Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier • Hacker News Board

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#21

Post by rch » Mon, May 13, 2019, 11:09 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #10

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

The 1960s were almost apocalyptically bad— the arms race, vietnam, lynchings, inner city riots, bombings, assassinations, etc. There was plenty of angry protest music— there just wasn’t much of an angry audio aesthetic.

I'm surprised at the proportion of people who have never heard of the Weather Underground and the SDS.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#22

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Mon, May 13, 2019, 11:34 PM UTC

athroway wrote: post #20

onemoresoop wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, its fascinating how the test of time clarifies things up. I now enjoy the music my parents listened to but rarely do enjoy the music that I grew up on

Interesting. Many people I talk to about this stuff tell me they basically only like whatever they used to listen to when they were teenagers and have a hard time getting into other musical genres as an adult. You also see it in non-niche nightclubs generally broadcasting a mix of pop music from 10 years ago + a few recent viral hits. They know what demographics to target.

Definitely age specific - I listen to almost nothing I enjoyed as a teenager anymore - mostly emo and metalcore. I do find myself listening to music that I enjoyed during my formative years more often though. For me this was early 20’s. My bro science rationale is that we attach music we enjoy to our formative years.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#23

Post by llamataboot » Mon, May 13, 2019, 11:45 PM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

I mean, counter-cultures are complex in terms of what they question and what they absorb as immutable, etc. But arguably the 60s in the US and across the Western world were way more confrontational and itching-for-revolution than most counter-cultures are today.

I mean, let's not get distracted by the acoustic guitar, a lot of protest folk music was explicitly calling for the abolition of capitalism, the end of US military dominance, etc.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#24

Post by plutonorm » Mon, May 13, 2019, 11:51 PM UTC

athroway wrote: post #20

onemoresoop wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, its fascinating how the test of time clarifies things up. I now enjoy the music my parents listened to but rarely do enjoy the music that I grew up on

Interesting. Many people I talk to about this stuff tell me they basically only like whatever they used to listen to when they were teenagers and have a hard time getting into other musical genres as an adult. You also see it in non-niche nightclubs generally broadcasting a mix of pop music from 10 years ago + a few recent viral hits. They know what demographics to target.

I hated the music when I was growing up in the 90s. Especially the dance music, so dull, so repetitive, bland. Dubstep, now that's something I can go with. Its fab.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#25

Post by mc32 » Tue, May 14, 2019, 12:02 AM UTC

llamataboot wrote: post #23

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

I mean, counter-cultures are complex in terms of what they question and what they absorb as immutable, etc. But arguably the 60s in the US and across the Western world were way more confrontational and itching-for-revolution than most counter-cultures are today. I mean, let's not get distracted by the acoustic guitar, a lot of protest folk music was explicitly calling for the abolition of capitalism, the end of US mi…

The 60s and 70s were more than Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. It was Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and Motown, etc. There were protests and protest songs but it’s wasn't the majority. And Japan pretty much skipped the whole thing.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#26

Post by wubnf » Tue, May 14, 2019, 12:26 AM UTC

codetrotter wrote: post #2

Interesting article. Too bad they resort to a clickbait title as opposed to the title used for it here on HN. My willingness to post an article on social media to share it with others is inversely proportionate to the clickbaityness of its title. If it has a clickbait title I ain’t posting it. And this one does, so I won’t. Too bad, because the article is good.

It's the BBC, I don't know what you expect.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#27

Post by c0vfefe » Tue, May 14, 2019, 12:31 AM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

> it is very rare that I get to cut my rage loose, and let it flow. Mosh pits are the only place I can think of where this is an acceptable form of self expression.

At the metal shows I've been to, it's precisely the guys trying to "cut [thier] rage loose" that you want to avoid. Moshing, like football, should be about a physical form of communal fun, not expressing anger and aggression; otherwise you get safety problems.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#28

Post by rnd0 » Tue, May 14, 2019, 1:58 AM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

I don't agree about the 70's, in that assesment; even the 60's are dubious (eg "trouble coming every day" by Frank Zappa, misc protest songs, the Doors).

According to "Please Kill Me" part of what led to the creation of punk was a sense that everything was going to hell and there might not be a tomorrow. On the metal side of things you get the same sense if you listen to early Black Sabbath (eg "Wicked World", "Hand of Doom",). There's probably other examples to be had, but I can't think of them offhand.

I grew up in the 80's and I can relate to half of what you're saying about aggressive music and moshing. What I find interesting, though, is when you say "Mosh pits are the only place I can think of where this is an acceptable form of self expression". That definately wasn't the case for me, just the opposite. The messages and sentiments I picked up on were that repression was unhealthy -better to get it all out, EST style if need be.

I find it interesting that it's somehow become more taboo to express negative emotions, anger, confrontation, etc than when I was a teenager. I might be off the mark, but from what I've noticed it seems like we're collectively becoming more repressed (emotionally and otherwise) than we were 20 or 30 years ago.

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#29

Post by empath75 » Tue, May 14, 2019, 2:14 AM UTC

rch wrote: post #21

empath75 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1960s were almost apocalyptically bad— the arms race, vietnam, lynchings, inner city riots, bombings, assassinations, etc. There was plenty of angry protest music— there just wasn’t much of an angry audio aesthetic.

I'm surprised at the proportion of people who have never heard of the Weather Underground and the SDS.

There was also plenty of right wing terrorism (the Klan in particular)

Re: Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

#30

Post by e9 » Tue, May 14, 2019, 3:17 AM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #7

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional. Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation: I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to…

Random observation that might be related. If you take some bands that were formed in late 60s, early 70s like Rush, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and follow their careers, as they became older their music became angrier and angrier lol(especially starting late 90s and into 2000s). I always attributed it to band members getting older and bitter at life but maybe as you say it’s due to times changing...