Top 10 Worst Things About Modern Music

Modern music can feel less like a discovery and more like being trapped in a mall speaker with a glitter cannon pointed at your face. You go looking for songs with guts, odd corners, and a pulse, then run into the same polished formulas chasing clicks, streams, and safe playlist slots. That frustration is exactly what gives this list its bite, since voters are not politely shrugging at trends they dislike but dragging them into the light by the collar.

You may still find plenty of new music worth defending, because every era has its gems hiding from the algorithm like sensible people avoiding a group text. But when the industry rewards noise, branding, and copycat comfort over real risk, you have every right to ask why so much of what gets pushed at you sounds like it was assembled in a boardroom with a fog machine.

1. Music artists become famous based on image, not musical talent

   Is there any person out there who would look at either Miley Cyrus or Rihanna and say, "I don't care about her looks, she still sucks as an artist"?

   Same with a girl who's looking at a hot boy band or male musician who can't sing. Who cares about the looks, man? The looks, the money, the cars, the fame, the fortune, the coolness factor, all of that doesn't mean anything in the music industry.

   What really matters is your talent. And most of these modern artists don't have that because they know people will keep coming back to them because of their looks.

   Music was so classic and artistic back in the day. We had the legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and many more. We also had classic pop, rock, metal, jazz, Broadway, blues, and disco.

   Songs used to have meaning, good stories, and fit the moods of people. It took a lot of effort to write and make a song. Nowadays, up to 83.3% of music is total garbage with little to no originality, true creativity, or effort. Many songs talk about drugs, misinterpreted sex, violence, use profanity, and even racism. Some even promote depression, which can be serious.

   The tunes are hardly anything to write home about these days. I can't believe all these amazing artists left us and the voids were filled with garbage "artists." Good music is very rare these days, regardless of genre. Today's "music," if you even want to call it that, scores high on charts despite its nasty "quality" and stupid purposes. Some songs even promote serious matters like depression or violence, which is totally wrong.

   It's sad to see great artists go away too soon, some from drug overdose, reminding us of the good music from the past. We'll always miss the '70s, '80s, '90s, and 2000s. Those were the best eras for music, and the 2010s were when it all went downhill. Though some songs are still good today (like those by Lady Gaga and Carly Rae Jepsen), too many "artists" today try to be famous for their images and looks when musical talent and quality matter most. The shock value is total garbage.

2. Use of autotune

   

   Autotune is useful if done right and not overdone, whereas many artists these days overdose on autotune, proving the lack of significant talent they have. Now don't get me wrong, the first autotuned song Believe by Cher was a perfect success and a hit, and some others were great too.

   Autotune sounds good depending on what song it is and what it's about. But nowadays, songs are using too much autotune, taking us away from the true talent of music and creativity. Some fear that they're going to damage their vocal cords if they use their real voices (Adele had them damaged, and Miley Cyrus did too, though from her history of smoking).

   Music is art and involves skills. Know how to do it all right.

3. Most of the music on the radio is pop music

   And nobody cares about rock or metal. It's never on the news. Look at this: sometimes a music artist gets arrested. If it's a rock or metal person, it's on the news on the bottom scroll line two weeks later. If a pop artist or anybody that's not rock or metal is arrested, it will be the headline on everything, and Barack Obama would bail them out that afternoon.

   Pop music does have a catchy style to it. Now, the problem is oversaturation of the genre, in fact, any genre. We need to have a variety because that shows different styles and efforts in instruments, writing, lyrics, and artists. We can't all just focus on one thing.

   Things need a variety. Even genres need a variety. Better than one thing.

4. Too many artists have died young

   Many legends died at an early age. Why does such incredible talent have to leave us so early? Selena Quintanilla, Kurt Cobain, and Chester Bennington are all examples.

   It would be a tragedy if the terribleness of modern music killed Bernard Sumner of New Order. Because if he dies, it would be the biggest tragedy of all time. No, wait, that would be Peter Gabriel dying.

