What's perplexing you today?

[TheDaVinciChode]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Sorry man, but almost every single word of your post could have come from a guy in the 1950s talking about Elvis. It's true that nowadays a lot of work is done by computers rather than the studio musicians (aka uncredited working stiffs,) but you are deluding yourself with these fantasies that it used to be so much different. A little good and a lot of crap comes out of every generation, and it's not this generation's fault that you've conveniently forgotten all of your own generation's crap.

Being 22 years old, this generation is my generation. (Well, moreso the mid 90s, but still, well in to the "digitally enhanced" era of the music industry.)

The use of electrical instruments (electric guitar, keyboard, etc,) is not the same as digitally enhancing a voice... These instruments must still be played, with precision, to produce a harmonious sound. They may not require tuning, like guitars and pianos of old, but that did not touch on the musician's talent to play them - Voices, on the other hand, filtered, re-filtered, phased and altered with a computer program, can sound however you wish, with no talent required from the person producing the voice. A man can sound like a woman, a dog can sing opera.

No, sir, it isn't the same. Not at all.

Lyrically speaking, there was little in the way of repetitive, three-word songs, right up until the last two decades... Lyrics still had meaning, much as they did in the very-olden days... so, again, it's nothing the same as comparing the last 20 years of music, to previous years of music.

Charisma, musical talent, ability, experience, and time, all played an important role, in the 50s, in the 70s, in the 80s... and before that, too; before the rise of "pop" music, before "rock 'n' roll." Sure, old people may've complained that it wasn't "music" in comparison to classically composed music, but that was more due to the profound change in music, rather than the lack of ability, of talent, of those producing it.

This isn't a change in music... it's a change in quality, in production, in talent.