Music is in a bad way...

[Disaster Button]

Well I'd say Lady Gaga has made quite an impact on music today even if I don't listen to her all that often.

Someone I really like, who've also made a good impact, would be Goldfrapp. They began around the beginning of the 2000s and always pre empt the current musical tastes with albums focusing on Elecronica, Folk, Glam Rock, 80s Synth and always showing creativity with lyrics, music and live shows. They've influenced quite a lot of people today but still manage to stay under the radar for the most part which is a real shame.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The era you grow up in influences your tastes, so when music "evolves" you'll completely hate what's new. That's the whole thing with "losing your edge".
Basically, shush. You're a tornado of bullshit right now.

Cut the attitude there buddy, no need for that.

Also, you're wrong. I wasn't even alive in the 60s and 70s, so it's not nostaligia. Personal taste maybe, but certainly not due to being 'influenced by the time I gre up in'.

 

[Aerodynamic]

karnivool is pretty badass imo.

Eff yes!


Stop looking at the radio man! Look for good music elsewhere!

Amplifier is amazing

As is Oceansize.


Them Crooked Vultures if you are looking for a good ol rock sound.


Mclusky if you want some Noise Rock.

Then there is most of Queens of the stone age's work from which is like all of their albums.

And truth be told, I think Muse is fucking awful.

 

[oceanwavezero]

Just start listening to college radio, where the DJs are more likely to play indie stuff with more diverse genre range and likely things you hadn't heard of yet.

If you give a @#$% about cultural impact you're listening to it for the wrong reason.

 

[Der Kommissar]

This does need to be settled again!

 

[IkeGreil29]

You know, the 'noughties' still has Radiohead, Mogwai and a plethora of other amazing bands. Just stop listening to the radio, or listen to a different station.

The Spice Girls and Boyzone were huge in the 90s. Is that any consolation?

To you, maybe, but down here in Mexico, the only thing ion the radio is either American crap or Mexican oligopoly-made crap. Sure, there are many good true musicians out there, but I think the point of this topic, and my deep fear, is that, for many people, radio is their primary source of new music, and that means that good music is truly dying.

Word, man. Mexican radio sucks balls.

But at any rate, to stay on topic, I'd say it is bad in a lot of ways. For example, Reggeton is just music that puts women as objects of sexual pleasure and is really just an excuse for supposedly sexy dancing, not to mention the fact that it is influencing how many young children (not even teens) think about how they dress and should be.

I'm a big fan of Metal, and I will agree that Metal isn't exactly the best influence immediately, but it is a much more constructive and well done genre. We can actually get a meesage from it, other than "sex". It also has some very good bands and performers, such as A7X, Godsmack, Slipknot, KoRn, SOAD (and all the subsequent bands), et al. Problem is, even this genre is being corrupted by utter crap such as Pop Metal. Not to mention several of the previously good bands are now sinking in just like the Titanic (eg, Metallica).

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.

Rock is pretty much dead. Only the occasional Indie band, such as Kasabian, Charlotte Hatherley, The Nerd Follia and my personal favourite Ash (excellent bands, by the way) actually manage to put out stuff worth listening to. I've reflected on this a lot, and can tell you that it's precisely the fact that they're indie what separates them from the others, becaue they aren't being pressured by the labels to give 3-4 good songs in a single album and expect it to sale so well you could potentially make a bridge to the moon with all the sales.

And what can be said of pop, other than that they are literally the biggest whores in the business? Most of them write the music, and then bow down to the record label's demands, or just wait for the record label to give them the music and they slap on the lyrics they came up with that one time that they were constipated on the toilet and had nothing to do...

Punk is in a weird state. You can still find the original anarchists that drove the genre to what it came to be known, but you have to dig through all the Pop Punk to find the gems. Even Green Day sold out (even if only a tad) with 21st Century Breakdown... But there still is quality there, such as The Offspring.

 

[-Samurai-]

I forgot to mention another band(solo side project) that has been great to me in the 2000s.

The Prize Fighter Inferno.
Classified as acoustic/electronica.

Once again Claudio Sanchez(of Coheed and Cambria) is singing, so it's an acquired taste.

Spoiler: Who Watches The Watchmen?

 

[soniceric]

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

Iron Maiden started in the 70s. But I agree with you, even though I love the Killers

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

I think the reason why so much main stream music sucks now (excluding Sturgeons Law, which is that 90% of everything is crap) is that the music industry has found it much easier to make money by taking a teenager, trump them up so they become a "star" no matter how talented they actually are, maybe give them a TV show first (the Disney model) reap in the profits, and throw them out as soon as the sales and popularity drop.

 

[silentrob77]

QOTSA
Them Crooked Vultures
Cage The Elephant
Rise Against
The Cancer Bats
K-OS
Anamanaguchi
Avenged Sevenfold
Bedouin Soundclash

I could go on. Music is still alive and kicking my friend

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Radio... Nay
Good music... Yay

We don't hear them on the radio, but we have:

Gotthard
Edguy
Avantasia
In This Moment

 

[Imat]

Guster. Not really heard on the radio too often, in my experience, but they've got good songs, in my opinion.

