Every couple of years there's maybe one outstanding performance at the Grammys, and I can catch it on YouTube. That way I don't have to suffer through hours of boredom and repetition.
I’m with you, in fact I’m done with the YouTube videos of the Grammys. If there is ever anything exciting TFP never fails to supply the link to watch and that’s enough for me.
To me today's subject falls under who gives a shit. The Grammys, like the Academy Awards are a bunch of ego maniacs giving prizes to other ego maniacs.
I haven't listened to pop music in 30 years and never listened to rap. When I listen to music it is on a local station that plays vintage CW music and I don't listen to it is very much.
Wouldn't opening a soup kitchen be cheaper. Besides this card can be used to buy anything besides food and these people who had little to nothing in their home countries, the temptation to buy other than food might be too great.
The Dems/Commies don't like something, they don't try and solve the problem. Instead, they call the thing they dislike "racist". Almost everything to a Dem/Commie is racist.
How about getting rid of do nothing DAs who let looters rampage stores and how about enforcing the law and putting more police on the streets? Nooo, let's call Walgreens and other stores pulling out of lawless cities, racists!
I don't know if it was my age or my dislike of modern culture, but I did not know anyone who was written about it, so I went to YouTube and listened to Lana Del Rey. My cutoff point for listening to music was the turn of the century, and maybe I was spoiled to be born into an age of the greatest music. So as not to be an old geezer, I listened to Lana Del Ray's Norman F Rockwell and thought it was ok; she had a great voice, but put her in another era; she's middle of the pack.
What I found so different in what Julia Steinberg wrote was the conversation about the music. I just listened to Bono sing in U2 and was moved by the lyrics; I was awed by the masterpiece of Iron Maiden in the Number of the Beast. I thought the hair bands were great and still have not forgiven Grunge for killing them. I might have talked to friends about it, but I didn't have this vast ecosystem of social media to debate it or hear the criticism of it. I might have heard about something watching MTV, but it was mainly about the music and loving it, not making some statement about who I was or what the era stood for. That is a significant change in culture with social media; — Social Justice warriors can rage about any and everything, as everyone has an opinion and is easily offended. What has changed is not appreciating the music but sharing what I think to the world. It's not good or bad, just new.
I now know who Lana Del Ray is and have more insight into the music world. Thanks, Free Press, for giving me different intellectual tastes to savor.
Agreed! I thought Julia Steinberg‘s piece today in FP was the most compelling of all. Indeed, as I was reading, I said to myself: wait, who is writing this? It’s good (And I scrolled up to investigate) I think it is important to consider what moves other people and especially other generations through the medium of music. Otherwise we are all hopelessly caught in our individual silos. In recent years, I have broken out of my silo listening to “classic rock” and have purposely listened to newer music - which is quite good. Disclosure: my baseline was : Foghat, Boston, Kansas, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, et al - so yes I am an old guy. Thank you FP, I might just investigate Lana Del Ray. And oh yes, nice job Julia Steinberg.
Most certainly! I would add Eagles and Fleetwood Mac for sure. A grievous error on my part to leave them off. So many groups of that era touched my soul. Still - I am intrigued by some (not all) new music today. Worthy of exploration. And I like your choice of music.
Shame on me for forgetting Fleetwood Mac! I tell my wife the 70’s were a magic time for music. I should sample the new I suppose but I come back to what’s best
A formidable list and one today’s kids should learn from! I was raised in the 80s on Cash, Elvis and the Beatles because my dad never let his love for good music die. Fast forward 30 years and I make sure my kids have a real appreciation of true rock and roll because what type of mom would I be otherwise??
I agree with you, when getting older you need to follow a key tenant of first seek to understand then to understand in this instance, you must listen. Enjoyed your post.
I'm of your era, but found some wonderful music by newer musicians. They're out there, you just have to know where to look, and look hard......
