Why Is Music So Bad?

Lots of YouTubers have given their takes about why pop music is bad, or classical music is bad, or rap... or country, or various subgenres of rock...

Wait, does everything suck?

Anyway, this is my take as a composer and evolutionary musicologist. Basically, whether or not something is good or bad is usually a stupid argument. You do you.

Further reading/viewing:

One of the articles citing the garbage study from 2012 that started this whole mess.

ScienceMag, Your culture—not your biology—shapes your musical taste:

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"Lost Woods," "Gerudo Valley," "Zelda's Lullaby," from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
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Be well!
-Adam

[AdamODell]

Sorry for the clickbait title, but I couldn't stop myself from satirizing the opportunistic videos about how "my music is better than your music."

Anyway, what did y'all think about the new format? Editing this was a task, but if it made your experience better, I'm happy to make a habit of it.

[jeremyearnest]

Ah yes the rendition of september that comes in a beat early and a half step down - a classic

[Danielbukin]

Your channel is wonderful and your videos are great! This is the content I LIVE for and also want to create.
From one composer/pianist/educator to another, bravo!

[josephstribrny]

How have they not already just given your doctorate?

[jenniferwatson]

Schoenberg isn’t contemporary 😂🤣😂 What a great shirt 😁

[m_c_weba]

Love the video. I'm a fan of all the comedy sprinkled in, I was cracking up! Also like that it's only 10 min, so I can watch it anytime.

[caseyschultz]

Why must everything be deconstructed tho? Hahaha what a terrible comment. Loved this can't wait for your next one.

[THSBIAJKK]

This video has convinced me that Adam O'Dell likes the worst music in the world.

[stephenweigel]

This is just an awesome video! Holy cow! How did I not know you were into brain stuff? That's very interesting to me (as a dilettante); I should get more into it. Do you have recommendations for videos about connections between neuroscience and how society perceives music? Seems like most of what I find in a casual way is about psychoacoustics. Anyway, great job, and I hope you get a countably infinite amount of subs.

[Cyricist]

People will listen to Freddy Mercury or Pavarotti a hundred years from now, todays artists will be lucky to remembered a year from now. The best evidence of quality of music is in its longevity, and modern music doesn't create things that last (if you exclude the indie scene where creativity still has roots, but good luck hearing Sabaton in the MSM).

[frozen]

Your answer to why music is shit now? - Some peoples brain is inferior so they like shit if exposed to it too long-conclusion: its all relative. Postmodern take with "science" of reducing emotional response to "brain" as an explanation. How about NO.

[emilyjensenius]

I subscribed but it's because your content is interesting; *certainly* not because you used Ocarina of Time music which is, incidentally, objectively good and *definitely* not a major nostalgia trigger for my Millennial self.

[claudiakramer]

modern music is terrible. It's not all our head

[johnoneill]

Well that's it, call off all music criticism and critique lads, Adam here has discovered that you can't conclusively prove value judgements correct because they're conceived in the brain. It's a shame we've wasted so much time writing and speaking about music all these years. Can't wait to tell my composition teacher that his advice is meaningless because it's only a result of his neurons firing in response to a stimulus.

[JamesJones-ztyx]

Are the works of Florence Foster Jenkins not objectively bad? How about Yoko... no, let's not go there. (Then there's the Pat Metheny Group's "Forward March"--which at some level is good *because* (1) it's really bad and (2) we all know that the PMG personnel are all masters of their instruments so if they're playing badly, they're doing it on purpose, and we burst out in laughter.)

[no-rqfp]

Well yes but actually no. Although a strong argument it is still minimal compared to the physical causes of harmony which remain unvariable throughout time. C# D F will sound dissonant no matter what your mood is. More importantly people believe because certain aesthetic values are given they are arbitrary and presumptuously think they can be 'deconstructed'. Sorry pal, but you can't fight determinism: listening to a sad melody will evoke the same feeling invariably, although differently nuanced.

[RoseEyed]

This was wholesome and informative but also now I know my life is a lie and I need alcohol before I watch this again.

[henry-luke]

Whitney Houston: No ear piece. No auto-tune. Just a mic. Can we honestly say that today’s leading female vocalists like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, or Bilie Eilish can belt out a song better than Whitney? Can Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, or any of the K-pop crowd entertain a packed stadium like Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury? Can Lil Pump, DaBaby, or Drake rhyme with the sort of artful lyricism of Biggie or Tupac? ...the answer to all of these is no freakin’ way. Comon. Don’t lie to yourself.

I get the point that your brain gets hooked to the music it hears in your teens, but these earlier artists are OBJECTIVELY better than their counterparts of today. It can’t be denied. Why pretend that there hasn’t been a dip in quality?

And all these songs with snap, clap, and electronic drum pad beats make everything sound so similar—artistically, its just fking lazy. Thats more than a 14 year old’s neuro plasticity, or whatever excuse you want to use, can explain away.

Art, music, fashion, architecture ...things take a dip sometimes. Hell, 60’s architecture, or 70’s car manufacturing were pretty rank overall. Its okay to admit that. Ya’ll need to read the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes because you don’t want to call a spade a spade.

[richardcogbill]

So in short, today's music is still trash. If you listen to too much of it your brain will become garbage. I'll take classical, jazz and just about anything from the 60s, 70s & 80s compared to any music out there today.

[donnytrump]

As a medical doctor in real life, I felt like I was scrutinizing everything you said about the anatomy and physiology of the brain more than anything else in this video.