Yves here. Marketing maven Jared Holst is back! Today he weighs in on how the lack of much of anything new in cultural offerings is only getting worse, not just on the Hollywood franchise retread front, but in popular music as well. And now we have a Retro Fan in Chief, with Trump wanting to restore the roaring 1890s, RFK, Jr. out to bring back the world before mass vaccinations, Pete Hegseth yearning for the freewheeling buccaneer era. Go long morning jackets and corsets.
By Jared Holst, the author at Brands Mean a Lot, a weekly commentary on the ways branding impacts our lives. Each week, he explores contradictions within the way politics, products, and pop-culture are branded for us, offering insight on what’s really being said. You can follow Jared on Twitter @jarholst. Originally published at Brands Mean a Lot
Two weeks ago, I saw Avatar: Fire and Ash in resplendent 3D. Some might say the Avatar movie series is big, blue, and bold. Others: boring, banal, and blue. No matter where you may land on the alliterated Avatar spectrum, it’d be a difficult sell to convince anyone the movies’ plots are particularly innovative. An amalgam of our favorite natives versus colonists movies like Braveheart, Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves, etc., what the movie lacks in innovative plot lines, it more than makes up for with 3-dimensional visuals which transport you to Pandora, the series’ fictional, habitable, extrasolar moon in the Alpha Centauri System.
As I write this, Fire and Ash is the top grossing movie of 2026. Say what you will about its derivative plot, Avatar, the first entry in the series, is the only movie since 2000 to top the box office and not be a sequel or come from pre-existing intellectual property.
It’s not just movies. In 2024, ‘Catalog’ tracks, so called because they’re older than 18 months, have a 76% share of the streaming market. Thought of differently, less than 1/4th the streams in the U.S. are what would be considered ‘new’ music. 76% is a 3.3% year over year increase from 2023. Personally, I’ve witnessed a massive resurgence in popularity of one of my favorite bands, Deftones. Deftones formed in 1988 and first went platinum with 1997’s Around the Fur. As of this writing, the album’s #3 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
Guess which one I am.
While music and movies don’t encompass all of culture, in terms of eyeballs and dollars, they certainly take top billing. Given where they’re headed, it seems that culturally, whether it be making or consuming, we’re losing interest in trying new things.
Is it really any surprise then that ‘Making America Great Again’, a political movement whose ethos is that the best version of America already happened, is so popular? Many of the movement’s attempts at regression have been successful–abortion bans, de-regulation, a psuedo-gestapo rounding up what it considers undesirable minorities, I could go on. All of these things have already happened at some point in America’s past, albeit within the last century.
What we’re witnessing presently, with Trump’s desire for Greenland, cranks the clock back all the way to the annexation of Hawaii, right before the turn of the 20th century. It marks the last time America invaded and annexed territory to become part of the U.S. It bears mentioning that while similar territorial acquisitions took place in the Philippines and Cuba around the same time, neither became part of the U.S.
The most recent historical analogy to Trump’s desire for Greenland is the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Both Greenland and the Louisiana Purchase involved presidents with land-lust who sought large territories primarily for the sake of their size, and secondarily for their natural resources. For the inhabitants of each, there’s a major difference: Greenland has democratic self-determination, a privilege the colonists and natives living in the Louisiana Purchase lacked.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” —Heraclitus
This distinction is important because it cranks the clock back even further, potentially to a time outside of American history. A time when the leadership of a nation took something simply because it wanted to and it could. And while some might point to the founding of this country as such an operation, that was instigated by dusty old England.
Understanding the lack of American historical analogies, or even modern democratic analogies, puts into sharp relief how retrograde Trump’s desire for Greenland actually is. This base cruelty, and that there’s support for it inside and outside of government, shows us just how much of an accelerated regression is taking place across America’s cultural and political thinking.
The reason why these sorts of ego-driven land grabs haven’t happened much in the past 100 years is because a certain amount of isolation is required for success. Slower communication and travel, and a lack of trading dependencies and global political norms all meant an invasion would have fewer and narrower repercussions. This makes even more sense as America, through the Trump administration’s work, recedes further from the world’s stage to focus on regional boondoggles like kidnapping Maduro or blowing up seafarers at will in South and Central America.
While I doubt we’ll soon all be listening to Mozart and his contemporaries en masse anytime soon, or books retaking television’s throne, I do suspect that for as much as we feel history is happening ever more quickly, it’s in many ways slowing down. Wherever this takes us, I’ll still be listening to Deftones.
I occasionally listen to today’s popular music, out of curiosity and an attempt to stay up-to-date. Sadly, I find most of it pretty lame: Little in the way in the way of instrumentation, canned drums and bass, mainly simple dance music, all beat and not much else, usually topped by young forgettable divas singing—-often—in breathy little girl voices. Not my cup of pekoe.
Sometimes I wonder though. Am I showing my age (74)? Am I just an irremediable prog-rock and metal lover, a dinosaur stuck in the tarpits of the 70s and 80s, impervious to anything new? Maybe. But to my aged ear, there’s little talent, complexity, or musicality on display in much of today’s music.
