What Would It Take For Music To Become As Important As It Was To Young people In The 1980s?

What made a diference too is that in the 70's-80's everyone was making huge world tours...nowadays most of them only want hoes, money and good time.
Being away from home for months with sometimes 7 concerts in 7 days it's hard work but that with songs that you can relate to make a big diference for the fans.
Plus great music videos like Guns N' Roses November Rain or Michael Jackson's Thriller help a lot.

Exemple, Guns N' Roses who at the end of the 80's was one of the if not biggest act in the music world, between 87-93 they dropped 5 albums and had two huge tours.
first tour was from August 14, 1987 - December 19, 1988
Second tour from January 20, 1991 - July 17, 1993
 
what are you talking about lol music is a massive part of youth culture
 
In the old days there was less choice in how people got access to music. You had the radio, a couple of tv shows, concerts if you could afford them, if you were lucky maybe the local store sold a few music magazines and that was pretty much it. So it wasn't a golden age for the customer. It was actually shit, especially compared to now when music is everywhere and you can access almost anything instantly.

There hasn't been a revolution in rock for this generation which is a shame. No equivalent of punk or grunge to wipe the slate clean. That's why old hacks like G'N'R and Metallica are still hanging around, stinking the place out with their stale farts. Who knew back in 87 that one day there'd be a fat Axl, wobbling around the stage like fuckin Wilfred Brimley on a cake rampage. Or that Metallica would become so creatively bankrupt they'd be forced to play MOP night after night because their hair transplant bills are bigger than most 3rd world countries debt.
 
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Blackjack said:
I lived through that time and yes, when MTV made its debut, there ws plenty of competition from video games. Atari was a huge name in video games when MTV made its debut with games such as Space Invaders and Asteroids. I was in 7th grade then and while they provided competition in a sense, they were two entirely different things. Playing video games didn't hurt music; it hurt board games such as Monopoly and Life. Eventually junior high kids become high school kids and the lure of shooting Space Invaders is decimated by the enticing idea of learning to play a music instrument, to have a creative artistic outlet, and the possibility of joining a rock band which not only provides a huge boost to one's social status at a time when kids are obsessed with improving their social status, but also affords many otherwise nonexistent opportunities for meeting the opposite sex.
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Kind of disagree.

Atari and the NES were big, but nothing like today... not even close.

For one, it was almost unheard of for girls to play video games. I was a gamer back then and I would say a majority of my HS friends didn't own or play.

We used to hang out a lot and just listen to music because our options were limited at times.

Today, kids have multiple avenues for entertainment. YouTube and Netflix would be mind blowing to a kid from the 80's.

"You mean I don't have to tune in exactly at 7pm each Tuesday to watch my favourite show? And I can watch an entire season at once?"
 
OP sounds like an old man. A "get off my lawn" type guy.

Music is just as relevant today as it was to kids in the past. You can't tell me acts like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, the Chainsmokers, Sia, Lady Gaga, etc. Arent as big as Madonna, Mike Jackson, The Police and George Michael back in the day.

If you are strictly talking Metal and Rock, those exist too but it's not mainstream anymore. There are a lot more music genres available today and young people are not into just mainstream anymore like in the 80s. The internet has changed that. If you were a hipster in the ,80s and 90s you hung out a lot at your local record store talking about Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and Skinny Puppy.

I was playing Childish Gambino on my phone at work the other day and the 20 year old intern who walked past heard and knew who that was instantly and we talked about him, Kavinsky and even Com Truise (he didnt know him but dug the music) for 10 minutes.
 
Nesk said:
What made a diference too is that in the 70's-80's everyone was making huge world tours...nowadays most of them only want hoes, money and good time.
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ya artists today never tour

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kahiljabroni said:
People would sit around and watching music videos. .. it gave bands way more personality.
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people still do that bro
i can think of 10+ different music videos with literally billion(s) of views on youtube alone, that have been released in the past 3 years
 
My 9 year old listens to music constantly, how do we know it isn't as popular? I think it is just different (and shitty, but that's my opinion).
 
THE REASON:
It stopped, over several decades, being at all interesting to the masses that other people study and excel at MUSIC and the making of it with MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
The average consumer of commercial music isn't interested in being presented with ANYTHING REMOTELY CHALLENGING to the ear. No polyrhythyms, no ugly chords, no dissonance, no complex modalities, just make it danceable with a fat beat that'll get the honeys shaking their gold digging asses on the flo.
 
bladee said:
what are you talking about lol music is a massive part of youth culture
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Not like it was in the 80s. In the 80's (and 70s for that matter) nothing was more important than partying and dancing. Watch any movie from the 80s and there's surely a dance montage in it somewhere. Even the shittiest little towns had some building that was set aside simply for dancing.
 
