# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/81 "2021-06-14T18:24:39Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You joke, but the OP stans for frigging Christopher “ _Moon and New York City_ ” Cross, I mean, Cross was talented. He’s not memorable. I would challenge anyone to explain how Christopher Cross, who was a talented musician and sold a billion albums forty years ago, is in any way superior to Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, or Ed Sheeran, all of whom are talented musicians who write their own songs. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/82 "2021-06-14T18:26:24Z")
It’s a great album. It was at the time, and it still is. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/83 "2021-06-14T18:26:58Z")
Because his lyrics are inane and his voice is insipid. Ermm, not that I’m an Ed Sheeran or Beyonce fan, either. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/84 "2021-06-14T18:37:06Z")
Maybe I should just get over it, but it sure as hell grinds my gears when people talk about “music” when they really mean “the subset of music which includes pop and rock and rap and country, produces 3-to-5 minute songs that show up on albums and and charts, and is sure as hell not performed by orchestras”. I don’t know if there’s an overall term for that whole “genre” of music, but there’s plenty of other music being composed and performed all the time. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/85 "2021-06-14T18:47:08Z")
That’s a good list. Heck, I just bought tickets to see Chvrches in concert (yay, live music is coming back!) and that Scottish band was formed in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/86 "2021-06-14T18:48:37Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I don’t know if there’s an overall term for that whole “genre” of music “[Popular music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_music)” (as opposed to “pop music” seems to cover it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/87 "2021-06-14T18:48:58Z")
Jealous. Also I take it you’ve seen [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U_LhzgwJ4U)? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/88 "2021-06-14T19:01:38Z")
This is ridiculous. There is no boomer secret police. You can listen to whatever you want. Taylor Swift and Beyonce are not toiling in a gulag, they are wealthy stars with a gigantic young fanbase. The rise of social media, Youtube, spotify, etc has made music more accessible than at any point in human history. And once again, the whole boomer/gen x/millenial concept is a crock of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/89 "2021-06-14T19:03:43Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I mean, I can make a post like [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/38), where 70% of the artists listed are _extremely_ current, and … nobody cares. Are you complaining that nobody "Like"d that particular post, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/90 "2021-06-14T19:06:02Z")
Baroness is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/91 "2021-06-14T19:08:00Z")
I’m not _complaining_, I’m _observing_ that most anything that isn’t coded as obvious Old White Man music sinks like a stone. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/92 "2021-06-14T19:09:22Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > For the o.p., there is arguably a greater diversity and quality of new music in virtually any genre you can name today readily available to the consumer than any time in history, and if you can’t find something you like it is probably for a lack of trying. This. There’s more good music easily available today than any time in history. If you can’t find any, you’re either not trying very hard or your tastes of truly become petrified and your mind is shut tight. And, yeah, pop radio blah blah blah. It’s insanely easy to dig a little deeper than pop radio. > [@digs](#): > > Did you just “This Fellow” the incomparable Rick Beato? The guy can introduce you to new music, or show you why a classic rock or jazz or metal or hip hop song is awesome, and show you WHY you like it. He dissects what each instrument is doing, the key changes, the music theory (now I know about myxolodian mode), and why the singer did that thing… He also periodically “reacts” to songs on the pop charts. He likes a lot of it. > [@RickJay](#): > > OutKast is ten times better than the Allman Brothers. And a thousand times better than Christopher Cross. Who trots him out when talking about the pinnacle of music? > [@Princhester](#): > > As I said, the study to which I was referring was not a matter of someone offering a half-assed subjective opinion. It was based on data. And we should care…why? When music outside of the pop charts is so easy to find, this study is mildly interesting, but pretty trivial. People need to stop trotting it out in order to prove music sucks today. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/93 "2021-06-14T19:13:05Z")
My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with numerical data! 😠 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/94 "2021-06-14T19:25:14Z")
Btw, in addition to being a long standing member of this board, I also participate in Twitter threads about pop music. The contrast is striking. On Twitter current pop music is a huge topic while songs from more than say ten years ago are rarely mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/95 "2021-06-14T19:29:30Z")
I’m digging the modern-day metal bands like Baroness and Mastodon. Or for that matter, the more melodic death metal like (can’t believe I’m saying this) Dethklok. What the OP is getting at is that there don’t seem to be _rock_ bands in the popular music scene anymore. They’re still out there, but they’re mostly kind of underground, like metal bands have almost always been. This is a huge change from the glory days of the Rolling Stones, hair metal bands, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/96 "2021-06-14T19:38:20Z")
