I grew up on Hiphop music but I've recently been branching out into other genres because of a frustration with the current style of Rap thats coming out as well as music in genereal.

I see a lot of people hold ignorant or uninformed opinions about Hiphop music and obviously never heard any or much of artists or groups such as

Zion I
O.C.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth
Mr. Lif
Pharcyde
Masta Ace
Eric B. & Rakim
MF Doom
Outkast
Ras Kass
Heltah Skeltah
Non-Phixion
Dead Prez
Brother Ali
Talib Kweli
early Mos Def
Blackstarr
Pharoahe Monche
early Nas
Boogie Down Productions
KRS-One
Wu Tang Clan
GZA
Ghostface Killah
RZA
Atmosphere
EL-P
Tech N9ne
Ill Bill
C-Rayz-Walz
Immortal Technique
Jean Grae
J. Dilla
Madlib
Oh No
Peanut Butter Wolf
Chino XL (he has some amazing conceptual songs)
Blu & Exile (VERY good debut album from them)


and so on and so on

Please keep in mind that Hiphop is far greater then what you see on MTV or hear random 16 year olds blasting in their cars daily, a lot of people actually do/did take an artistic approach to the music.

[edit on 20-11-2007 by Fo Shiggadee]

Music has died, except for a few good bands spreading the word (Megadeth!) The 60's and 70's were the golden ages of music. The NWO is speed fooding us this crap they call music and is trying to bury the real music where no one can find it.

[edit on 28-12-2007 by Mustainez]

Hello all. Great thread so far. I have to raise the point, and please forgive me if it has been raised thus far, isn't all music subjective? As the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder". I can remember being something of a music snob, an elitist, on who held bands with simple 4/4 timing signatures in disdain. Eventually, meeting new friends and with experimenting with some music myself, I came to really appreciate the emotion and soul behind a stripped down, acoustic performance. It's just really hard for me to get behind saying, objectively, this genre or tune is better than that one. It's all subjective.

With that being said, I have a large and varied musical interest. I'd like to share a few of my favorites with everyone on the board. Dragonforce, David Allen Coe, Johnny Cash, CCR, Korpiklaani, MF Doom, Neil Young, Hank Williams III, Muse, Evile, and Opeth just to name a few. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the different artists named earlier.

My Personal Opinion

All music sucks except Miishgoos's one man band "Live in some city" available for free on the internet for the low low price of free (Joking)

In all seriousness music isn't all that good these days with a few notable exceptions but thats just the way she goes because the kids probably love these newer horrible type acts out there.

The competition to be successful in the music industry nowadays is enormous so theres not enough time to experiment with new types of music, (unless your established and successful), bands have to play along with the general theme and alter it ever so slightly.
And for the other genres of music, its just about pleasing consumers, it seems like more effort is based around producing and making the beep noises rather than creating sound lyrics and a good rhythmn, artists have to knock out songs as quick as they can, it would appear.

Some good viewpoints there Doc, and you beat me to it.

But might I also add that as the music industry changes (evolves?), it does so in that the musician or band has more control of their music, resorces, and content then ever before. Gone are the days when an up and coming band was forced to go through "Label Hell", which is perfectly explained in Steve Albini's essay, "The Problem With Music". The major Labels no longer have the stranglehold over what we hear thanks to the internet, and the drop in CD sales every year reflect that. The musicians are clueing in to the fact that they dont need the Labels, or the big ones anyways to be successful.

And while you touched on it Doc, its relevant to note that a home based computer DAW (Reason Rewired through Cubase here thank you) is a much cheaper purchase than a week in a professional recording studio with a pro engineer. Learning to mix and master professionally yourself only adds to your arsenal of tricks as a musician. And for me, it beats sending my music to some faceless Mastering guy who probobly sits through the music ambivalently while sporking his KFC.

