The Death of Audiophilia

Rap "music" is proof that we quit providing music education for our students. I do like Body Count and Akon, but most is crapola.

 

Never read that quote before. Very well said. As far as it dying. I figure it will limp on as is for quite sometime buoyed by emerging markets like China. For the western world though it looks pretty grim. As pointed out by Mr Holt, it is an industry and hobby that repeatedly shoots itself in the foot with things like magic clocks, 1000.00 wire, and magical USB cables. All the while refusing any sort of objective testing and using pseudoscience to knock it. Too bad really because they're are really some affordable, amazing products being made now

 

Don't start...

You may be new here, so you don't know what kind of mess your post may start here. There are a lot of rap lovers here, so cool it.

 

Wow he's new and just expressing an opinion. Nothing wrong with that. These are discussion boards.

 

Thanks for that! I was always wondering what that style was called!

 

Suppression of dissent is a sure sign of bullying. I for one don't like rap or punk preferring the beautiful sounds of prog.

 

I know he's new. But, this thread also has nothing to do with opinions of music, much less rap music. And, the forum rules state that saying a whole genre of music is "crap". Look it up.

If he wants to express his opinion of said music, he should start a thread about it.

Again, not the thread for it, and he did it in a disrespectful way. There is no suppression of differing opinion here.

 

I'll add my old-dude curmudgeon take -- the decline of the middle class and components aimed at good compromise between SQ and affordability. Seems like the early 1970s through about the mid-1980s were the high point for that marketing strategy. You could argue that wasn't really 'high-end', but it surely was aiming at the 'budget' audiophile.

Now? People who do not have upper level incomes struggle to buy-in to a lot of what's out there. It's quite ironic, too -- there is more of a selection of phonograph cartridges and turntables than ever seemingly catering to a tiny audio market segment with a boat-load of disposable income.

Of course, times are hugely different. In the '70s, people in my demographic far preferred a night of listening to albums in front of a good sound system to vegetating in front of the boob tube. That clearly influenced a lot of our entertainment orientation. It still does mine. I don't even own a television anymore -- gave it away two years ago.

Strange times.

 

This.

 

I'm sorry, but this is total BS. There's so much more to hip-hop than what you see in mainstream media. I'm not saying you have to like any of it, but it's a much more diverse genre than what your post leads me to believe you think.

For the record though, I do agree that most of it is crap. But that is true for any genre ever. No matter what kind of music we're discussing, there is a small subset of perfomers who actually have a unique delivery, and the rest are just following blindly and putting out uninspired "me-too" junk. That's in no way limited to hip-hop. It's just how music works.

 

I was responding to your post. When you make Gort status you will be in a better position to tell someone where they can have an opinion. Till then...

Do you really feel disrespected over that post?

 

Technology and it's wider availability affects this, yet I am not sure if the effect is positive. Anybody with some bucks and a computer can make music these days. That means we get a lot of crap, but also some really good stuff... Ultimately, there is too much crap out there. Back in the 60s & 70s...you had to have some kind of talent or real gimmick to get a record released. These days, EDM, Rap & Hip Hop releases are easy to make at home and tend to be full of clone-ish crap....More crap than good stuff..

 

There was a lot of crap in the old days. It's just that the good stuff survives the test of time.

 

Six years later . . .

http://thehighfidelityreport.com/the-golden-age-of-audio-is-now/

 

Speaking as a musician, I fail to see how the fact that anyone with a computer can make music is a bad thing. I just don't get it. If you hear something you don't like, then just don't listen to it. It's as simple as that.
There was just as much crap out there in the 60s/70s/whatever, the only difference is that back then no one would get to hear your crap unless it was released by a record label. And again, as a musician, I love the fact that labels have lost so much of their power. The labels were nothing but a bottleneck, prohibiting the free exchange of ideas. I don't need some random bigshot in a fancy office telling me what I should and should not listen to. I have a mind of my own.

 

Do you enjoy listening to music more by fixating on products and designs which you don't understand and have never bothered to properly audition? Magic? Good grief.

 

Cables are one thing. There are good cables and bad cables, no question. But are you really sure you wanna defend that "magic clock" thing?

 

Today anyone who thinks they can could actually make a "record" because the technology can be bought by the average consumer. That wasn't true in the 60s/70s... and record companies were the only way most people could get their music released. These days with the internet, one could release white noise as a "song" and it can be available literally worldwide. More availability of "crap" these days, but also the chance of someone with real talent and lack of financial means to get their stuff out there too...Still a ton more crap out there today, even proportionally, than there was 30-40-50 years ago.

 

If you are correct then, statistically speaking, there's actually more good music out there today than there was in the 60's/70's.

Similar reasoning...how many talented artists back in the old days never got the chance to record at all? Technology advances + the Internet have changed not only recording, but also distribution.

 

Then you might have a problem if you Google "Peter W. Belt."

John K.

 

No, we really have no idea what the "crap to genious" ratio was back then, simply because there is no record of it. If I had to put money on it though, I'm sure it was the same as it is now. The only difference is that you won't find the old crap on youtube/soundcloud/whatever like you will with the new stuff. I'm sure there were a metric ton of awful Beatles and Pink Floyd (or whatever) copies playing absolute crud in random basements and garages in the 60s and 70s, like I said the only difference is that there is no record of it, because there was no affordable recording technology available at the time.
And I know you can't prove me wrong.

 

Oh, I know all about the guy.

 

And we know you can't prove yourself right...

 

Take a walk through any flea market in the US. Are you really saying everyone in the stacks had talent?

 

I just don't see any logical reason why your average hack musician was "better" back then than now. Aside from some sort of nostalgia seen through rose-colored glasses, do you? Honestly?