The Official "Music Was So Much Better in the Glorious Days of Yore" Thread

[The Batlord]

It's not my fault you don't get Ke$ha's greatness.

[Mucha na Dziko]

Wasn't Kesha cool, when I was like 14 (2014) or something?

[Mucha na Dziko]

I feel disconnected I think

[bob_32_116]

Alittle while ago, for some reason I forget, I had occasion to study the pop singles charts from 1974. I remember this as a good time in music, so I was surprised at how crap most of those charts seemed when I perused them. A few good songs - and a great deal of what I consider absolute tripe.

After a little thought the explanation hit me; at that time I was mostly listening to albums. Most of the "album artists" I was listening to, eg Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Webb, either did not issue singles
at all, or their singles did not sell in high volume, though the albums might have been popular.

Before Sgt Pepper, the album as a product was just not a thing, unless you were from the classical world or the jazz world. It was more just a handy way of bundling together a number of songs, more efficiently and cheaply than releasing them all as singles, and hence making for an attractive purchase.

[rubber soul]

Really, the last decent year for pop singles, or at least those that were pretty big hits, was 1972. Of course albums became the main form of quality music shortly after Sgt. Pepper. Before that (or at least before the Beatles and Dylan), the typical pop album would consist of one or two hits from the artist, a few covers, and maybe a few other songs from assorted songwriters. In the end, the only songs worth listening to would be the hits that you could have gotten on singles anyway.

[Mucha na Dziko]

Why 1972?

[rubber soul]

It's an opinion, obviously but, some quality singles we're able to sneak in among the pap you'd always find on pop charts. Anyway this was the Top twenty on Billboard in 1972

1 "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" Roberta Flack
2 "Alone Again (Naturally)" Gilbert O'Sullivan
3 "American Pie" Don McLean
4 "Without You" Harry Nilsson
5 "The Candy Man" Sammy Davis Jr.
6 "I Gotcha" Joe Tex
7 "Lean on Me" Bill Withers
8 "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" Mac Davis
9 "Brand New Key" Melanie
10 "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" Wayne Newton
11 "Let's Stay Together" Al Green
12 "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" Looking Glass
13 "Oh Girl" The Chi-Lites
14 "Nice to Be with You" Gallery
15 "My Ding-a-Ling" Chuck Berry
16 "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" Luther Ingram
17 "Heart of Gold" Neil Young
18 "Betcha by Golly, Wow" The Stylistics
19 "I'll Take You There" The Staple Singers
20 "Ben" Michael Jackson

Already not great, obviously, but you still had some decent singles by the likes of Don McLean, Nilsson, Bill Withers, Neil Young, The Stylistics, and the Staple Singers. If it were a baseball player, It'd be a decent batting average still.

Here are the top 20 for 1973

1. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" Tony Orlando and Dawn
2 "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" Jim Croce
3 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Roberta Flack
4 "Let's Get It On" Marvin Gaye
5 "My Love" Paul McCartney & Wings
6 "Why Me" Kris Kristofferson
7 "Crocodile Rock" Elton John
8 "Will It Go Round in Circles" Billy Preston
9 "You're So Vain" Carly Simon
10 "Touch Me in the Morning" Diana Ross
11 "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" Vicki Lawrence
12 "Playground in My Mind" Clint Holmes
13 "Brother Louie" Stories
14 "Delta Dawn" Helen Reddy
15 "Me and Mrs. Jones" Billy Paul
16 "Frankenstein" The Edgar Winter Group
17 "Drift Away" Dobie Gray
18 "Little Willy" Sweet
19 "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" Stevie Wonder
20 "Half-Breed" Cher

First off, the number one song? You have to be kidding. Yes, the quality is starting to really go down at this point. Stevie Wonder had a banner year with Innervisions, yet he can only get the no. 19 song of the year, and that from his previous album. Elton John charted high, but, let's face it, Crocodile Rock ain't Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Still, I see six decent songs that make this list, but then again, there's Playground In My Mind (Gah!)

And here is the mentioned year of 1974

1 "The Way We Were" Barbra Streisand
2 "Seasons in the Sun" Terry Jacks
3 "Love's Theme" Love Unlimited Orchestra
4 "Come and Get Your Love" Redbone
5 "Dancing Machine" The Jackson 5
6 "The Loco-Motion" Grand Funk Railroad
7 "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" MFSB
8 "The Streak" Ray Stevens
9 "Bennie and the Jets" Elton John
10 "One Hell of a Woman" Mac Davis
11 "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" Aretha Franklin
12 "Jungle Boogie" Kool & the Gang
13 "Midnight at the Oasis" Maria Muldaur
14 "You Make Me Feel Brand New" The Stylistics
15 "Show and Tell" Al Wilson
16 "Spiders and Snakes" Jim Stafford
17 "Rock On" David Essex
18 "Sunshine on My Shoulders" John Denver
19 "Sideshow" Blue Magic
20 "Hooked on a Feeling" Blue Swede

We're down to about four quality songs now and there is no Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, or even Paul McCartney and Wings, who actually scored big with his best effort, Band on the Run, that year (in fairness, that came in at No.22). The point being, the charts were showing less and less quality with each year passing, at least on the American charts, the low point hitting in 1975 and 1976. Even in the late seventies, we had to suffer through such legendary artists like Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers, etc. Heck, the most successful song of the seventies was You Light Up My Life to give you an idea. Yes, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles (for those fans anyway) we're commercially successful on the singles chart but it seemed like punk rock was passing the Americans by. When it did finally gain acceptance, it had been watered down to what was known as New Wave.

And that's how the seventies ended, folks.

[Mucha na Dziko]

Originally Posted by elphenor

btw when you can hear the autotune it's not an attempt mask anything anymore, it's an intended effect

Originally Posted by Mucha na Dziko

The autotune you’re thinking of is the form used by people with no skill nor taste.

Yeah, we agree that it exists as an effect-used-on-purpose

[Frownland]

Up next on the **** list: guitar distortion.

So as someone who’s a huge fan of music, i listen to whatever song that makes me happy whether it’s old, new or mainstream(though i prefer Indie/alternative).
It’s not because i wanna criticize or attack, but it irritates me when some people say that mainstream/modern music is nothing great compared to the old music and that music is dead because it. And i’m like “Shut up, please just shut up.”

Listen i totally agree that mainstream music/modern music has lost the the meaning of what music was all about back in the old days. But i’m not too dependent on the past, i wanna explore, find songs that makes me happy and be inspired. Music is not something you can discuss whether it’s good or not. You can share your opinions and thoughts about music, but taste in music will never be the same. What’s good music for some people might not be the greatest music for others. That’s what i’ve always been taught by my parents, to never discuss what music sucks or telling people that the music they listen to is bad compared to mine.

But we can’t agree in everything, so what do you think of mainstream/modern music?