And while this is all good; ironicaly, its also injecting the internet with gobs of mediocre to bland to out right underproduced bad low-fi skronk you have to filter through to get to the good stuff. But its there. Great music will always be there, and the bands and artists you see in the future will be pleased that you bought their MP3 ticket at their show, to be downloaded for free by you later, knowing that the money is deservedly theirs, and not put into the pockets of some big Label beancounter.

My 2 pesos.

First I want to point out that I am 17 years old. I am in that range of people who listen to this kind of music and to be honest with you, I hate all the publicity that Britney Spears gets and I agree that singers now have no talent. I am not trying to use any hostility towards anyone, but let's look at rap first. There is no real music. People sit behind turntables and mixers and make beats for people to "sing to." The rappers themselves just talk fast, rhyme, and talk about how much money they have and all the (excuse the expression) "b*tches that want them." There are some exceptions to this rule, I understand that, but the majority of rap is like this.
Most of the youth now listen to that kind of "music". Don't get me wrong though. I am a fan of Steve Vai, Eric Johnson and people like that as well as the really heavy metal musicians such as Dethklok, In Flames, and Slayer. I love heavy music the most out of any other genre. (I also play guitar, so I am, in a way, biased.) Heavy music is just the same as everything else though. It is all about being more evil or Satanic now. Not very many people actually care about the music anymore.
This was probably the last thing I would have excpected to see on ATS short of "Look at my new pet bunny" or something like that, but it strikes up an amazing amount of conversation. I will state again that I am only 17, so here you have it. The opinion of someone from the generation that killed music.

Kudos to the thread host.

DTOX X

music has not died! All I gotta say is...
THE MARS VOLTA!
Some of the only musicians actually furthering the future of music and the only real way to describe their sound is a donkey choking a waffle with its hooves...
but for the genre enslaved you could say its a big kettle of latin, psych, dub, reggae, punk, jazz, progressive...
pretty much every song is made for the sake of creating a beautiful song, not album fillers!

sometimes their sound calls of zep, king crimson, la fania all stars, mr bungle, although one could never say they are imitators...I strongly suggest you listen, but be forwarned...the music contains many boobytraps for the untrained listener...

The good music exists, it's just not being pushed in the media like it was some time ago.

Most MS music does suck these days. It's kinda sad really...

I think that the way to go if you want real passion in your music is to head to the industrial/ebm/powernoize scene.

While sometimes it can be a pain with the occaisional ubers, the music really gets to you.

You want to be uplifted - check out some VNV nation.
You want to feel a little down - whack on some Assemblage 23.
Wanna freak out - Throbbing Gristle/Skinny Puppy.
Wanna dance like a nutter - whack on some powernoize - I don't even know the names of most of the stuff I have in this genre - it's off of friends itunes.

At the end of the day you know that the music is heartfelt and real.

And remember kids - there's one man who can cover all moods:

Andy LaPlegua

The holy trinity of Combichrist, Panzer AG and Icon Of Coil...

Just my thoughts.

Peace,

MSP

Hi there i'm josh, I just wanna say I completely agree on modern music being depressingly bad, I would like to try and bring back good music for everyone, well i dunno, check out my myspace if you want, www.myspace.com/jooshuaolivier , thanks

Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music, any old way you choose it. It's got a back beat you can't lose it, any ol' way you choose it. Gatta be rock and roll music...

every now and then I hear some decent stuff today, but I cant tell Chimpan-A from Chimpan-Z

I get offended when all the old farts go on and on about how there is no good music anymore, and the 60s and 70s were some type of "golden age".

Guess what this golden age was a myth. There was just as many BS crap out there as there is today. It wasnt remembered just like the modern equivelent wont be either.

Music is different now. You have to search out for music, its not spoon fed to you like it used to be.

there is plenty of awesome music out there but youll never hear it. I dont know one person who even listens to the radio.

The proliferation of cheap recording gear and the internet has made more bands accesible then ever. You just have to find it, and if you dont want to look, music must not really be that important to you and if thats the case just shut up and stop complaining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!