I agree that plenty of great music is still being made (the issue isn't that "quality has evaporated", but rather how certain structural characteristics behave on the charts.
Smoke on the Water is a good case in point: harmonically simple, yet effective due to its riff design, timbre, and placement, not harmonic richness. So, different tracks work for different reasons.
The point lies elsewhere: when melodic variability, harmonic movement, and phrase development begin to narrow simultaneously across many songs, the contrast space within the mainstream shrinks (and this becomes apparent in the aggregate, not in isolated cases).
As for Beato, he points to something similar, though in more value-laden terms. Computational studies tend to describe the same phenomenon more neutrally, as convergence and a reduction of variability in certain parameters.

 

Proof is in the pudding, this is considered Ricks MEISTERWERK, overcooked stale and bland.

It's average dated trite amateurish crap and lacks passion. Period.



Rick is interested in promoting Rick, that's it. Educator indeed.

It's average dated trite amateurish crap and lacks passion. Period.

Beat it Beato.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2026 at 12:16 PM

did you use ChatGPT to draft this Brian?

 

Through Ecki Stieg I got to know some bands, such as And Also The Trees; I was a loyal listener.
This little story shows how they were then buried, i.e., discontinued....!

"Grenzwellen" (Border Waves) is the title of a music program on the private radio station Radio Hannover. It has aired there every Wednesday from 9:00 PM to midnight since April 9, 2014. The program focuses on electronic music and is hosted by Ecki Stieg.

History

The program was originally broadcast on the private Lower Saxony radio station Radio ffn. There, it aired from 1987 to 1997 in the late Sunday evening slot from 9:00 PM to midnight, and towards the end, on Wednesday evenings from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM. As Radio ffn shifted its focus to chart-oriented format radio, the station's management became increasingly skeptical about integrating "Grenzwellen" into its overall programming. The program was discontinued in 1997.

In 1998, an attempt was made to establish "Grenzwellen" as a television format. The entire Zillo Festival in Hildesheim was not only filmed with elaborate production values; all performances on the main stage (with the exception of the headliners The Cure and Rammstein) were also recorded on 24 tracks (including Wolfsheim, Das Ich, Clan of Xymox, And One, and Alexander Veljanov). The program was not broadcast.

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenzwellen

 

I saw this, and it made me wonder if it bears any relevance to the discussion?

Bearing in mind there's 2 sides to the coin: the creative side, and the audience/ listeners.

 

It's interesting looking at the above list. I could do similarly below to each generation where it is way too ambiguous...
The boomers were the generation that saw the most changes - Education changed, nuclear weapons were invented, TCP/IP and wireless were invented, eftpos ( to credit cards), personal computing, space exploration, analog synthesisers invented, recording studio advancements and multi-track recording invented, and way more....and anyone still alive from that period has possibly seen more wars than any other surviving generation though it isn't something I am sure they like to speak of much. They seem less tolerant because they are older than many and anyone who has dealt with the elderly knows they do not have a lot of time left and simply, they are more stubborn because of that and do not want to waste their time, but they're not resistant to change, just resistant to crap. They've seen plenty of change.

Not saying any generation is better, because that is untrue, just that typecasting and putting anyone into a square box is rarely accurate. I know Gen X's that are extremely trusting, Millineals that are more patient than some Boomers, Gen Z's that can work on the same project for weeks, and Gen alpha's that are social butterflies. So basically the above list is inaccurate and overly generalized. True for some and perhaps many, but labelling millions of people into a box? - nah...
In other words - labelling anyone is a waste of time. The identical traits can appear in any generation depending on where they were raised, how they were raised, and what their life choices are. Introverts and extroverts, creatives and non-creatives are in every generation.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2026 at 1:11 PM

Haha yeah righto.

Stop justifying mediocrity as a coping mechanism, even with all the good willing 'In my opinion' isms, that top ten list is clearly drivel.

from a young cat.