its been nearly ten years since we had the last original genre in music (uk garage gawd bless it!), so which way can music go now?

 

music used to be youth lead, teenage rebelion with each generation having its own style, but nowdays music festivals are being hi-jacked by the parents! is it any wonder though when the current 'in' style (indie, the latest incarnation of the 60's 'mod') is another re-run of OUR generations inovation.

 

the fashions, styles, music is all lifted from our youth...

 

dance is all but dead with todays youth seemingly being content with lazy dancified versions of oldies..

 

r n b and hip-hop has gone just about as extreme as it can with explicit lyrics..

 

so where can it possibly go now?... how can todays and future generations have their own style?.. identity?

This is hard for me to comment on, the only kind of 'rebellion' I can even recall being the 'Girl Power!' slogan used by the Spice Girls in the 90s. I do love the music scene the way it is now though; the fact that no one genre is dominating the charts means there's so much choice as to what you listen to, which is always good.

music used to be youth lead, teenage rebelion with each generation having its own style, but nowdays music festivals are being hi-jacked by the parents! is it any wonder though when the current 'in' style (indie, the latest incarnation of the 60's 'mod') is another re-run of OUR generations inovation.

 

so where can it possibly go now?... how can todays and future generations have their own style?.. identity?

 

well pop is all about making people think they are buying something completely new when actually its just the same idea recycled under a different brand. its not art its commerce, its as simple as calling the new Toyota Corolla the Toyota Auris even though its actually a Toyota Corolla!!!!

 

http://www.edmunds.com/media/reviews/generations/toyota.corolla/84.87.toyota.corolla.500.jpg

 

this is an old Toyota Corolla

 

http://www.duemotori.com/racingnews/autoimg_queue/11913.jpg

 

Toyota Auris (aka Toyota Corolla in some markets like Australia)

 

its been nearly ten years since we had the last original genre in music (uk garage gawd bless it!), so which way can music go now?

 

if UK Garage was the last original genre in music, then why did it use the word garage that not only had been used for the type of bands Little Steven might listen to in his underground, erm, garage :lol: , a house music genre which was a 'more soulful, gospel-tinged for of house' and 'speed garage'* which was the same thing but more underground and not as craaaaaaaaaig david (pop)

 

*ref Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany ever

I would have thought that UK garage was more a sub-genre of the ever-evolving dance genre. Surely the arrival of house and techno in the mid eighties was the last truly great musical revolution. It was as groundbreaking as the arrival of rock 'n' roll in the mid fifties.

 

There have been more dance sub-genres since UK garage, like grime and dub-step, but these all seem to happen off the radar (and the radio) and generally don't trouble the charts (Dizzee excepted).

 

Where to next? Most music advances seem to coincide with advances in, or increased access to, technology.

 

The arrival of the electric microphone lead to crooners like Crosby and Sinatra in the 1930s/40s, where previously singers would have to have virtually shouted through a megaphone at concerts to be heard over the band.

 

Advances in recording methods meant less reliance on the brass instruments of the jazz age, which were easy to record because of their volume. This coincided with advances in the development of the electric guitar and electric bass, which paved the way for rock 'n' roll.

 

In the sixties further advances in multitrack recording lead to psychedelia, prog and, slightly later as the technology became cheaper, dub reggae.

 

The arrival of primitive synthesisers lead to everything from cheesy Moog albums to Kraftwerk!

 

In the eighties the arrival of digital recording methods lead to the aforementioned house and techno revolution. The eventual drop in prices of digital synths lead to the dance boom of the 90's.

 

So unless someone comes up with some brilliant new way of making music it's difficult to see where the next revolution is going to come from. Jark is right that this does lead to an increase in available styles, but without the occasional revolution to re-engage everyone's attention music is in danger of stagnating and losing it's relevance to people (especially the young, who need to feel that it is "their" music).

 

Sorry to go on at length but this kind of thing has always intrigued me!

Ive noticed there's beginning to be the (re)introduction of punk-ska, punk-reggae bands, not here in the UK yet tbh but in other places.

Many bands are combining reggae music with hardcore punk and ska sounds and it works quite well actually.

Ive noticed there's beginning to be the (re)introduction of punk-ska, punk-reggae bands, not here in the UK yet tbh but in other places.

