and he thought music was better THEN??? Christ, it's worse than I thought.

Comments like the one that predicated this thread are what seperates Music Consumers from Music Lovers.

The notion that songwriting talent/whatever you want to call it, has markedy dropped off since "arbitrary point in history" has always meant (to me), that: you're simply not trying hard enough to find the good stuff -or- you found your version of the best thing ever (so, the Stones) and you'll never be as satisfied with anything else other than that favorite band.

I mean, you could probably make a very solid case that Bach or Beethoven are the best there ever will be, depending on the lenses you're evaluating things through.

I'd like to think that there's always something amazing out there that I haven't had the opportunity, patience, knowledge, etc. to hear. And besides, absolutist opinions really don't do much for me, other than to help me further along my own thought process.

I'd probably think this too if I relied on the radio to tell me what "new" music is. Radio, MTV and E! Entertainment are absolutely awful and a terrible way to find new music but I think that's where most people hear it nowadays. Having said that, I'll second the idea that people that say today's music isn't as good as it used to be probably wouldn't like the good new stuff anyway. If you're really into Boston and Bob Seger, you probably won't like a lot what gets discussed on here.

I'm with Hot Rod on this one. I would go one further, in that the music I had when I was growing up was utter crap compared to the music of ten years earlier.

Couldn't disagree more. Once upon a time, the only way you learned about decent music was if you lived within 20 miles of a decent college station or you subscribed to fanzines. You only acquired decent music if you lived in a large city with decent record stores, or you mail-ordered everything.

Everything's available on eBay, Half, or Amazon. Good music has never been more accessible, IMHBSIO.

a hearty razz

Imho, One always has the benefit of time when evaluating "older" music. Thus, the songs that have been around have withstood the test of time. Another way to look at it could be that the newer music that one hears may not be to ones' liking at first, but over time, the song and or genre grows on you and becomes more "acceptable"

As far as Older music being better than new, I would like somebody to pick an old song that is/was considered to be one of the "best" of the period.

Then pick a current song that one feels is one of the best from todays current crop.

Then we should evaluate it. tear it apart. Lyric for lyric, melody for melody, note for note, and lastly talent for talent.

I would venture to guess that yesterday's songs don't even come close to today's for sophistication in lyrics AND complexity of chords and music.

You can't tell me that the insipid lyrics of the Everly Brothers are as good as some of todays songs. And they were "good" musicians, still, it can't even compare.

Let's try it. I would love to be proved wrong.

The music boards today compared to the music boards I had when I was growing up is utter crap.

I recall making a comment during Listmania that any particular person's top 100 will probably be dominated by albums betweens between listmaker 15th and 25th birthday. There were exceptions, of course, but I think this theory held up pretty well. dnorwood spoke to that well RE: extra time plus pivotal life moments.

KPH said in his paragraph the only other thing I wanted to add. Damn him.

There is NO WAY to possibly say this better!!! I mean, I agree 100%!!!

People's passions are different. My wife's take on new music is that what's on most popular radio now is crud. She works six days a week and has two kids. She can't be bothered to "sift through the bullshit" just to hear some good tunes.

However, she's read every Ann Rule book ever written and will go into great detail about the brilliance of Vincent D'Onofrio's performance on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She can talk about grammar and dead languages for hours on end. She can discuss Red Sox until her seams burst and posts on Jerry Remy's Remdawg message board just about every day. People have their passions and sometimes music isn't as crucial.

She likes music and has pretty good taste when she bothers to pay attention, but I have to make her mixes in order to get her to pay attention. She listens to them in her truck on the way to work. After awhile she becomes aware of about 3 or 4% of what I'm interested in and we stay happily married and shit.

TV- the opiate of the masses.