Me too, I’m a big fan of Yes, Rush, Black Sabbath, Metallica etc. There are many great musicians out there, but they have to be sought out, sometimes not easy to find. It is not easy to make a living in the music.
If you like technical virtuosity and complex rhythms, you might try some new-style Flamenco guitar from artists like Vicente Amigo, Diego del Morao, Tomatito and others. Of course, this might not be your cup of tea.
Here’s Vicente, I’ve seen him live several times, unbelievably excellent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpZinj0OzrE&list=RDSpZinj0OzrE&start_radio=1
Thanks. I’ll check it out. Right now I’m stuck in a classic rock loop and any good new music is appreciated.
I started playing rock music on a Les Paul, but when I discovered Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo and others, I got hooked on Flamenco style guitar. These dudes play straight acoustic, no pickups, no effects. I have become a fan of the pure tone that these flamencos achieve with technique (as well as high-quality, hand-made guitars). I have a couple of friends who are successful professional (electric) guitar players who aren’t really into acoustic guitar, but recognize the genius and amazing technical virtuosity of Paco, Vicente et al.
If you haven’t already, you could check out Sabigas and Manitas De Plata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eex1aqbfP08
Thanks for this.
Claro que si amigo.
Sabicas and Nino Ricardo were some of Paco”s mentors. In turn, Paco was mentor to Tomatito (as well as a whole generation of guitaristas)
Here’s one from the legendary Tomatito
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQvynph2zh0&list=RDTQvynph2zh0&start_radio=1
And a classic live clip from BBC. Paco de Lucia back in the 1970s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5UnkW2MLv8&list=RDO5UnkW2MLv8&start_radio=1d
I had a chance to see him live before he passed.
Paco has quasi deity status among flamenco guitar players.
The Amercican classical guitarist Eliot Fisk gave a master class at my local college and the experience was boffo!
The next day he played an original piece of music with the SBCC orchestra. Live music is transcendent.
Thanks ALL for the links.
Not only the Latin/Spanish guitarists, but the vocalists, too. For example, the great Consuelo Valezquez and her signature song, Beseme Mucho.
It’s still one of the most covered songs world wide.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MY0fuEfBmD4
Seems like ‘the money’ follows or demands the trend, so original content and ideas exist on the margins.
On music, I listen to independent college radio, which are readily available via stream.
DJ’s are volunteer, content / program change every three hours, so it tantalizes with a promise of , ‘what’s next?’ if the current emcee isn’t providing your cut and brand of pekoe.
KEXP is a great source (seattle)
KRFC Ft Collins, CO
KGLT Bozeangeles del Caleeforneeyah Norte, Montana
As to film, if it is at the local chain storefront, expect the formulaic. Film societies, colleges may screen alternative titles, or one can buy anything from Bezos, unless one is on a firm hard boycott.
(There likely are other vendors) to rent or stream from. When the weather allows, it’s a fun excuse for outdoor screenings, or any time of year indoors, for a potluck and gathering of friends and family.
Stay Curious, my friend!
Speaking of college radio, I was introduced to my all-time favorite band by my university radio station back in ’71. It was being piped into the lobby of my dormitory and as I walked in I heard this fabulous guitar work. I stopped, transfixed, and listened to the entire ten minutes. Then the DJ came on and said, “That was ‘Phoenix’ by Wishbone Ash.”
It was love at first listen and the affair has lasted fifty years. Strange to think that, but for college radio, I probably never would have heard of a band so influential in my life.
For those not familiar, WFMU is another venerable indie station worth a listen.
KFJC was my favorite radio station when I lived in the Bay Area. Haven’t listened to any radio station in ages, but at the time it had a similar vibe to KEXP’s former incarnation, KCMU.
Speaking of KEXP, it just never quite clicked with me. I felt like it lost the charm it had as a student radio station when it went slick and professional. I also generally did not like the drivetime DJs, like John in the Morning, but the overnight DJs, like Riz and Masa, were great.
Ah, KFJC! I still have my T-shirt for them (though it no longer fits). Foothill Junior College. I also loved that station, of course a few of its DJs (radio students) worked with me at Tower Records in Mountain View. I think they might have had 2-hour rotations back then, perhaps due to the number of students going through the program?
Now that I’m in Eugene Oregon, it’s KLCC (Lane Community College). No Clear Channel crapola for this household!
I used to frequent that Tower quite a bit when I lived there – along with the Amoebas, Rasputins, Easy Streets, and I can’t even remember what else. I didn’t get up to Aquarius in SF as often as I would have liked. There was another Tower in Fremont (IIRC) that I used to go to quite a bit as well, since I worked over there for a while.
I myself used to work at the Tower Records in Bellevue for a brief spell after college. Such good times.