Many bands are combining reggae music with hardcore punk and ska sounds and it works quite well actually.

 

This has been going on for more than fifteen years surely! That's where Gwen Stefani started out (in No Doubt). The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are another lot that spring to mind.

This has been going on for more than fifteen years surely! That's where Gwen Stefani started out (in No Doubt). The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are another lot that spring to mind.

Its only just reappearing this year though ive noticed, though a few bands have been going for years now with a punk-ska sound.

This band 'Big D & The Kids Table' are set to have success in the UK later this year.

New Rave? :unsure:

New Rave? :unsure:

I think so to,

 

British Music goes through it's eras. The 60's, The 70's, The 80's etc. Each era is different. By the time it's like, 2011, it'll be a new style of music.

 

Although in this era, some things are good, some arnt. Take Rap/Hip Hop for example. When rap was all about writing up things that people actually cared about, wanted to get there point across etc. and now it' all about how many girls the rapper as shagged, about how he can get anyone he wanted to etc.

If a revolution was so predictable, then it wouldn´t be a real revolution. I think things will really start to change in some way, because music is loosing its commercial value to big labels, it´s getting harder and harder to make million sellers and download sales cannot make up for the huge losses on physical record sales. Also, internet is becoming more important then music channels and radios, so to be big now, one has to score big on youtube, for example, so there´s a chance for unsigned artists to be seen and heard (since MTV only plays what they are paid for). This factors combined mean that in the next decades, music will be back to the domain of freethinkers instead of big corporations, and it will be harder and harder to see little disney girls breaking big like Britney did in the 90´s - I think the era of pop divas is over.

I think there are big generalisations here. music is always evolving, just because a new genre has appeared, doesn't mean that theres something wrong, as the genres already in existance are constantly evolving, splitting into subs etc. Also the music of each individual country has recognizable styles e.g Britain and it's rock scene, the US with hip/hop, japan with it's enka. If you look at japan, there is such a diversity of artists, from the expected pop of Morning Musume and H!P, to real innovators of music in the world, such as Utada Hikaru & Shiina Ringo.

 

No matter what age you are in, you'll always get the commercial tried and tested formulas. however, you'll also get the real artists keeping a respectable level of standard and trying new things.

I think music is going through a quite strange faze at the moment.

 

On the one hand, the negative:

 

where is the new musical movement? - EMO (MCR, FOB, P!ATD, etc) is no more than an unwelcome update of the ghastly Hair-Metal genre of the mid-late 1980s liked by teenagers who have grown out of liking bands like Busted & Mcfly and regard Kurt Cobain in the same way as teenagers in the 1980s regarded Che Guevara as a t-shirt/poster pin up icon.

 

American music has not had anything new since Grunge in the early 1990s or the UK's BritPop movement of the mid 1990s.

 

Whilst all other genres of music seem to be recycling (albeit in different permutations) what has been done before.

 

Rap/R'n'B used to be radical in the 1980s with a social message by the likes of Public Enemy, N.W.A., Grandfather Flash & The Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, whilst now it glorifies Guns, Chicks, Bling, Pimps, Drugs being a bad boy whilst lazily rapping over the top of an old track (P. Diddy, Kanye West, 50 Cent, etc).

 

Dance music used to be highly innovative whilst now it is going around in ever decreasing circles reworking old tracks.

 

Indie/Alternative/Rock has become increasingly lazy - for example the Editors are a Joy Division tribute act, the Kooks sound like Wonderstuff at their most uninspired, Keane sound like A-ha tryin to make a Coldplay album, Green Day sound like The Clash meets Stiff Little Fingers, etc......

 

...And don't even get me started on that musical cancer that is Reality Pop TV Programmes produced by people called Simon with very high waistbands.....

 

But I think the biggest problem is four-fold:

 

1. Music is not as important as it used to be.

Whether reading or watching clips on YouTube it is clear that no act has the capacity to make the cultural impact on society or teenagers that Elvis Presley or the Beatles made. Let alone David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana or Madonna.

 

2. Teenagers have more things to do than past generations.

Today's generation have greater choice. With PC's & the internet, multi-channel TV, a variety of computer games consoles that my generation (the 1980s) did not have. Whilst Sport appears to be much more important to society than it was 20/30 years ago.

