Am I old? Or was music better in my youth? (1970s-1980s)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

38. Do not think pop radio music is representative now any more than it was in the 1970s-80s.

See [font size = "+2"]"They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To",[/font] 2015, at the end of this post. That could have been made years ago, but it wasn't because there is something about it that has been influenced by music right up to the point it was recorded.

Yes you are old. I may be older than you. The first hit song I heard when it was current was "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The first three albums I listened to over and over were Led Zep III, Grand Funk Railroad (red album, very heavy, very bluesy), and CSN&Y Four Way Street. I feel there is wonderful music available all around, partly because I make a point of listening to alternative sources and following up with some stuff. Even so I am out of touch because I'm constantly discovering new gems I've never heard before. There is so much good music available!

Album Oriented Rock was a radio format in 1975. Now you don't even hear that on campus radio stations. It doesn't mean that kind of music disappeared or evaporated.

Case in point:

Here are the top 10 Billboard hits for 1975. They are pleasant enough but not great, except for "Fame".

1 "Love Will Keep Us Together" Captain & Tennille
2 "Rhinestone Cowboy" Glen Campbell
3 "Philadelphia Freedom" Elton John
4 "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" Freddy Fender
5 "My Eyes Adored You" Frankie Valli
6 "Shining Star" Earth, Wind & Fire
7 "Fame" David Bowie
8 "Laughter in the Rain" Neil Sedaka
9 "One of These Nights" Eagles
10 "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" John Denver

Lots of stuff not on the top 100, but pieces further down are much better than most of the chart toppers. Note the positions:

19 "At Seventeen" Janis Ian
25 "Boogie On Reggae Woman" Stevie Wonder
68 "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" James Taylor

Most of the rest of the chart is dreck. "Bron Y Aur" and "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin not in sight. "Wish You Were Here" song and album by Pink Floyd? Invisible. Same with "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" song and album by Joni Mitchell.


Same thing for 1985:

1 "Careless Whisper" Wham! featuring George Michael
2 "Like a Virgin" Madonna
3 "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" Wham!
4 "I Want to Know What Love Is" Foreigner
5 "I Feel for You" Chaka Khan
6 "Out of Touch" Hall & Oates
7 "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" Tears for Fears
8 "Money for Nothing" Dire Straits
9 "Crazy for You" Madonna
10 "Take on Me" a-ha


2015 is no different:

1 "Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
2 "Thinking Out Loud" Ed Sheeran
3 "See You Again" Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth
4 "Trap Queen" Fetty Wap
5 "Sugar" Maroon 5
6 "Shut Up and Dance" Walk the Moon
7 "Blank Space" Taylor Swift
8 "Watch Me" Silentó
9 "Earned It" The Weeknd
10 "The Hills" The Weeknd

12 "Can't Feel My Face" The Weeknd
Hotline Bling came in at only #30 (#24 the next year)
30 "Hotline Bling" Drake

In the 2010s there are many great singer-songwriters that just don't make the charts and great electronic/house/trance. I have so much gorgeous music to listen to including gobs of classical that I don't listen as much to fresh music as I maybe should, though I still make a point of it from time to time. One of my favorite pieces of music is Mozetich "Affairs of the Heart", 1997, 23 minutes. It stopped me in the driveway and I couldn't get out of the car until the piece finished.

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