Not just music! (Though that is probably the strongest example)
It’s telling how many people are nostalgic for a society that only existed before they were born. Recent History education sucks.
Music just isn't good anymore
Submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/451e6834-0d8f-4aeb-bda5-a021456c673a.jpeg
Comments
radix@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
timestatic@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Damn we humans are bad as shit as forming our subjective opinion that doesnt get extremely distorted by nostalgia
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I always go back to that line from Men in Black about the difference between a person and people.
In aggregate we really are the worst.
HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
People often forget that nostalgia is the secret spice that makes the past great… not the actual past.
And nostalgia is nothing more than there’s shit happening in our brains at 10ish-20ish that doesn’t happen any other time. Hormones and energy and lack of responsibilty and first experience bias combine to create a dopamine cocktail we cannot recreate.
I mean, I’ll die on the hill of 90s was the best music, TV, movies, video games, and fashion. But I know that it’s not objectively true. But that’s how it feels for sure.
arrow74@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Other explanations could just come down to the structure of our current society.
I can see a clear and quantifiable decrease in my family support structure between childhood and now. Of course that’s mostly due death and moving away from home. But my answer would be entirely different if I lived in a multi-generational home or kinship group. Which was the default for about 99.9% of human existence.
Music, fashion, and tastes are a lot more subjective though.
taiyang@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m way too analytical to fall into that curve, and I’m sure most people on Lemmy are like that too. Like, we literally have data going back decades on most of these metrics, so why are people even going with their gut? Quite a few are literally numbers you can check!
But alas, your average nobody ignores data…
Thunderbird4@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’d be very interested to see the age distribution of the people who were polled. It just says 2000 adults, but if they were all around the same age then it may not all be matters of opinion, especially for things like “political division.”
atomicorange@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The one that surprises me is TV. It has objectively improved in quality so much, it’s basically on par with movies at this point. Writing, acting, costuming, all of it. I’d never claim that TV from the 90s was superior to now, even though I was a teen back then.
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I will absolutely argue that TV was better between 2006-2016 than 2016-2026. I think the detailed ratings (especially on streaming) ended up feeding studio decisionmaking into shallower works that their algorithms suggested audiences would like, and that we lost something in the process. The collapse of mid budget basic cable original programming also has hurt the genre as a whole.
Also, there’s nothing quite like a high budget but mediocre show, that looks visually stunning but just doesn’t resonate with you.
lemongarlic@lemmy.world 1 week ago
TV now is kind of garbage because every show will have like 2 8 episode “seasons” with a 3 year gap in the middle. I appreciate the variety but it’s clear to me the industry hasn’t really recovered from the streaming era destroying the cash flow into the TV industry. The 90’s and early 2000’s are absolutely the peak of network TB IMO when it comes to big syndicated network shows like Star Trek Buffy stargate etc. but there are a much wider variety of shows today so it’s kind of a mixed bag
glimse@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I feel like it has way more to do with how knowledgeable you were at the time. Kids generally don’t have the most critical eye for any of those things and most people don’t go back to see what they missed.
I just said to a friend this morning, “every kid’s favorite movie is the last movie they saw”
morto@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
It would be interesting to see that study carried out in other countries as well. In my country, for example, many older people will tell the tales from hiperinflation and how they had episodes of starvation when younger. I believe most people would agree with the best economy being post mid-90s, only varying on when, so it woud give a considerade skew to that chart.
Sawblade02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Keep your statistics to yourself, I’m over 40 and love discovering new music.
gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“No! You’re dumb and your opinions are poorly justified! You must listen to us instead!” - billionaire media
Zannsolo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
But is any of it better than CCR?
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
whoisearth@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Gimme one! I’m the same way!
Recently I’ve been banging
And
And
Why do I want to listen to the same shit I hear everywhere?! Give me new!
Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I’m only 31, but I really like bbno$, Sabrina Carpenter, AJR, and for non popular music and super queer, DAMAG3.
And then just a slew of random EDM whenever I’m in the mood.
Noggog@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Ditto
Caesium@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m ‘only’ 26 and I’ve been having a blast going through Groundbreaking’s collection that they’ve released over the years. I only recently realized there was this whole archive like a year and a half ago, but I’ve actually been listening to some of the songs sold on other albums for much longer than that! I’ve been discovering artists that pique my interest and I’ll definitely look into them more once I’m all caught up.