Overpressure said:
THE REASON:
It stopped, over several decades, being at all interesting to the masses that other people study and excel at MUSIC and the making of it with MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
The average consumer of commercial music isn't interested in being presented with ANYTHING REMOTELY CHALLENGING to the ear. No polyrhythyms, no ugly chords, no dissonance, no complex modalities, just make it danceable with a fat beat that'll get the honeys shaking their gold digging asses on the flo.
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Personally, I think it became more about fashion than music. IT wasn't about writing good catchy songs anymore, it was more about the spectacle.
 
Seano said:
Personally, I think it became more about fashion than music. IT wasn't about writing good catchy songs anymore, it was more about the spectacle.
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That's always been a big part of it, see: Godfather of Soul, hep me, good gawd. Please, please, please, please, please, I said please...

Sorry, got the soul in me

The stage show gradually became more important for sure.

But it's funny to me. Jazz is to my mind unquestionably the greatest American music there is and a product to be incredibly proud of.
But it's hard to believe that it was ever popular. It's complex music, and the more difficult, the more esoteric. Music for musicians to admire.
I often think the ONLY reason jazz was ever popular was because a generation was told that it was great by Playboy articles.
 
We used to buy ALBUMS. The whole process was important...going to Tower and picking out an album. Then listening while reading the liner notes and checking out the artwork on the cover.

1) The album is dead. Producers only pushed for a few singles and people stopped wanting to buy whole album. Then downloads put the nail in the coffin and people could buy a few songs and create mixes.

We had Rock Stars. The music was made to see live. The shows were amazing. The tailgate, the t shirts, then the actual sho with pyrotechnics, and solos were a sight to see.

2) today the music doesn't translate well live. Sure there are edm festivals but that's mainly for party drugs and dancing. Watching a guy behind a podium playing prerecorded stuff with his hands in the air is gay af. These new hip hop artists mumbling are also terrible live.

We would get a new album like Guns Appetite or Pearl Jam 10 and have a party around it. Get a bonfire going, drink beers and talk about how good or bad it is.

3) Kids today sit on their phones even when they are together and barely interact. They like what social media tells them to like.

Kiddie pop will always be a thing for tweeter girls. But unless tastes change, music is just background now.
 
Overpressure said:
That's always been a big part of it, see: Godfather of Soul, hep me, good gawd. Please, please, please, please, please, I said please...

Sorry, got the soul in me

The stage show gradually became more important for sure.

But it's funny to me. Jazz is to my mind unquestionably the greatest American music there is and a product to be incredibly proud of.
But it's hard to believe that it was ever popular. It's complex music, and the more difficult, the more esoteric. Music for musicians to admire.
I often think the ONLY reason jazz was ever popular was because a generation was told that it was great by Playboy articles.
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James Brown would have been nothing without great music though. Compare that to the lip synch queens of the 90s, the auto tune era etc.
 
Synergistic relationship with movies.

Think of the end of The Breakfast Club and you think of Simple Minds

Think of Phoebe Cates in a red bikini and you think of The Cars

Think of the party from Mellon threw in Back to School and you think of Oingo Boingo

Think of the shitty soccer skills in The Karate Kid and you think of Bananarama

Think of a guy holding a fucking boombox over his head and you think of Peter Gabriel

Iconic moments matched with iconic songs that made both more powerful
 
Growing up, I listened to rock and rap. Let's face it. The new hip hop is pretty good still while most of the new rock/metal is not. ---Example: Octane on Sirius/XM is supposed to be current hard rock but 60+% of the music is from the 90s.--- I don't know what happened.

Pop music is about the same as it was back in the day.

I don't know if you can blame it on money. I am sure that the newer bands are making money on YouTube subscribers and Amazon prime subscribers (or whatever you call it for Amazon). Concert tickets are way more expensive even when adjusted for inflation.
 
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Seano said:
James Brown would have been nothing without great music though. Compare that to the lip synch queens of the 90s, the auto tune era etc.
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Less nothing than those you mention.
I lived in the last great instrumental interest moment there was: the early 80's, when heavy metal guitar ruled the world. Arnie was king at the box office, and if you wanted to add excitement to any scene, fast guitar solo!!
I was a Sax player who loved jazz and fell in love with playing speed metal guitar, trying to become a combination of Vai, Yngwie, and develop a John Coltrane "sheets of sound" approach to my playing.
It rarely happened but a few noticed that I was a metal player influenced by Coltrane.

Interest in actually becoming proficient at playing an instrument is at an all time low; everybody wants to be a shallow pop-vocalist instant star.
 
Ikuza said:
Synergistic relationship with movies.

Think of the end of The Breakfast Club and you think of Simple Minds

Think of Phoebe Cates in a red bikini and you think of The Cars

Think of the party from Mellon threw in Back to School and you think of Oingo Boingo

Think of the shitty soccer skills in The Karate Kid and you think of Bananarama

Think of a guy holding a fucking boombox over his head and you think of Peter Gabriel

Iconic moments matched with iconic songs that made both more powerful
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I fucking hate it.
I hate the way EVERYTHING has to have that moment that completely wrecks the emotion for me, that hang- a-lampshade-on-it, "time to feel things", here's a song we paid for, cheap, time filling garbage song moment.
 
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