To wonder what 'classics' my generation has to offer?

[OrangeLavenders]

Music wise. Just listened to yet another new release that's a pile of shit. 'Joel Corey. - Head and Heart'. Sounds the same as the last however many mainstream club music.

I'm a club classic 80's and 90's fan. I also like a lot of other stuff like Pet shop boys etc. Nothing like that has been made again. It's all completely unremarkable.

Even if my music taste doesn't suit you, surely you can agree the current generation is rubbish for music?

The only name I think I'll remember when I'm 50 odd is Adele, maybe.

AIBU?

Mumford and Sons have good songs

Can you imagine it being 1990 and people were still talking about Slade and Led Zeppelin?

Led Zeppelin was still big in the 90s (and to this day they have fans). Slade is relevant still at Christmas.

Loved Stairway to Heaven in the 90s.

Every generation claims the music their children like is shittier than the shit they liked when they were the same age

Indeed. My granddad played in a big band and passionately hated the Elvis records my uncle bought.

It's a question of taste surely? There were a lot of shit bands around in the 80,s and 90,s too imo ,and tbh I never thought the Beatles were that great ,yeah they had catchy tunes but nothing remarkable but that's just my opinion ,I'm a rocker at heart ,so was never into rave etc ,but people like what they like .

@SarahBellam you've mentioned some I'm going to as well!

I'm in my 50's and the 80's music was "my era". But now, yes I still listen to U2, Simple Minds, Big Country etc, but I also listen to Nothing But Thieves, Muse and The Killers.

There is great music out there still, but it isn’t the commercial stuff and you won’t hear it on mainstream radio. That’s the main difference between now and the past I think. There has always been good music and shit music, but now it’s mainly the manufactured pap that reaches the ears of the general public (rather than the serious music fan) whereas back in the day there was more of a mix, and you could turn on the radio by chance and hear something amazing. Nowadays you have to seek it out, and not that many people do.

I also think auto tune has a great deal to answer for! These days we have processed music in the same way that we have processed food.

Things don't become classics on merit. They become classics because people get older and associate a certain "sound" with their youth. It's not just the sound, it's how we feel and where we're transported to when we listen to it.

For example, Mr Brightside is not actually a great song, but even when I'm 75 I'm pretty sure that listening to it will instantly take me back to a student union in 2004 and that feeling of being invincible and dancing the night away surrounded by my friends. That's how things become classics.

Yes so many memories with songs.

You can be somewhere else just like that

As we (millenials) age, we will have fond memories of our childhood/teen/20s classics. In 2040/50 there will be stations equivalent to Magic etc that will play predominantly 90s, 00s, 10s pop, hip hop, rap etc. We will all be loving it. The big artists of these times will be considered 'classics'. That's how it works.

In terms of more 'timeless' artists there are obviously the very talented singers (generally with very bland songs imo) like Adele, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse (probably the least bland out of these). Some of the biggest popstars will become timeless if they continue to stick around - if people like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift continue to produce records for 20+ more years they will have huge back catalogues of which at least some songs will be very good and quintessential of their time.

I think it's something to do with only good looking people getting deals. They don't come in any many different shapes and sizes anymore.

Ed Sheeran is evidence that this is not always so.

I agree with a PP about Taylor Swift - she’s a songwriter for the ages, serious talent that will stand the test of time.

@LonelyFromCorona

I truly don’t understand how a person could listen to an album like ‘Lemonade’ and call Beyoncé bland. Just can’t wrap my head around it.

Might be a bit late in terms of generation but James Acaster's theory that 2016 was the best year for music ever is worth a look. If nothing else, it's funny and eclectic. He has a podcast and a book related to it, and I think there's a list of all the albums online somewhere.

@Bassettgirl

Loved Stairway to Heaven in the 90s.

Every generation claims the music their children like is shittier than the shit they liked when they were the same age

Indeed. My granddad played in a big band and passionately hated the Elvis records my uncle bought.

And a lot of over 30s hated rock and roll when it arrived.

That has stood the test of time though, a lot of 50s and 60s music and it's over 50 years old. Not much contemporary popular music will stand the test of time.