And since I’m a huge rhythm game fan, I’ll often discover new music and artists through charts on the way. The only thing more exciting than finding a new song I really enjoy is listening to one of my favorite songs
nednobbins@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
This may be true for casual listeners but it fails miserably for people who are “into music”.
relativestranger@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
i’m not. it definitely applies to me. and i’m guessing it would for the majority of the public, too.
nednobbins@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
That could easily be extended to other interest areas;
The average person may exclusively eat local, contemporary foods (ie whatever everyone else in their community eats), while “foodies” go out of their way to find new and interesting flavors.
For many people, fashion is, “whatever looks kinda like what everyone else is wearing.” For “fashionistas”, there’s a whole language around clothing choices.
But it’s better to share some actual joyful experiences.
I recently started listening to “Angine de Poitrine”. They’re a modern band that just released a new album and still plays live concerts. According to the OP chart, they’re 15 years too new for me.
For some old stuff, check out Hillery Hahn. I keep going back to her Bach sonatas and he lived in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Then there are crazy fusion versions. I recently found Ben Comeau’s gem “Donald Trump is a Wanker”. He took the bassline of “Seven Nation Army”, gave it a choral voice, and transcribed it to a fugue format. To paraphrase an other contemporary artist; that shit is bananas.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Yeah this is almost exactly upside down for me. Most of my favorite music is from before I was born, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve only gotten more into new music.
nednobbins@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
What are your current favorites from the old and new categories?
half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Bro I smashed the shit out the like button for angine de poitirne, and I don’t even think they’re human. How do I have nostalgia bias for music that isn’t from this dimension?
SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
they’re an industry plant its the olsen twins
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Investigate 311 bro
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
They are fire
HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I’m right there with you.
I bet it was for you what it was for me…part “this is crazy unique”, part “AI can never do this” and “that’s a musical scratch for an itch I never knew I had”.
And ADHD and a gentle kiss of the 'tism.
Vespair@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I’m 41 and I think some of the best music of my life has released in the past few years, personally 🤷♂️
PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Hell yeah, and forget even just individual songs, I tend to gravitate toward whole-album bangers and continue to find thoroughly dope and delicious stuff.
Xoth - “Exogalactic” Clipse - “Let God Sort Em Out”
Two (somewhat different 😅) ones I’ve been getting just hours and hours of cover-to-cover listening mileage outta lately, for reference. Even got the Xoth one (new folks to me) from someone on Lemmy 😎
Vespair@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Sounds like we have similar taste. I really dig that Clipse album and while I haven’t listened to Xoth, I love tech death: Necrophagist, Fallujah, Archspire, Inferi, Ulcerate, Revocation, Cryptopsy, Cognitive (underrated!), Eschaton (also underrated!)
I’m also an album guy, active music nerd on rateyourmusic. 👍
So I guess I’m saying based on those two picks and your album tastes I think you sound cool, lol
stoly@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Notable that this is only popular music. You might be surprised to find you follow the same trend if asked to rate Taylor Swift compared to Modest Mouse or something.
Vespair@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I don’t think I fully understand what you mean by this, can you clarify?
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I’m a few years older. I think the best music was from before I was born 🤷
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hundreds of years before I was born, yes
Vespair@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
You’ll notice I said some. I would also say some of the best was from before I was born as well. I think art is as intrinsic to humanity as breathing and it is something we will continue to do with gusto and success forever.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I’m 31 and some of the best music I ever heard was made with vocaloids.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Same bud. There’s so, soooooo much great music being made right now. Some of it’s on the radio, some of it is obscure as fuck. Doesn’t matter. You just gotta fucking open your ears and listen.
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
“How people who only ever listen to the music that’s played on the radio feel about music”
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Notice the graph peaks in the teens. I think our love of music has a lot to do with the fun and social life of that era. I was an introverted high school nerd and barely remember the music from that time, then in my late 20s got into doing theatre - suddenly had a thriving social life full of parties, dating etc, and the music of that era is by far my favorite.
moakley@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Oh shit. That explains it for me too then.
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I wonder how you could adjust the whole graph based on connections to friends.
When people are under 10, they don’t have that much agency in choosing music. They just listen to whatever their parents listen to, or whatever their parents put on for them. In their teens they start getting to choose music and have a lot of classmates and friends who can be sources for hearing new music. In their early 20s that continues with university and/or first jobs. But, after a while that tails off and people have smaller social circles so they are introduced to fewer new things.