   That's because the music industry puts too much stress on them and introduces them to drugs and looking sexually attractive.

5. Too many songs are about love, sex, partying, and drugs

   Are there any pop songs about the government, war, history, fantasy, or being positive in life? Or about the secrets and life of humanity? Or even about life?

   I know a lot of songs that have these themes, not just love stories, but tragic stories, horror stories, historical stories, fantasy stories, war stories, and grudge stories. There needs to be a little more variety today.

   Three Days Grace's songs are about turning your life around, making wrong choices and suffering the consequences, the hard times of life, the many things wrong with humanity, etc.

6. No heart, soul, or morals in music anymore

   All music is commercialized. All music is a product. It's all made to sell. Stop acting like it's different now than it was back in the "good old days."

   Songs used to have meanings. Now it's just about butts and getting high at parties.

   The real music was in the years '75, '80, and '85. They made music with heart, not for the money.

7. Parents letting their kids listen to inappropriate artists

   No wonder kids in elementary school cuss these days. My younger sibling said he heard one of his classmates call another a "bitch" right in front of the teacher, and the teacher didn't even budge.

   In my days of elementary school, if you said any cuss word or even said the word "stupid," you would get sent to the office or suspended.

   Yep, there are parents who let their kids listen to trap music, even if it has a horrible influence. There are even parents that let kids listen to BOTDF. I would never let my kids listen to that pedophile's garbage.

8. Lack of soul and quality in music

   Am I the only teen that listens to more "actual" songs of the past rather than the trash today that most others would consider popular? Seriously, there are others.

   At least 70% of the tunes I listen to are over 10 years old, with most of them ranging from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.

   Today's mainstream music lacks passion and meaning, which is one reason why I've stopped listening to mainstream music.

   All pop and rap music is about partying, sex, doing drugs, and cussing. What happened to morals, stories, and things that are realistic and deep?

9. People consider one genre of music to be the only good genre

   One time in 7th grade, my social studies teacher played a song in class, and my classmate said, "This song sucks because it's not rap." That made me cringe hard.

   YES. I don't mean to put anyone's taste down, but it's annoying when someone straight up refuses to listen to a song because it's not a certain genre. It's just so ignorant.

   Who gives a crap about the genre? I only listen to a song for the story, the meaning, or the music.

10. Very few good bands exist

The Newcomers
11. ?

    Rock and metal are getting overpraised

12. ?

    Cardi B

    

    Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress. She was born and raised in New York City and first gained attention through Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared as a cast member on the VH1 reality... read more

The Contenders

13. Rap

    Rap and hip hop were great back then. Back then, it had good messages. Nowadays, you hear generic raunchy rap with no messages at all. These modern rappers (especially Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj) are killing the genre.

    Modern mainstream rap is the worst of "music." It all sounds the same, there's no talent whatsoever, and it's only about money. Old rap was good, but nowadays rap should be renamed to crap.

    There is amazing rap out there, mainly old school rap. My favorite rapper is 50 Cent. But rap nowadays is not what I can call rap anymore. It's trap these days. Real rap is dead.

14. Record sales have declined since 2006

    I thought this started earlier than 2006, honestly. Maybe around 1999 was when sales peaked.

    The only good thing about 2006 was that Three Days Grace's masterpiece album, One-X, was released.

15. Promotion of violence

    Look at Carrie Underwood and her songs "Two Black Cadillacs," "Church Bells," and "Before He Cheats." Enough said.

16. Almost no instruments are used other than synthesizers

    Synthesizers are capable of producing sounds you couldn't make with regular instruments. Therefore, they're heavily popular today.

    Pop music is degrading electronic music brutally.

17. Few good male singers

18. Horrible songs are nominated for Grammys

19. Many good artists get no recognition while bad ones get plenty

    This is sadly true. In a perfect world, more people would be listening to good music artists instead of the bad ones.