 

[Fellwarden]

Scar Symmetry started in the 2000s. Soilwork started in '95, but didn't really start to develop their current sound before A Predator's Portrait in 2001. I can't be bothered to find more examples, but I disagree with you. I think a lot of great music has been made in the 2000s, by "old" bands as well as new.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Music is a personal choice/taste and isn't something that can be defined from one person to the next as it is perception not fact.
That being said, there are plenty of "new" bands. But it all depends on what you listen to.

 

[cheese_wizington]

I'd usually go into my normal Aussie hip-hop tyrade but I'm sick of that now.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

All music has some influence. Bieber and Cyrus are probably trying to be like their favorite artist in some way, and the companies that tell them what to sing are basing it off of far more successful artists. It's a corrupted mockery of what influence should be, but it's still there.

edit:
Okay, I just listened to a Bieber song(that probably makes you win by some default) for the first time. Obviously, he was influenced by a lot of R&B artists. Probably Usher considering their relationship. And R&B, Hip-Hop, and the other influences of Usher can be traced back a long way.

But thats just it. Hes just emulating. An influence is more than just "what something sounds like." To cite classical as an influence, all you need to use is counterpoint or structured (rather than improvised) composition. You don't need to use a clarinet or a violin or record Chopin adapted to electric guitar.

 

[HereForFreeFood]

What about Radiohead? There is tons of good music out there, but some people are so nostalgic ( for things that were big in times they probably didn't even live in ) that they 1)don't open themselves up to new music, 2) Don't try to find new music they like or 3)maybe you just know of all things musically excellent, so no new music is amusing to you.

 

[Del-Toro]

You do realize that there was music before the 50s right? Man didn't acquire the gift of tune from Elvis and his swinging hips, after all. I still like the old masters. Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky. It's called "classical music" for a reason. Of course, their era of music is dead, relegated to movie, TV (in which I'm including anime, there are some very good composers involved with that) and videogame soundtracks, while newfangled songs with lyrics take over music. Indeed, it is sad.

 

[Ravariel]

I remember the talk of how Madonna and Michael Jackson were killing music when I was younger. And how Guns 'n' Roses and Metallica were going to make us all grow up to be serial killers. I remember hearing the laments of people who wondered if the music died in the 80s (or elsewhen if you believe Van Morrison).

Pop music is seldom appreciated in its time. Influence needs time. However, I think many bands and singers nowadays will have lasting impressions on tomorrow's music. I realize that a lot of people have put up favorite, obscure, artists and that's all well and good but if we look at people who did get played on the radio, because that's where they gain influence, even thaen I think there are artists worth noting, even if you don't like their music:

Eminem [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-yKhDd64s]: already stated a couple times, but he changed the face of rap and hip-hop.
Timbaland [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewBty95JVg]: seriously, this guy has his fingers in pretty much every good Hip-Hop pie. He's the Quincy Jones of the last decade.
Apocalyptica [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyqLl0XoMTI]: Redefined metal. Going from a metallica cover band to a stadium selling phenom with amazing music and guests from all over the world.
The Roots [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojC0mg2hJCc]: (slightly more obscure) Probably the best hip-hop group out there. Outkast and the Black Eyed Peas can suck it
Tool [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiR1hmpk-x4]: The thinking man's prog-rock. Musically, probably the most sophisticated band out there now. Sure, started in the 90s, but still relevant today.
Jamiroquai [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7wELq4Sdxg]: Had a quick hit in the states in the late 90s with Virtual Insanity, but has exploded worldwide in the oughts. A mix of funk, disco, acid jazz and electronica, these guys are great.
Lacuna Coil [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXq6id9gvxA]: Best of the "melodic/symphonic" Metal genre (more populist than Nightwish, Sirenia or Within Temptation) that found a bit of fame in the states after a spot on Kimmel and a cover of Depeche Mode. Absolutely huge overseas.
Daft Punk [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGECJP3phyY]: THE techno/electronica group. No other has infiltrated popular culture more (Buy it, Use it, Break it, fix it, trash it, change it, melt - upgrade it...), none has been as popular, and arguably none has been better.
Juno Reactor [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiSsBY-ehvU]: THE answer to Daft Punk, and a completely different take on techno. Fusing electronica and world music in a way that brings together the cutting edge and the ancient. Got wildly popular on the backs of the Matrix Movies. Both groups started in the 90s but found their popularity more recently.

These are several of the bands who were popular in the oughts, who had radio play and who I believe will be some of the better influences down the road. Remember, not everything now is Ke$ha and Miley Cyrus, just as everything in the 80s wasn't Debbie Gibson and Whitesnake.

Edit: linked to some examples. Honorable mention goes to: Yoko Kanno [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lomNiMATjk], and many others. Some links have NSFW language, so click with caution.

 

[Sgt Doom]

The music of the past was no less filled with utter cesspools, they have just been rightfully forgotten by history.