I’ll defend KEXP to my dying day. On David Bowie’s birthday a few years ago they played his music and adjacent music all day. It was great. Two days later when David Bowie died, they did it again! When Prince died, same thing. His Music, interviews, rare covers, tapes of Prince that only that dj had because he worked at the place that Prince often played at. Again, an amazing day of music! Another day, they played every song from the Beastie Boy’s Paul’s Boutique, then every sample. There are over a hundred samples in that album. It took all day. Their “Music Heals” programming they do 4 times a year, where people talk about how music has gotten them through a tough time is very moving stuff. It’s all picked by humans in the moment. I don’t know of any large radio station that does that kind of programming. I could go on.
To add to that, “classics” are likely also being streamed because of consortiums and financial outfits which own catalogues and masters, and work to fill the air/stream waves with the music, to paraphrase another classic work, under their thumb. Retro doesn’t just happen, even or maybe especially at the mass taste level.
90.7 FM WWOZ.ORG in New Orleans is the 🐐 local music station.
91.5 FM WTUL is the local Tulane University radio station but it’s too weird for me.
And there’s yet more original content down south. Beyond the NOLA offerings above, there are Americana and Bluegrass offerings from North Carolina and Tennessee, both excellent college radio stations that cover metro markets and stream on the Internet (don’t forget to contribute!):
WNCW, Asheville NC region
WMOT, Nashville TN region
It’s not you. Truly great music is still being made today but it takes a tremendous amount of effort to find it.
Since you’ve indicated your preferred genres, here are some recent selections that hopefully are new to you which you might enjoy and lead you down new paths of exploration:
Polyphia – Playing God (Official Music Video)
The HU – Yuve Yuve Yu (Official Music Video)
BERNTH X Charles Berthoud – Labyrinth (Official Music Video)
Even the elder statesmen of metal are still making great music. Nuno’s guitar solo pretty much broke the internet for a while in 2023:
Extreme – “Rise” (Official Video)
and if you want some silliness with your metal:
Electric Callboy – WE GOT THE MOVES (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Thanks johnnyme. Tonight, when I’m lying on the couch relaxing, I’ll listen to them on the iPad.
This might not be your cup of tea (they are a very polarizing band – either you’re going to absolutely love them or you’re going to absolutely hate them) but if you want to step off the beaten metal path and go into uncharted territory, look no further than Babymetal. They are a diabolical fusion of J-Pop and heavy metal which is a combination that should not come even close to working but totally does.
BABYMETAL – メタり!! (feat. Tom Morello) (OFFICIAL Live Music Video)
BABYMETAL – PA PA YA!! (feat. F.HERO) (OFFICIAL)
BABYMETAL – ヘドバンギャー!! 15th Night Ver. (OFFICIAL)
As you can probably guess, I’m in the “absolutely love” camp. After the initial “WTF is this?” shock wore off, they have become my all time favorite metal band and have pretty much stolen the thunder from every band I’ve been listening to for the past 50 years.
Have you heard Otoboke Beaver おとぼけビ～バ～ ? “Dirty Old Fart Is Waiting for My Reaction” is magnificent and the video is hysterical. More hardcore punk than metal per se, and kind of bonkers like Boredoms’ early music.
One of my favorite SXSW experiences (I guess this would have been mid-/late 90s) was going to a “Japanese” night at one of the venues. I don’t remember which club, but it was on 6th street. I want to say it had trendy brewpub vibes. I can only remember a couple of bands – Ex-Girl (kitschy prog/metal/pop) and Number Girl (fairly straight-forward, but well-written and played indie rock from what looked like a group of math grad students.) So much fun – especially Number Girl, who seemed genuinely stunned by the enthusiasm of the audience, but somehow managed to feed off it and up the energy every song.
Boris is somewhat better known, and are more polished and hip, but I’m still blown away by the quality of the musicianship and the creativity, especially when they slap some Robert Smith-ish melodies, or MBV fuzz on top of the Melvins-ish sludge.
I’m not really a Babymetal fan, exactly, (nor of J-pop, more generally) but I still appreciate the creativity and execution.
I’m just beginning my journey into the world of Japanese music after Babymetal opened the door for me and those leads are wonderful. Thank you!
So far, the most interesting path I’ve wandered down has brought me to the absolute musical mayhem of Paledusk:
Paledusk / I’m ready to die for my friends feat. VIGORMAN (Official Music Video)
Gah! Working link:
BABYMETAL – ヘドバンギャー！！ 15th Night Ver. (OFFICIAL)
As long as we’re having Show & Tell…Randall Bramblett spent 20 years as a sideman for Steve Winwood. The bassist (an interest of mine, as you might imagine) was Michael Rhodes. He was the coolest of the cool Nashville A list–his other job was modeling for Vogue For Men. Anyway here you go:
Get In Get Out
If you haven’t heard it yet, his performance on the Dixie Chicks’ Top of the World Tour: Live is (as the kids say these days) “fire”.
I’ll raise my Beyond Wonderland at the Gorge 2026 Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2AJzSl2iYq7Thk2P535MwI?si=KLJ9Knm7Sp6VkRzISCEKeQ&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A551QIUGTDUvr7jAFb9y6oK
This one is called “Diet Coke.”
