Rick Beato... yeah or nay?

[Czyszy]

Once The Beatles were considered a disgrace for music.

Because back then people didn't know such shitty music as today's trap/pop would even be possible to be created. ;D But it's not that all of today's music is shit. It's the volume of the shit outweighing the great stuff.

And I'm not talking "great" as "retro". If you take the effort and time to dig in and be open, you'll find tons of contemporary music that's actually masterfully done.

This rap track is frikking bonkers! A combination of boom bap rap, some tribal music, dramatic film bgm and electronica.

[Dana5140]

Well, many services have added cheaper versions of their programming that have some commercials, but for a few dollars more, services such as Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, Disney+ do not have ads.

At this stage, companies have gone so far overboard with shoving commercials and ads down people's throats that I can't really tolerate any, anymore, really.

This is why I do not stream and still buy both CDs and DVDs (and LPs). This way, no ads, I own them outright, and can listen to what I want when I want. My kids laugh at me, but this is all mine and no risk of having some streaming group cut off my access without notice.

[boilk]

Music is just fine. There is a lot of shitty pop music and a lot more of it and the masses value it a lot less overall, but music quality, and vast amounts of it, is as good as ever...says I. It's simple math really. There is WAAYYYYYYYY more music than ever, so of course there is way more simplistic, or crappy music then ever. But there is also a lot more really good music too.

Neil

[Rarebird]

Today I read that popmusic has gotten less complex since the 50s. Two years were mentioned 1975 and 2000. But while melodies and harmonies got less complex, sounds got more varied.

As long as there is music made that I like, I couldn't care less if there is bad music made. In the end for each Beatles, or Queen, we have the Mud's, Bay City Rollers and other throw-away stuff.

[Zeuhlmate]

^^^

Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann - Dansevise - Eurovision 1963 - Denmark - Winner

[markwoll]

Seems quite reasonable. Same essential message, milder delivery.

[SteveSly]

Music is just fine. There is a lot of shitty pop music and a lot more of it and the masses value it a lot less overall, but music quality, and vast amounts of it, is as good as ever...says I. It's simple math really. There is WAAYYYYYYYY more music than ever, so of course there is way more simplistic, or crappy music then ever. But there is also a lot more really good music too.

Neil

Totally agree. Yes, there is a lot of crap out there, but there is still so much good new music being made that I find it hard to keep up with it all.

[Man In The Mountain]

Forgive me, but I actually do use TikTok. But yea, there are a lot of young guys on TikTok who review entire band catalogs buy simply binge listening to them from first to last album. Like one guy who looks 27ish, reviewed Pink Floyd's entire catalog by spending the weekend listening to them. And he didn't physically own any of them.

I also saw another one with two guys who decided to review the entire Supertramp catalog. So, they get to album #2 Indelibly Stamped, and one guy says, "So, this album is not good, easily their worst album. They really seem lost and there is no resemblance to the Supertramp sound that made them so popular." Fair enough, but then he goes on... "I really had a hard time even getting through this one, its just so bad. In fact, as an example, I could not find this album on Spotify, or any other streaming platform. So, I had to listen to it on Youtube because it was the only place I could find it, that tells you just how bad this albums is!"

Kids today....

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Because back then people didn't know such shitty music as today's trap/pop would even be possible to be created. ;D But it's not that all of today's music is shit. It's the volume of the shit outweighing the great stuff.

And I'm not talking "great" as "retro". If you take the effort and time to dig in and be open, you'll find tons of contemporary music that's actually masterfully done.

This rap track is frikking bonkers! A combination of boom bap rap, some tribal music, dramatic film bgm and electronica.

My new discovery for the day: I like rap music a lot better when I don't understand what they're saying.

Perhaps Magma prepped me for this...

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Is music really getting worse, or is this just a generational thing?
Once The Beatles were considered a disgrace for music.

Anecdotally... when the Beatles first came on Ed Sullivan -- and I have to insert here that Ed Sullivan was a family ritual with us, we all gathered for it -- my grandmother and I both really dug them. (I was goin'-on-six at the time.) My parents were puzzled by them. My grandfather hated them at first sight, but he was never really into anything but military music, which, as you know, is to music as military justice is to justice and military intelligence is to intelligence. My brother and sister were too young to care...

Aaaaaaanyway, I think that if you watch Beato's videos, he makes a very solid case for his point. It isn't that there isn't any good music out there. There's as much as there ever was. But there is soooo much more crappy music that it's hard to find the good stuff.

Harlan Ellison told a story about how success in Hollywood was like climbing a vast mountain of dung to get to a beautiful rose (or pick your favorite flower) at the top. By the time you got there, your nose was too strung-out by the shit-smell that you couldn't possibly smell the rose.

