“Too much of a good thing…ain't right."
-Too Much of a Good Thing/Walk the West
“Music today is crap!” I hear that quite a bit, or something close to it. “It's not like back in the day. There's no good music anymore." Since man first started banging on a log with a stick, a similar sentiment has probably been said by every older generation. “Our log banging was better.”
A lot of it is nostalgia. The music we grow up with we tend to revere. It was our companion in the good and terrible days of our formative years. Music is a social connector when we're young, but once people get out into the world of family, careers and mortgages, music's centrality fades for most. But we fondly hold onto that music of our youth.
Maybe, though, the gripes of older listeners of today's music has some validity. Research bears out that over the past couple of decades, popular music has gotten less complex musically and lyrically and much more repetitive. I think across the culture it's gotten far less diverse, as well. Everyone now is in their preferred music silos so they tend to hear the same sorts of sounds over and over. As is often pointed out, back when every kid listened to the Top-40, because that was about their only option, they were treated to a wide range of musical styles. If you look at the charts from 1969, say, you get The Archies, The 5th Dimension, The Temptations, The Rolling Stones, Henry Mancini, Elvis Presley, The Isley Brothers, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Creedence, Johnny Cash, The Guess Who, Sammy Davis, Jr, etc. Stylistically, it was all over the place. Much less so now.
Whatever makes music, “better” is a matter of personal taste, of course. I do agree, at least in my listening, that the music on what was once considered the Pop Charts isn't very interesting. I know “It all sounds the same” is an old guy's lament, but guess what, it does, not only to me but to people with far more sophisticated ears. If you passively take in what we're fed as “popular” it's gonna be a diet of thin, repetitive soup.
However, I reject the argument that there's no “good” music anywhere. In fact, I would say the opposite, there's too much good music and that's the problem. There's so much of it you can't possibly keep up or take it all in. It's a tsunami. There are 99,000 new releases on Spotify and other streaming services every single day. A lot of it's good, but like much of our culture, we have so many choices that it's debilitating. Most people don't have the time or inclination to try and sort through it so they end up hearing what the music industry decides they'll hear and again, that is thin soup.
There are fantastic bands and musicians making wonderful noises out there, you just have to have the curiosity, time and stamina to seek it out. But, good luck getting to a tenth of it.