I actually found a lot of good new bands via Spotify. Several years ago at least, if you searched out and played some known-to-you-already albums, the algorithm was pretty good at recommending new bands that were similar. I found their algo to be better than Pandora. I tried seeding a ‘station’ on Pandora with some Frank Zappa, hoping it would suggest other new bands that used lots of syncopation and odd time signatures. Instead it just spit out 70s classic rock at me. My Spotify routine now is to find a band, verify that the band is composed of actual humans, and then go order the album through my local record store so somebody other than techbros makes some money from me.
There’s also your local indie music store. That’s where I discovered The Hu several years ago now – it was playing at the store and I’d never heard anything quite like it and bought the album right away.
Thanks for the recommends – I liked the Polyphia and the comments were hilarious.
Here’s a newish one I found a few years back that’s not your run of the mill retro copycat. Somewhat jazzy doom metal with cello! – Giant Squid – Icthyologist full album
And a live concert here.
Oooo that track is good!
There is a LOT of new metal across the entire spectrum of that niche. Much of it I became aware of due to the Metal and Coffee site. metalandcoffee.com, plus all the social media platforms. The same for psych (psychedelic rock). Some of it is quite incredible, IMO.
It’s out there. You just have to go find it, which can be half the fun.
Still a very deep soft spot for the 60’s, but my primetime was that period in my life when disco was on the ebb (not that there wasn’t some great disco music) and genres like 80’s alternative, and the likes of Clash and Ramones were stepping up. I was a college commuter, 45 minutes each way, with a Boston legend on the air in the car – WBCN, playing the hell out of it all.
Try Louis Cole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv83lZfp7Zg&list=RDNv83lZfp7Zg&start_radio=1
His band Knower:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuhe1CpHRxY&list=RDtuhe1CpHRxY&start_radio=1
And his duo project, Clown Core:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gha9xrM10w&list=RD6Gha9xrM10w&start_radio=1
Best…H
Seconded! Knower Forever is a phenomenal album.
My local independent radio station, 88.5 FM and now called “Socal Sound” and available via internet features a lot of new musicians, many from the area. That said, I’m typing while listening to Pink Floyd.
pre-1990’s easy money masking asset and income inequality, even “poor families” had rich musical traditions, often thanks to church.
timo, much of that’s gone and music education (and other arts and PE) has been excised in many districts.
then, IMO, music was often an outlet of dealing with life’s setbacks….that outlet, IMO, has been crushed by SSRIs.
then toss-in that it’s harder than ever to support oneself’s on music gigs along side a day job.
then toss-in that we all have easy access to nearly the entire catalog of human music (whether via a subscription or via ad-supported youtube)….ironically, it maybe more difficult than ever for a talented songwriter to get noticed in the pop culture cacophony
death by 1000 curs
I still listen to the old faves as well, but I listen to new music every day.
Speaking of the annexation of Hawai’i, and to connect this with current popular music: there might be one bright spot in the relative dearth of decent new music. (of course music preferences are purely subjective and personal).
In the last 20 plus years, several radio stations have emerged in Hawai’i that play local Hawaiian reggae, mostly new music from local artists, and some classic Jamaican reggae. This has become something of a local cultural phenomenon and local identity is reflected in the music. Much of the music is happy island style with pop sensibility. However, some of the tunes have serious lyrics that point out the history and culture, often Hawaiian language is incorporated into the music. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cvDfcnFk-M&list=RD6cvDfcnFk-M&start_radio=1
The local music scene and artists are not generally known or popular on the mainland, and only radio stations on the islands play this music full time. (KCCN FM 100; Island 98.5 etc.)This “pacific island reggae” is also popular in other Polynesian islands, and other Polynesian groups.
I am impressed on how much music comes out of a group of islands with a population of less than 1.5 million people. While the music business is brutal and I’m sure there are problems with corporate cooptation, some artists like Maoli, J Boog, Anuhea, Likkle Jordie, Eli Mac, Ekolu, Ho’onua and others have become quite popular.
Even though I’m an old haole, I usually listen to this (new) music every day and it puts me in a positive mood.
I don’t enjoy reggae but occasionally listen to Beth Post’s Hawaiian music program, which includes a good dose of musicology and Hawaiian history.
https://kdrt.org/programs/na-mele-o-hawaii
Not a fan of Jawaiian. But agree that it has come to dominate contemporary Hawaiian music. I much prefer the music from the Hawaiian renaissance. My all-time fav being Makaha Sons. But the Brothers Caz, Kealiʻi Reichel, Peter Moon, etc as well from that era. Slack key and falsetto are also enduring styles.
But if you like more “classic” Hawaiian pop, there was a long-running half-hour radio show “Territorial Airwaves” hosted by the late Harry B. Soria Jr. The shows are available here: Territorial Airwaves
There is a big reggae tradition in New Zealand among Maori artists as well (similar culture to Hawaiian). It dates from the Bob Marley tour in 1979, which had a huge and lasting influence on the local music culture. I was a child at the time, and my Maori friends at school would not stop talking about him.