Searching for the "good music" today is kind of like that. Some of it accidentally becomes popular -- I rather like Taylor Swift, and quite like Gaga, to pick two -- but most of the popular stuff is like '60s American television: aimed at the lowest common denominator.

[Batchman]

This rap track is frikking bonkers! A combination of boom bap rap, some tribal music, dramatic film bgm and electronica.

Wow - I had no idea Genesis had undergone such a radical change in style. Will this "Nullizmatyk" track appear on their next album?

[Vic2012]

I hate rap and hip hop with the heat of a thousand suns.

[Jerjo]

I hate rap and hip hop with the heat of a thousand suns.

A-fucking-men!

Bernth, an Austrian guitarist and YT instructor, weighs in.

[Splicer]

Bernth, an Austrian guitarist and YT instructor, weighs in.

One thing I take from this is that I'm firmly in the camp of those people who are their own gatekeepers. I don't need a cigar-chomping exec or a studio wizard or a critic to be between me and anything I choose to consume. It should only ever be my choice. And the more that's out there that is distributed by the artist is fine with me.

[Batchman]

A-fucking-men!

Bernth, an Austrian guitarist and YT instructor, weighs in.

His points are correct and well observed, but one shouldn't overlook the fact that the ease of making and distributing music means that there is a lot more product and therefore competition for (eyeballs? earlobes? earballs?) now, so much less chance of your particular music getting noticed, whereas in the "bad old days" there was less product released but more attention paid to a given artistic product as a result.

[dropforge]

Harlan Ellison told a story about how success in Hollywood was like climbing a vast mountain of dung to get to a beautiful rose (or pick your favorite flower) at the top. By the time you got there, your nose was too strung-out by the shit-smell that you couldn't possibly smell the rose.

Harlan always cooked up the best analogies.

[Batchman]

Harlan always cooked up the best analogies.

Compare with Scott Adams, who wrote "Bad analogies are like corn" in order to call our attention to flawed analogies. (In fact, some of the worst analogies are delivered by preachers trying to make a point during a sermon. No one that I know personally, of course.)

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Harlan always cooked up the best analogies.

Actually, I believe he credited the story to someone else. I'd have to go find it to be sure. It's from some mid-70s book.

[Splicer]

His points are correct and well observed, but one shouldn't overlook the fact that the ease of making and distributing music means that there is a lot more product and therefore competition for (eyeballs? earlobes? earballs?) now, so much less chance of your particular music getting noticed, whereas in the "bad old days" there was less product released but more attention paid to a given artistic product as a result.

I think an Internet/social media industry has sprung up to replace the radio stations that introduced people to music along with the few magazines they read. There's also the AI suggestions of streaming sites that offer things up based on the user's habits.

[dropforge]

Actually, I believe he credited the story to someone else. I'd have to go find it to be sure. It's from some mid-70s book.

I'm sure it's in either The Glass Teat or The Other Glass Teat. Gawrsh, now I want to reread those. Again.

[dropforge]

Compare with Scott Adams, who wrote "Bad analogies are like corn" in order to call our attention to flawed analogies. (In fact, some of the worst analogies are delivered by preachers trying to make a point during a sermon. No one that I know personally, of course.)

And we know what corn signifies.

[Plasmatopia]

I haven't watched the video rebuttals posted here but I did find one on YouTube a few days ago. I won't bother going and finding it again and posting it here, but it was really well-reasoned and even-handed and I couldn't help but agree with the guy. Rick Beato was shown to be flat out wrong about some stuff. But I already knew that after watching RB's original video(s). I guess this is what happens these days - someone makes a provocative video and Internet disagreements ensue, giving other YouTubers an excuse to make a rebuttal. Shocking! I think that is really the whole point in the first place. Look how much more attention RB's videos are getting as part of this whole cycle of (relatively mild) Internet outrage. We should just keep these things compartmentalized as what they are. They're designed to provoke some thoughts about music and grab some attention and we should probably just leave it at that.

[dropforge]

[Mister Triscuits]

^ I don't understand how he could proclaim that song the #1 greatest keyboard intro of all time, present a recreation of the part, and not bother to find out the name of the original organist.

[Batchman]

Wow. I've played that Whiter Shade of Pale piece must be hundreds of times (for my own amusement) and I had to go and make sure I wasn't making the same mistake that Matthew Fisher pointed out. Kind of challenging to do it without bass pedals, though. And playing back the original recording I noticed some passing chromatic tones in the bass part that I'd never been aware of before.