I think the mid 80's could compare, ZZ Top coming out with "Afterburner" did not help those times with all of the hair bands.
I don't know, but I was flipping through the channels last night and happened upon a Fall Out Boy video on MTV2. It instantly made me consider life changing self-surgeries such as eye enucleation and ear drum removal.
Ha! My wife listens to Mix 96, and I was working on her truck last weekend and I heard that "Had a bad day" song from American Idol. I couldn't believe it was actually getting airplay...
The advertisement Frank Black/Black Francis put in the paper that Kim Deal answered: "Wanted: Musicians to join a Husker Du/Peter Paul & Mary Band." I've also read elsewhere that Black stated the Pixies never would have existed without Husker Du and that he owned 5 records when he decided to start the Pixies and 3 were Husker Du albums. You can argue the level of influence all you want, but that wasn't really the point. The Pixies were heavily influenced by Husker Du (just as Husker Du was heavily indebted to the Buzzcocks and other bands). It isn't that you have strong influences it is what you do with them. The Pixies were a great band because they created something that was their own out of their influences. That was the point.
These very topics - the monopolistic tendencies of radio, i.e. Clear Channel, the manufactured mainstream sounds, the bands of yesteryear that would never have made it today - are discussed in depth in a new documentary http://www.beforethemusicdies.com/ The film played at SXSW and was shown again yesterday at the B-Side Roadshow, a travelling music and film fest, in Austin. I just caught it for the first time, there is nothing earthshattering that you don't already know, but the interviews with Badu, Clapton, etc. are great. There is also a great bit how they create a pop star with admittedly no talent who uses a song which was improvised by a mid-aged singer-songerwriter (the great Steve Polz) in a matter of minutes. Good show to check out.
Mainstream rock has been steadily declining for years but at this point can it really go any lower? I stopped listening to FM radio 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I'm a big fan of early to mid 90's rock. In 1996 these bands were topping the charts. Bush Smashing Pumpkins Everclear Stone Temple Pilots Rage Against the Machine Oasis Soundgarden Beck Green Day Pearl Jam Wallflowers Collective Soul Sublime Goo Goo Dolls Foo Fighters Dave Matthews Band Hootie & the Blowfish Red Hot Chili Peppers R.E.M. Counting Crows I can't tell you 5 artists in the top 5 of rock radio other than the few left from this list.
the only other decade worse than the 90's for "mainstream rock" are the 2000's. both suck hard, for "mainstream rock" that is...
Some of what you feel is just that you reach a saturation point. All rock is derivitive since the time white boys started playing black blues on electric guitars. There is just so much you can do different with guitars. After you listen to enough music over a long period of time everything sounds familiar. Some of what you feel is the supression of creativity by corporate music. They need predictability in music to keep the machine rolling.They need planning for crossover marketing. It was the same in 1971 when Top 40 ruled the AM dial, it took the new medium of FM radio to let music flourish. It seems to me that MYSpace music etc. should easily fill that void but maybe not. Some of what you feel might just be a sign of the times. The best music seems to come out of social turmoil and the Rove machine has the nation asleep like it was the Eisenhower years. Also, If you are all hunky dory, working a good job and voting republican you just not going to get in touch with your passion. I think you can still find good music, your just not going to get it from big corporations. Blogs, small record companies and live music maybe. That Austin M&E channels is doing some good things. And definitely Manny's WIY CD P. threads.
The thing is those early alternative bands didn't get commercial airplay until people went crazy for Nirvana. I remember when it was very new and strange to hear Nirvana / RHCP etc on major radio. And all the Nickebacks crap etc come from the the grunge Alice in Chains / Pearl Jam wannabe sound. Then Green Day came along an pop punk exploded. Oh well. The end.
there are tons of good bands out there...you just have seek and hear. quit relying on itunes ...buy the whole album. bands put out whole albums for a reason. whatever happened to the DIY ethic for searching for new music. people need quit relying on corporate pushers(mtv, rollingstone, nme,ap,fuse,vh1,fox, ect...) that force feed them crappy content and find it themselves
I posted a thread about almost the same thing awhile ago. The lack of originality in popular music. It does seem like a lot of popular music is rehash of stuff that happened before and even on the "alternative" station here a lot of the time they seem to be playing stuff that was popular when I was in college more than 10 years ago.
about the only thing they share in similarity is 1/4th of a popular guitar riff ... and even then.. completely different tempo.. ripoff..? Nirvana may've tried emmulating the Pixies.. But uhm... Why did Nirvana reach the audience it did and the Pixies didn't... right time at the right place? The Grunge scene was endrenched in Seattled before Kurt had his first band.. Had international publicity before Nirvana.. Alice in Chains.. and other grunge bands were already exposed to the National audience before Nirvana's "Nevermind".. did well not great.. Mudhoney had the momentum while Kurt was still an unknown.. The difference? Just as others have pointed out... You can be influenced by the same things.. it's what you do with it.. that differentiats the outcome from "ok" to "great" or in this case, "iconic"..
You're suffering from aging... it was always better when you were younger or a kid, and everything today is starting to suck. Time to tone it down and realize your best years are behind you. I should write Hallmark cards...
