SCIENCE says YOU'RE RIGHT ...

Modern music is getting worse


 Science has proven that the combination of notes in modern songs 

have been losing their diversity over the past 50 years.

Take the “The Millennial Whoop”
 It’s a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, 

typically starting on the fifth.

 A singer usually belts these notes with an “Oh” phoneme, often in a “Wa-oh-wa-oh” pattern.


It makes the songs seem familiar.  

And in an unpredictable world in chaos, familiar feels safe.

It also makes our modern songs stamped out as if by cookie cutter.


Speaking of music processed by cookie cutter ---

Songwriting is an impersonal process these days that would make Henry Ford swell with pride.

In fact, probably every modern song you ever loved was written by ONLY TWO MEN!

Lukasz Gottwald  and Max Martin 
Max Martin:
As for Lukas Gottwald ...
 When the New York DJ, a former pot dealer who later spent six years as the guitarist for the house band on ”Saturday Night Live,” 
wanted to start producing records, he sought out Martin, who became first his mentor, then his partner.
 Martin and Lukas have had such a strong influence on modern pop music that 
“Swedish hit-makers supplied one quarter of all the hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014

 No wonder so much modern music sounds the same!

When I got my first iPod in 2001, I noticed immediately 
that I became more fickle and impatient while listening to music. 
Because I could recharge the iPod for free at any time, 
skipping to the next song wasn't costing me anything in terms of needing to buy more batteries. 
I found myself getting bored with songs quickly and compulsively looking for something more engaging. 
Oftentimes on a run, 
I could easily skip through the beginning of 10 songs in rapid succession if the intro didn't grab me.  
Many, many listeners are the same, 
hence hooks appear almost at the beginning of most modern songs which repeat the same phrase like a mantra.

THE LOUDNESS WAR
I'm referring to the practice of using compressors to squash the music, 
making the quiet parts louder and the loud parts a little quieter, so it jumps out of your radio or iPod ...
no matter what setting you set your volume control to.
Since most modern songs sound similar, 
making your song louder than your competitor snares attention ...
at least until another song comes along to blow out your ear drums. 
AUTO TUNE 
Once upon a time, pop singers were actual singers. 
The pop charts are now dominated by artists who use Auto-Tune,
the software plug-in that corrects the pitch of those 
who can’t really cut it in the vocal department and turns their vocals into robo-voices. 
Back in the day, pop artists like Frank Sinatra and the Beatles 
used to be able to record albums in just a few days.
These days, artists are able to get by on looks, publicity and aid from Auto-Tune. 


 RAP MUSIC
Rap Music, like jabbing a stick in your eye, is an acquired taste.

I don't get the appeal, but then, I do not jab a stick in my eye or ear either.

Will any tune, Rap or otherwise, currently on Billboard's Top 1o 

have the longevity of Hotel California, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, or Sympathy for the Devil?

 I do not think so.  How about you?
Remember the beauty, nuance, subtlety, and stirring beat of the songs last century? 
Do you like most modern songs?