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The original was posted on /r/music by /u/Notinyourbushes on 2023-09-06 18:43:28+00:00.
I'm a Gen-Xer who worked in the music industry (playing and later promotion) through the 90s and early aughts. It's been my passion project for the past few years to try and create listener friendly playlists that would introduce and/or catch up Boomers and my fellow Gen Xers to the last 20 years worth of music. After three years, I've finally finished up my master lists.
For the rest of this post, anyone 40 or younger will be referred to as a "kid" (no offense).
I see the posts on reddit constantly asking about (or judging) new music, usually from posters that have only been exposed to a handful of newer radio hits. They're judging the state of rock by the pop hits and that's never been an accurate way to gauge the state of music. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we've always been bombarded by some of the most horrible, shallow pop imaginable (I'm looking at you Vanilla Ice).
So here's the answers to some of the most asked questions I've seen on reddit:
- Is rock dead? No. No where close. The charts might not reflect it, but at any given time there are hundreds upon hundreds of kids out there trying to make it playing some form of rock and roll.
- Do the kids still play guitar? Yes, absolutely. Even more than before. Just not the type of guitar you want them to play. Sorry, Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen turned out to not be as influential as Thurston Moore, Kevin Shields, or even J. Mascis. Guitarists like Johnny Marr cast as much longer shadow than Mick Mars did. I'm personally ok with that.
- Do the kids still rock? Hell yes. I would even go as far to say they grinder harder on their guitars, slap harder on the bass and pound more furiously on the drums than ever before. You get out of the top 40 and a lot of the older generations are going to look at what they're doing in the same light as the greatest generation viewed The Who or Pink Floyd. Wonderful, beautiful noise.
So here are my as-radio-friendly-as-possible playlists designed to let you see first hand what the kids have been doing for the past 18 years (if you feel so inclined). Well over 3000 songs between the 6 lists and easily at least 2500 different artists from across the globe. Hundreds and hundreds of hours work on my part. All I ask is you give an honest listen and give the kids a chance to change your mind.
Word of warning: placement of songs varied on the style of the individual songs, not the genre of the artists. You'll see some artists popping up on all the lists. Also, I was sorting through nearly 6000 songs while making 6 playlists. You might find an occasional song that ended up on the wrong list. Sorry in advance.
Folk: great starting point. This covers alt country, singer song writers, folk, post folk, granola and the occasional bluegrass tune. Also; a whole lot of people going "hey ho" for a few years around 2008-12. "They don't write songs like that anymore." Yeah, actually they do. It's a bit up and down, it jumps from very somber to very happy, but there are some absolutely amazing songs in there.
Pop: also a great starting point. You'll find upbeat and bubbly pop, ballads, all the happy songs as well as the more electronic leaning groups. If it has a disco beat or a singer with a wide range, I threw it here. Word of warning: there's still a lot of guitar scattered out in there. I consider Slipknot a pop group. Not because they're popular, but because they have a pop sound with just a lot of guitars on top.
Rock: I have a theory that a lot of people who say they like rock actually just like pop with extra guitars. When I say rock, this is rock. The harder groups; the punk, post punk, alternative groups with metal leanings, garage and psychedelic. Pretty much every genre of guitar driven music that didn't fit into the other three categories I picked. Great stuff, but it's also most of what I cut from the master lists (below) to make things more accessible to a wider audience.
Shoegaze: This is the good stuff. This is the best stuff. Most of you want to skip it. Very guitar heavy and a lot of distortion and feedback. Again, I had to cut most of this from the other lists because it's not everyone's cup of tea.
Various 2005-14: The master list. This is a music lover's list. If you don't care about genres, this is for you. Jazz and blues influenced songs, country, a ton of rock sub genres, indie, folk, a bit of everything. It gets heavy at times and it gets really soft at times, but more than any other list, this will tell you where music was during this time period.
Various 2014-22: Same as above. For music lovers. I will make intentionally harsh transitions from near disco songs to borderline metal into Mongolian throat singing. It's about 90% radio friendly with a splash of weirdness to show the diversity that's still out there.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk and I hope you enjoy the journey you're about to start (if you choose to).