We are entering a golden age if 2015-2016 is any indication

Any one that follows my posts here would see that early to mid 90s period as one of my favorite periods in music, so much going on, so much music I discovered and still love, it does remind me of that golden age in the 60s. Funny, just yesterday I got the Bunny Gets Paid vinyl issue (first time) from 1995 in the mail from Califone Music, looking forward to spending some time with it, great stuff, these Red Red Meat/Loftus reissues on Jealous Butcher have been the best. Now on to Califone and hopefully Quicksand/Cradlesnakes.

 

You misunderstood my post - I was saying that some of the people that you are denigrating grew up in an era in which top 40 radio wasn't just for the kids but for a broader audience.

 

Growing up in Michigan, almost everybody knew about Sixto Rodriguez. I was puzzled by Searching for Sugar Man.

Due to the circumstances of his death, it will take at least 10 years to put Blackstar into its proper context.

 

Even a 'silver age' would be great.

 

Boomers are the probably the largest group in the US?

 

I doubt young generation care about it.
Name recognition? Seriously?

 

This is a good point. Anything that is to be referred to as a "golden age," or something to that effect, needs to stand the test of time first before making a compelling argument for such a hallowed label. I mean, there's nothing wrong with getting jazzed about albums released and wondering if it's a new golden age for music. But, I agree, with your post. I'd think we'd need at least a decade to decide whether an album, artist, or time period is given a classic status.

And with the factor of time, there also needs to be a significant number of music fans and maybe even critics who say, yep, that period stood out from most others.

But I like that the OP put forth his opinion that we're in a great period of music. I like hearing different perspectives on that, regardless of whether I agree or not. And I appreciate that he listed the artists that he felt made this period so special.

 

I don't know if this is a Golden Age or not.
I don't care about Cultural Impact.
I don't care about new Golden Gods.

If the music is good, the impact will be in my little man cave in my house.

Allow me to add:

The Grip Weeds
Sugar Stems
Houndstooth
Rose Windows.

 

Rose Windows is simply amazing. Houndstooth gets a thumbs up as well. Good list.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

We're in a Golden Age? Could've fooled me. Thankfully there's millions of tracks from various decades I'm still yet to discover and that makes me very excited.

 

It's the golden age of 5 dollar earbuds and music playback in noisy environments.

 

It's the golden age of 5 dollar earbuds and music playback in noisy environments. I hav

 

Having giving this some thought, the "Golden Age" (for me anyway) is the ability and ease in discovering music from any era. With the help of streaming, YouTube, etc., I've been able to not only sample new music, but artists that have gone before like Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. Cheap and abundant CDs, and the occasional vinyl bargain, make it easy to purchase works by these artists.

 

Not sure I completely agree with your post, BUT there's definitely lots of great music being made now (and in almost any era). In my mind, it's up to us to seek it out and appreciate it when we find it. So big kudos for doing that, and for sharing some interesting stuff!

 

I'd never heard of most of the artists in the OP, so the list spurred me to go check out a bunch of them on Amazon's samples. The ones I heard don't appeal to me (i.e. I wouldn't buy them). I appreciate the OP's intent, but I don't see how the list constitutes evidence of a "golden age" any more than any other chunk of time from which we could pick out a list of albums we like (and think other people should like).

That said, I do believe we're in a golden age of musicians being able to produce their own music independently of the major record labels as gatekeepers, but that's a separate issue.

 

First of all, old timers hitting number one has more to do with the age and demographic of people who actually buy music and the historically very low sales figures required to reach number one these days -- James Taylor had the first-ever number one album of his career last year, but he did it by selling fewer than 100K copies of his album that week.

Second, when younger artists -- like Drake, or Beyonce, or Taylor Swift, or Rihanna, or The Weeknd or who ever releases an album it goes to the top of the charts, and typically with a lot more units sold. Here's the list of artist who hit number one on the Billboard album chart last year:

Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, Fall Out Boy, Drake, Imagine Dragons, Big Sean, Kelly Clarkson, Kendrick Lamar, Wale, Shawn Mendes, Alabama Shakes, Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, 21 Pilos, A$AP Rocky, Florence & the Machine, Muse, James Taylor, Breaking Benjamin, Meek Mill, Tyrese, Future, Jill Scott, Luke Bryan, Disturbed, The Weeknd, Drake & Future, Fetty Wap, Janet Jackson, Selena Gomez, Pentatonix, 5 Seconds of Summer, Chris Stapleton, Justin Bieber and, finally Adele

I count one boomer icon in there -- James Taylor, two if you want to included Janet Jackson, each of whom held the top slot for a single week, vs. say Taylor Swift who held it for six weeks; Adele for three (and more in 2016), The Weeknd for three, Kendrick Lamar for two, Meek Mill for two, etc.

The assumption that old timers' music races to the top of the charts and young artist can't complete is completely without basis in fact.

 

But when you look at the concert business over the past 20 years, you get a different picture. The biggest shows and tours have been mostly so-called legacy artists, and they're able to command the big dollars that younger artists can't. Many of them are headlining the big festivals too. With the exception of a few female singers (Taylor Swift, Adele, Beyonce, Katy Perry), there aren't a lot of newer artists who can fill up an arena by themselves.

 

Sadly, almost none of us will be around in 50 years to see how the OP's list holds up. I wish them all luck.

 

I am very similar in my approach. The music of the 20th century was so rich and varied that it's taking me a long time to discover and explore all that was amazing in it. And I, too, prefer the sound, styles, and recording techniques of that time, ranging from the 30s to early 90's. That said, I am always on the look out for the best stuff of today so that I can be aware of what's happening now, and in hopes of finding The Next Big Thing.

Overall, though, music of the past 5-10 years is a much smaller percentage of my buying purchases. Push comes to shove, I prefer to try musical recommendations that have stood the test of time compared to whatever someone is proclaiming to be the 6th best album of 2014, for instance.

But I'm not close-minded. If you tell me there's an incredible new artist or album, I want to hear it!

P.S. I never grew up with any of my favorite artists or albums, I was either too young or not yet born.

 

Yeah,
rock and roll is dead.
The best music was from the mid '50s to the early '80s at the latest. 1966 and 1977, best years.

 

Which is good, because arena shows suck. But hey, keep paying $400 to see acts whose last good album came out in 1976. I'll be over here seeing great new bands in 250-capacity clubs for $15 and chatting with them at the merch table after.

 

Ur welcome.

 

fair enough!