It looks like the origins in Hawaii might have been similar. It never became as dominant here as you say it did in Hawaii, but it’s always been a strong presence since that time.
Thanks for the link. I lived in Micronesia for two and a half years around 2008. I can verify that Micronesians consider reggae music their music, even though it’s primarily Jamaican. Technically a different subculture, but Micronesians also consider Hawaii a kinship island, and many have emigrated there.
I’m not a particular fan of the Rub-a-Dub style of reggae, but I do like this version of the BMW classic.
Adding to the record. Had the US not grabbed Hawaii, the British Empire would have. As to the Louisiana Purchase control of both banks of the Mississippi and even more important New Orleans meant that the trans-Appalachian west had a means to send and receive goods. I think is also true that Napoleon would have taken it back if things had gone his way and as the Battle of New Orleans in early 1815 demonstrates the British were setting about at a minimum bottling up the US using control of New Orleans as the cork.
I think Battle of New Orleans was more operational than strategic as a means of getting in Jackson’s rear to relieve the pressure on Mobile/West Florida.
It’s interesting to speculate alternative histories for Hawaii. Certainly Queen Emma viewed England as a counterweight to US influence, and Big Five firm Theo Davies helped facilitate that. Though actual British influence had to be via Hong Kong and a lesser extent Australia which made practicality a problem.
I’m not sure how much the succession battle between Emma and David Kalākaua impacted foreign affairs. Kalākaua would be heavily influenced by “outsider” Claus Spreckels who came to be seen as the enemy of the American expat community. Spreckels would later throw in with the royalist party, but by then he had shifted his interest to sugar beet industry on the mainland.
Totally agree,just compiling a 60th reunion to celebrate being 16 in England in 1966 – a period of overwhelming musical creativity.Kinks,Stones,Animals,Who etc hitting their stride, Obviously the Beatles,Beachboys,Dylan etc.with gound breaking stuff.Hendrix,Cream,Velvet Underground,Beefheart. et.al. breaking cover with Soul music in the meddle of it greatest decade,HDH plus Stax, Otis,Supremes and countless others providing endless pleasure.Country just as rich,was there ever a better female singer than Karen Dalton,J.H.Christ I think you could spend. PHD on just richness and diversity of this one year alone.
Don’t forget ‘Frisco: Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service. Those groups were made up primarily of folkies, so they knew how to play their guitars, how to sing on pitch and how to harmonize.
And Laurel Canyon was getting going: Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, Mamas & Papas, with Mitchell soon to join.
Yes, I remember those days. I was living up-coast from Laurel Canyon in SB near Rob Krieger, and others, up in the Mission Canyon area. Lots of talent that then migrated in to the major rock bands.
The late David Crosby was playing his guitar with the locals then.
Don’t forget the Norfolk folkies-
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/
So many heartfelt harmonies
Perhaps the difference between the first Gilded Age and this is that so many of that first go round were newly gilded and so many of this second have been born with a gilded spoon in their mouth. Which is to say that necessity is the mother of inspiration and people like Trump have never needed for anything other than validation of their privileged status. The 1890s weren’t so far from a rail splitter president and now we have a billionaire president.
It was democracy and the constant infusion of aspiration that made this country great and eating at McDonalds and pretending to be a man of the people like Marie Antoinette wanting to dress in peasant garb doesn’t cut it.
Make America humble again. You have to be at the bottom to go up.
There’s actually more new music out there then ever before but it requires people to actually look for it.
Of course if you only listen to mainstream pop streams or “whats trending” than its a bunch of mass produced crap like its been forever.
If you actually dig around on Bandcamp or other more independent sites There’s an endless amount of brilliant original music.
Alot of the problem is no one can be bothered to put any effort into it, algorithms are expected to just know what you want, but most people don’t put in any effort to discover anything new and then complain when corporate algorithms serve up corporate crap.
At the end of the 90’s/early 2000’s, the Internet was quite a frontier opener for finding new music. No algorithms, just looking for things under a variety of search terms on Netscape or Alta Vista. Since I was day job working in the periodicals department of a library at the time, no more looking at all the different Billboard charts since most of that stuff had been crap to my ears for some time.
Went off on a long journey into dark romantic/ neo classical/vocal and ambient music. Great stuff to do paintings by in my studio. Was also a great era of electronic music typically featured on Music From the Hearts of Space. My favourite of the dark bands, Black Tape for a Blue Girl (which was the band for the founder of Projekt Records) is still around and I happily support them today on Bandcamp. And as you said, there are a lot of great things to listen to at Bandcamp.
There’s lots of great stuff, new and old, on Bandcamp.
Analog Africa has a ton of great archival releases.
If you like modern classical, Another Timbre has some beautiful stuff.
I agree. Modern technology has made it so much easier and more affordable for tiny DIY bands to record great albums and small but devoted fanbases to find them.