    This is true. And we know whose fault it is for making crappy songs and artists popular - TikTok. Leah Kate sings crude songs like "10 Reasons I Hate You" and became a hit. And Cardi B's "Up" was racist.

    Lacuna Coil gets little recognition, while Meghan Trainor gets too much! See the logic?!

20. Rock and metal are labeled as bad, emo, or gay

    Yes! I hate this! I am a huge fan of Three Days Grace, Evanescence, Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and many other rock bands. I have people calling me emo because I listen to that, but at this point, I don't really care anymore.

    All that matters is that I like the music. They don't have to, but they don't have to be so disrespectful to me because I do.

    When did sexual preferences become universally adaptable insults?

21. Almost all modern music sounds the same

22. Nobody has good music taste anymore

    I have to agree with some of y'all. Most teens of this generation are accustomed to listening to whatever crap is on the radio at the moment. I think they are just too plain lazy to find out about what real music is, which I think makes talented musicians from the past look bad. I am probably a minority today that listens to REAL music. I mostly listen to REAL hip hop, R&B, and Eurodance of the 90s, which I think flat out is the best decade.

    The noughties (2000 to 2009) were a good decade because we had Eminem and 50 Cent dominating the rap scene. Dr. Dre wasn't heard much from 1999 until 10 years later.

    I do agree with modern music being crap, especially as this "pop" music has decreased the target audience to teenage girls, but I do think there is some good music today. Avicii (RIP)? Check. David Guetta (mostly his older songs)? Check. Kendrick Lamar? Check. New School Eminem? Check. And also Ice Cube, who was famous in the 90s, is one of those rappers who has defied the mainstream pop cult and continued to do what he does best, serving justice for the troubled streets of the hood.

    The radio should make different stations for different genres: maybe one that plays REAL hip hop and hip hop ONLY, one that only plays rock, one that only plays 90s Eurodance, one that plays adult contemporary/oldies music (excluding modern music), and so on.

23. One Direction

    

    One Direction (commonly abbreviated as 1D) was a British and Irish pop boy band composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and originally Zayn Malik, who departed on March 25, 2015.

    The group formed on The X Factor UK in 2010, finishing third, and then signed with Simon... read more

    To me, One Direction is just so unoriginal. Most of their songs are rip-offs of songs from older artists. The best example is their song Rock Me, which sounds really similar to the opening of Queen's We Will Rock You.

    Everyone knows Queen's We Will Rock You! Why steal from a song that everyone knows?

    I like how one group got 18 on the worst things about modern music list. Ya gotta be a special kind of horrible.

    At least NSYNC can dance and sing, but One Direction can't sing for their sorry excuse of a boy band.

24. Nicki Minaj

    

    Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj (born December 8, 1982), is a Trinidadian-American rapper and pop artist. She is widely recognized for hits like "Anaconda," "Super Bass," "Starships," and her feature on "Bang Bang."... read more

    She killed hip hop with that one song Stupid Hoe. I know Soulja Boy was the first to kill hip hop, but this song made me die inside.

    Thank goodness she's not doing the Barbie shtick anymore. Turning rap into a Barbie doll.

    She was doing well before she released Stupid Hoe. Listen to her rap in the song.

25. Only popular genres are pop, rap, and country

    All three of these genres suck, in my opinion.

26. Artists have become hypocritical

27. Producers include "featured" artists to increase sales, not to improve the music

    There are always two artists working together on a song. There's a word I'm looking for this. Oh yeah: lazy. What's wrong with singing the song yourself? If you have passion for your own music, you shouldn't rely on another popular artist to help you out so people will listen to you more often.

    The best good song I can think of where two artists collaborated is Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen. David and Freddie were balanced out, and neither felt dominant over the other. Another good song I can think of is Broken by Amy Lee and Seether, where Amy and Shaun were also balanced out and neither felt dominant over the other.