# Real music died in the 1970s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 13, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199 "2021-06-13T23:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/383 "2021-06-30T16:44:17Z")
I was unaware Sonny Rollins died in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/384 "2021-07-01T03:00:47Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The raag police will not come and get you (unless I tip them off 🙂 , but it will not sound like a raag. Hehe, yeah, I noted this in my post. Similarly, if I wanted to substitute a I-III-V for I-IV-V, people are going to look at me strange if I say it’s the blues. > [@DPRK](#): > > called “The Worst Genre of Music”, which does not offer any answer, either, but mentions the possibility of calling it “aristocratic music” to “emphasize the power dynamics that shaped it.” I kind of think there’s no great term besides “18th-19th Century Aristocratic Styled Music”, but as that wonderfully cartooned vid notes, that leaves folks like Stravinsky in an odd “20th Century Composer” slot that is just about as unsatisfying as “Classical Music”. “Classic Twelve-Tone”, maybe? They could come up with a neat pattern to represent the style and everything. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/385 "2021-07-10T17:20:24Z")
Billy Strings and Marcus King put the lie to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/386 "2021-07-10T22:36:35Z")
Real music died in 1828, with the death of Franz Schubert. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/387 "2021-07-11T12:52:10Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Seriously, there’s a ton of great music since 1980. If you like metal, and I do, we are living in its golden age. And that’s just one example. Aye; the last 20 years have been the best for metal. The scene has just been amazing and shows no signs of slowing down. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/388 "2021-07-11T15:18:07Z")
I was listening to a Claypool Lennon Delirium album this afternoon and thought about this thread. There’s definitely good new music happening. It’s just that I don’t encounter it on the mainstream radio but only get acquainted with it via word of mouth. That was always perhaps 70-85% the case but now it’s 99% true. Good new music seems less likely to get airplay than good new music did 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/389 "2021-07-11T18:59:25Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Good new music seems less likely to get airplay than good new music did 40 years ago. Yeah, that’s definitely true. Part of that is because the radio formats calcified in the 80s/90s. I can find lots of good new music on the local college and non-profit stations. I can even find good new music that would fit into one of the formats that commercial radio settled on. But large commercial radio stations don’t seem to be willing to take much in the way of risks. They don’t seem to put a new artist on the playlist unless an independent promoter is paying them. I’ve heard bands on the radio who were on labels run by people I know well. When I asked how that happened, he admitted that it happened because he paid an indie to get it there. He’d done it as an experiment to see if it was worth it. It wasn’t, and he figured it wouldn’t be unless he had enough money to saturate at least a metro region and make the song popular enough through repeated plays that it would get played without him having to pay for it. An article with some details on how independent promoters work: > **['Nobody Is Scrutinizing This': How Labels Pay to Get Songs on the Radio](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/pay-for-play-how-labels-pay-songs-radio-871457/)** > > Following our previous investigation, radio-industry vets report that the number of indie promoters demanding pay-for-play is growing. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/390 "2021-07-11T19:12:10Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I find this to be an incredibly strange comment. I can easily tell the difference between late 90s, early 00s pop (Britney, N-Sync, Backstreet, etc) and current stuff. Yes, Arianna and early 00s Brittney sound very different - and that’s not even getting into Billie Eilish. And Drake or Migos sounds nothing like Tupac or B.I.G. Even Kendrick Lamar who idolizes Tupac doesn’t sound like Tupac. > > One clear distinction (to me) is that electronica has become more integrated in pop/rap, etc. Early 00s used synths, but it generally seems they really wanted to make sure you knew it. > [@Jophiel](#): > > Very much yes. It’s great when artists do innovative shit that moves the genre, etc. It’s also perfectly fine by me when artists put out a song that’s fun to sing in the car. > > As a shower thought, it occurred to me that we’ve been making rock/pop for something like 65 years now and at an ever increasing rate. Maybe there just isn’t that much “new” left without firmly leaving the boundaries of what we consider rock/pop music. In which case, blaming today’s artists for not being as innovative as [early group] is like blaming a modern explorer for not finding any new trade routes like that Marco Polo fellow used to do. Since my previous post, I decided to listen to some Billie Eilish, to see if I was dismissing her music as being no different than others from the past 20 years. I agree that I didn’t find a ready comparison from the usual suspects during that time period. What I did notice is that her music seems to be more descended from / evolved from Leonard Cohen’s music. Different than the usual stuff, but not brand new revolutionary. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/391 "2021-07-11T22:56:17Z")