Maybe these guys are too derivative for the cognisconti, but to me they sounds far better than the old bands they get compared to. https://youtu.be/4C2_XK9LTEY?si=Iy7frFNm70tzQq7h
New music, especially new independent (i.e. non-major label) music has always required a difficult search process to discover something that you like. Presently there is now new music available than ever but it requires searching through an enormous volume of material on streaming sites to find the stuff that moves you. Previously you had to figure out where to find independent music at all, usually by word of mouth, and then find the good stuff from what was available.
What constitutes “good” music, and art in general, is defined individually. Popular music is best thought of as the lowest common denominator of a population, although there are some pop gems that shine through and rise above the rest.
I spend way too much time thinking about the creative process and music (both, actually). I still love new music, finding new bands, going to indie shows (now with my kids), and talking about music in general with family and friends. I am often the old guy at the rock show. Most people allow their musical tastes to stall in their 30s, because life happens, and that’s okay. However, I wasn’t the only old guy at the Pool Kids show last fall (Pool Kids, Truth Club, and Pony was the best show of 2025 for both me and my daughter).
Word of mouth equivalent for new music these days is YouTube and podcasts.
I recommend Audiotree on YouTube as they have live in-studio performances from indie bands of many genres plus interview questions. The sessions are then posted to spotify and the other streaming services. These are essentially modern Peel Sessions.
Music podcasts are legion. My personal favorite is Rockin The Suburbs. January is “best of 2025” month for that podcast so if you want to listen to guys (mostly) talk about new music (with examples!) find that one or any of the other ones out there and see what you like.
Seconded on the Audiotree recommendation and the way they support new bands by allowing them to professionally record a live EP free of cost is tremendous.
Paste Studios is also a great source.
I always remember as a child, the first time I saw my Dad encounter a Beatles song. It was not pretty. That image has stuck with me all my life past 40 as I encountered the music of the younger generations. I found it often quite bad – but I also realized – I am now old – I remember how my Dad looked back then – and maybe this is part of getting older.
Imagine my surprise of the past 5-8 years or so. Everywhere we go, in our local little towns, in the nearest big cities, the faraway megacities – I mean everywhere – the soundtrack in public places is ALWAYS and I mean always – 70s metal like Led Zeppelin, late 60s CCR or Three Dog Night or their compatriots, disco, and the entire decade of the 1980s. That is it. The tourist traps all around us are the same. The hospital I work and therefore my clinic are all 80s all the time. Absolutely nothing else is played. When my kids bring their friends for dinner – everyone insists on the 80s music in the background – and they are enchanted by all the stories I tell of when I heard Prince or Madonna or Fleetwood Mac live. They have zero desire to listen to anything modern other than a few Taylor Swift hits. When we go to their events and dances at school – all 70s and 80s with a little bit of stuff like Macarena and Britney Spears thrown in.
I would say this is completely different than when I was their age – when it was all our own music from the 70s and 80s – with a bit of Elvis and the Beatles.
I have no idea what has caused this – other than the fact it seems to me that modern music and culture is such crap that not even the young people want to have anything to do with it. The same goes for movies and TV. Just the other night when we had 8 or so teen young men over – they wanted to watch an Indiana Jones film.
My theory as to what caused it is the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
As you noted, in the 70s and 80s, there were few to no radio stations playing 40s and 50s music – they all played contemporary music. Somewhere in the late 80s-early 90s ‘classic rock’ stations started up at about the same time ‘alternative’ stations (which played Nirvana and other not yet mainstream bands) came into existence. Now the ‘alternative’ stations in my area play some newer music, but a lot that is 30 years old and not exactly cutting edge anymore. The big classic rock station in my state has pretty much the exact same playlist as it did 35 years ago. They aren’t going to go much more than an hour before cranking up a Led Zeppelin or Van Halen track.
Why take a risk when recycling music has proven to be a cash cow?
“My theory as to what caused it is the pursuit of the almighty dollar.”
Cue up the Flying Lizards.
Back last century, many restaurants used to pick background music based on their customer demographics. Owners try music that customers listened to during their formative young adult years, say, 18-22.
That worked for many, and kids of those patrons got to hear stories about the music and musicians. Imagine conversation flowing nicely with significant interactions, teaching and learning all while tucking into a delicious meal.
Beats being subjected to whatever the snotty hostess or surly cook demands, as their customers drift elsewhere, or some corporate or franchise directive about the approved playlist.
Back when I was a teenager the popular music groups of the day were the Stones, Doors, Beatles, The Band, Big Brother/Janis Joplin, Zappa, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck…. all the bands of the mid 60’s to mid 70’s to include the great Chicago Blues bands
But another type of music I was turned onto at that time was the jazz and Big Bands of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s due to babysitting gigs for a neighbor that had an amazing collection of 78LP’s and 33LPs that covered that era.
One of the internet stations I enjoy that covers most of this along with specific programs covering dufferent stayle and groups is KCEA out of Redwood, CA. It’s a local broadcast station run by the Menlo-Atherton High School (of all places :)
https://kcea.org/
Also electro-swing which seems to have a large following in Europe.