 

3. There is less to rebel against.

We have had 15 years without a recession (although I don't want to speak too soon after what happened to the World's Stock markets this week); we are living in a much more tolerant multi-racial, less prejudiced society therefore there appears to be less demand for songs with a social commentary. Also today's teenagers seem to be less interested in (World) Politics than previous generations.

 

4. Rock Music is getting old (hat).

Elvis Presley has been dead 30 years. Paul McCartney is now older than the song (When I'm Sixty Four) that he recorded 40 years ago. Rock music is 53 years old. How can a 53 year-old expect to still connect with teenagers today?

 

However Popular music is not in the slump that it was before punk (1974-1976), or the slump in the Stock-Aitken-Waterman dominated late 1980s (1986-1988) before Acid-House, Madchester & Grunge came along.

 

These are the positives:

 

Legal Downloads - Have opened up music to almost anyone. Whilst acts who are number 1 will sell less than before, their is more diversity than ever as today's generation have a great choice to find out the music they like via I-Tunes or sites like You Tube. Also Legal Downloads have made it harder than ever to make a mockery of the singles charts (like the Elvis reissues or virtually a new number one every week around the turn of the millennium).

 

Cheaper Recording costs - It is cheaper than ever to record music. Why spend shed loads of cash recording in a proper recording studio when you can record in your bedroom using the relatively cheap music programs available. (ie. Pro Tools)

 

Some outstanding recording artists - Within the past decade the likes of Christina Aguilera, Robbie Williams, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Outkast, Eminem, Coldplay & Pink, etc have shown that they have the potential to join the greatest acts of all-time. Whilst the likes of Kelly Clarkson (if her 4th album is not as unlistenable as her 3rd album), Will Young, Anastacia, Norah Jones & Carrie Underwood are as good a vocalists as any of the previous 50 years.

This is hard for me to comment on, the only kind of 'rebellion' I can even recall being the 'Girl Power!' slogan used by the Spice Girls in the 90s.

 

Which wasn't even their slogan to begin with, it was first used by underground early 90s "Riot Grrl" Feminist Art-Punk bands like Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear, Sonic Youth, etc... It was nicked by that w/anker Simon Fuller.... <_< Sorry to be a bit blunt about this, but I really detest revisionist whitewashing of musical history...

 

As to the question, it's really hard to see where music can possibly go.. But one thing is for damn sure, nothing of any worth will come out of the Mainstream, all the great musical movements have sprung out of Grass-Roots and Underground sources, artists who "break on through to the other side" tend not to come from major labels, PR or management sources... It's pretty nigh on impossible to see where the next Velvet Underground, Led Zep, Kraftwerk, Clash, Joy Division, Public Enemy, Aphex Twin or KLF are gonna possibly come from tbh....

3. There is less to rebel against.

We have had 15 years without a recession (although I don't want to speak too soon after what happened to the World's Stock markets this week); we are living in a much more tolerant multi-racial, less prejudiced society therefore there appears to be less demand for songs with a social commentary. Also today's teenagers seem to be less interested in (World) Politics than previous generations.

 

Or maybe it´s because being rebel now doesn´t cause the same impact as in a few decades ago. Society is not as uniform as it was in the past, we have a much bigger diversity of cultures living in the western world now, and there is not a strict system of social rules to be followed anymore. We officially live in a multicultural world, and being "different" now doesn´t cause the same shock as it did in the 50´s, 60´s, etc.

 

Also, rebellion isn´t really necessary to make remarkable music. Music is about art, entertainment, it doesn´t necessarily needs a message to go with it. Many acts have strong political or ideological content, but lack any musical quality. The big music that remains untouchable in the history of the world was made by classical composers and in most cases it didn´t have any message to go with it, just the beauty of the music itself.

Edited August 11, 200717 yr by Janet Jackson´s Nipple

Rap/R'n'B used to be radical in the 1980s with a social message by the likes of Public Enemy, N.W.A., Grandfather Flash & The Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, whilst now it glorifies Guns, Chicks, Bling, Pimps, Drugs being a bad boy whilst lazily rapping over the top of an old track (P. Diddy, Kanye West, 50 Cent, etc).

You are kind of talking about hip-hop whilst mentioning RnB if you get me? They're not the same genre - 50 Cent and the like are hip hop or sometimes rap, and not even all hip-hop's lyrics describe gun crime - some of the more serious hip-hop artists like Jay-Z and probably best of all Common and Nas rhyme about world events and the like more than anything else.

