k person pavilion lol.

Edit… I was off a year, this was 2013. Locura festival. AIC headlined the first day, volbeat the next.
I forgot about them in most of bands I discovered on my 30s.