I would like to add, for those who enjoy various types of jazz from around the world, a site called JazzRadio out if Lyon, France. They also have applications for android and iphones. It’s a great site for music and artists you won’t often hear that are promoted by the bland Corporate music today (and commercial free).
https://www.jazzradio.com
This analysis of popular culture blatantly ignores the development of the internet. Anyone with a router has access to decades of media. At least in the context of music, I think this needs to be mentioned. Even in the DIY music world there’s throwback artists who faithfully recreate sounds from decades ago. That’s been happening since at least the 1990s (see Reverend Horton Heat). It’s easier to do that nowadays since you’re not trawling record stores or pirating radio shows to find old hits.
I do believe that it’s fairly boring that the most successful films tend to be sequels. However I doubt that is a symptom of nostalgic yearning for the past. People tend to like what’s familiar anyway.
In any case, I find that connecting the appreciation of popular media from previous decades to imperialist urges tenuous at best.
That is absolutely right. All periods of music exist simultaneously. In addition to the 50’s rockabilly recreation bands, there’s a fair amount of people recreating perfectly Goth music from the 1980’s and doing it so well that I thought it was music from that time I missed hearing the first time around.
The endless movie sequels seem less nostalgia and more a fear of unimaginative movie studio execs on trying anything new and slapping familiar names on terrible movies and TV shows that bear the faintest resemblance of the earlier and usually better originals. When The Martian was on the big screen, I was having this strange emotional reaction as I was watching it. After a couple of minutes I realised that was my response to watching something really good that wasn’t a sequel to anything else. An actual science fiction movie instead of an office drama set in space.
People like what they know about and experience, which is generally what is marketed to them very heavily. What is marketed is what the media conglomerates think can make them the most money. The number of people making the decisions on marketing and distribution budgets is tiny. So we get the “content” that they think will bring in the most profits. Ted Gioia has one of his interesting essays about this, 50 People Control Culture, which discusses how the promise of the internet got stomped into the dirt not very long into the process of its popular adoption. Yes, if you’re a true connoisseur you can still discover superior music, books, movies, etc., by looking hard and bookmarking all the online commentators that have tastes similar to yours, but for most people they get the product that is deemed to be most sure-fire profit-maker.
hit the nail on the head with that one. I’m invested in the DIY punk scene and find most of my new media thru friends in the local community, record stores, webzines, or forums ran by people in the scene. It’s been a while since I’ve found stuff thru an algorithm, and it tracks that most people still get whatever has substantial marketing and distro. Not everyone has the time or interest to track down what they enjoy. That gets exploited by companies who market cultural products like film and music. Wouldn’t it be great if finding stuff thru your immediate community was the norm!
I can confirm that the more music you’re exposed to, the less you notice what time period it’s from but also that lots and lots and lots of new music is still being made. Literally more now than ever. Any musician or band from any part of the world can become popular almost anywhere, especially with a good video. What it is that we’re not seeing is chartable ($) data.
In so far as music goes, your computer/phone/device is a Star Trek replicator that lets you share your favorite music with anyone you know. That kind of sharing has replaced music stores yet is not charted. I do think Silicon Valley collects and studies all this data but rather than share their findings they sell the data to pretty much anyone who’s not you.
Music consumers have evolved beyond charts. The music scene is now maximally diverse and completely diffuse. Just in the last week I’ve “discovered” a West African band that plays Chinese music, a Dutch band playing Indonesian pop tunes, a collection of half-century old Yugoslavian bossa nova, as well as more ‘normal’ stuff. Watching new music uploaded to major sites is like watching a stock market tickertape: it never stops (and unlike the stock market, file sharing is 24/7/52).
What we do not have anymore is a common musical culture. You can blame the internet for that if you like but I prefer to blame copyright law and corporate greed.
For those who are interested, YouTube does do charts. Top songs look heavily promoted but mostly these charts seem to be driven by teenaged viewers with questionable taste (just like the charts from yesteryear ; )
The other contributing factor to the decline of commercial music is word got around that signing a recording contract was a form of indentured servitude: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
Come for the servitude, stay for the abuse.
Bah!
These days, live music in smaller venues is best, less likely to be corrupted.
‘Melodies of popular songs have become simpler since the 1950s, according to a study carried out by Centre for Human-Centered Computing PhD student Madeline Hamilton and centre academic Dr Marcus Pearce, published in the journal Scientific Reports. The full paper can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-64571-x
An analysis of hundreds of chart hits from the past 70 years has shown “a significant decline” in the complexity of rhythm and pitch in song melodies. ‘
https://www.seresearch.qmul.ac.uk/chcc/news/4763/study-finds-popular-song-melodies-have-become-simpler-over-time/#:~:text=News-,Study%20finds%20popular%20song%20melodies%20have%20become%20simpler%20over%20time,Updated%20by:%20Emmanouil%20Benetos
Shangra Las, 1964. ‘Remember’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1GiqcQ3aoQ
There is interesting original music being made if you get off the beaten path:
Jen Curtis, ‘Death Valley’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgG0KwvKlKc
Theo Walentiny, ‘Untitled Piece’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgG0KwvKlKc
Edit: Jen Curtis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkb01Mkj-84
If indie-folk is your thing and you’re looking for great new music, a truly invaluable resource is:
https://gesprek.net/
It’s an old school blog put together by some serious music enthusiasts who sift through 5000+ youtube videos each year, compile and then publish a list of their top picks for that year. Absolutely phenomenal.
