You've activated my "here she comes with a 4-part book series" trap card.
First off, it's all subjective. Music tastes are often a "our glorious leader/their shitty despot" thing.
But second - no, the best didn't come before, and yes, I definitely can stand fire and grit. It's one of the reasons why I'm actually so dismissive/quick to down-rank several mainstream pop artists - there actually is NO grit and fire from some of them, and if it's there, so much of it feels manufactured and try-hard as a result of capitalism's takeover of the industry. A lot of artists just seem content to stay in their little lane, and produce yet another little love song, yet another little club bop, yet another little ballad, yet another song about snow up their nose yet another little track to throw on the pile of tracks being chucked at the "attention economy" in an attempt to pull little dollars from little pockets with increasingly little songs (looking at you, TikTok-ification of music with your sub-3 minute fetish).
However, whatever modern mainstream is lacking, doesn't suddenly make older music great by comparison for me.
Sure, yes, there's a few older songs and artists pre-80s that I do truly love and enjoy - Carly Simon, for example. 'Legend in Your Own Time' and 'You're So Vain' are absolutely stellar. There's a few disco hits and divas that I can nod along with. ABBA, Donna Summer, Bee Gees - there's some bops there. I respect the force of nature that was/is Debbie Harry and Blondie (but 'The Tide is High' is the worst song ever and you have to be on drugs (derogatory) if you think it's good). ELO's "Evil Woman" is a fucking BANGER. That fucking piano at the start fails to foreshadow the energy that's about to smack you. (For the children - PCD's "Beep" sampled this song). Elton John's Crocodile Rock stands out in my mind as well.
But....those are all part of a very thin layer of cream floating to the top of the times for me. I don't connect with the bulk of it from that era.
I understand, and respect, that a lot of artists at that time were 'revolutionary'. I understand, and respect, that they brought new sounds, new concepts, new instrumentation, new chord and key progressions, new genres, new themes to talk and sing about, to the table. I understand that a large sample of music at that time was also protest rock of sorts, when looking at America and the Vietnam War. I understand and respect that there was a whole punk scene that came up in London that influenced art and fashion and music for several generations.
But the thing is - I just don't care. Something being "revolutionary" and "their best work" isn't going magically make something sound good to me. I don't care about prestige.
When I listen to songs and music, there's certain auras that different songs bring to the table for me. There's certain emotional tones I'm looking for. There's a certain color in the air that I'm after. A lot of songs pre 80s (and in some cases, pre 90s), FOR ME, lack the sweetness in their ear candy for me. I'm after SweetTarts, but those songs are selling Neco Wafers.
At some point in my life I've gone through and given probably all of these bands and artists a listen. And it just didn't stick. Didn't connect. Nothing in the music jumped out and grabbed me and said "THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE." Or if something did, it was a SINGLE song, a singular moment. For example, I love Kate Bush's 'Running up that Hill'. I loved it long prior to the Stranger Things exposure. (One of my favorite covers of that song is by the Chromatics - it pulls the energy down a key into this more subdued, painful, sorrowful place for me.) But the rest of Kate Bush's work? To my ears she just sounds like a flock of shrill birds that was chirping loudly got turned into a person. Wutherhing Heights is just shrill noise and it makes me want a lobotomy. I get that people love her, and go them for it, more power to them all. But for me? She's a singular person with a singular song that I enjoy.
I won't go into the Beatles. Thanks for whatever they did or did not do for music, so happy or so sad that happened or w/e, please go away discourse around them causes me to dissociate from my surroundings.
I'll admit that for myself, in a lot of cases, I am dismissive. (Partly because if I don't just flick my wrist and shoo something away, by my nature as a person I'm going to feel the need to instead explain and elaborate and defend ) But the bigger reason why is that I've already got my go-to artists or go-to songs for certain genres.
I'm not always looking to add "yet another XYZ" artist to the rotation. I know where I'm going when I'm angry, and I want energy and loudness and grit and rock to help me work it out in sweat and screams. I also know where I'm going when I'm angry, and I want to be soothed out of it instead, and mellowed out of it, and gently bled of the emotion. I know where I'm going when I want a ballad. I know where I'm going when I want to dance. I know where I'm going when I need to focus. I know where I'm going when I'm depressed. I know where I'm going when I'm happy and I want to swim in that. If/when I'm ready for it, and if I feel like certain playlists or genres are starting to get stale for me, THEN I'll go digging into a certain artist if people keep hammering it that they're just. that. good.
But in terms of the "age" of music, most of what I'm looking for, and the music that has served me THE BEST in terms of how I enjoy/consume it and why I enjoy/consume it, has ultimately been more modern artists, with more modern takes, on what I'm looking to lose myself in.
