# The utter state of music today...



## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

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https://soundcloud.com/charts%2Ftop

I checked the soundcloud rock charts to find these pieces of music on the top of the proper "Rock" charts.

What is this?
Do people even know what genres are anymore?
I'm honestly dumbfounded at how low music has fallen for straight hip-hop to start being considered Rock.

And don't get me started on Ed Sheeran.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Hello, I'm here just to post this meme. If I were honest, I would put Grampa Simpson yelling at a cloud, but this one today was too funny for me.


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## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

Granate said:


> Hello, I'm here just to post this meme. If I were honest, I would put Grampa Simpson yelling at a cloud, but this one today was too funny for me.


Miitomo is a dead meme


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*The utter state of music today... *?

Really?

Music is in the best shape it has ever been, today. We listeners have access to virtually everything, and in media which offer high quality playback and great convenience. And there are still hundreds of live music venues to visit, from the piano bar guy to the Rolling Stones on tour to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra … and plenty of other rock bands and orchestras, not to mention piano bar guys.

Hey, count us lucky to be alive today where we can enjoy music in ways previously unavailable and undreamt of.

And if you are one of those who lament that contemporary songwriting "aint what it used to be," so what? Enjoy the old stuff. Heck! If you are not interested in anything later than Hildegaard von Bingen you can enjoy some great performances of von Bingen's music.

As for me? I've never even started with Ed Sheeran. I couldn't name or identify one song by the fellow. And I don't care. I access hundreds of years of music by thousands of composers and tens of thousands of performers. I am one of those who has made it past Hildegaard von Bingen. But I also enjoy her music on occasion and wouldn't want to be without it. So maybe I don't even need Ed Sheeran. After all, Bach alone can keep me busy for some time combing through one of the two "Complete Works of J.S. Bach" in my collection. And besides Bach I have a collection of several thousand discs by classical, romantic, and modern "serious music" composers, and tons of stuff by jazz performers, rockers, and bluegrass players. And I'm not even turning yet to You-Tube or whatever "downloading" places are out there now. So much to listen to and enjoy.

So, stop whining and start listening. You only have a lifetime to do so, but there's more music than any one lifetime can keep up with, so good luck. Me? I'm content. As I type this I am listening over headphones to a Beethoven string quartet. It's a well-recorded performance by the Bamberger String Quartet. It's so invigorating it has made me forget about wondering who in the hell Ed Sheeran is!


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2018)

My advice would be not to use Soundcloud as an analysis of the populations' understanding of 'genre'. It's educating for those of us not following either the platform or the current state of "pop" to see how both old and new are mixed up, suggesting that "the charts" are no longer about the best-selling new, but merely what peeps are listening to.

The Radio 1 "official top 40" seems worse, where Queen's _Don't Stop Me Now_ is top of the rock listing. How old is that??


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## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> My advice would be not to use Soundcloud as an analysis of the populations' understanding of 'genre'. It's educating for those of us not following either the platform or the current state of "pop" to see how both old and new are mixed up, suggesting that "the charts" are no longer about the best-selling new, but merely what peeps are listening to.
> 
> The Radio 1 "official top 40" seems worse, where Queen's _Don't Stop Me Now_ is top of the rock listing. How old is that??


Well it isn't just that. 
I put on Bolero by Ravel, and one of my friends commented: "This sounds like Hawaiian Music"

I would reckon the harmonic/melodic banality so ubiquitous in modern music has caused listeners to be unable to identify music as easily.

It is strange, and a bit unnerving to see just how dead certain genres are in the eye of the mainstream.


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## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

SONNET CLV said:


> *The utter state of music today... *?
> 
> Really?
> 
> ...


This isn't about qualms with the music itself, but the inability of both the audience and performers to properly identify what genre their own music falls under.

Cool post, but ultimately futile considering you and I don't disagree on the topic you mentioned.


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2018)

I don't know anything about the listeners you're referring to - age, experience etc - but does it matter than they can't identify genre? I don't think so.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Wait a minute. How is one supposed to know which of these 50 tracks are hip-hop without them being pointed out? Who has the time to go through them all? Most of the ones I heard were not hip-hop at all. Plus, they sounded mostly like GarageBand amateur productions of originals and covers. I don't see how anyone can draw any conclusions from this list. Number 25, _My Chemical Romance_, actually sounded pretty good, and I wouldn't classify it as hip-hop. Music doesn't exist in a vacuum and it could be argued that the world itself seems to be deteriorating outwardly on the downward slope as the problem and not just the proper classification of rock songs.


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2018)

Larkenfield said:


> it could be argued that the world itself seems to be deteriorating outwardly on the downward slope as the problem and not just the proper classification of songs.


Why do songs need classifying? For you, so you can steer away from grime or hip-hop? I'm sure the majority of those avidly using the platform are having no difficulty at all.


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