Music is in a bad way...

[Legendsmith]

Mainstream music may be in a bad way at the moment, but if you delve a little deeper into any genre, you will find some diamonds in the rough.

Very True.

I'll now dump some of the best of Arjen A. Lucassen.
I love this composer. He hasn't disappointed me.
Not of course this depends on your tastes

(Note: the song titles I have listed here are the correct ones, sometimes the youtube videos are incorrectly titled.)

Starting with Star One, a side project of Arjen'n.
Each of these "space metal" songs is based off a different science fiction TV series, movie or book. Can you guess which is which?
Liftoff and Set your controls [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN6EUeg70Uw] I think a lot of people should get this one. (Liftoff is the the first track, Set you Controls the second. But the latter follows on from the first).
High Moon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKaJLtBrzE] - A good song
Songs of the Ocean [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooOOzreC1no]
Eye of Ra [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FpMo9JGlxo] - Even though i've never seen the movie this is based off, I still like it.
Sandrider [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPz30W2s4uQ] - ZionAtreides will get this one.
Perfect Survivor [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx6ic6iRPHM] - "I find it hard to escape it's attraction"
Intergalactic Space Crusaders [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD0JuJr0a4I] - The chorus in this soig is great.
Starchild [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbgWao5ucPQ] - Based of one of my favourite science fiction novels.


Another of Arjen's projects (this time a main one); Ayreon. These are from the album 01011001, b The album is a space opera spanning 2 discs. It links to all other albums in the Ayreon project, tying them all together (as it's the last). I haven't listed all the songs, just some of my favourites or notables.

Age of Shadows/We Are Forever [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIqRsl8Vm-Q] - The first Ayreon (and Arjen) song I heard, It captured my attention instantly. it starts of fast paced but then slows down in the middle just to pick up again towards the end. I have listened to this song over 300 times.

Comatose [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zj8ihXM4CM] - A much slower song, yet still great, to me it''s filled with longing. (Listened to this one over 155 times)

Ride the Comet [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS1OryN8UHk] - I listen to this one whenever I want a boost, it's fast paced and has a feeling of hope.


The Truth Is In Here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6foW8QXyUg] -This shows the diversity of music found in Ayreon and Arjen's music in general.

Unnatural Selection [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebHbuL3l12Q] - Just a good song; it has a hint of truth about it.

This last song in the album is The Sixth Extinction (there is a Fifth earlier in the album).
It's very long since it's almost 6 different songs.
it's full name is:
The Sixth Extinction: Echoes on the Wind/Radioactive Grave/2085/ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-tQTSDWFkI]To the Planet of Red/Spirit Of The Wind/Complete the Circle. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=albjITcm0ig]. This is my favourite song in the album, it brings together so much from the other songs as well as (I've heard) from other Ayreon albums. (It's divided into 2 parts on youtube due to it;s large size)

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

Ok, let me fix my own post: "that (my kind of metal and non-8 bit music) wasn't really available before the 90's"

That depends what kind of metal.
What kind of metal do you listen too?

well, mostly Folk and Power metal (examples: Alestorm and Sabaton), there may be some pre-90's bands that play that music(are there?), but i dont know any of them.

 

[gundargundar]

It seems that good bands are having a tougher time becoming big without being labeled as "sell-outs"
there are thousands of amazing artists out there

its just that the bands you hear are the bands that sold there souls to the auto-tuning gods of radio

 

[mrhockey220]

the new AIC album was epic!!! the next step in will be when the new soundgarden album comes out!

 

[Instinct Blues]

EDIT: Guys...please read the OP properly before posting. I am not suggesting that all music nowadays is crap, that it was better before, that there is nothing good out there or that the radio is the only place to find music.

I am asking if people think there are any truly influential and world changing artists to come along in the last ten years that can compare with the greats.


I have been switching off the radio very often recently as all I'm hearing is awful, autotuned nonsense and I'm sad over the state of mainstream music these days.

Every decade apart from the last one has given us tonnes of classic pop/rock artists that have had a huge, defining sound that rocked the world.

The 50s had.. well, you know who.

The 60s had the Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Hendrix, The Supremes, Beach Boys ect...

The 70s had Zeppelin, Bowie, Grateful Dead, Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, etc...

The 80s had Iron Maiden, Guns'N'Roses, The Who (also 70s), U2, Metallica, Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Springsteen, Run DMC etc ect

The 90s had Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Public Enemy, NWA, Radiohead, Prodigy, Bjork, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails etc...

In the naughties, in my opinion there was not one band or artist who came along and gave us such new, fresh, exciting world changing music as all of these wonderful musicians.

Some people may count Muse, Arcade Fire or Kings Of Leon, to that I say fair enough for Muse, but AF and KOL have not (to the best of my knowledge) had nearly the same cultural and musical influence as most of the big bands of the other decades.

Or am I wrong? Will you show me some good music to make me smile, Escapists? Something with some heart and soul that came out in the last few years, that could be potentially as world changing as the greats?

Prove me wrong and I will be happy!

The only reason you remember all those good acts and none of the bad from the previous decades is becaus looking back in retrospect people have sorted through all the shit. So all that we're left with from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s are the musical gems. Theres been shitty mainstream music since the very beginning I gurantee if you gave me a little time I could dig up all the mainstream shit from back in those decades especially the 80s. So if we end up looking back at the 00s twenty years from now I gurantee all the shit like Katy Perry, Kesha, Lady Gaga, etc. will be forgotten and all we'll be left with is the gems.

Also there are plenty of great bands today if anything this decade is the most diverse of any of them because with the advent of myspace and youtube its easier to get exposure and advertise yourself. You don't need a major record deal like you did back then to get anywhere or even to make your own record. So therefore bands have more creative control over what they make because they aren't worried about pleasing the big record executives.