You are kind of talking about hip-hop whilst mentioning RnB if you get me? They're not the same genre - 50 Cent and the like are hip hop or sometimes rap, and not even all hip-hop's lyrics describe gun crime - some of the more serious hip-hop artists like Jay-Z and probably best of all Common and Nas rhyme about world events and the like more than anything else.

 

Jay-Z??? All he does is ridiculously spell his own names/nicknames in songs and talk about how rich and sucessful he is.

I would have thought that UK garage was more a sub-genre of the ever-evolving dance genre. Surely the arrival of house and techno in the mid eighties was the last truly great musical revolution. It was as groundbreaking as the arrival of rock 'n' roll in the mid fifties.

 

There have been more dance sub-genres since UK garage, like grime and dub-step, but these all seem to happen off the radar (and the radio) and generally don't trouble the charts (Dizzee excepted).

 

Where to next? Most music advances seem to coincide with advances in, or increased access to, technology.

 

The arrival of the electric microphone lead to crooners like Crosby and Sinatra in the 1930s/40s, where previously singers would have to have virtually shouted through a megaphone at concerts to be heard over the band.

 

Advances in recording methods meant less reliance on the brass instruments of the jazz age, which were easy to record because of their volume. This coincided with advances in the development of the electric guitar and electric bass, which paved the way for rock 'n' roll.

 

In the sixties further advances in multitrack recording lead to psychedelia, prog and, slightly later as the technology became cheaper, dub reggae.

 

The arrival of primitive synthesisers lead to everything from cheesy Moog albums to Kraftwerk!

 

In the eighties the arrival of digital recording methods lead to the aforementioned house and techno revolution. The eventual drop in prices of digital synths lead to the dance boom of the 90's.

 

So unless someone comes up with some brilliant new way of making music it's difficult to see where the next revolution is going to come from. Jark is right that this does lead to an increase in available styles, but without the occasional revolution to re-engage everyone's attention music is in danger of stagnating and losing it's relevance to people (especially the young, who need to feel that it is "their" music).

 

Sorry to go on at length but this kind of thing has always intrigued me!

 

by all means go on at length! theres no rush here and this subject is rather intriguing. :)

 

i dont really want to get bogged down in the definition of sub-genres etc, its a very grey area, to my mind if it had commercial success then it qualifies as a genre in its own right..

 

scott is spot on, "Sorry to be a bit blunt about this, but I really detest revisionist whitewashing of musical history..."

 

this is a VERY important point and the historical facts about music history MUST be told truthfully and not get twisted by people for any reason.

 

music has always had 'revivals', in the 70's rock n roll was glamorised and revived, in the late 70's early 80's the 60's beat sound was revived, in the 90's the glam of the early 70's was revived...

 

i agree that its hard to see where the next inspiration will come from, after all, it was our generations that did it first!

 

 

 

Jay-Z??? All he does is ridiculously spell his own names/nicknames in songs and talk about how rich and sucessful he is.

He doesnt 'go on about gun crime' or whatever though. He's not a 'bling' fake hip-hop artist though, he's a skilled rapper.

i agree that its hard to see where the next inspiration will come from, after all, it was our generations that did it first!

 

I just hope that if another musical revolution does come along I can appreciate it. I want my attitude to be like John Peel's, who was always open to new things. I don't want to end up like most older people who don't seem to understand anything new that comes along.

 

"it was our generations who did it first!" This is the problem the young have of course - there's nothing to kick against. Us oldsters will jump on the bandwagon and make it totally unhip very quickly!

I just hope that if another musical revolution does come along I can appreciate it. I want my attitude to be like John Peel's, who was always open to new things. I don't want to end up like most older people who don't seem to understand anything new that comes along.

 

EXACTLY!

 

so many people get stuck in a timewarp, 'my day was the best', but of course its largely bollox! ive heard every style from rock n roll to todays music being called 'the best' by the current generations.

 

i dont see anything wrong with an affection for ones personal 'time', but people lose out so much by shutting down, becoming arrested in the past and ignoring new sounds.

 

as i see it, oldies are there to be enjoyed for nostalgia purposes and educational/inspirational purposes by younger generations.