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

[Frownland]

Originally Posted by Marie Monday

Anyway, of course quality isn't objective. But the opinions people have about quality are universal enough for us to effectively consider it more or less objective (if not across the entire world, at least within smaller, culturally similar communities).

You can definitely note trends (and have an incredibly interesting conversation in the process; elph makes a good albeit americocentric point on funding for example), but that's not quite an objective measure of quality, it's a reflection of communal preferences. Breaking those "objective" parameters of quality implies that the result would be poor quality music when in reality it can go either way. Plus with art being more or less created by individuals, communal preferences don't have a 1:1 influence on the standards by which artists operate (though there's obviously a component of social influence on the artist; they are a part of the community after all).

As far as the music objectivity caricature goes, I tend to think those making that case are insecure about their taste in music clashing with others', so they point to critic consensus and notions of objectivity to validate the thing they enjoy in the face of "teh beatles sux lol".