Match Black / Angus & Julia Stone / Gramercy Riffs / Electric President / The Jezabels / Geographer / Laura Gibson / Amy Shark / Missy Higgins / Holly Throsby / Phebe Starr / Ingrid Michaelson / Infinity Song / Flight Facilities / Little May / Lisa Mitchell / The Middle East / Christina Perry ("Arms...one of my favs)
Lana is legit. A Grammy would be long overdue, although as Eli Lake writes, these awards have "historically been a horrendous judge of artistic merit." Never winning a Grammy may be a tremendous badge of honor for a musician.
You can find on YouTube fan-shot videos of the Lollapalooza show in Chicago that Stock writes about. Concert videos of Lana Del Rey in Brazil are even wilder. She may not be a household name in the United States, but she's a global superstar. Shame she's not doing the Super Bowl halftime show this year, because it would be quite the juxtaposition to the Swift phenomenon.
You can take TFP out of MSM, but you can’t take MSM out of TFP. I hope TFP dares to be truly brave and different instead of fawning over irrelevant celebrities or siding with liars like E Jean Carroll just because orange man bad. Buzzfeed and Vice are cautionary tales of platforms that started as rebels, but subsumed into the narrative and went bankrupt.
When speaking of Russian moroseness, how can you forget Tchaikovsky, the soul of Russian angst? His Fifth Symphony is what I would like to hear while on my deathbed, especially that third movement which ALWAYS brings me to tears. One day, my wife and daughter, then BOTH quite young, came home after a shopping trip while I was sitting on the floor, listening to that Fifth Symphony. After looking at my face, my 10-year-old daughter said, "Mommy, why is daddy crying?"
Tchaikovsky struggled his whole life with his homosexuality, trying a social marriage, and then trying suicide, BOTH unsuccessful. His tortured soul produced some of the most soaring, AND overblown, music of his time. He will ALWAYS be my favorite. And if you are in an especially morose mood, try listening to the last movement of his Sixth Symphony, which ends on such a downer note that you will want to watch some Looney Tunes cartoons to recover!
Of the modern composers, Gershwin stands out! Most people just think of him and his brother as popular songwriters, but George was much more than that.
Haha! As a kid I used to listen, lights-out, to Nimet Habachy's show broadcast on, I guess, WQXR. It was on later than I was supposed to be awake, but her voice and the music she chose were irresistible.
Today's WQXR announcers are just okay. The increasingly political slant of some of the programming seems unnecessary.
Just the music, ma'am. Stick with Brahms et al. piano concerti and things 'll be fine.
I didn't know about Tchaikovsky's struggle. As a professional classical musician, the Russian composers have always been among my favorites to sing, play and listen to. They have a depth that reaches down to your belly.
"And our hunger for authentic musical artists has never been greater"
Yet nearly every artist described used MIDI to create their music and auto tune to correct their pitch. A recording process that took months now takes days, hours.
Similarly, there hasn't been a new genre of music in decades. Mumble rap and drill doesn't count, it's still just shitty rap.
The reason why most music sounds fake and stagnant is because it is fake and stagnant.
"It’s ladies’ night at the Grammys this year, with female solo acts like Billie Eilish, SZA, and Olivia Rodrigo duking it out in the heavyweight categories. And, of course, Taylor Swift. Will the Swift juggernaut keep on rolling? Surely! "
I'd watch but I've got to clean The Grout in the bathroom.
There's a quote in the Joni Mitchell piece where the author tells us that anyone who likes a particular album is a stupid, deplorable person. I think it was an Olivia Newton John album. Proof of which (I hope I'm not mis-remembering this) is some ranking in some Rolling Stone piece by another author.
Music is very personal to people and music can be quite meaningful in your life. Some music is very specific and other music appeals to a larger group of people.
But I look at these articles today - in celebration of whether one person or another person receives an arbitrary award - and I think you've lost your collective minds out there in TFP-land.
Whether you like Olivia Newton-John's voice or Joni Mitchell's voice, who cares? It's your album collection or digital music feed.