I don't know anyone who doesn't think Led Zeppelin stood the test of time. Even non fans know the Top of the Pops theme tune, especially the one they used in the late 90s, early 00s. And Stairway to Heaven is one of those songs, surely?

Re Beyonce, musically I'm not that much of a fan, but Lemonade is a really, really astonishingly good album and Don't Hurt Yourself is a stand out track.

Not much contemporary popular music will stand the test of time.

How can you possibly know...?

I was thinking recently that the last big timeless classic- the most recent song that I think will really stand the test of time- is Mr Brightside. And that’s 17 years old now.

Oh God, that makes me feel ancient!

Don't forget that the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc etc had a lot of shit music too. The "classics" are a tiny percentage of what was released then. Most has been forgotten.
And so it will be with "modern" stuff. Most will be forgotten, a few will be played in nightclubs in the 2050s.

I like Billie Ellish and I'm mid fifties! She has a great voice and seems a nice girl too.
I like a lot of new music as well as the more classic bands. Music is fab whatever your into! 😀

I was in the supermarket today and a song came on and I thought of this thread.
Does Pink count as 'current generation'? She's created some catchy music which will stand the passage of time.

I’m not sure much modern music will stand the test of time as being works of art, there’s always been bland pop shite that burns bright and leaves only ashes. Are people (over the age of 10) moved to tears when they hear Louis Tomlinson? Do they stand there open mouthed at the complex arrangements that both move the souls and mind at an Ariana Grande concert, are they inspired to go and research other art, events, myths, religions, people etc to understand the meaning behind songs. Or are they happy with the predictability of “the 4th, the 5th, the minor fall and the major lift”
Churned out every year on X factor. TheRes only a few artists that I can really see that have really come through in the last 20 years or so. I think Adele is amazing, I love Nightwish (who date from the mid 90s) and think they are everything creativity should be. The foo fighters are also amazing. Robbie Williams probably predates this but is also v good, but most bands and artists that are still creating today that I rate originally date from The 90s, 80 or 70s.

I think there was a massive sea change in the early 2000s with Napster and the change it brought to financing the music industry. In the 80s it was possible to get backing, real backing from record companies who would stand behind an artist whilst they built a following, explored their creativity and gave people the chance to hear something new. There were more live music venues for artists to gather an organic following liking what they did And learning their trade before they were signed. I think it gave the artist a much wider field of expression.

Now a label wants immediate returns, backing tours involves dubious loan arrangements offset with merchandise returns There’s no space to try something new, to let a following gather. Record companies want (and need)immediate returns, something familiar people And radio stations won’t be challenged by.

A number of artists spoke very public ally against Napster and were shot down in flames. It turns out they were spot on.

@User563420011

Don't forget that the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc etc had a lot of shit music too. The "classics" are a tiny percentage of what was released then. Most has been forgotten. And so it will be with "modern" stuff. Most will be forgotten, a few will be played in nightclubs in the 2050s.

There'll be more stuff from the 1960s/70s/80s played in the 2050s than the last 10 years.

The darkness are quite good - e.g. I believe in love

And didn't he do a Christmas song

Formed in 2000

Keane - Hopes and Fears album is a classic imo

When they do a 60s chart show on radio 2 I know all the songs. That’s not a boast about my musical knowledge, I’m thinking that this was probably more to do with fewer songs being released than anything? I was born in 1999. I wouldn’t have a clue what’s in the chart today.

You are officially old. You sound like my dad and a million other old gits banging on about the Beatles or Pink Floyd or Nirvana or Oasis or whatever

I remember when Kurt Cobain died. And the summer of Oasis and Blur.

Your dad has good taste

While Radiohead are still making music there is hope

I love bands like Greenday, Foo Fighters, Muse, Placebo etc. but thee are all bands I first saw live 20 years ago - hardly current generation. The Rolling Sones are still making music but they are my mum's generation, not mine. Mine are things like Radiohead, Nirvana, Charlatans, Elastica, The Prodigy. Bands which started in the 90's.

There are good new rock and indie bands out there. I like Wolf Alice, Tallies, The Beths to name a few.

What sort of music do you like OP?