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That’s a question asked by someone on Threads today. Here are some of the replies:
I do, but I am also old
Absolutely. Especially the sixties and seventies
Put it this way: people are still listening to The Beatles and Elvis Presley 60 years down the line. Do you think 60 years from now people will still be listening to Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift? Because I sure as hell don’t.
Yes everything from about 2006 isnt (sic) good. It simple and lacks depth or true artistry
As I say, that’s some of the replies, but it’s a good reflection of most of the replies. It’s not a scientific poll, either, but I think, at least anecdotally, a lot of people, maybe even a majority, think old music is the best. Why is this?
I don’t think there’s a simple explanation. Part of it is that for many people music is wallpaper. For a minority of us, music is an utter obsession and we cannot get enough. However, there is a tendency to stick with the music you listened to between the ages of 15 to 25. It’s certainly the case with me, given that two of the biggest gigs I went to in 2025 were by Toto and the Doobie Brothers. However, I went to many more gigs by other, lesser known artists and enjoyed the shows just as much. In other words, I totally get the nostalgia kick. I just don’t stay within what might be deemed to be my nostalgia comfort zone.
The 1960s and 1970s were, in my view, great decades for music but let us not pretend things were all perfect. Benny Hill, The Wombles and Clive Dunn all managed to top the charts. Hill’s execrable Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west) was the Christmas number one in 1971, rock’s finest year, say some (including me). We delude ourselves by pretending that all music was great in the past and is crap today.
Sure, people are still listening to The Beatles and Elvis Presley “60 years down the line” but hang on a second. The Beatles were, and remain, the most influential band of all time. Without them, almost nothing we listen to today would likely exist. Until Presley came along, popular music was made by middle aged crooners. As well as great music, Presley brought sex to the party. When a person says, “Do you think 60 years from now people will still be listening to Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift?” it says more about them than it does about the quality of their music or its likely shelf-life. I know nothing about Justin Bieber and not much more about the supremely talented Taylor Swift, but that is because I am a doddery old codger and am as likely to listen to their music as my grandparents were to listen to the Rolling Stones. And as for “everything from about 2006 isn’t good”, well, it’s an opinion, isn’t it, but nothing more. My feeling is that if someone thinks there has been no good music since 2006 hasn’t been listening to anything since 2006.
There’s no point in me arguing the toss about that. But if you honestly believe that modern music is rubbish, I probably can’t help you. All I can say is that I listen to and, crucially buy, more music today than I ever have. You may not have heard of Avalon Emerson and the Charm, Alexis Taylor and Barry Can’t Swim – all artists I’ve bought music by in the last week – but please don’t tell me music today is “simple and lacks depth or true artistry.”
There have always been, and always will be, people who believe music was better in the old days. It’s called getting old and it’s about being happy in your musical comfort zone. Not all of us want to stretch the boundaries when it comes to music and actively seek out music we have never heard before. I was that man.
I still feel the excitement of buying a new record and playing it through. That new record might not even be new, in the sense that it’s just new to me. And I can only speak for me when I say that today’s music scene is as good as it has ever been. And, as I always say, today’s generation have all the great new music that’s being released alongside all the music that has ever been made.
By nature, we are all creatures of habit. We like the safe and familiar. We like the same music we always liked, many of us like to go to exactly the same place on holiday every year, we watch the same type of TV shows and films, we like a particular genre of books and never feel the need to change. And why should we?
My taste in music has never been so eclectic, having been enhanced by even more genres over the years. Two holidays in Ibiza saw me fall in love with Dance music and all its sub-genres. I’m even partial to a bit of country these days. It’s all out there, if you want it. And if you prefer the safe and familiar, there are numerous oldie radio stations to keep you satisfied. As I write, I’m listening to the Dutch/Turkish psychedelic rock band Altin Gün, a taste I acquired some years ago. You are entitled to hate it, as you are free to hark back to the golden age of Agadoo, Shaddup You Face and Mouldy Old Dough. And as I always say, there’s no such thing as bad music. Apart from Queen and Muse, that is.