I’ve also noticed that for music, retro devices are fashionable. I recently found and cleaned up my daughter’s old Sony Discman (CD/MP3/AM/FM) player, popped in a new AA battery and gave it back to her when she was visiting along with a box of her old CDs. It’s about the same as this one:
Sony D-EJ011 CD Walkman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK92aOrJ8cw
I think I got this back in the early 00’s when she started listening to music, and paid about 40 bucks for it. She was surprised to see it, and later when I asked her if she was using it, said yes, and that similar Discmans were going for about $400 on Ebay. My daughter has told me that in her peer group owning physical media like CDs and DVDs is a thing even though they also stream everything too.
My kids (college/HS) concur. They want vinyl but that media is pricey. CDs are what they are buying for the same reasons that us olds did- music + cover art & liner notes + you own it.
When I retired a little over 4 years ago I embarked upon a project to listen to all of my music. It took me into the 4th year to finish my collection of hundreds of CDs. Now I’m about 3/4 of the way through my old cassette tapes (had to purchase an old 80’s TEAC cassette deck because I had forgotten that my similar vintage Yamaha had stopped working). By next year I should be onto the vinyl, which will require dusting off a turntable that hasn’t seen any use for a decade or more now. I threw out all of my 8-tracks decades ago, so I am mercifully spared that era.
Not much time, therefore, for new music — I do get the occasional exposure via streaming during dinner, but it’s not like I am engaged with it in any way.
Minor quibble; I’m almost certain 2003’s Finding Nemo wasn’t based on any pre-existing intellectual property. So two #1 movies since 2000 are original, not just Avatar, but that’s still pretty damning.
Also, how is the “new” Avatar movie itself not considered derivative? 🤷♂️
A more recent example of US territorial acquisition than Louisiana is the Alaska Land Purchase in 1867. $7.2 million. I feel it’s the most relevant from a Greenland perspective.
Good thing Denmark and Canada settled the Whisky War before all this went down. I’d hate to see what would happen if the US tried to claim all of Hans Island.
The first half of the article is fine, though it says nothing that hasn’t been said better by Ted Gioia. But the leap from liking the music of the 1960s to wanting to invade Greenland? Get back to writing about what you know, whatever that is.
Some really young people doing oldies. They are based out of SF, Calli.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uax5JOm-LU
Radio from the old days KFOG, KSAN, KPIG, and one in Sacto, Calli.
It was worth shooting my hearing in all those punk clubs back in the 70s; I’ll take inspiration wherever I can find it now.
Walking home from one of the biggest protests in Japanese history, a movement that ultimately did not succeed, socialist writer Rokusuke Ei began making up a song. A person that definitely believed in the power of culture, he left us a song all about keeping going in hard times. You even know it. Let’s look up as we walk.
I like psychedelic rock, both current as well as classic. I also listen to classic punk and metal a lot as well as “retro” garage rock.
One band I will recommend is Kyuss. They were a band from the early to mid-’90s and they are what some people call stoner rock or stoner metal. They have a very heavy and detuned and fuzzed-out sound that sounds like you are driving through a desert while doing LSD. Josh Homme was in the band before he became the frontman for Queens of the Stone Age.
This is their Blues For the Red Sun (1992) album
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLymNFxwBo3thXNZIOw8jD2Avyd7de8mUH
For something really different, check this out, from Dali, China
https://shirleyandspinoza.org
I came across this using the Radio Garden application (also available at https://radio.garden ).
To be frank, there’s nothing retro about the music you will hear at this station, but it’s always interesting.
It’s a little puzzling to start with Avatar and the top of the box office, and quickly suggest that likely nothing of interest is happening in contemporary cinema.
To continue with Avatar: The Way of Water as an example, why was $150+ million spent on publicity? Was that just “wasted”? Obviously, the studios don’t believe it was, because they spend these percentages for most every big budget film (and the publicity being part of the “production” budget tells us something right away). Stated differently, why does anybody think these “top” box office numbers are an organic expression of popular tastes?
Skip the self-congratulatory Academy awards and have a look at what major international film festivals are screening every year.
Some adjustment to the realities of distribution may be necessary. Expecting a new film by Albert Serra to screen at your local multiplex is like expecting organic, healthy food from a fast food franchise.
I think the situation is similar to what others have said (above) about music. You will have to make a little more effort to find and see the interesting stuff, sorry.