List of bands from the 00s that were huge influences/ will be remembered fondly for their output looking back on it:
The White Stripes( I don't think any record label would have taken a chance on a two-piece band before they proved it could work)
Animal Collective
Radiohead( I know they got their start in the 90s but all their best stuff came out in the 00s)
Beach House
Crytal Castles
Arcade Fire
Vampire Weekend
etc.

 

[Wicky_42]

...

Rap has gone basically down the drain. It started as the biggest critique music after Lennon's death. It was the people living in the shit of the modern world literally saying "this is wrong, and you should fix it". It's degenerated into penis size contests and how many women you can get with the piles of money that you have. That being said, I find only one guy that I actually like, Eminem, just because he evades all that and prefers comedy/personal reflection.
...

For your personal enjoyment (and for more hope for the genre), check out Hilltop Hoods, an Aussie hip-hop group who have some amazingly powerful and interesting songs:

Spoiler: Stopping at all Stations

A poignant incident on a train line told from three perspectives.

Spoiler: Sentinel

A haunting nightmare journey into some crazy bar - one of those songs I can listen to again and again ^_^

Spoiler: Fifty in Five

A list of what we've been doing wrong all these years...

I don't like rap, but the Hoods are an exception to that rule. They have some more generic boasty songs, then they have some frank ones about their origins, their struggle n all that. Then they have their completely fictional stories that I just love - who else has rapped about the zompocalyspe?

Spoiler: Parade of the Dead

They have some magic rhyming licks that just seem to go on, creative music, a 'restrung' album backed by a small orchestra - there's just so much of interest there.

 

[Edorf]

00s had Brintey Spears, Madonna, Lady Gaga, [insert party music woman], [insert rapper with auto-tune]. These people made young girls all over the world dress up like whores and have an incredible bitchy attitude.

 

[CJ1145]

I guess I'm not accounting for taste when I say it, but it's no less fact that Gorillaz are bloody awesome and you deserve death if you don't like them.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I rather like this song.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Ben Nichols of Lucero and Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem appear to me to currently be the most influential musicians of present day. I think people will discover some of their music 20 years from now and realize how great they were as songwriters.

 

[baseracer]

I guess I'm not accounting for taste when I say it, but it's no less fact that Gorillaz are bloody awesome and you deserve death if you don't like them.

I like Feel good inc and Clint Eastwood. Blur is better.

OP, listen to Muse before The resistance. Or listen to Rise Against.

 

[Agent_Nahmen_Jayden]

Or am I wrong? Will you show me some good music to make me smile, Escapists? Something with some heart and soul that came out in the last few years, that could be potentially as world changing as the greats?

Prove me wrong and I will be happy!

Try these guys out:

Spoiler

I've known about Poets of the Fall since early 2009 and it baffles me how they aren't famous yet (in America and maybe other places). Of course, that is my opinion, maybe you don't like them.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

I think the problem is more that the changes in the industry have steered the great musicians out of the limelight. With the music industry desperately trying everything it can to prevent is destruction, major labels like EMI won't take artists on board who aren't willing to sell their souls in order to make a profit. As a result, all the really great bands are turning to indie labels, who simply don't have the financial power to market their bands and put them on the radio.

To sum up, great bands are still out there, they are just harder to find.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

No, not really. I was going to mention the Smashing Pumpkins, who've been getting really good lately, but they've been around for decades.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Try these guys out:

Spoiler

I've known about Poets of the Fall since early 2009 and it baffles me how they aren't famous yet (in America and maybe other places). Of course, that is my opinion, maybe you don't like them.

Fantastic band, did you know 2 of thier songs are featured in Alan Wake?

 

[MiracleOfSound]

*snip*

You'll probably disagree with me, but The Killers were totally in that decade, with no autotune at all.

.

Good band. Mr Brightside and Somebody told me are amazing songs... I quite enjoyed the new stuff on thier myspace page too.

 

[Agent_Nahmen_Jayden]

Try these guys out:

Spoiler

I've known about Poets of the Fall since early 2009 and it baffles me how they aren't famous yet (in America and maybe other places). Of course, that is my opinion, maybe you don't like them.

Fantastic band, did you know 2 of thier songs are featured in Alan Wake?

I knew from the War music video, I hope we see more of their music in video games in the future. I love at least 3-5 songs on every album they put out it seems, while with other artists it's more of a maybe 1 song from a single album thing.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

I think the real problem is the internet. Now that it's use is so commonplace we find bands taking advatage of it and posting their music for everyone to hear. In the past, if you wanted to be heard you had to demonstrate enough talent and a broad enough appeal to get signed by a label. Now, people can just make a Myspace page to post their crappy music and then they spam it at people until they have an audience. It just means niche styles are gettting more exposure.

The internet has helped new musical styles and smaller bands gain popularity and influence each other faster then ever, especially bands that don't have the money to get their music out there easily. It's helped cut down the many arbitrary barriers (money, can't find fans locally, and your band isn't big enough to reach out to other listeners, stuff like that) and got closer to the core of what it all should be about: The music.

And enough talent and appeal to get on a label? Is that how we judge the value of music, whether it gets on a label or not? Labels, especially mainstream ones, are generally interested in making money, not putting out good music. Sure, there are those moments when something can be highly artistic, influential, and original while still being profitable, but generally you are going to have labels going after target demographics and trying to advertise and sell certain sounds by associating them with specific lifestyles. For example, listen to punk and your a fucking rebel man!!! Fight the mainstream and buy a shirt that says "fuck" on it from us and listen to this crazy music, even though it's lost touch with all the ideals it claims to be all about.