Music critics simply don't get it. They compete to come up with analogies to the process of listening to songs. It can get very creative and that's what passes for music commentary.
"listening to this Joni Mitchell song is like taking a walk with your beloved dog on a crisp fall morning, the smell of burning leaves in the air, chilly but not too cold. Winter is just around the corner, and you're full of anticipation for a cup of steaming hot chocolate as you climb the steps back to your home."
Just bleah. Next week, I anticipate screes about the Super Bowl from writers who hate football and wouldn't know the difference between a slant route and a zone blitz. And 500 mentions of Taylor Swift and her tight end.
I try to avoid hearing or reading about these people. Now I am being force fed this material on a constant basis by TFP. I didn't sign up for this. I mostly signed up for Bari but all I am getting is Oliver Wiseman these days.
I think it’s fair to recognize that FP puts out a lot of content, given how it’s small and growing - Bari isn’t the employee of a large organization anymore - she runs the show - which takes a ton of work and effort behind the scenes, she can’t do all of that AND be the only featured writer!
Thank you TFP. I don't have TV so didnt realize it was Grammy time. As a music lover, I enjoyed all the analysis and am looking forward to some new listening. There is so much music available now from brilliant to bad. I hear you Lana. I've missed you Tracy, shine tomorrow. And Joni, keep being the legend you are!
Btw..it's nice not to hear gloom and doom ALL the time. Turn up the volume and enjoy your Saturday friends 🧡
Yes! I love music too, of all genres, except maybe metal, could never quite get into that… can’t help but shrug at the negative nancies…
I am very pleased to be enjoying both the Bach interpretation AND Jelly Roll this morning. Another FP comment section had me listening to Joni and James Taylor (love!) I like Ice Spice’s voice, although her (ironic?) twerking in the video doesn’t “iron” it for me (does that make sense? 🤪) Candace Owens had a recent talk about Ice Spice too, which made me laugh…
I’ve never listened to Lana del Rey until after reading this. Quite incredible. And this coming from someone who usually prefers listening to dead people and reading Russian literature.
I’m outside his demographic by 30 years but Noah Kahan is a gift. He truly captures both old timer New England angst and Gen Z’s focus on mental health in a direct honest way that keeps you (or at least me) coming back.
Same! Three of my 20 something kids introduced me to him and we listen to him on road trips all the time. I love his music. There is a prosaic yearning in his music coupled with such beautiful imagery....
Agree! My 16 year old son and his band play a lot of Noah that they mix in with songs that allow everyone in the crowd to hear something they like. Everyone on the room loves Noah Karan. It’s great music and the lyrics are interesting and make you think and reminds you of complicated situations faced when you were younger. “I saw your mom and she forgot that I existed…”
Oliver, I suspect you're familiar with it, but check out Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites 1 through 6. Almost everyone is familiar with the Prelude to Suite #1, but each suite builds on the complexity of the one before and they are simply sublime. How many of today's artists will still be treasured 300 years from now?
For what it’s worth, plenty of people enjoy both classical pieces and follow the pop music of today. I’m a classically trained singer, went to a Massenet opera last night, my weekend morning coffee music usually involves the Goldberg variations (a desert island album for me), I love Mahler and Rachmaninov and Chausson and Chopin.
I also love Taylor Swift (got tickets to her tour!), Lana Del Rey, Mitski, and have opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of most albums nominated in the big categories. I don’t care for everyone (Olivia Rodrigo has some good songs but has a lot of growing to do, Ice Spice bores me to tears). Most pop music won’t be remembered in 300 years. But as the impressionists taught us, that’s the glorious thing about the fashion of the moment- it’s wholly ours, capturing a taste of that fleeting thing called the present.
We have decades of better music to listen to. I stopped watching any awards show, years ago. I spent several years volunteering in and photographing an expansive, local live music scene. I've heard far better music, in person.
