They don't write pop songs like they used to

Lewis Capaldi, he's hardly a looker and just stands there and sings, actually so does George Ezra.
You may not rate it, but they're very popular and neither have a gimmick.

I just don’t know how people can say this unless they’re stuck in the old people stereotype of ‘things were better in my day’. I’ve listened to lyrics in just the last couple of years that have been genius - Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion, Kendrick Lamar, Chappelle Roan, Billie Eilish…and that’s just the mainstream stuff - I could go on and on and on.

I love that Monkees song but bloody hell op, to say there is no good music anymore means you’re just not open to music anymore.

I do a weekly intros quiz on tiktok and they play the intros of the top 20 songs in the UK from one particular year, it was 1989 the other week and the vast majority were absolutely dire! Some of the more recent years were much better

Most of the mainstream music now is formulaic and written by a relatively small pool of experienced songwriters who know what will sell, rather than caring about musical brilliance.

the same could be said of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman who wrote most of the pop songs in the charts from mid 70s through early 80s. They were very catchy, formulaic and were definitely more concerned about keeping the hits churning out than musical brilliance.

Nope...you need to make an effort to find interesting awesome music by new artists. Try removing the Monkees from your Spotify cacheb🤣

I think a lot of the music industry relies on back catalogue from artists from the late 60-90s being resold in different formats.

Live music is going to change as smaller venues have closed and the bigs acts that our still touring with roots pre-2000 and the internet age stop performing.

But there will still be new acts. It feels just more like safe pop with an image that sells well and less of the smaller artists, representing local communities.

What do we get for our trouble and pain? Just a rented room in whalley range
What do we get for our trouble and pain?
Whalley raaaaaaaaaange...

It's a pop classic... but it's not new, new, it's over a decade old already, and Mark Ronson has been significant in the industry for 20+ years now.

(But still new in my head )

I usually only listen to metal but I do make an exception for Raye. She’s incredibly talented!

He’s got better and better with age 😍

Raye- Where The Hell is my Husband, great pop song that's just come out. Plenty of good Taylor Swift pop songs. Ed Sheridan's recent ones have been good. Prior to that 1D and Little Mix had some great pop songs. I think the modern stuff is much better than the older stuff, maybe it's generational.

No more apologies (OP), it makes no difference

Only Good Luck Babe will be listened to in 50 years time.

Child of the 60s and 70s and love that music

But plenty of good modern artists - Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi, Teddy Swims, Rag and Bone Man, the excellent First Aid Kit etc

Honestly. The Smiths have boring music and lyrics?! They were literally revered for Morriseys lyrics and Johnny Marrs genius music. No offence but metalheads can be a little tone deaf when it comes to the wider world of music!

Actually pop is sounding good atm, I like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappel Roan.

My issues: They don't write songs like they did in the 80s though. Where are the middle 8s, the synth solos and the umpteen key changes? Music is a bit less experimental these days. And also, where are all the novelty songs?

I mean, Teletubbies had a no.1 in 1997 - not saying it was good music on any level but just using as an extreme example that there's less humour and oddness in popular music, it's all very self conscious.

There'll be survivor's bias, but most top 40s from 1965-2000 could wipe the floor with any chart from 2015 onwards.

The record companies and algorithms of streaming sercices have a lot to answer for in promoting new acts. They're risk averse and want maximum profit for minimal effort. They don't want to find a new Beatles, they want easy, compliant solo artists avaliable for colabs and working with the corporation.

There's fewer bands anyway. Less creativity in the school curriculum. Less free time to hang out and create. Cost of music lessons and instruments to create a foundation. Loss of shared culture and inspiration. Fewer venues with live music to launch and gain experience at.

The one new band I can say that I love from the last 5 years is The Last Dinner Party. Most of the other contemporary artists I like have older roots in previous decades.

There were always rubbish songs in the old days, just as there are good songs nowadays; BUT most of the mainstream and widely-played stuff now isn't the decent stuff, which you often have to go digging to find.

Most of the mainstream music now is formulaic and written by a relatively small pool of experienced songwriters who know what will sell, rather than caring about musical brilliance. They also value image and gimmicks as the pre-eminent thing, with the actual music side of it coming much lower down the list of importance. Can you imagine somebody like Roy Orbison nowadays - just standing there with his guitar and singing beautiful ballads that he mainly wrote himself, with nothing apart from the pure musical talent?

There are still good singer-songwriters out there, but they often get overshadowed by the conveyer-belt pop that is now pushed commercially.

Iron Maiden were the first metal band I started listening to at 13! I’m quite lucky that DSis and DS1 share my taste in music (although he’s recently developed a love of death metal) We go to as many concerts as we can and do Download together most years. Me and DSis took him to his first Download when he was 14. He does Bloodstock most years too 😁

What new stuff do you listen to? Some of it’s really good and lots of the old stuff is utter crap it just triggers good memories of youth etc

DH and I spend most Fruday nights watching Top of the Pops on BBC4. Two hours of 70's 80's and 90's music.

Brilliant. 😁