That could also explain why music from before people were born is somewhat popular. It’s something you might have been introduced to by your parents, or possibly by friends in your teens or 20s, or maybe something you discovered on your own later. When you’re 40+ you still might have people introducing you to music that existed before you were born, but you’re probably not being introduced to the new music very much. And if you are, it’s the popular stuff, which often sucks in all eras. Maybe if you have teenaged kids you hear what they like at some point, but that’s a small window, and often what they like is the popular gunk.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s really what I was thinking - that the graph probably wouldn’t change much if you remapped it to personal connections because the pattern of personal connections is probably what drives it in the first place. Hence my favorite musical era is when my connections peaked around age 30. Although tbh most of what I liked then and still do is what you would call “popular gunk” - never did care much for dismissing popularity as low quality. They often go together, but unpopularity and low quality also do.
blazeknave@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Where the Party At? was senior year anthem. Bacardi is imprinted on me as the fun era
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Somehow that reminded me of the birthday party my daughter organized for her husband. The theme was that he was running for President. She made campaign buttons with his face on them and the slogan, “Win or Lose, We Still Got Booze!”
RBWells@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The fuck? Fontaines DC, Tyler Childers, Janelle Monae, Leon Bridges, I have never stopped finding new music I love. This graph makes no sense. Modern music is so good. Old music is so good. I do not have a preference for any particular time period when it comes to enjoying music.
crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Uh it’s not an objective scale. This is the result of a survey
tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Statistically, sure, but I’m forty and I keep finding new bangers.
ReCursing@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Pop music now is better and more diverse than it ever has been. And I say this as a 45 year old
synae@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
There was a period in my life where I didnt have time to listen to new music and I thought I could get by on Metallica, maiden, misfits, and (at the time) my favorite band, Fear factory. I distinctly remember telling people, I’ll listen to this til the end of my days, I don’t need more.
Then covid happened and I was stuck at home, no longer interrupted by random work or life stuff when I picked what music I put on for hours, and it got stale (No shit). And I started to listen to so much more.
Now my wife and I go to multiple shows a week, hearing all the latest and coolest shit from our local scene (SF); we tell all of our friends: $BAND is coming in 6 months, buy your tickets now, it’ll sell out. Or: free show on Saturday, want to come?
We are on friendly terms with members from multiple local bands, we go to album release shows, we get signed merch just by being chatty/friendly, we are helping bands, promoters/venues book with each other by putting them in touch.
Honestly it’s pretty incredible. When someone says “there’s no good music these days” or “rock/metal is dead” i just ask them… “Well what are you into? I can recommend something”. Because they’re so wrong…And if thry see what I see, they’d never say that in the first place
LemmyFeed@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Man I must be an outlier apparently, I don’t listen to any of the music from my teens or even my twenties except in rare nostalgia trips. I’m constantly finding newly released songs that I like and even cringe at some of the music I liked as a youth. I don’t think I can even define an era of “best music” - there’re so many great songs across all music.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
as if this chart had the centuries of data needed to be meaningful
kamen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Time is a very good filter of what’s worthy and what’s not. You’re living now and you’re witnessing good stuff, but you’re also witnessing bullshit before it’s had the chance of being forgotten. If you look back 40-50-60 years, will you think of The Beatles, ABBA, Freddie Mercury, Jimi Hendrix, or will you think of someone who maybe released a couple of songs or an album and dropped out of existence? Yes, I thought so.
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
There’s been great music forever, there will continue to be great music forever.
The hard part is finding it.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Good and bad music exist since the existence of music. The problem with bad music began from the music industry massified it with criteria more commercial than artistic, this is why good music did not cease to exist, but you have to look for it more than before. Whether you like it or not depends only on personal taste, not on type or style.
spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Absolutely fucking not. I can’t stand the music I used to listen to.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
I’m glad I still play new music and find bangers, but I’ve always done that. Dont think growing old will stop me.
MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
You just gotta know where to look. Music is an industry, so the people who view songs as products will push their favored products in front of as many of their target demographic as possible. They want those tween-to-twenties locked down. They decide what’s cool, so if they like your products then you’re cool. So if you’re 40 and only listen to top 40 pop stations, you’re probably in for a bad time since none of that shit is really trying to court you in the first place. I’m in my mid-late 30s and I’m still discovering bands and current releases that I’m into. Just gotta look a little harder.
I think that as we get older and consume more media, we experience a sort of fatigue of simple and easy structures, so we desire something more complex. But we grandfather in the stuff that we imprinted on in those formative years, and that’s why that younger demographic is targeted; they’ll keep coming back to their comfort media for their whole life.