My adult sons don't even listen to any of the popular stuff that's out there. Awards shows are popularity contests. They're not a reflection of quality and not indicative of good taste.
Every couple of years there's maybe one outstanding performance at the Grammys, and I can catch it on YouTube. That way I don't have to suffer through hours of boredom and repetition.
I’m with you, in fact I’m done with the YouTube videos of the Grammys. If there is ever anything exciting TFP never fails to supply the link to watch and that’s enough for me.
To me today's subject falls under who gives a shit. The Grammys, like the Academy Awards are a bunch of ego maniacs giving prizes to other ego maniacs.
I haven't listened to pop music in 30 years and never listened to rap. When I listen to music it is on a local station that plays vintage CW music and I don't listen to it is very much.
I am more interested in things like this:
https://nypost.com/2024/02/02/metro/nyc-to-hand-out-prepaid-credit-cards-to-migrant-families-for-food/
Wouldn't opening a soup kitchen be cheaper. Besides this card can be used to buy anything besides food and these people who had little to nothing in their home countries, the temptation to buy other than food might be too great.
and this:
https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/02/free-speech-lover-rfk-jr-loses-bid-to-punish-online-critic/
Just another spoiled Kennedy, egotistical, elitist who can't stand criticism.
👍🏻💯 LP almost like this week’s TGIF and today’s crap, TFP has totally lost the plot.this week
The Dems/Commies don't like something, they don't try and solve the problem. Instead, they call the thing they dislike "racist". Almost everything to a Dem/Commie is racist.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/that-s-all-they-know-internet-slams-ayanna-pressley-as-fox-news-sean-hannity-reports-on-rep-calling-walgreens-closure-in-ma-racist/ar-BB1hHBlO?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=1b38264607d543bbbb65c503a91c81b0&ei=17
How about getting rid of do nothing DAs who let looters rampage stores and how about enforcing the law and putting more police on the streets? Nooo, let's call Walgreens and other stores pulling out of lawless cities, racists!
Ya gotta watch a lot of freak show to get to the one artist you want to hear.
Or, you could skip the whole freaking thing.
I don't know if it was my age or my dislike of modern culture, but I did not know anyone who was written about it, so I went to YouTube and listened to Lana Del Rey. My cutoff point for listening to music was the turn of the century, and maybe I was spoiled to be born into an age of the greatest music. So as not to be an old geezer, I listened to Lana Del Ray's Norman F Rockwell and thought it was ok; she had a great voice, but put her in another era; she's middle of the pack.
What I found so different in what Julia Steinberg wrote was the conversation about the music. I just listened to Bono sing in U2 and was moved by the lyrics; I was awed by the masterpiece of Iron Maiden in the Number of the Beast. I thought the hair bands were great and still have not forgiven Grunge for killing them. I might have talked to friends about it, but I didn't have this vast ecosystem of social media to debate it or hear the criticism of it. I might have heard about something watching MTV, but it was mainly about the music and loving it, not making some statement about who I was or what the era stood for. That is a significant change in culture with social media; — Social Justice warriors can rage about any and everything, as everyone has an opinion and is easily offended. What has changed is not appreciating the music but sharing what I think to the world. It's not good or bad, just new.
I now know who Lana Del Ray is and have more insight into the music world. Thanks, Free Press, for giving me different intellectual tastes to savor.
Agreed! I thought Julia Steinberg‘s piece today in FP was the most compelling of all. Indeed, as I was reading, I said to myself: wait, who is writing this? It’s good (And I scrolled up to investigate) I think it is important to consider what moves other people and especially other generations through the medium of music. Otherwise we are all hopelessly caught in our individual silos. In recent years, I have broken out of my silo listening to “classic rock” and have purposely listened to newer music - which is quite good. Disclosure: my baseline was : Foghat, Boston, Kansas, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, et al - so yes I am an old guy. Thank you FP, I might just investigate Lana Del Ray. And oh yes, nice job Julia Steinberg.