I will admit that chart music has been particularly woeful in the last few years. I tried listening to the top songs on spotify and stopped when I noticed that 3 in a row had exactly the same, very basic, latin drum pattern (boom…cha-boom-cha) and silly electronic voice. So the charts are a wasteland but of course there’s lots of great music out there. I love classic rock as one among many forms of great music…how incredibly dull it must for people like the OP to have such a limited palate that they can only enjoy this one taste. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/392 "2021-07-12T01:59:59Z")
I’m just hoping the OP comes back to reconsider his Christopher Cross thing. I mean, quite the cross to die on… ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/393 "2021-07-12T03:34:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > {…} 3. “Love’s Theme,” Love’s Unlimited Orchestra (who??) Barry White’s back-up ~~band~~ Orchestra. > **[The Love Unlimited Orchestra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Unlimited_Orchestra)** > > The Love Unlimited Orchestra was a 40-piece string-laden orchestra formed by American singer Barry White, and serving as a backing unit for White and for female vocal trio Love Unlimited. From the early 1970s on, they also recorded several singles and albums under their own name. > The orchestra was originally formed in 1972 to back White's female vocal group Love Unlimited for their debut album. The following year they began supporting White for his solo debut, I've Got So Much to Give. > Their ... Despite writing it he didn’t take credit (I assume because he didn’t sing.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/394 "2021-07-16T18:18:07Z")
Real classical music died in the 1870s. Well, except for Sibelius and Gershwin. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/395 "2021-07-16T20:15:30Z")
Real blues died when they came up with the 12 bar form! (No, I’m not willing to look up when that was for the sake of a joke.) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/396 "2021-07-17T03:32:08Z")
Leave it to a brilliant video game like Fallout 4 to show me that lots of pre 60s music rocks. This game has a radio mode and users make music mods for it. Two station mods, Mix 96 and Old Time Radio, have tons of great songs going back to the 30s and 40s. Songs I had never heard before. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2HlK96kSNt0/hqdefault.jpg "Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan - Stone Cold Dead In The Market (He Had It Coming)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HlK96kSNt0) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fFcE_hMJciQ/hqdefault.jpg "THE EVERLY BROTHERS Burma Shave") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFcE_hMJciQ) [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YJsa0OfWcGA/hqdefault.jpg "Ella Fitzgerald - Manhattan") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJsa0OfWcGA) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CJ-CizLw1Lo/maxresdefault.jpg "Pig Foot Pete 1944 Soundie The Dinning Sisters 1080P HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ-CizLw1Lo) [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PjgqQcKE3DY/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLBJkV7ypg96_k0WGM04zCaHMLDeww "Bing Crosby And The Andrew Sisters, "Pistol Packin' Mama"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjgqQcKE3DY) [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VEyDNTLlRgU/hqdefault.jpg "Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye - Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo) 1948") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEyDNTLlRgU) The encouraging thing is that most of us have heard less than 1% of music ever recorded. There is a ton of great stuff to discover. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/397 "2021-07-17T05:02:15Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > The encouraging thing is that most of us have heard less than 1% of music ever recorded. There is a ton of great stuff to discover. Oh god, and it never ends. There’s probably more music recorded every day today than there was in any single year in the 1940’s, even though I love the sound of the era - and yeah, Fallout and others are probably serving the same function as “golden era radio” programs served when I was young, driving around in my car, and searching for anything interesting. Since I’ve encountered songs I was unaware of from that era by discussing it with persons who were much younger than myself and they had found them through that venue, I thank the curators of those video game stations with the upmost humility for it. Oh, and 12 tone (thanks @DPRK , I’m addicted to them, probably because I love cartoonish doodles) has a nicely ordered and phrased vid on why today’s music isn’t more boring than the previous generation’s was. Yeah, I’m not super enthused by his examples, but he’s working with pop examples, mostly. He still touches on why it simply isn’t that useful to focus on that. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tODG4Xt45bU/maxresdefault.jpg "No, Today's Music Isn't Boring (A Response To Rick Beato)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODG4Xt45bU) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199.md?page=19)