Pop music is (usually) the middle ground between nursery rhymes and something like djent or cool jazz or math rock or whatever other more nuanced genre you’re into. “Products” in those genres just aren’t gonna sell like boy bands do. Some pop music is actually good and complex, but it’s just not my thing and mostly never has been. I’m not trying to insult people who like Bad Bunny or Kendrick or whatever, but yeah Black Eyed Peas and Kid Rock fucking suck. Don’t @ me.
obvs@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And I’m over here mostly listening to music from other countries and loving it.
Sometimes it really is that the music in the U.S. isn’t as good as it used to be.
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So what I’m getting from this is if you want success, market to 15-year-olds
guerilla_ontologist@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
this is nowhere near enough data to make a real conclusion. there is no causal link explained here, merely a correlation. my anecdotal experience is that i now hate the music i listened to as a teen (RATM and SOAD mostly, with some nine inch nails etc. thrown in), my absolute favorite band was Thee Oh Sees for a while in my 20s, and now i’m almost exclusively into electronic music like this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn1Br5Zf6Xs&t=1503s
vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’m in my 30s and a lot of my favourite music came out recently. My music tastes keep getting weirder and weirder.
Folstar@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
Sauce: www.jstor.org/stable/48812575
This study builds on decades of work that makes less and less sense every minute of the digital age. Each year we’re further from a semi-homogenous group listening to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 (or whatever). Most people have a fairly clear, shared concept of 60s/70s/80s/90s music, but ask ten people about the 10s/20s and you’ll probably get eleven different answers.
In addition to changing mass listening habits, the digital age untethers us from time and wildly diversifies “new” music. You can hop on Youtube/Spotify/etc and listen to the Glenn Miller Orchesta as easily as the newest Drake singles, which with radio/MTV/etc was historically not the case. Those platforms also have allowed a world of music diversity and access that completely changes the paradigm. For example, some of the best “80s Music” was released in the past few years.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I think it’s exposure, you hear about a lot more music in high school. Now I get exposed to new music mostly by the radio (you can throw Spotify algorithms in here) and it’s shitty pop/rap music that they play. Like if my 90s exposure to rap was limited to Vanilla Ice then I wouldn’t care for it either.
vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
The new Boards of Canada album came out a few days ago so I have no idea what this chart is taking about.
Gorillatactics@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
This is anti-art. If the sonic shape of the music doesnt matter and kids just imprint on what was popular in their youths why not scrap every art program? Why not cut all funding, why not just let Ai make all the music. Why bother dong anything at all?
expatriado@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
most of the music i listen is from before i was born 😕
isekaihero@ani.social 2 weeks ago
I like most types of electronica. Trance, techno, house, bounce, phonk, and even some dubstep. I still find new songs on youtube that I enjoy, even in my 40’s. Growing up my dad listened to a lot of psychedelic rock. I don’t really listen to rock anymore but I do recognize a lot of rock artists like dick dale, iron butterfly, and many others who created the psychedelic sound that progressed into techno and trance. I still hear a hint of miserlou in a lot of modern electronica it has a very recognizable guitar riff.
hypna@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No fate but what we make. You can put in the effort to keep your mind and your ears open. Absolutely worth it IMHO.
its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Why should I bother when all the best music came out before I was 35?
Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Because some of that new music came came out before I was 35
Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Gosh, absolutely. I’ll go on a nostalgia trip now and again, but there are soooo many artists doing such fantastic things nowadays.
UncleArthur@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Absolutely! I’ve discovered some amazing modern artists, mostly via film and TV (streaming series) soundtracks, especially the latter.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
yep. I’ve come across some super cool young bands that sound exactly like the albums I love from 40 years ago!
Corngood@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I try my best to do this, and find lots of great new music.
I still find a lot of new popular music just doesn’t do it for me, and I think it’s because as you’ve heard more music, the it’s harder to find something that sounds fresh.
When I was in the peak of that chart I was really into stuff like Spacehog, who seemed really cool to me at the time, but probably would have sounded a bit derivative to my parents. At the same time my dad loved Smashing Pumpkins enough to buy all their albums…
UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Certainly, of course all the old stuff is good because that is the stuff that you already curated into your personal preferences. There was a LOT of shit from pretty much any era, its just that the younger version of you already pawed through all that shit. Listening to new music means having to paw through a lot of crap, which is always harder than just listening to stuff you already like.
xylol@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
Are you john conner
hypna@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Maybe. Are you a homicidal AI?
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
i keep discovering contemporanean artists whom I love. and I’m in the “back in my day” age.
Delilah Bon, Bob Vyllan, kneecap… give me more suggestions like them.