My love is classic rock, and no other music that came after compares.
"Foghat, Boston, Kansas, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, et al - so yes I am an old guy.”
Ditto!
Skynyrd, Allmans, Marshall Tucker..
Could we add the Eagles? +1 to all of the above
Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night...
Credence Clearwater Revival
Most certainly! I would add Eagles and Fleetwood Mac for sure. A grievous error on my part to leave them off. So many groups of that era touched my soul. Still - I am intrigued by some (not all) new music today. Worthy of exploration. And I like your choice of music.
Shame on me for forgetting Fleetwood Mac! I tell my wife the 70’s were a magic time for music. I should sample the new I suppose but I come back to what’s best
2 words The...Band
Rag mama Rag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiJpP33F_rs
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKD1Vdarnw
The Last Waltz
Thanks for those links!
A formidable list and one today’s kids should learn from! I was raised in the 80s on Cash, Elvis and the Beatles because my dad never let his love for good music die. Fast forward 30 years and I make sure my kids have a real appreciation of true rock and roll because what type of mom would I be otherwise??
I agree with you, when getting older you need to follow a key tenant of first seek to understand then to understand in this instance, you must listen. Enjoyed your post.
I'm of your era, but found some wonderful music by newer musicians. They're out there, you just have to know where to look, and look hard......
Match Black / Angus & Julia Stone / Gramercy Riffs / Electric President / The Jezabels / Geographer / Laura Gibson / Amy Shark / Missy Higgins / Holly Throsby / Phebe Starr / Ingrid Michaelson / Infinity Song / Flight Facilities / Little May / Lisa Mitchell / The Middle East / Christina Perry ("Arms...one of my favs)
Give 'em a listen....hope you like
Wow, thanks for such an extensive list! I will check them out… and to use a throwback, possibly antiquated word…”cool” ! Hahahaha thx you 234
https://music.amazon.com/my/playlists/0dcb99a7-338c-46d9-bf93-92edbe92aee5
My playlist (took many hours) You need Amazon Music to listen
Lana is legit. A Grammy would be long overdue, although as Eli Lake writes, these awards have "historically been a horrendous judge of artistic merit." Never winning a Grammy may be a tremendous badge of honor for a musician.
I enjoyed reading Julia's Gen-Z perspective. For a deeper Gen-X commentary on Lana Del Rey's brand of "dissident feminity", Kathleen Stock wrote a stellar piece last summer for Unherd. https://unherd.com/2023/08/lana-del-reys-dissident-femininity/
You can find on YouTube fan-shot videos of the Lollapalooza show in Chicago that Stock writes about. Concert videos of Lana Del Rey in Brazil are even wilder. She may not be a household name in the United States, but she's a global superstar. Shame she's not doing the Super Bowl halftime show this year, because it would be quite the juxtaposition to the Swift phenomenon.
Thanks for the link!
Which century? Obviously not my choice.
I didn’t realize that I had subscribed to Buzzfeed. My eyes are bleeding.
You can take TFP out of MSM, but you can’t take MSM out of TFP. I hope TFP dares to be truly brave and different instead of fawning over irrelevant celebrities or siding with liars like E Jean Carroll just because orange man bad. Buzzfeed and Vice are cautionary tales of platforms that started as rebels, but subsumed into the narrative and went bankrupt.
😂
Grammys? I think I heard of that once. A bunch of people in a room congratulating each other, right?
…….and taking the opportunity to berate us ordinary people for not following their political advice.
Nailed it!
I've struggled for decades in search of What's Wrong With Us?. The answer was right there all the time. We have abandoned all standards.
When speaking of Russian moroseness, how can you forget Tchaikovsky, the soul of Russian angst? His Fifth Symphony is what I would like to hear while on my deathbed, especially that third movement which ALWAYS brings me to tears. One day, my wife and daughter, then BOTH quite young, came home after a shopping trip while I was sitting on the floor, listening to that Fifth Symphony. After looking at my face, my 10-year-old daughter said, "Mommy, why is daddy crying?"