Yeah, the days of rock gods buying their own airliners are over. But there are still guitar oriented bands out there, and a lot of them can fill a decent sized club. Also, the OP listed Christopher Cross and America, which are barely rock at all. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/97 "2021-06-14T19:41:45Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I mean, I can make a post like [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/38), where 70% of the artists listed are _extremely_ current, and … nobody cares. I actually remember that post and listen to maybe half of those but there wasn’t anything much to say at the time besides “Me too (x0.5)” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/98 "2021-06-14T19:44:28Z")
> Real music died in the 1970s Whaddaya think we got _now?_ **Wooden** music? Seriously–all styles of music are good music. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/99 "2021-06-14T20:26:25Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Also, the OP listed Christopher Cross and America, which are barely rock at all. The OP specifically indicated a desire to _chill out_, not to rock. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199/100 "2021-06-14T21:07:22Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Every. Single. Generation. has this argument and it amuses me when people who should know better perpetuate it. In the 1920’s people clutched their pearls over jazz and swing music. Frank Sinatra called rock music emerging in the 50’s as brutal, ugly, and degenerate. Disco was widely assailed. > > The 80’s had seminal artists: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, U2, Madonna, and Guns N Roses. > > This whole argument is silly. I know going in that I am highly likely (given that this is the Dope) to be misconstrued if not straw-manned to death for what I have to say (when I invariably fail to properly fold, spindle and/or mutilate my thoughts properly to everyone’s satisfaction), but I’ll try anyway. Maybe one day the old generation will be correct about the music of the new generation sucking? It’s bound to happen sometime, sooner or later. It isn’t guaranteed to always just be sour grapes combined with old fogeyism. A couple of posters touched on this above, but it didn’t spark any further discussion. For pretty much anything with any sort of broader public awareness/cachet the _diversity_ of sounds available has to be at an all-time low. For your perusal: [Billboard Top 200 Albums for 1971](https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1971-10-01). Yeah, Sturgeon’s Law certainly applies to this sample as it would be to any other, but hey if I am a listener at that point in time I can be very confident that I’ll find something I’ll like. The top 10 just by itself is massively diverse: soft rock (2 from popular TV shows of the time) to female art rock to prog to simple hard rock, and a soundtrack or two. OK, so today I have to do a little more digging, the radio isn’t going to deliver everything to me on a silver platter, and I do have tools and alternatives available to me that anybody in 1971 could only dream of. So I dig, and dig, and dig… And 99% of the time find something that was done better, often much better, by an artist 1-3 generations ago; if they’re not trying to slavishly ape someone more recent. The sheer mind-numbing derivativeness of so much of the 2nd/3rd tier stuff just becomes deeply enervating after awhile (don’t get me started on metal specifically). I’ll still try here and there, but if I find something that’s worth a DL just to fill out my collection it’s a rare find. Something that will become part of my upper-echelon pantheon? As rare as diamonds falling from the sky. For the last ten years I have found exactly one band which has done the latter trick for me, and I am just as likely to find something obscure from an earlier eon than I am from something recent (e.g. Fields of the Nephilim, and their peak hails from the late 80’s/early 90’s). [FTR my core predilections typically go in a vague neo-psych/progressive/gothic vein, so, while I do have a few dinosaurs in my pile, I am aware (thanks) of a lot of what the underground has attempted for lo these past 40 years] Annnd that is before we get into certain 21st-century underground trends which I utterly loathe, such as deliberately off-key vocals, by-design amateurish musicianship, cutesy tongue-in-cheek meta-antics which are pointedly designed to call attention to the performer’s ego, and on-purpose low fidelity mastering (be it that abominable “lo-fi” conceit and/or just overcompression in general). The core conceit there (wink wink nudge nudge) is a highly reactionary attitude towards earlier forms of music, an attempt to deconstruct it all en masse by purposely & oh-so-self-consciously doing the opposite of what those older bands did, just to show to the world just how “aware” and above it all you are now. These trends have so infected wide swaths of the underground scene it is rare to find an artist which attempts to buck them. Reading biographies of older bands the one thing I often take away is that they were determined to blaze their own trail, regardless of either the popular or critical reaction; while they certainly had their influences upon which they built their sound, there was little to none of this cloyingly-cute tongue-in-cheek meta crapola or slavish copying (tho there certainly have been exceptions for both trends stretching back to the early 60’s). Historically, this kind of meta-attitude typically has closely correlated with the vibrancy & relevance of the art form being deconstructed, or rather, I should say, the lack thereof… As long as people remain so undemanding & complacent on all these fronts (from musicianship to songwriting to production) that’s all we’re going to get, and popular music will continue its decline as a living & breathing art form. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-music-died-in-the-1970s/944199.md?page=6)