A sentence starting with this is usually followed by some complaint from an out of touch, old person about how things were better in their time. I’m sure many of you have heard a sentence like this in regard to music and how it has progressively gotten worse throughout the years. Interestingly though, this isn’t an exception to baby boomers talking about how real music died after the 80s but is a complaint that has been making the rounds for at least 80 years, most likely a lot longer. Remember the people who thought the music of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock, was blasphemous? I’m sure there were also groups of old people who thought Mozart was bringing about the death of music too. However, despite rolling our eyes at our parent’s disdain for our music, those of use who grew up in the 90s and 2000s are now starting to say the same thing. Are we growing up to be bitter, old people caught up in the nostalgia of our time or do we actually have a point?
To tackle this question, let me bring up the 6 concepts of music: Duration, pitch, dynamic and expressive techniques, texture, structure and tone colour. In this post, I am going to use some of these concepts, as well as external factors, to make the argument that no, we aren’t in fact old and bitter people scared of the advancement of music. We actually do have a point; music really is getting worse!
Let’s start with tone colour, which is essentially the quality of the unique sounds that are produced by each instrument. For example, a piano playing the exact same note as a guitar will sound vastly different. Musicians have an almost endless amount of different tone colours to use, even the tone colour of the same guitar can change depending on the effects that are added to it, such as distortion. Nowadays, however, artists tend to replace instruments with technology. While I am not against the use of technology in music, a simulated guitar or drum sound can never capture the uniqueness of the sounds these instruments can produce. Without the use of instruments, it is my belief that music being produced is lacking emotion. Sure, many people find emotion in the lyrics and vocals of modern songs. However, when is the last time the typical music listener has had their soul touched from a beautiful instrumental? Another worrying though is if this trend continues and technology replaces the use of real instruments, what’ll happen in 100 years? Will as many people still be learning the guitar, piano or violin? If so, then gone are the days when a group of musicians will be able to get together and play music using only their instruments. Isn’t that what music is all about?
Next, I want to talk about rhythm, which falls under the concept of duration. Duration describes the length of sounds and silences in music. Usually when we think of rhythm, we think of percussion instruments such as the drums, bongos, etc. Now is it just me, or does modern music completely lack rhythm nowadays? Also, what happened to the drums? Nowadays, the drums are replaced by electronic percussion playing a simple 4/4 drum beat that even the worst drummers could play. Moreover, the bass guitar, which is an instrument that plays both a melodic and rhythmic role in songs, is completely lacking and replaced by automated bass sounds. A great example of the rhythmic role of both bass and drums can be found in the music produced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as 70s disco bands such as Earth, Wind and Fire. Now, I know what you may be thinking: rap is a popular music genre which doesn’t require rhythm from instruments because the rhythm comes from the rappers. My response to that is have you ever heard 90s hip-hop? Hip-hop used to be a beautiful ensemble of rhythmic genius, in which rappers, drummers and bassists would beautifully contribute their own rhythm that would come together in a form that would make even the grumpiest person want to get up and dance. Unfortunately, that’s been lost and most rap listeners care about the mumbling nonsense these artists would come up with over the actual music itself. Without rhythm, music has no soul.
Lastly, I want to talk about one more disastrous effect that technology is having on music. That is, the effect of streaming platforms, such as spotify, on the music being produced in the present. Has anyone noticed that songs are getting shorter nowadays? You’re not going crazy; it actually is and spotify is largely the reason. For example, in 1998 the average UK number 1 song was 4 minutes and 16 seconds long. In 2019, this fell to just 3 minutes and 3 seconds. This is because shorter songs get more streams and the longer the song, the more likely the listener will skip the song. Spotify only counts streams if it makes it through the whole song, therefore artists are producing shorter songs so that listeners will listen through its entirety. What effect does that have on the attention span of listeners? If this trend continues, will a listener be able to listen to a song such as bohemian rhapsody or stairway to heaven anymore or will they get bored and move onto the next song? Finally, does making music to cater to the number of listens and, ultimately, revenue harm the artistry of music? I’ll let you decide.
I want to finish this off with a final point: technology doesn’t have to harm music. Remember, during the 60s bands like the Beatles innovated music through the use of new technology such as recording techniques. I recommend everyone listen to Sgt Pepper’s lonely Heart’s Club Band, a Beatles album that innovated the recording of songs with more than 4 layers of instruments. Even now, in the 21st century some artists are still coming up with innovative music using technology. I urge everyone to listen to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, which is a beautiful ensemble of technology blended with instrumentals. The opening song, titled Give Life Back to Music, was Daft Punk’s message to the listener that the life and soul of music is dying. Although technology has contributed to the death of music, it also has the ability to give life back.