Tchaikovsky struggled his whole life with his homosexuality, trying a social marriage, and then trying suicide, BOTH unsuccessful. His tortured soul produced some of the most soaring, AND overblown, music of his time. He will ALWAYS be my favorite. And if you are in an especially morose mood, try listening to the last movement of his Sixth Symphony, which ends on such a downer note that you will want to watch some Looney Tunes cartoons to recover!
DO NOT overlook George Gershwin.............."Rhapsody in Blue"
Of the modern composers, Gershwin stands out! Most people just think of him and his brother as popular songwriters, but George was much more than that.
I woke up to Tchaikovsky on many a Sunday morning when I was very young.
My Dad would play Tchaikovsky to us (6 kids) at nap time ..... still, to this day, it makes me sleepy!
When my sister left for college in 1960, she gave me her record player and her 45s. Elvis, etc.
In high school I would play an album to put myself to sleep. I alternated between the Four Tops Greatest Hits and Swan Lake.
I appreciate the article and this conversation. I've picked up some listening tips!
Try his Serenade for Strings for relaxation.
Haha! As a kid I used to listen, lights-out, to Nimet Habachy's show broadcast on, I guess, WQXR. It was on later than I was supposed to be awake, but her voice and the music she chose were irresistible.
Today's WQXR announcers are just okay. The increasingly political slant of some of the programming seems unnecessary.
Just the music, ma'am. Stick with Brahms et al. piano concerti and things 'll be fine.
I didn't know about Tchaikovsky's struggle. As a professional classical musician, the Russian composers have always been among my favorites to sing, play and listen to. They have a depth that reaches down to your belly.
That is the heart of the Russian psyche!
Hey, no praising Russian artists! Russia is canceled. The MSM told me so.
"And our hunger for authentic musical artists has never been greater"
Yet nearly every artist described used MIDI to create their music and auto tune to correct their pitch. A recording process that took months now takes days, hours.
Similarly, there hasn't been a new genre of music in decades. Mumble rap and drill doesn't count, it's still just shitty rap.
The reason why most music sounds fake and stagnant is because it is fake and stagnant.
Yawn
"It’s ladies’ night at the Grammys this year, with female solo acts like Billie Eilish, SZA, and Olivia Rodrigo duking it out in the heavyweight categories. And, of course, Taylor Swift. Will the Swift juggernaut keep on rolling? Surely! "
I'd watch but I've got to clean The Grout in the bathroom.
Try Lysol foaming with bleach. It actually works unlike Clorox cleanup, Goo Gone Grout cleaner or the pink stuff. And no scrubbing!
My daughter turned me on to it.
Now that's the kind of stuff I come here for!
Gnus you can use.
There's a quote in the Joni Mitchell piece where the author tells us that anyone who likes a particular album is a stupid, deplorable person. I think it was an Olivia Newton John album. Proof of which (I hope I'm not mis-remembering this) is some ranking in some Rolling Stone piece by another author.
Music is very personal to people and music can be quite meaningful in your life. Some music is very specific and other music appeals to a larger group of people.
But I look at these articles today - in celebration of whether one person or another person receives an arbitrary award - and I think you've lost your collective minds out there in TFP-land.
Whether you like Olivia Newton-John's voice or Joni Mitchell's voice, who cares? It's your album collection or digital music feed.
Music critics simply don't get it. They compete to come up with analogies to the process of listening to songs. It can get very creative and that's what passes for music commentary.
"listening to this Joni Mitchell song is like taking a walk with your beloved dog on a crisp fall morning, the smell of burning leaves in the air, chilly but not too cold. Winter is just around the corner, and you're full of anticipation for a cup of steaming hot chocolate as you climb the steps back to your home."
Just bleah. Next week, I anticipate screes about the Super Bowl from writers who hate football and wouldn't know the difference between a slant route and a zone blitz. And 500 mentions of Taylor Swift and her tight end.
Admit it, Jim. You wrote that entire comment just to get to that last sentence, didn’t you?😉
See Ms Hix...
I try to avoid hearing or reading about these people. Now I am being force fed this material on a constant basis by TFP. I didn't sign up for this. I mostly signed up for Bari but all I am getting is Oliver Wiseman these days.
TFP is gradually becoming a real newspaper. That means it will have a variety of topics, not all of which will appeal to all people.
No one is forcing you to read every story TFP publishes. The article title was not deceptive.
I think it’s fair to recognize that FP puts out a lot of content, given how it’s small and growing - Bari isn’t the employee of a large organization anymore - she runs the show - which takes a ton of work and effort behind the scenes, she can’t do all of that AND be the only featured writer!
Thank you TFP. I don't have TV so didnt realize it was Grammy time. As a music lover, I enjoyed all the analysis and am looking forward to some new listening. There is so much music available now from brilliant to bad. I hear you Lana. I've missed you Tracy, shine tomorrow. And Joni, keep being the legend you are!
Btw..it's nice not to hear gloom and doom ALL the time. Turn up the volume and enjoy your Saturday friends 🧡
Yes! I love music too, of all genres, except maybe metal, could never quite get into that… can’t help but shrug at the negative nancies…
I am very pleased to be enjoying both the Bach interpretation AND Jelly Roll this morning. Another FP comment section had me listening to Joni and James Taylor (love!) I like Ice Spice’s voice, although her (ironic?) twerking in the video doesn’t “iron” it for me (does that make sense? 🤪) Candace Owens had a recent talk about Ice Spice too, which made me laugh…
I’ve never listened to Lana del Rey until after reading this. Quite incredible. And this coming from someone who usually prefers listening to dead people and reading Russian literature.
I’m outside his demographic by 30 years but Noah Kahan is a gift. He truly captures both old timer New England angst and Gen Z’s focus on mental health in a direct honest way that keeps you (or at least me) coming back.
Same! Three of my 20 something kids introduced me to him and we listen to him on road trips all the time. I love his music. There is a prosaic yearning in his music coupled with such beautiful imagery....
Agree! My 16 year old son and his band play a lot of Noah that they mix in with songs that allow everyone in the crowd to hear something they like. Everyone on the room loves Noah Karan. It’s great music and the lyrics are interesting and make you think and reminds you of complicated situations faced when you were younger. “I saw your mom and she forgot that I existed…”
Oliver, I suspect you're familiar with it, but check out Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites 1 through 6. Almost everyone is familiar with the Prelude to Suite #1, but each suite builds on the complexity of the one before and they are simply sublime. How many of today's artists will still be treasured 300 years from now?
For what it’s worth, plenty of people enjoy both classical pieces and follow the pop music of today. I’m a classically trained singer, went to a Massenet opera last night, my weekend morning coffee music usually involves the Goldberg variations (a desert island album for me), I love Mahler and Rachmaninov and Chausson and Chopin.
I also love Taylor Swift (got tickets to her tour!), Lana Del Rey, Mitski, and have opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of most albums nominated in the big categories. I don’t care for everyone (Olivia Rodrigo has some good songs but has a lot of growing to do, Ice Spice bores me to tears). Most pop music won’t be remembered in 300 years. But as the impressionists taught us, that’s the glorious thing about the fashion of the moment- it’s wholly ours, capturing a taste of that fleeting thing called the present.
I can answer that one! None
Exactly. It's become the performer, not the music.
We have decades of better music to listen to. I stopped watching any awards show, years ago. I spent several years volunteering in and photographing an expansive, local live music scene. I've heard far better music, in person.
My adult sons don't even listen to any of the popular stuff that's out there. Awards shows are popularity contests. They're not a reflection of quality and not indicative of good taste.